History of Cumming, Georgia: 1833 to City Center

Founding and the name

• Forsyth County was one of 10 counties Georgia carved from former Cherokee lands in 1832. It is named for John Forsyth, governor of Georgia from 1827 to 1829. New Georgia Encyclopedia: Forsyth County (Christopher Allen Huff; last edited June 30, 2022)
• New Georgia Encyclopedia says Cumming was founded in 1833, a year after Forsyth County was created, and that the state legislature incorporated it and made it the county seat. New Georgia Encyclopedia: Cumming
• The State of Georgia first chartered the City of Cumming in 1834. A second charter in 1845 set up the mayor-and-council form of government. City of Cumming: Our Community
• Where the name comes from is disputed. New Georgia Encyclopedia says the town "was said to be named for" Col. William Cumming, a Georgia native and U.S. Army colonel in the War of 1812. Local historian Frank Clark of the Bell Research Center told Forsyth County News in 2019 that he thinks the name traces instead to the Rev. Frederick Cumming, who taught early settler Jacob Scudder at a Wilkes County academy. New Georgia Encyclopedia: Cumming; Forsyth County News, Jan. 24, 2019

Courthouses and fires

• The county courthouse on the square burned in 1900, was rebuilt in 1905 and burned again in 1973. New Georgia Encyclopedia: Cumming
• The current Forsyth County Courthouse, at 101 E. Courthouse Square where Main Street meets Veterans Memorial Boulevard, opened for business on March 16, 2015. That was 37 years to the day after the previous courthouse across the street opened, on March 16, 1978. Appen Media, Mar. 16, 2015; Forsyth County News, Mar. 12, 2015
• The Cumming Bandstand at Main and Dahlonega streets on the courthouse square was built in 1915 by John Robbs for concerts by the Cumming Brass Band. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on June 20, 2002. National Park Service NPGallery: Cumming Bandstand (NRIS 02000658); Historical Society of Forsyth County notice (GAGenWeb)
• The Cumming Public School was built in 1923. The City bought and restored it when it was slated for demolition in the late 1990s, and it was named to the National Register of Historic Places in 2000. City of Cumming: Our Community

1912

• In September 1912, after the killing of a young white woman named Mae Crow, a white mob lynched a Black man, Rob Edwards, in downtown Cumming. Two Black teenagers were hanged after one-day trials. For about a month afterward, night riders drove the county's Black residents out. Forsyth County had almost 1,100 Black residents in 1910 and only 17 in 1930. New Georgia Encyclopedia: Forsyth County; Equal Justice Initiative
• A historical marker remembering Rob Edwards stands downtown at the corner of East Courthouse Square and West Maple Street, near where he was lynched. The Community Remembrance Project of Forsyth County placed it with the Equal Justice Initiative and dedicated it on Sept. 10, 2021, the 109th anniversary. Equal Justice Initiative (updated Sept. 27, 2021)

1987

In January 1987, Klan members threw stones and bottles at a small march in Cumming honoring Martin Luther King Jr. On Jan. 24, about 20,000 marchers came to Forsyth County for the Brotherhood March, one of the largest civil rights demonstrations since the 1960s. (New Georgia Encyclopedia: Forsyth County, checked 2026-10-17)

Water, a highway and growth

• In the late 1970s City leaders signed the area's first contract with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to draw water from Lake Lanier. Cumming Utilities now supplies water and sewer to about a third of Forsyth County's homes and businesses. City of Cumming: Our Community
• New Georgia Encyclopedia says finishing Georgia Highway 400 in the 1980s turned Forsyth County into an Atlanta suburb and drove its population growth. New Georgia Encyclopedia: Forsyth County
• Forsyth County had 98,407 residents in the 2000 Census, 175,511 in 2010 and 251,283 in 2020. U.S. Census Bureau: 2000 SF1 P001, 2010 SF1 P1, 2020 PL P1 (Forsyth County, GA)
• The 2020 Census counted 7,318 people in the city of Cumming. The 2010 Census count was 5,430. U.S. Census Bureau, 2020 Census Redistricting Data (P.L. 94-171), Table P1; 2010 Census SF1 Table P1

The fair and the steam engines

• The City created the Cumming Fairgrounds in 1995, and the first Cumming Country Fair & Festival ran for five days that October. The Fairgrounds is at 235 Castleberry Rd. City of Cumming: Our Community; Cumming Fairgrounds: Directions
• The Thomas-Mashburn Steam Engine Parade is a July 4 tradition. It runs south on Tribble Gap Road from Forsyth Central High School to the Cumming Fairgrounds. The Antique Steam Engine Association organizes it, not the City. Cumming Fairgrounds events calendar; City of Cumming event page (2024)

City Center

• The City Center broke ground on Aug. 8, 2019. The City held its ribbon cutting on June 24, 2022 and said that was not a grand opening: it marked the end of the City's construction phase and the start of tenant build-outs. City of Cumming: City Center Ribbon Cutting event; Cumming City Center milestones
• The City of Cumming built the City Center and owns its buildings, which it leases to retail and dining tenants. The City says the leases give it a steady income so municipal property taxes never have to be levied. City of Cumming: Our Community; Cumming City Center: About
• The City says it provides its services and amenities without levying a municipal property tax and without taking on debt. City of Cumming: Our Community

Questions

Dates, rules and hours can change. The organisers have the final word: City of Cumming