[8][9] Cartersville was the long-time home of Amos Akerman, U.S. Attorney General under President Ulysses S. Grant; in that office Akerman spearheaded the federal prosecution of members of the Ku Klux Klan and was one of the most important public servants of the Reconstruction era.

[10] Cartersville was designated the seat of Bartow County in 1867 following the destruction of Cassville by Sherman's March to the Sea in the American Civil War.

[11] On February 26, 1916, a group of 100 men and boys took Jesse McCorkle from the jail, hanged him from a tree in front of the city hall, and riddled his body with bullets.

Red Top Mountain State Park sits on a peninsula in the lake, just outside the city limits.

U.S. Highway 411 passes through the northern edge of the city, leading west to Rome and north to Chatsworth.

[19] The city absorbed the census-delineated neighboring unincorporated community of Atco prior to the 1960 U.S.

[24][25] As of the 2020 United States census, there were 23,187 people, 7,835 households, and 5,285 families residing in the city.

The city's employers include: The city is home to Piedmont Cartersville Medical Center and the Hope Center, making it a minor healthcare hub for the surrounding area.

In 2022, a federal court awarded 45 of the arrested individuals a $900,000 settlement due to a violation of their constitutional rights.

[39] On September 8, 2022, Deputy Police Chief Jason DiPrima resigned after being arrested in a prostitute police-sting operation.