About Griffin, Georgia
Nestled 35 miles south of Atlanta and midway between Macon and Newnan in the piedmont descending toward South Georgia is the town of Griffin, home of Griffin Technical College.
The community of Griffin predates Atlanta and was the brainchild of General Lewis Lawrence Griffin, a wealthy, self-made businessman who planned the area as an intersection of his Monroe Railroad and the Georgia and West Point Railroad. Only the Depression of 1843 prevented Griffin from becoming the hub of these two railroads and delayed the decision long enough for the Georgia and West Point Railroad to choose Atlanta as its eventual ‘terminus’ where the two railroads crossed.
Inventor and artist
Dox
Thrash, was born in Griffin, Georgia and
lived in the area until he was twelve years old.
Thrash worked as a carnival worker, elevator
operator, and went to night school at the Chicago
Academy of Art. He invented the carborundum
mezzotint
process and is
known as one of the brightest lights in
African-American art in the twentieth century.
Wild west legend,
Doc Holliday, was born and raised in Griffin
before becoming a dentist, contracting tuberculosis,
and eventually heading west where he met Wyatt Earp
and became famous for his participation in the
gunfight at the O.K. Corral. His descendants live
here still.Although Griffin was not burned by the Union Army during the Civil War, it was economically devastated by the destruction of over 300 miles of area railroad lines. Reconstruction and the postwar era delayed a return to prosperity in Griffin. In 1880 textile manufacturing began to be a prosperous industry and in 1888 the Kincaid Manufacturing Company opened. It continued to expand by buying other mills in the area. Today, the company is known as Dundee Mills/Springs Industries and is one of Griffin’s largest employers.
