Canton history

Cherokee land

Canton sits in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, in what was the heart of the Cherokee Nation. For roughly the first hundred years of Georgia’s history, this part of the state was treated as “Indian Country” and was passed over by settlers heading west. After the Georgia Gold Rush in 1829, settlers moved in anyway.

Most of the Cherokee stayed until federal troops removed them in the summer of 1838. Cherokee County’s largest fort, Fort Buffington, stood about six miles east of town. By that autumn the people held there had been marched off on the Trail of Tears. Nothing of the fort remains, and a large piece of green Cherokee marble marks the approximate spot.

A silk town that wasn’t

Settlers picked a county seat in 1833 and called it Etowah, then Cherokee Courthouse, and in 1834 Canton. The name came from the city then known in English as Canton, now Guangzhou, because some locals hoped to build a silk industry here. The silk never happened, but the name stuck (and locals say CANT-n, not can-TAHN).

Burned in 1864

During the Civil War the town of about 200 people was burned between November 1 and 5, 1864, by a Union foraging party. Troops had been ordered to destroy it over Confederate guerrilla attacks on the Western and Atlantic Railroad, the supply line from Chattanooga to Atlanta. Neighboring Cassville never rebuilt. Canton did, because it was the county seat.

Mill town

Canton grew into a manufacturing town known the world over for Canton Denim. The Canton Cotton Mills closed in 1981. Today the old mill district is home to lofts, shops and restaurants, and the Mill on Etowah draws people downtown.

Today

As Atlanta’s suburbs pushed north, Canton became one of the fastest growing cities in the area. Its population nearly tripled between 2000 and 2010, and the downtown square, the river and the theatre have become the reasons people come here.