History of Maxeys

A Brief History of Maxeys, GA 

Maxeys, located in Oglethorpe County halfway between Crawford (north) and Union Point (south), is inextricably tied to the existence of the railroad line that once bisected it. In 1834, a group of Athens businessmen, frustrated when their heavy ox-drawn freight wagons, established the Georgia Rail Road Company to build a railroad. The railroad line would start in Augusta and head west into the interior of the state.  Jesse Maxey, an enthusiastic proponent of railway transportation, ceded a generous right of way through his Oglethorpe County land to the railroad company.

By 1841, the Athens Branch of the railway, a 41 mile stretch of track that started on Carr’s Hill in Athens and ended in Union Point, was completed. At first the Athens Branch would carry only horse-drawn rail wagons and passenger carriages and did not convert to more efficient steam-powered locomotives until 1847.  

As the area began to grow, local landowner William H. “Bill” Gilliam was appointed U.S. Postmaster of the town, first known as “Shanty.”  Gilliam set up shop in the newly-built railroad depot and acted as Shanty’s first depot agent. Over the coming years, the position of Postmaster would be held by many impactful locals - Lewis Salmons (1842- 1844), who changed the post office’s name to “Salmonsville”,  Dr. Milledge Spencer “Spence” Durham (1844 - 1848) and local merchant George W. Maxey (1848 - 1850). By the time Maxey left office, he had successfully lobbied to have the local post office renamed “Maxey” in honor of his uncle and early railroad patron, Jesse Maxey.  By the Civil War, the name had added a possessive “s”, and would now be known as “Maxeys”.

In the early 1900s, the City of Maxeys was a booming cotton town.  Due to the healthy agricultural economy and pioneering spirit of the people of that time, the town and surrounding area flourished.  It supported two banks, many stores and shops, a department store boasting one of the first elevators in the area, a cotton gin, sawmills and a planing mill, a wagon and buggy manufacturing works, a fertilizer plant, a funeral directing concern having the first motor hearse in this area, a dentist, four doctors, a brick school house and all the other things that a thriving community needed. Maxeys was incorporated in 1907 by the Georgia Legislature.  

In the early 1930s, as cotton farming phased out, the banks closed and one by one the stores and shops followed.  In the late 1940s and early 50s, affected by the boll weevil, depression and World Wars I & II, Maxeys was at an all-time low.  Most young people had left to seek employment elsewhere and the average age of Maxeys population was approximately 60 years.

While some efforts were made to revitalize Maxeys over the years, it is in more recent years the city has begun to take on new life.  The population has not only grown in numbers but most significantly, the average age has lowered considerably.  With the excellent educational advantages posed by the Brightwell Scholarship and proximity to Athens, the anticipation of the Firefly Trail running through Maxeys and the restoration that is beginning to take place, steady growth is assured.

Given its rich history, community spirit and anticipated future, there could not be a better place to live and raise a family than Maxeys.  

(Compiled from: The People of Durham Place, 1844-1979; History: City of Maxeys; General Information Concerning Maxeys, Georgia)