Gainesville, GA news and local guide

The town grew after the Civil War. From 1871 the Atlanta and Richmond Air-Line Railway stopped there, and the population rose from 1,000 in 1870 to more than 5,000 by 1900. City services began on February 22, 1873, with the election of a city marshal, and a bond issue for waterworks passed in 1890. By 1898 textile mills drove the economy, and with their revenues Gainesville in 1902 became the first city south of Baltimore to install street lamps. The Jackson Building, the city's first high-rise, opened on December 22, 1915. During World War II the city leased its airport to the federal government for $1 as a naval air training station. After the war the businessman Jesse Jewell started the north Georgia poultry industry, and chickens became Georgia's largest agricultural product. In 1956 the Army Corps of Engineers began building Buford Dam, creating Lake Sidney Lanier. Sources Wikipedia: Gainesville, Georgia