Georgia Economic History Program

Imagine a program that educates children, and anyone else with an interest, about their local economic history! Georgia has one and I think it's great. Learn more by visiting the program's website here.

Did you know that Georgia is the birth place of the tufted carpet industry? Through the late 1800s, Dalton, Georgia, struggled with cotton mills and steel manufacturing works to forge a small town in the north Georgia hills. Northwest Georgia, with its hard-packed clay, poor farmland, and rolling hills was among the last areas of Georgia settled. Rich in a heritage of Cherokee Indians and Civil War battles, that northern corner of the state was rugged and spawned people who were independent and self-sufficient. Those were the people who brought forth and nurtured the tufted textile industry. The industry's infancy was in Dalton; it has gone through intense growth in Dalton; and it has now matured in and around Dalton. The carpet industry's impact is great on this region, this state, and the nation; and the story of its growth is unique.