Baxley Quick Facts  and History

---

Preliminary Census 2000 figures list the City Population as 4,150 up 9% from last Census counts.

The City of Baxley, Georgia is located in Appling County in the Southeastern part of Georgia. Rich Farm and Timber Lands, as well as numerous lakes and streams comprise the geography of the region. As county seat, Baxley is the largest city in the county and serves as a shopping and medical hub for the area.

The City of Baxley offers over 20 services to it's residents. Services are provided through User Fee's, Taxes, and Forfeitures and Fines. The millage rate for the City is 6.04. Garbage Collection is privatized and collected weekly. The monthly fee is $9.50. Please see the "Services" section for water and sewer rates. The Fire Department is comprised of all paid staff and the ISO rating is 5. The City has a Tree Ordinance that may be viewed in full in the "Code Enforcement" section.

 

City of Baxley

History

Baxley, the seat of Appling County, is located in the wiregrass region of southeastern Georgia, at the crossroad of Highways #1 and #341. Most of the town's early economic development stemmed from the timber rafting and naval stores industries that dominated southeast Georgia during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Baxley was named for Wilson Baxley, a prosperous local farmer, cattle owner and businessman who owned extensive acreage in the area and operated the community's first store. Baxley sold the right of way near his store to the Macon and Brunswick Railroad which was completed in 1870. This area was originally known as Station Number 7, because of its location on the railroad, but quickly became know as "Baxley" by the railroad hands due to the location of the small store. Baxley replaced Holmesville as the county seat in 1874 and the Georgia legislature officially granted incorporation during the next year. The present day courthouse, located in downtown Baxley, was built from 1907 to 1908 and is the fourth courthouse to serve the county.

The new designation did not automatically induce settlement. The 1900 census recorded only 700 town residents. Most inhabitants operated small subsistence farms in the surrounding countryside, which produced such staples as corn, wheat, sugar cane and livestock. Cotton became a major economic factor between 1880 and the 1920's, until the boll weevil, foreign competition and synthetic fabrics hurt cultivation. A revival of the crop took place during the 1980's and continues to be a major farm staple for this area.

Residents also turned the large number of pine trees to their advantage.  They tied cut logs into broad, flat-bottomed rafts 25 feet wide and 175 feet long and poled the crafts down the Altamaha River to sawmills. Baxley also profited from the large amount of turpentine and resin production in the area. Adrian Van Bokkelyn began a turpentine operation which was one of the largest outfits in Georgia, producing 100,000 casks of turpentine in its ten years of business.

The turpentine industry continued to grow and Filtered Resin Products Plant was built in Baxley in 1940. This processing plant completely changed the production of the gum and the small, individually owned stills slowly disappeared from the area. Baxley became the only city in the state of Georgia with a working turpentine still and the largest operating still in the U.S. The plant which is now AKZO Nobel recently stopped production of resin and now purchases all of the product from overseas.

The sale of sweet potato plants from 1917 to the early 1930?s brought national attention to Baxley. In 1933, during the Great Depression, the local Kiwanis Club celebrated Sweet Potato Plant Day and sent more than a million plants to the destitute of Atlanta. The plant industry was instrumental in starting Baxley on its upward climb to progress.

Baxley's current economic activity relies more heavily on industry. During the late 1960's the Edwin I. Hatch Nuclear Power Plant was built on the Altamaha River in Appling County.

Several prominent individuals have claimed an association with Baxley. Caroline Miller, the Pulitzer Prize winning author of Lamb in His Bosom lived in Baxley when she wrote the novel. Her work replicated the folklore, customs and speech patterns of people living in this area during the early 1900's. Miller frequented Barnes's Drugstore, a popular gathering place for town locals during the early twentieth century. The building remains standing on Main Street, and its decor and soda fountain have been recreated as part of the World of Coke museum in Atlanta.

Alfred Jenkins, a Baxley native, served as director of Asian community affairs for the U.S. State Department during President Richard M. Nixon's administration. He accompanied the president on his visit to mainland China in February 1972.

In 2000 Baxley had a population of 4150, an increase of 9% from the previous census. A Main Street Renovation program marks the efforts of city officials to revitalize the downtown area and focus attention on its historic buildings. In January 2000 Baxley received the designation as a Better Hometown and became A City of Excellence in 2004.