The Muscogee/Creek Indians are believed to be the very first settlers of the Newnan and Coweta County area. Named by Scotch-Irish settlers because of the numerous creeks surrounding the area, the Creek Indians inhabited the western part of Georgia from the Ocmulgee River to the Chattahoochee River. Most famously of the Native American Trails in Coweta County was McIntosh Trail—a trading route which ran from Chief William McIntosh's home at Indian Springs to his 640-acre reserve in Carroll County near Whitesburg. It was Chief McIntosh who played an instrumental role in changing Coweta lands from Native American control to the white settlers' hands. 

 

After Coweta's land was ceded from the Muscogee and parsed out through the lottery system, the area sustained much growth and influx of white settlers. In 1828, the city of Newnan, the current county seat, was incorporated. The city was named after North Carolina native General Daniel Newnan, a decorated soldier who later became Georgia Secretary of State and a United States Congressman.

 

The new county seat of Newnan and its downtown district became a popular location for business as doctors, lawyers, farmers, and merchants moved into the area. Throughout the mid-1800s, Newnan became a prosperous town due to the cotton and manufacturing industry, including the well-known R.D. Cole Manufacturing Company. 

 

By the onset of the Civil War, Newnan was well-established as the "City of Homes," known for its tremendous and beautiful homes despite being a small town. In 1863, Newnan was selected as a hospital site for the war—tending to both Union and Confederate soldiers. In July 1864, the town saw its only direct military conflict with the Battle of Brown's Mill, which resulted in Union General E.M. McCook's defeat by Confederate General Joseph Wheeler.

 

The early 1900s saw the boom of the cotton and manufacturing industry. Throughout the late 1800s and early 1900s, Coweta County was home to several mills, including the Newnan Cotton Mill, the East Newnan Cotton Mill, the Newnan Hosiery Mill, the Arnall Mills, and the Arnco Mills.

 

Like much of the country during the 1930s, Coweta County and Newnan suffered an economic downturn due to the Great Depression. Agriculture took a significant hit, with the county's farms being valued at one-third less in 1935 than in 1930. Diversification and industrial change became necessary to survive the downtown and also address the needs of WWII in the 1940s. 

 

It was during the 1940s that Coweta County saw its most famous court case, memorialized in Margaret Ann Barnes' book Murder in Coweta County. In 1948, prominent landowner John Wallace was held without bond in the Coweta County jail for the murder of William Turner. Due to a tip from famous Meriwether County psychic Mayhayley Lancaster and the testimony of Albert Brooks and Robert Lee Gates, Wallace was convicted and sentenced to death for the murder. The case was highly unusual because Wallace was one of the richest men at the time ever to be given the death penalty, and his case was the first in Georgia where a white man was given the death sentence upon the testimony of two Black men.

 

Today, Newnan continues to be a thriving community that values its commerce, education, and arts. Home to Piedmont Hospital and the Cancer Treatment Centers, Newnan is still very much a hospital town, and the county is still an active place for agriculture and manufacturing. As the city has grown, so have our interests. 

 

Coweta County is now also known for its music, arts, and movie, being the hometown to author Lewis Grizzard and Erskine Caldwell, musicians Alan Jackson, Charles Wadsworth, and Hamilton Bohannon, and site to popular television series like The Walking Dead.