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Sargent Historic DistrictSargent Historic District · Photo: Rampway · CC BY-SA 3.0
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History · Whitesburg

Whitesburg dates to 1873, and 28% of its homes were built before 1940

Its Register listing is the Whitesburg Baptist Church. Below: maps from 1965 on and the census since 1880.

1873founded
1on the National Register
28%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Whitesburg began

When was Whitesburg founded?

1873

Whitesburg dates its founding to 1873 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1880.

First census: 368 in 18802020 census: 596153 years
Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1874.The full story ↓

What stands out about Whitesburg’s past

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

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Whitesburg are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of Whitesburg’s homes were built before 1963.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Whitesburg’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
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The story

How Whitesburg came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Whitesburg.

Read it all →

This area was long occupied by indigenous peoples. In the historic period after European encounter, it was occupied by members of the Creek Confederacy, a loose grouping of related peoples, and was known as the area of the Lower Towns by the early nineteenth century. William McIntosh, a mixed-race leader of the Creek, established a modest house and plantation here. He was executed in 1825 on order of the Creek National Council for having negotiated and signed the 1825 Treaty of Indian Springs, which ceded all remaining lands in Georgia and Alabama to the United States. He had violated tribal law, the Code of 1818 that protected communal property.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Whitesburg, 1873 to 1965

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1873
    FoundingWhitesburg is established
  3. 1874Post officeThe Whitesburg post office opens
  4. 20th century
  5. 1965On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Whitesburg, decade by decade

Today8 recent
Post Office2026Post OfficeMain Street2026Main StreetFormer Depot2026Former DepotFormer Depot track side2026Former Depot track sideWhitesburg, Georgia city hall2015Whitesburg, Georgia city hallFEMA - 42336 - Carroll County, Georgia officials surveying Chattahoochee River2009FEMA - 42336 - Carroll County, Georgia officials surv…Dog Obsticale Course DVIDS1967072009Dog Obsticale Course DVIDS196707GAMap-doton-Whitesburg2005GAMap-doton-Whitesburg
On the map

Whitesburg on the map, 1965 to 1982

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

Whitesburg on the 1965 USGS mapWhitesburg on the 1982 USGS map1965Whitesburg 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 Whitesburg.

On the National Register

1 historic place in Whitesburg

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

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts
first listed
2002
Whitesburg Baptist Church
Whitesburg Baptist Church
Buildings

Architectural styles listings

Gothic Revival1
Whitesburg Baptist ChurchGothic Revival

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

People over time

Whitesburg, census by census

020040060080018801900192019401960198020002020Peak: 775

Between 294 and 775 people in every census since 1880.

15 censuses, 1880–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Whitesburg’s Wikipedia page.

Places that used to be

Places now gone and burying grounds

Whitesburg’s post office has been open since 1874.

Gone or out of use
New Ferrycrossing
1cemetery inside Whitesburg
Whitesburg

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

Questions about Whitesburg’s history

What year was Whitesburg founded?

In 1873, according to Wikidata. Whitesburg’s post office opened in 1874, and the census of 1880 counted 368 people here.

What is on the National Register in Whitesburg?

One place: the Whitesburg Baptist Church (listed 2002).

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 Wikimedia Commons (8), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, 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.