Lilburn Details:
The Georgia Carolina and Northern Railroad began purchasing property and right of ways for tracks to be laid from Baltimore, Maryland to Atlanta, GA in 1887. Around 1890 they began to purchase property for the present day Lilburn area. The area was called McDaniel, after William McDaniel the land lottery winner. The railroad laid out the streets and built a depot for the town of McDaniel. The Georgia Carolina and Northern Railroad was purchased or taken over by the Seaboard Airline Railway during the construction phase. The first train with passengers came through on April 24, 1892. The community had a depot, telegraph office and several mercantile businesses. Cotton was the base of the local economy with a cotton gin built along Railroad Avenue.
Around 1900 the name was changed to Lilburn, GA. It was named after Lilburn Trigg Myers who was the general superintendent for the Seaboard Airline Railway. Mr. Myers was born in 1857 and died in June 1934. He was not a resident of the area, living most of his life in Richmond, Va. His Obituary reflects that his life was associated with railroad activities. The State of Georgia Incorporated the City of Lilburn on July 27,1910, a mayor and city council were elected, by 1919 the town had grown to include a bank, school, auto dealer, two doctors and about nine merchants.
Among those who lived in the early history of the town were the following families; Carroll, Nash, Jordan, Brownlee, Harmon, Kennerly, McDaniel, Young, Dickens, Pickens, Matthews, Kelley and Garner.
A disastrous fire visited Lilburn in the early morning of November 15, 1920. Frank Garner who lived across the street from the Lilburn Supply Company where the fire apparently originated discovered the fire. The business section was destroyed except for two stores and only the heroic work of the volunteer bucket brigade saved the residence section.
The town was rebuilt but the cotton crop was attacked by the boll weevil and destroyed. The adult boll weevil does some damage but it lays the eggs inside the unripe cotton boll and the young larvae eat their way out ,destroying the cotton boll. Cotton was king and was considered white gold. Big and small farmers relied on the cotton crop. This tiny menacing insect spread from Mexico into the United States about 1898. There was not any defense from this culprit and the economic support for this area was destroyed.
The depression of 1929 also took a heavy toll on the area and the town gradually died. The government organized in 1910 ceased to exist. It is claimed that the people were so quiet, well behaved, orderly and law abiding that there was no need for government. Automobiles gave an alternative to the railroad and the town gradually relocated along Highway 29 creating an old and new Lilburn. Old Lilburn had a few businesses that continued to operate but most of the activity was on the Highway. The need for a water line in 1955 created a new city government and the town began to grown again. In 1976 a new city hall was built in the Old Town area and helped create the growth that we have today.
| Atlanta, GA Contact Info | |
| General Manager: | Jim White |
| Assistant Manager: |
Ahmed Williams |
| Account Executive: | Marty Lee |
| 100 Pinnacle Way, Suite 175 |
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| Norcross, GA 30071 | |
| Tel: | 770-840-8232 |
| Fax: | 770-840-9308 |
| Toll Free: | 1-800-487-9669 |
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