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This history is excerpted from The History of Cherokee County by Rev. Lloyd G. Marlin, Cherokee County Historian, and former Superintendent of Holly Springs Schools. The book was originally published in 1832 by Walter W. Brown Publishing Co. in Atlanta, Georgia, as “a part of the statewide preparation being made for Georgia’s Bicentennial Celebration in 1933”. Recently reprinted by the Cherokee County Historical Society in Canton, the book is for sale. Visit the Society’s website for more information.
Alfred W. Roberts House:
One of Ball Ground’s largest houses, originally constructed in the mid-1800s and enlarged around 1900. Unusual eclectic style encompassing ‘plantation plain’, Victorian and Classical elements—all a reflection of the historical development of the property between 1855 and 1932. On the National Register of Historic Properties.
“Contributing their own share in the development of Cherokee County are four incorporated towns besides Canton: Ball Ground, Woodstock, Holly Springs, and Waleska. The first three, situated on the line of the Louisville & Nashville Railroad, which runs north and south through the county, and also on the arterial State Highway No. 5, have drawn much of their growth from the presence of excellent transportational facilities.
All of these towns are peopled with enterprising citizens, and are, if hardly frenzied centers of trade and industry, at least thriving, progressive communties from which trade and industry are by no means lacking. Each has an individual character, drawn from the advantages of its particular environment and from the nature of the part which it plays in the economic life of Cherokee County. And each has its record of participation in the history of the county.
Ball Ground, the largest of these four places, is a substantial town of eight hundred or more inhahitants, and is situated eleven miles north and slightly east of Canton. It is the northernmost town in Cherokee County, although a small portion of Nelson, three miles farther up the highway, extends from Pickens County into Cherokee.
The name of Ball Ground is a survival of Indian days, when the site of the present town was used by the Cherokees for their national pastime, the ball-play. The several hills on which the town is built sweep up from a broad level space to the south, probably the identical tract on which the Cherokees won a game of ball from their southern neighbors, the Creeks, for the prize of a thousand square miles of land.
Although its name has always been applied to the immediate locality, Ball Ground did not come into existence as a town until the railroad passed through it in 1882. Its development up to that year consisted mainly of two country stores and half a dozen dwellings. The community was almost purely agricultural.
When the survey of the Marietta & North Georgia line was run through Ball Ground in 1882, the officials of the road decided to put up a depot there and start a town to go along with it. Land for a townsite was contributed to the railroad by landowners of the vicinity, whose deed of transfer stated that “The consideration moving each of us in the establishing of this town is the enhanced value to our lands within and adjacent to the said town, and the general benefit to the country, by which we shall be benefited.” Those who donated land were Sarah E. Carpenter, Martha Carpenter, J.W. Byers, P.H. Lyon, F.M. Waldrup, A.M.F. Hawkins, Ancil Bearden, F.M. Waldrup, Ellen Byers, J.C. Carpenter, N.A. Lyon, Hester A. Byers, Berty Carpenter.
The railroad officials laid this land off into town lots and held a sale of them in April, 1882. Nearly all the lots were disposed of at once, and the town immediately began to build up. Within two years Ball Ground had an estimated population of 259, a large number of new buildings, three church organizations, a high school, a charter (from the fall term of the legislature of 1882), and a complete set of municipal officers. The incorporators of the town were W.A. Hayes, W.J. Boling, Captain Patterson H. Lyon, M.G. Bates, and J.A. Byers. The first officers of Ball Ground, elected in January 1884, were: Captain Patterson H. Lyon, Mayor; Dr. A.M.F. Hawkins, W.A. Hayes, R.J. Boling, and J.H. Kilby, Councilmen; J.N. Percell, Marshal.
A new charter was obtained for Ball Ground in 1911 extending its corporate powers, providing for public schools, and otherwise bringing the town up to date.
Ball Ground has always been considered as one of the best business points on the railroad. In addition to providing a market for nearby agricultural sections, it has a number of well-developed industries, such as ginning, saw-milling, and wood-working.
The main industry in Ball Ground for a number of years, however, and the one for which it is best known, is the marble-working industry. Three sizeable concerns operate in this industry, the Consumers Monument Company, the Roberts Marble Company, and the Ball Ground Monument Company. Manufactured from marble quaried at Tate, Georgia, the products of these companies are widely known and used.
Ball Ground is a clean and attractive town, and a steadily-growing one. It has an excellent school system and two churches, Methodist and Baptist; supports a number of prosperous commercial establishments, including a bank and a hotel, in addition to its industrial enterprises; and contains many attractive homes. There are no finer people anywhere than its citizens.”
