Kirkland is an
unincorporated community
An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...
in
Atkinson County, in the
U.S. state
In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...
of
Georgia
Georgia most commonly refers to:
* Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus
* Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States
Georgia may also refer to:
People and fictional characters
* Georgia (name), a list of pe ...
. It was originally in
Coffee County, before Atkinson County was formed in 1917.
History
A post office called Kirkland was established in 1875, and remained in operation until 1954. Kirkland (both the post office and, consequently, the surrounding hamlet) was likely named for the several large families of that surname in the area. One widely assumed namesake was Timothy Kirkland (1799-1864), a local landowner, after whom nearby Kirkland Pond was named. Another possibility was William Kirkland, who operated a
general store
A general merchant store (also known as general merchandise store, general dealer, village shop, or country store) is a rural or small-town store that carries a general line of merchandise. It carries a broad selection of merchandise, someti ...
adjacent to the post office.
According to a newspaper article titled "History of Kirkland", written by Mrs. W. L. Kirkland, the town was named after Joseph Kirkland, Bill Kirkland, and Mack Kirkland. Before the railroad (
Atlantic Coast Line Railroad
The Atlantic Coast Line Railroad was a United States Class I railroad formed in 1900, though predecessor railroads had used the ACL brand since 1871. In 1967, it merged with long-time rival Seaboard Air Line Railroad to form the Seaboard Coast ...
) came through, Joseph Kirkland dammed the Kirkland fish pond. He built a house, a
grist mill
A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and Wheat middlings, middlings. The term can refer to either the grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist is grain that h ...
, and
cotton gin
A cotton gin—meaning "cotton engine"—is a machine that quickly and easily separates cotton fibers from their seeds, enabling much greater productivity than manual cotton separation.. Reprinted by McGraw-Hill, New York and London, 1926 (); ...
s, which were operated by water power. He also put up a blacksmith shop. Mack and Bill Kirkland built a log store house. The Kirkland family gave land for several miles of the railroad to be built. A forest fire burned up many houses and the machinery of Joseph Kirkland as well as the store of Mack and Bill Kirkland. Mack and Bill moved to the north side of the railroad, built houses, and got married.
References
External links
* - contains the letter on the history of Kirkland
Unincorporated communities in Atkinson County, Georgia
Unincorporated communities in Georgia (U.S. state)
{{AtkinsonCountyGA-geo-stub