Starkville, or Starksville, is a

ghost town A ghost town, deserted city, extinct town, or abandoned city is an abandoned settlement, usually one that contains substantial visible remaining buildings and infrastructure such as roads. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economi ...

Lee County, Georgia Lee County is a county located in the U.S. state of Georgia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 33,163. The county was established in 1825 and its county seat is Leesburg. Lee County is included in the Albany, GA metropolitan statist ...

. The town is named for

American Revolution The American Revolution (1765–1783) was a colonial rebellion and war of independence in which the Thirteen Colonies broke from British America, British rule to form the United States of America. The revolution culminated in the American ...

war hero

John Stark Major-General John Stark (August 28, 1728 – May 8, 1822) was an American military officer who served during the French and Indian War and the Revolutionary War. He became known as the "Hero of Bennington" for his exemplary service at the Ba ...

History

Starkville was founded in 1832 as the county seat of Lee county. By 1837 a courthouse had been erected and by 1840 a jail was built. In 1856 the courthouse burned and the county seat was moved to Webster but returned in 1858. In 1832 Starkville Academy was formed to educate the young people of the town. 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 ...

incorporated Starville as a town in 1839. In 1872 the county seat was moved to Wooten Station (now known as Leesburg) and the population of Starkville dwindled away. In 1916, five African American men who had been taken from a jail in Worth County were lynched by a mob. The town's municipal charter was not officially repealed until 1995. Little remains of the original community. A cemetery marks the site.

References

{{coord, 31.7721, -84.1455, format=dms, type:city_region:US-GA, display=title Populated places established in 1832 1832 establishments in Georgia (U.S. state) Former municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state) Ghost towns in Georgia (U.S. state) Populated places disestablished in 1995