Images of America – Historic Roswell, GA - There's a Book About It on Waymarking.com

Historic Roswell, GA, by Joe Mc Tyre and Rebecca Nash Paden gives a history of Roswell from it founding in the 1830's by Roswell King to the present day. The book contains many historic photographs. Roswell is located north of Atlanta, GA.


In 1830, while on a trip to North Georgia, Roswell King passed through the area of what is now Roswell and observed the great potential for building a cotton mill along Vickery (Big) Creek. Since the land nearby was also good for plantations, his idea was to put cotton processing near cotton production.

Toward the middle of the 1830s, King returned to build a mill that would soon become the largest in North Georgia. He brought with him 36 enslaved African-Americans from his own coastal plantation, plus another 42 skilled carpenter slaves bought in Savannah to build the mills. The slaves built the mills, infrastructure, houses, mill worker apartments, and supporting buildings for the new town. The African-Americans brought their unique Geechee culture, language, and religious traditions from the coast to north Georgia.

King invited investors from the coast to join him at the new location. He was also joined by Barrington King, one of his sons, who succeeded his father in the manufacturing company. Archibald Smith was one of the planters who migrated there to establish a new plantation, bringing enslaved African Americans from the coastal areas. Barrington Hall (the home of Barrington King), Smith Plantation (the home of Archibald Smith) and Bulloch Hall (The childhood home of President Theodore Roosevelt's mother - Mittie Bulloch) have been preserved and restored. They are now open to the public. According to the 1850 Slave Schedules, these three "founding families", together with the next three largest planters, held 192 slaves, 51% of the total 378 slaves held in Roswell District.

Archibald Smith had a 300-acre (1.2 km2) cotton plantation. According to the 1850 Census, Barrington King held 70 slaves. Half of these slaves were under the age of 10. These slaves worked in Barrington's household. Barrington King "leased" or "rented" some of his adult male slaves to the Roswell Manufacturing Co. These enslaved workers did not work around the mill machinery.

The Roswell area was part of Cobb County, Georgia when first settled, and the county seat of Marietta was a four-hour (one-way) horseback ride to the west. Since Roswell residents desired a local government, they submitted a city charter for incorporation to the Georgia General Assembly. The charter was approved on February 16, 1854. By the time of the Civil War, the cotton mills employed more than 400 people, mostly women. Given settlement patterns in the Piedmont, they were likely of Scots-Irish descent. As the mill increased in production, so did the number of people living in the area.

During the American Civil War, the city was captured by Union forcesunder the leadership of General Garrard. Under orders of General Sherman, General Garrard shipped the mill workers north to prevent them from returning to work if the mills were rebuilt. This was a common tactic of Sherman's plans of economic disruption of the South. The mill was burned, but the houses were left standing. The ruins of the mill and the 30-foot (9.1 m) dam that was built for power still remain. Most of the town's property was confiscated by Union forces. The leading families had left the town to go to safer places well before the Federal invasion. Most slaves were sent away from advancing Federal troops, as was often the practice. Some slaves may have escaped to Union lines.

After the war, Barrington King rebuilt the mills and resumed production. While many freed African-Americans stayed in the area to work as paid labor on plantations or in town, others migrated to Fulton County and Atlanta for new opportunities. The South suffered an agricultural depression resulting from the effects of the war and labor changes.

Source: Wikipedia (visit link)

ISBN Number: 0738513741 Author(s): Joe Mc Tyre and Rebecca Nash Paden

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