Editing Cedartown, Georgia (section)

==History==
[[File:Courthouse of Polk County, Georgia.jpg|thumb|left|Cedartown has been the county seat of [[Polk County, Georgia|Polk County]] since 1851, when the county was created.]] 
[[Cherokee]] and [[Creek (people)|Creek]] [[Native Americans in the United States|Native Americans]] first inhabited the area known as Cedar Valley. The Cherokee people had established a village there in the 1830s after the Native Americans were forced out on the [[Trail of Tears]].<ref>{{cite news | url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=IP4vAAAAIBAJ&pg=4158%2C565470 | title=Polk County| work=Calhoun Times | date=1 September 2004 | access-date=26 April 2015 | page=98}}</ref> The settlement was named for the [[Juniperus virginiana|red cedar]] timber near the site.<ref>{{cite book | url=http://www.kenkrakow.com/gpn/c.pdf | title=Georgia Place-Names: Their History and Origins | publisher=Winship Press | author=Krakow, Kenneth K. | year=1975 | location=Macon, GA | page=37 | isbn=0-915430-00-2}}</ref>

The most famous of these settlers was Asa Prior. According to local legend, the water rights to [[Big Spring Park, Cedartown, Georgia|Big Spring]] were won for the white settlers by a local white boy in a footrace with a Cherokee youth. Some versions of the legend differ, saying that the rights to the spring were won by the Cherokee people from the Creek people in a ball game. "Big Strickland" became "Cedar Town" when Prior deeded ten acres of adjacent land to the newly chartered city in 1852. Van Wert (a mile from present day Rockmart) was the original county seat and Cedar Town became the county seat later.{{citation needed|date=October 2014}}

During the [[American Civil War|Civil War]], Cedar Town was abandoned by most of its citizens when [[Union (American Civil War)|Union]] troops encroached. The city was burnt to the ground by the Union forces of General [[Hugh Judson Kilpatrick]] in 1865, leaving only one [[watermill|mill]] standing on the outskirts of town.

In 1867, the town was re-chartered by the state of [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]] as Cedartown. An influx of industrial business bolstered its largely cotton-based economy, with Goodyear and other fabric mills and iron works appearing in or near what is now the Cedartown Industrial Park on the west side of town.

Industrial and passenger [[rail transport|railroad]] service was added to Cedartown in the early 20th century. Main St. became a part of [[U.S. Route 27]], a major north–south automobile route that connects Cedartown to larger cities like [[Chattanooga, Tennessee]] and [[Columbus, Georgia]]. U.S. 27 also intersects in town with [[U.S. Route 278]], which connects Cedartown with [[Atlanta]].

The [[Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company]] built a large [[textile]] mill operation in Cedartown, and also built a large residential section of town for mill workers, now known as the Goodyear Village.{{citation needed|date=October 2014}}

In recent times, the Georgia Rails to Trails project has converted much of the former [[Seaboard Air Line]] into the [[Silver Comet Trail]], a federal and state funded park that connects many cities in northwest Georgia. The former Seaboard Air Line, now CSXT, tracks are still in place and used between Rockmart and Cedartown, to serve rail customers in both cities, connecting with the former L&N line in Cartersville, Ga on a former SAL branchline, that now serves a Georgia Power plant with Wyoming coal.

Cedartown's Main Street is listed in the [[National Register of Historic Places]] in recognition of its 1890s architecture. During the 1970s, many structures were demolished, including train stations, churches, and a high school, and a theater on Main Street.

In January 2017, the Polk County Comprehensive Plan outlined investments to be made in the repair and construction of new sidewalks, street parks, and paving in Cedartown over the next decade.<ref>{{cite web|title=Polk County Joint Comprehensive Plan|url=http://www.nwgrc.org/wp-content/uploads/Polk-County-Joint-Comprehensive-Plan-2017-2027.pdf|website=Northwest Georgia Regional Commission|access-date=12 September 2017}}</ref>