City residents can learn more about the history of their community on their way around town courtesy of a handful of signboards scattered throughout Tifton’ s historic district, providing overviews on the history of various aspects of the city like the origins of City Hall or the city’ s past connections to the rail line.
Through the Tift family’ s investments, Tifton developed industries in cotton, fruit, and other prime crops that would go on to form the backbone of its agricultural industry today, and established an agricultural experiment station that laid the groundwork for both Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College and the University of Georgia Tifton Campus.
For more than 50 years, Henry Tift remained a fervent supporter of the town he had helped found, both as a businessman and a civic leader through enterprises to advance the town and decades of service as a city councilman.
“ A singular man who became very wealthy gave back to this community ten and a hundred times over,” Green said.
Bessie Tift also made vital contributions to Tifton’ s growth, funding initiatives to build churches, schools, and Tifton’ s first library so as to support its people and community in the same way her husband built up the city.
In the wake of the Tifts’ deaths in 1922 and 1936, other figures continued to aid in the development of Tifton, the greater Tift County, and Georgia as a whole throughout the next few decades. DeNean Stafford Jr., founder of Stafford Development, was one such man, becoming a vital player in the layout of Tiftarea’ s highways during the mid-1950s.
As the nation underwent development on the Interstate Highway System, Georgia Gov. Eugene Talmadge, an associate of Stafford’ s, offered his company the contract to supply heavy equipment to the development of the highway system in the local area. Stafford built bridges over the local roads during the construction effort, providing Tifton with 13 exits along this new highway.
The highway’ s introduction led to another explosion of growth for the Friendly City, with Tifton expanding out towards the newly developed Interstate 75. Tourism and commerce surged as more visitors than ever could stop in at Tifton through one of its many off-ramps from the highway.
At the same time, the city’ s downtown began to diminish; the community’ s core pulled away from the once-thriving town square. Businesses closed down, buildings sat empty, and former pillars of the city began to deteriorate from lack of attention or upkeep.
12 TiftonScene | JANUARY 2026