The Cherokee County Office of Economic Development has created a website full of information about Cherokee County and the cities and communities that are a part of this county. Within the website, one will find numerous blocks of statistics about Ball Ground, GA and the demographics that make up Ball Ground and the rest of Cherokee County. Whether you are a family looking to move to the Ball Ground area or a company looking for a prospective site for their business, you will find what you are looking for within this website.
The City of Ball Ground issues building permits for residential and commercial construction within the City Limits of Ball Ground. The building permit application, and other City forms and applications, can be found in the Document Center. Please see the Planning and Zoning webpage for information on development and land disturbance permitting.
Permits and Inspections: Please call (770) 735-2123 or email Michelle Tanner at mtanner@cityofballground.com for all permits and inspections questions.
Fee Schedule: Click HERE
*** All building permits must be submitted via email to Michelle Tanner at mtanner@cityofballground.com. Permit submittals that do not follow the provided checklist of requirements will be rejected. ***
In order to obtain a building permit, the applicant must submit a completed building permit application and all required supporting documents. A listing of these supporting documents can be found in the building permit application document. The water and sewer capacity fees must be paid prior to receiving a building permit. If sanitary sewer is not available within 300 feet of the property line on which a permit is being requested, then the applicant must show a septic permit from the Cherokee County Health Department prior to a building permit being issued.
Builders requesting an inspection should contact the City Hall at 770-735-2123. Every attempt will be made to provide a next-day inspection service for all requests received prior to 2:00 p.m.
Required Inspections:
This would be a proposed 8 foot wide sidewalk that would establish a pedestrian connection to the new Elementary School.
This project has been approved for CDBG funding and plans are being drawn by the engineer as of December 2010.
The area through which this sidewalk is proposed will also serve as a liner park. Estimated cost of this portion of the project will be $30,000.
COMPLETED
This would be a proposed standard 5 foot sidewalk. Funds for this project have been requested through the Safe Routes to School grant process.
The sidewalk would be constructed on the east side of Old Canton Road. Portions of the sidewalk already exist due to residential construction in the area. Estimated cost is $25,000.
COMPLETED
This is a complicated project due to street width, building encroachments, terrain changes and stream crossing. The project is proposed as a combination of concrete sidewalk and wooden board walk. The boardwalk sections would be elevated over streams and drainage ditches.
This project has been pre-approved for CDBG expenditures, and the project should go to bid at the same time as the Valley Street Sidewalk previously discussed. How much of the project actually gets completed remains to be seen as the grant dollars are limited to $85,000.
COMPLETED
This would be a proposed 8 foot wide sidewalk that would establish a pedestrian connection to the new Elementary School.
This project has been approved for CDBG funding and plans are being drawn by the engineer as of December 2010.
The area through which this sidewalk is proposed will also serve as a liner park. Estimated cost of this portion of the project will be $30,000.
COMPLETED
This would be a proposed 8 foot wide sidewalk that would establish a pedestrian connection to the new Elementary School.
This project has been approved for CDBG funding and plans are being drawn by the engineer as of December 2010.
The area through which this sidewalk is proposed will also serve as a liner park. Estimated cost of this portion of the project will be $30,000.
COMPLETED
For the immediate future this project is planned as a compacted earth or mulch trail rather than concrete sidewalk. Accomplishing the project in this manner will help in the creation of a safe walking environment with the grading and ADA compliance requirements of a standard concrete sidewalk.
Installation would take place on the east side of Old Dawsonville Road and would run to the end of existing City property. The City could then install a cross walk on Old Dawsonville Road to create a safer crossing method from residents of the Preston Manor Subdivision to connect to the trail, and ultimately the City sidewalk system. Total cost of the project is estimated at $7,500.
SCHEDULED FOR 2017
This project would take place on the east side of Canton Highway (aka State Route Business 5 or Ball Ground Highway).Several portions of this project present challenging terrain concerns, ultimately requiring substantial back fill in an effort to construct a sufficiently wide sidewalk while still maintaining a comfortable distance from the heavily travelled roadway.
While not ranking particularly high on the priority scale, this project, long term, would provide a viable pedestrian
connection for what will be a heavy residential site with two commercial sites. Because of the grading and backfilling operations this project is difficult to estimate for cost but is anticipated to exceed $100,000.
SEEKING GRANT FUNDING
Ball Ground City Hall
215 Valley Street
Ball Ground, GA 30107
770-735-2123 770-735-4552
