How Oglethorpe began, and where its name came from
When was Oglethorpe founded?
1838
Oglethorpe dates its founding to 1838 (Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history agree). The census first counted it in 1850.
First census: 113 in 18502020 census: 995188 years
How did Oglethorpe get its name?
Oglethorpe was named for Georgia's founder, James Oglethorpe.
Founding year: Wikidata; Wikipedia’s history section gives the same year. First post office: 1850. Name: Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.The full story ↓
What stands out about Oglethorpe’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Oglethorpe was founded in 1838. It was located in the Black Belt of Georgia, where slaves outnumbered whites and cultivated cotton as a commodity crop. Oglethorpe was incorporated as a town in 1849 and as a city in 1852. In 1857, the seat of Macon County was transferred to Oglethorpe from Lanier.
Oglethorpe was once one of the largest cities in southwestern Georgia. Epidemics of malaria and smallpox caused high fatalities in the early 1860s; the remaining residents in Oglethorpe fled south to Americus to escape more disease.
2. It is to the traditions of Oglethorpe University that I desire particularly to call your attention, affecting as they do the entire scheme of the landscape work and the harmony of the architectural effect. Oglethorpe was the first denominational university between the Atlantic and the Pacific oceans south of the Virginia line. Its history, its name and its spirit carry us back still further, through the founder of the commonwealth of Georgia, to the very best in the university traditions of England. Oglethorpe was the son of an English lord and his family was, from the days of the Norman
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
By decade
Oglethorpe, decade by decade
One decade in the archive so far: the 1940s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
In 1838, according to Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history of the town. Oglethorpe’s post office opened in 1850, and the census of 1850 counted 113 people here.
What is on the National Register in Oglethorpe?
One place: the Macon County Courthouse (listed 1980).
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 Wikimedia Commons (6), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
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