Page "Columbia County, Georgia" Paragraph 53

During Reconstruction, the legislature passed an act to establish a public school system for the first time.

Like the rest of the state, the county developed segregated schools.

The new communities of Harlem and Grovetown grew up.

Harlem arose in the 1880s when a disgruntled railroad employee named Hicks, angered by saloons and Sabbath breaking in Sawdust, moved along the tracks one mile east and set up a rival town, complete with its own depot.

Sawdust was eclipsed by Harlem, losing its depot and being absorbed by the newer town in the 1920s.

The city was named after Harlem, New York.

Grovetown, named for Grove Baptist Church, developed as a summer resort in the 1880s for wealthy Augustans.