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September 4, 2010

Establishment of Dalton

By Marvin Sowder Dalton-Whitfield Civil War 150th Anniversary Committee Dalton Daily Citizen

DALTON — The area encompassing Northwest Georgia was home to the Cherokees for hundreds of years. The whole section from the Etowah to the Tennessee River was described as wild country, scarcely anything but trackless forests with only here and there a small clearing with a Cherokee cabin thereon.

In the early 1830s, the settlement of Cross Plains was a Cherokee trading place. The road from Vann’s Place and the road from New Echota to Ross’ Landing intersected here and was part of the Cherokee Nation.

Through a series of Georgia Land Lotteries the Cherokee land was divided into 160-acre lots. The 1832 Cherokee Land Lottery gave white men titles to the land. By 1837, there were a dozen or more white families living in Cross Plains. Starting in the fall of 1838, the Cherokees were forced to leave their homeland.

In detachments of 900 or so, they marched overland to what is now Oklahoma under the most harsh of conditions. As many as 4,000 died along the way. Their journey has been appropriately called the Trail of Tears.

Less than a year after their removal, on Dec. 21, 1839, Cross Plains was incorporated in the county of Murray. The town limits extended 400 yards in all directions from its center which was located at the intersection of today’s Morris Street and Thornton Avenue.

For the next several years, Cross Plains continued to grow until 1846. Plans for a railroad to connect central and southern Georgia with the Tennessee River near Chattanooga brought many new settlers and investors into the area including Capt. Edward White from Massachusetts who purchased several tracts of land in the area.

White represented a New England investment syndicate. Another developer, Mark Thornton, deeded property for a depot square to the state of Georgia which would subsequently become the new center of the new city, Dalton.

Edward White was a visionary with grandiose ideas. He laid out a city with long wide streets and city blocks that rivaled many cities. He provided land for churches, schools and a town hall. Naming the new city Dalton, after his mother’s family, White petitioned the Georgia Legislature, and on Dec. 29, 1847, an act was signed by Gov. George W. Towns changing the name of Cross Plains to Dalton. The city limits were extended one mile in all directions from the depot and the new city of Dalton was born.

The Western & Atlantic Railroad did come and on June 22, 1847, the first train arrived in Dalton. It was a grand day and called for speeches and much celebration. A big barbecue was planned. R.A. Rushton ran the first train in with J.F. Reynolds as conductor. When it came into sight an unearthly yell rent the air such as had never been heard before! The result of the railroad demonstration was the sale by Mr. White of scores of town lots for weeks thereafter.

Dalton went rapidly forward and continued to grow until the dark days of the 1860s.



This article is one of several that will run in the coming Sundays about Dalton and life in Dalton leading up to the Civil War. The stories are being provided by the Dalton-Whitfield Civil War 150th Anniversary Committee. To find out more about the committee go to www.dalton150th.com.

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