Milton County was a

county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

of the U.S. state 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 ...

from to . It was created on December 18, 1857, from parts of northeastern Cobb, southeastern

Cherokee The Cherokee (; , or ) people are one of the Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, they were concentrated in their homelands, in towns along river valleys of what is now southwestern ...

, and southwestern Forsyth counties. The county was named for

John Milton John Milton (9 December 1608 – 8 November 1674) was an English poet, polemicist, and civil servant. His 1667 epic poem ''Paradise Lost'' was written in blank verse and included 12 books, written in a time of immense religious flux and politic ...

, Secretary of State of Georgia from 1777 to 1799.

Alpharetta Alpharetta is a city in northern Fulton County, Georgia, United States, and part of the Atlanta metropolitan area. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, Alpharetta's population was 65,818; in 2010, the population had been 57,551. ...

was the

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...

until the end of 1931, when Milton was merged with Fulton County to save it from bankruptcy during the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

. At that time, Campbell County, which had already gone bankrupt, was also ceded to Fulton, giving it its 70-mile (110 km) long irregular shape along the

Chattahoochee River The Chattahoochee River () is a river in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern United States. It forms the southern half of the Alabama and Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia border, as well as a portion of the Florida and Georgia border. It ...

. Following the 1932 merger, the Cobb County town of Roswell was also ceded to Fulton four months later on May 9, 1932. The cession of Roswell (including everything east of Willeo Creek) made the new county more contiguous, though a very narrow strip (what is now the Dunwoody Panhandle of Sandy Springs, ceded to Milton from DeKalb) actually already connected the two sections. In 1900, there were several other

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letter (message), letters and parcel (package), parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post o ...

s besides Alpharetta: Arnold, Coker, Dinsmore, Field's Cross Roads, Freemansville, McClure, Mazeppa, Ocee, Skelton, Stono, and Warsaw. Milton totaled or 94,080 acres. There was a population of 6,763, which was 555 more than at the previous (1890) census. Alpharetta had 310 residents; 1,529 lived in and around it.

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...

s and

Baptists Baptists are a Christian denomination, denomination within Protestant Christianity distinguished by baptizing only professing Christian believers (believer's baptism) and doing so by complete Immersion baptism, immersion. Baptist churches ge ...

were the dominant religious denominations.

Re-creation proposals

:''See Secession section of Fulton County, Georgia for more in depth information'' Fulton County has 10 percent of the state's population, being more populous than eight U.S. states and the

District of Columbia Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and Federal district of the United States, federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from ...

. The Fulton County school district is the only non-contiguous

school district A school district is a special-purpose district that operates local public Primary school, primary or Secondary school, secondary schools or both in various countries. It is not to be confused with an attendance zone, which is within a school dis ...

in the state, having a 17-mile (27 km) separation ( Atlanta Public Schools) between the north and south. In recent years, some residents of north Fulton County have sought to re-create Milton County. The proposed plan would include some of Georgia's largest cities in a new Milton County, such as Roswell (7th), Sandy Springs (8th), Johns Creek (12th),

(13th), Milton (54th), as well as Mountain Park. A February 2009 study completed in collaboration between the University of Georgia's Carl Vinson Institute of Government and Georgia State University's Andrew Young School of Policy Studies gave a positive analysis of the financial viability of the proposed Milton County. A bill before the

Georgia General Assembly The Georgia General Assembly is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is bicameral, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. Each of the General Assembly's 236 members serve two-year terms and are directl ...

in 2005 that proposed the inclusion of Sandy Springs would rename the remainder of Fulton County as "Atlanta County". The state's constitution, however, now prohibits any more than 159 counties, the number it has had since the merger in 1932. Any change would require a

constitutional amendment A constitutional amendment (or constitutional alteration) is a modification of the constitution of a polity, organization or other type of entity. Amendments are often interwoven into the relevant sections of an existing constitution, directly alt ...

, supported by two-thirds of each house in the General Assembly and by over half of all voters statewide in a

referendum A referendum, plebiscite, or ballot measure is a Direct democracy, direct vote by the Constituency, electorate (rather than their Representative democracy, representatives) on a proposal, law, or political issue. A referendum may be either bin ...

. On January 9, 2007, state Representative Jan Jones, who represents the house

district A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municip ...

that includes Roswell, and representatives of adjacent districts introduced HR 12. Without mentioning Milton County by name, HR 12 proposed to amend the state constitution to allow the legislature to re-create previous counties regardless of the 159-county limit, if such an action is ratified by voters in the areas of the proposed re-created county. The amendment would disallow voters in the remaining parts of Fulton County from voting on the issue. Jones stated in November 2008 that she would reintroduce the bill in 2009, after the

University of Georgia The University of Georgia (UGA or Georgia) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university with its main campus in Athens, Georgia, United States. Chartered in 1785, it is the oldest public university in th ...

's study of the issue was completed. A resolution to amend the Georgia Constitution to ease the political path for resurrection of the county was reintroduced by the area's legislators in the 2009 session as HR 21 and SR 392. As of 2009 February 18, HR 21 was reported favorably out of committee in a 7–1 vote. Reps. Jan Jones and Mark Burkhalter spoke in favor as well as Fulton County Commissioner Lynne Riley. Lobbyists for Fulton County and City of Atlanta, and Atlanta Dept of Watershed Management Commissioner Robert Hunter spoke against. , Jan Jones (who lives in the new city of Milton, named for the former county) was the speaker ''

pro tempore ''Pro tempore'' (), abbreviated ''pro tem'' or ''p.t.'', is a Latin phrase which best translates to 'for the time being' in English. This phrase is often used to describe a person who acts as a '' locum tenens'' ('placeholder'). The phrase is ...

'' of the Georgia House, and was expected to make a strong push for the new county. The

would require two-thirds of each house and half of all voters in a statewide referendum to approve the re-creation of former counties (Milton and Campbell). As of October 2021 no proposals have been advanced.

Geography

Milton County originally bordered Gwinnett to the southeast, Forsyth to the northeast,

to the northwest, Cobb to the southwest, and DeKalb ( Chamblee and Dunwoody) to the south. Because the Roswell area was formerly located in Cobb County, there was no border between Fulton and Milton counties before 1932. The northern edge of DeKalb also now no longer touches the river, as it did then. This section, north of Dunwoody Club Drive, is now the panhandle of Sandy Springs.

References

External links

North Fulton Commissioner on recreating Milton CountyAccess MiltonNew Milton CountyOld Milton County
historical marker {{Georgia (U.S. state) Fulton County, Georgia Former counties of Georgia (U.S. state) Proposed counties of the United States 1857 establishments in Georgia (U.S. state) 1931 disestablishments in Georgia (U.S. state) Populated places established in 1857