History of Augusta, Georgia
[1] The job fell into the hands of Noble Jones, who created the settlement to provide a first line of defense against the Spanish and the French.
[2] While slavery was originally banned in the colony by James Oglethorpe,[3] it soon became an integral part of Georgia's history.
The Georgia Railroad was built by local contractors Fannin, Grant & Co in 1845, giving Augusta a rail link to Atlanta.
The cost-savings of this link from the middle of the country to the Atlantic Ocean via the Savannah River increased trade considerably.
In 1845, Augusta was the location of the founding of the Southern Baptist Convention, today one of the largest Protestant denominations in the country.
Next came the threatening nearness of General Sherman's advancing army, causing panic in the streets of the once-quiet town.
In 1899, a group of parents took their objections in a class actions suit the Supreme Court in Cumming v. Richmond County Board of Education.
[8] In 1927, Owen Robertson Cheatham founded the lumber company Georgia Pacific in Augusta, before it moved to Portland, Oregon, and later to Atlanta.
[9] Prior to World War II, the U.S. Army constructed a new fort in Richmond County, Camp Gordon, which was finished a few days after the attack on Pearl Harbor.
Within the few months after WWII, many of the GIs at Camp Gordon had been sent back home, and the importance of the army in the community seemed to almost come to an end.
[citation needed] In 1948, new life came to the city when the U.S. Army moved the Signal Training Center and Military Police School to Camp Gordon.
Later, in November 1948, the Clarks Hill Reservoir was created by a newly constructed dam, which provided the city with a supply of hydroelectric power.
The city is also a large private company hot-spot, home to the Georgia Bank & Trust and CareSouth.
In 1961, soul musician Ray Charles canceled a scheduled performance at the Bell Auditorium[10] when he learned that the Black attendees would be segregated from the whites and forced to sit in the balcony.
White officials refused to provide answers, prompting Black citizens to demonstrate for racial justice at the county jail.
White officials responded to property damage with physical violence, and police shot at least 60 people and killed six participating in the collective rebellion.
Slavery and Jim Crow continue to shape present inequities, and race relations remain contentious in city politics.
A block of upper Broad Street has been named Artists' Row and is home to several locally owned art galleries.
Downtown Augusta has become an epicenter of new growth in recent years though with new focuses on revitalizing historic structures in Downtown to include the former First Baptist Church on Greene Street as well as the Miller Theater, the Lamar Building, and King Mill - all located on Broad Street - which are continuing to be revitalized by developers.
