HERITAGE

agriculture was in a crisis, and the New Deal of Franklin D. Roosevelt tried to address it as the alphabet agencies of the New Deal such as the WPA( Works Projects Administration) and the CCC( Civilian Conservation Corps) began to provide aid and employment.

In December 1941, for the third time in less than threequarters of a century, citizens of the county faced the realities of war. In 1898, members of the Quitman Guard had been mustered into federal service during the short-lived Spanish American War, but they never left the United States. During the Great War of 1914-1918, men both black and white in the county had registered for the draft and many went overseas. The world-wide conflict from 1941 to 1945 affected all citizens in the county. Men

DID YOU KNOW?

The Monroe Railroad, begun in 1838, was the first railroad in Georgia and it connected Forsyth to Macon. A later depot for the Central of Georgia Railway in Forsyth has been restored and now serves as Monroe County’ s historical museum. Because of its proximity to the railline, Forsyth became a hub of Confederate hospitals in the Civil War as wounded soldiers were brought from the Battle of Atlanta.

and some women served in the military. Many of those who remained worked in war-related industries or agricultural production, earning money but unable to buy non-existent consumer goods until after 1945.

The post war period saw considerable readjustment, economically, politically, and socially. Agriculture declined, and fewer persons lived on farms. Mary Persons was the county’ s white high school and Hubbard, the county’ s premier black school, until 1964 when the schools were integrated, more than a decade after the Brown vs. Board of Education decision.

Later in the 20th century the long domination of the white Democratic Party faded as the Republican Party gained strength in the county and the South.

Today

In 1968 the federal government finished I-75 through Monroe County which would change the community significantly, putting it on the map so to speak.

Monroe County has enjoyed growth with the rest of the South as its population grew 22 percent to 26,625 between 2000-2011, and upscale residential neighborhoods cropped up in the northern and southern ends of the county. Many young families are drawn to the community because of its top-notch school system and its family-oriented, Mayberry-like small-town charm.

Through all of these decades. what happened in Monroe County reflected developments in other parts of the American South.