The town which would become Taylorsville was carved out of an agricultural community whose fortunes were greatly enhanced by the completion of the Cartersville & Van Wert Railroad in 1870, which connected to the Western & Atlantic Railroad in Cartersville. An immediate result of the railroad was that a new town was laid out on property belonging to Thomas Ausley and Israel P. Davis of Polk County. A post office had already been established in 1856 and had been given the name of Mountain House. It served the community until 1860 with Benjamin Franklin Williams serving as postmaster. Taylorsville was named for Edward Gammage Taylor, who completed the town survey. Mr. Ausley was thought to be the first mayor. The first house was built by John Loudermilk east of the town. Some of the first merchants were J. M. Smith, Sr. and Rowan Hanie. Taylorsville was not officially incorporated until August 19,1916, with J. W. Kennedy as mayor and both W. M. Dorsey and W. D. Trippe as alderman. The town cemetery, known today as the Old Taylorsville Church Cemetery, lies partly in Polk County. Israel P. Davis was the first to be buried, as he gave the land for it.

As a lumber and agricultural center Taylorsville attracted many settlers. Over the next ten to twelve years the railroad would be extended from Taylorsville west into Alabama, bringing many more opportunities for both travel and trade. However, the latter part of the twentieth century brought a decline in the number of family farms. The business district of Taylorsville never grew to any size, but it did supply the local farmers with the necessary goods and services to survive.

Anchoring the small downtown in 2012 is a more modern post office and the Taylorsville Baptist Church, organized in 1838 as the Salem Baptist Church and located originally beyond Euharlee Creek off Old Alabama Road. The church moved to Taylorsville in 1878, changing its name on July 20, 1901. The current building was erected in 1911. Gone are businesses such as the old Taylorsville Bank established in 1905, the farmers supply, the old cotton gin, and several others. However, the buildings that once housed these establishments remain as reminders of Taylorsville’s past. At the entrance to the city cemetery, or the Old Taylorsville Church Cemetery, south of downtown, stands the once prominent Taylorsville Methodist church, organized in 1906, burned in 1943 and rebuilt in 1949. It sadly closed in 1988. North of downtown once stood the old Taylorsville school which is no more. The railroad tracks still pass through downtown at the intersection of Church & Main, but traffic is minimal serving various industries both east and west. Taylorsville can best be described today as a bedroom community of both new and old families with scattered small farms throughout. GA Highway 113 is the town’s major highway connecting Rockmart and Cedartown to the west and Cartersville and I-75 to the east.


Source: History of Bartow County, Georgia, Formerly Cass by Lucy Josephine Cunyus; Bartow County Georgia Heritage Book, Vol. 1, Compiled by Bartow County Genealogical Society, pages 48, 49.

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