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Warthen Historic DistrictWarthen Historic District · Photo: A P Wood · CC BY-SA 3.0
–Not graded
History · Warthen

Warthen’s post office opened in 1877, and 30% of its homes were built before 1940

1 place in town is on the National Register, among them a historic district with 39 buildings. Below: 1 old photo or paper and maps from 1961 on.

1877first post office
1on the National Register
30%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Warthen’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Warthen began

When was Warthen founded?

1877

The Warthen post office opened in 1877, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Warthen's Store (1827), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

2020 census: 132149 years
Founding year: the first Warthen post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Warthen’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 1 old photo is in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.A historic districtThe Warthen Historic District takes in 39 historic buildings.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Warthen’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Warthen’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Date a photo1 archive item has no date. Guess the decade.+2Retake an old viewHarrison House, Georgia Highway 15 vici…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
On the National Register

1 listing protects 39 historic buildings

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
39
each building in a district counts
first listed
1997
Warthen Historic District
Warthen Historic District
Districts

Architectural styles listings

Greek Revival1
Queen Anne1
Colonial Revival1
Gothic Revival1
Folk Victorian1
Gabled Ell Cottage1
Warthen Historic DistrictGreek Revival

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

The story

How Warthen came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Warthen.

Read it all →

Warthen was the first settlement erected in Washington County and was founded to be the site of the superior courts and the jail for the county. Warthen was erected as a settlement in 1754. It is located in a coastal plain and once embraced territory from the Cherokee corner.

Warthen was an early holder of the Washington County county seat until the seat was transferred to Sandersville in 1796.

The Georgia General Assembly incorporated Warthen in 1812. Eventually, the community lost its charter and today it occupies an unincorporated area.

Warthen has been declared a historic site, and inscribed on the National Register of Historic Places as the Warthen Historic District.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Warthen, 1827 to 1961

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1827Post officeThe Warthen's Store post office opens
  3. 1877Post officeThe Warthen's Store post office closes
  4. 1877Post officeThe Warthen post office opens
  5. 20th century
  6. 1961On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Warthen, decade by decade

Date unknown1 to date
Harrison House, Georgia Highway 15 vicinityDate?Harrison House, Georgia Highway 15 vicinity
On the map

Warthen on the map, 1961 to 1984

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Warthen. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Warthen on the 1961 USGS mapWarthen on the 1984 USGS map1961Warthen sheet · 1:24,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Warthen.

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Harrison House, Georgia Highway 15 vicinity
Retake this viewHarrison House, Georgia Highway 15 vicinity

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Warthen’s page.

Retake this view · +15
Famous people

Famous people close to Warthen

Nobody well known was born in Warthen itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
Marjorie Taylor GreeneAmerican politician · b. 1974
Elijah MuhammadAmerican religious leader · b. 1897
Mirabeau B. LamarAmerican politician · b. 1798
William Heard KilpatrickAmerican pedagogue · b. 1871
Millie JacksonAmerican singer · b. 1944
Herbert Jefferson Jr.American actor · b. 1946
Places that used to be

Lost post offices and burying grounds

Warthen’s post office has been open since 1877. Another post office, Warthen's Store, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Warthen's Store
1827–1877
Warthen
1877–today
18201920today
1cemetery inside Warthen
Bethlehem

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Questions about Warthen’s history

What year was Warthen founded?

The Warthen post office opened in 1877, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Warthen?

One place: the Warthen Historic District (listed 1997).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
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 the Library of Congress (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.