The story
Read it all →How Garfield came to be
From Wikipedia’s history of Garfield.
The Georgia General Assembly incorporated the place as the Town of Garfield in 1905.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
–Not graded
History · Garfield
Garfield’s post office opened in 1882, and 29% of its homes were built before 1940
Below: maps from 1971 on and the census since 1910.
1882first post office
0on the National Register
29%homes built before 1940
1famous people
Quick answers
How Garfield began
When was Garfield founded?
1882
The Garfield post office opened in 1882, the earliest record of the town by name.
First census: 319 in 19102020 census: 257144 years
Founding year: the first Garfield post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
What stands out about Garfield’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
★ What stands out · Help out
Start Garfield’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Garfield’s history is told.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.People over time
Garfield, census by census
Peaked at 416 in 1920; 257 people lived here in 2020.
12 censuses, 1910–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Garfield’s Wikipedia page.
Timeline
Garfield, 1882 to 1971
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
- 19th century
- 1882Post officeThe Garfield post office opens
- 20th century
- 1920CensusPopulation peaks at 416
- 1941Born hereMatt Snell is born here
- 1971
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade
No old photos in the archives yet
Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
Add from your albumOn the map
Garfield on the map, 1971 to 1981
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Garfield. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1971Garfield sheet · 1:24,000U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Garfield.
Questions about Garfield’s history
What year was Garfield founded?
The Garfield post office opened in 1882, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Memory lane
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
Start a conversation
Sources
Where this page comes from
Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →
From Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.