Newnan, Georgia

Newnan is a city located in Coweta County, Georgia. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 16,242. Newnan is one of the fastest growing cities in Georgia, with an estimated population of 20,551 in 2003. The city is the county seat of Coweta County{{GR|6}}.

History

Newnan was first established as county seat of Coweta County in 1828 and was named for North Carolinian General Daniel Newnan. Newnan quickly became a prosperous magnet for professionals such as lawyers and doctors, as well as various merchants. Much of Newnan's prosperity was due to the thriving cotton industry, which relied on slavery. Newnan was largely untouched by the American Civil War, and as a result is still home to much antebellum architecture. Newnan was where the infamous lynching, mutilation, burning, and dismemberment of Sam Hose took place in 1899. Newnan was also host to the trial in 1948 of wealthy landowner John Wallace, the first white man in the south to be condemned to death by the testimony of African Americans, two field hands who had witnessed the murder (the victim was a white sharecropper).

Related Topics:
Slavery - American Civil War - Antebellum - Sam Hose - 1899 - 1948 - John Wallace - African Americans

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~