Smyrna’s First Mayor
John C. Moore
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Ulysses S. Grant was President of the U.S., and the South was still suffering from the effects of abusive Reconstruction when Smyrna was first incorporated August 23, 1872. One theory is that in the post-war era, citizens feared the town would be named for Neal Dow, a Yankee abolitionist, for whom the railroad station was named. They preferred instead to name it Smyrna after the religious
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campground which had been established here in the 1830’s. Incorporating legislation named John C. Moore Mayor (Intendent). Four aldermen were also named: E.D.L. Mobley, W.R. Bell, W.L. Davenport, and G.P. Daniel. The town was incorporated a second time in 1897 reducing the city limits from 1 mile to 1/2 mile but most early records were destroyed in a city hall fire in the 1920’s.
Marker is on Memorial Place 0 miles south of Atlanta Road SE (Georgia Route 3), on the right when traveling south.
Courtesy hmdb.org
