Editing Dacula, Georgia (section)

== History ==
[[File:Muscogee Creek Nation.jpg|left|thumb|A delegation of Muscogee (Creek) Leaders signed the first treaty between the Creek Nation and the United States. The 1790 Treaty of New York. Henry Knox, Secretary of War, negotiated on behalf of the United States while the primary negotiator for the Muscogee (Creek) Nation is said to have been Alexander McGillivray.]]

=== The Muscogee (Creek) Nation ===
The Dacula area was originally within the [[Muscogee Nation|Muscogee (Creek) Nation]]. Most of the land within the city's limits was ceded to the State of Georgia in the [[Treaty of New York (1790)|1790 Treaty of New York]] after the [[Oconee War]]s<ref>{{Cite web |last=Scurry |first=Steven |date=2004-04-21 |title=The Oconee War |url=https://flagpole.com/news/news-features/2004/04/21/the-oconee-war/ |access-date=2024-09-04 |website=Flagpole |language=en-US}}</ref> [https://native-land.ca/maps-old/treaties/cession-7/] The vicinity of Dacula was one of the first areas in northeast Georgia to be occupied by white European settlers (around the time of the [[War of 1812]]). The area remained mostly uncolonized until the late 20th century, in part, due to the remaining presence of the Cherokee Nation in portions of Gwinnett County. After settlers lobbied for the ethnic cleansing of the Nation, the [[Trail of Tears]] (through the Indian Removal Act) made it easier for Dacula and the unannexed portions of Gwinnett to be settled.[https://www.gwinnettforum.com/2023/02/brack-cherokees-removal-in-trail-of-tears-has-ties-to-gwinnett/]

=== Chinquapin Grove ===
Dacula itself began in the late 1800s under the name of [[Castanopsis|Chinquapin]] Grove (Chinquapin was spelled several different ways), where Dacula Elementary now stands. Chinquapin comes from the indigenous Powhatan word for dwarf chestnut tree (Allegheny Chinkapin). The tree is no longer found in the area due to chestnut blight. An 1865 United States Coast Survey Map shows the town of Chinquepin Grove. An 1883 George Cram Map of Georgia shows the town of Chincapin Grove. The town was renamed named "Hoke",<ref>{{cite book | url=http://www.kenkrakow.com/gpn/d.pdf | title=Georgia Place-Names: Their History and Origins | publisher=Winship Press | author=Krakow, Kenneth K. | year=1975 | location=Macon, GA | pages=57 | isbn=0-915430-00-2}}</ref> in 1891 after a [[Seaboard Air Line Railroad]] executive, but that name was changed due to the Post Office Department's protest.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://patch.com/georgia/dacula/dacula--then-and-now|title=Dacula- Then and Now|last=Lewis|first=Douglas|date=May 19, 2014|website=patch.com|access-date=April 15, 2019}}</ref> By 1895, maps of Georgia no longer showed the town of Chinquapin Grove and instead show the town of Dacula.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Stanlye |first=Jerri |title=History of Dacula, GA |publisher=City of Dacula |year=2005}}</ref> [[File:Dacula, GA. 1905.jpg|thumb|Dacula, 1905. Downtown Main Street. Seaboard Railroad occupied the buildings at right to ship cotton and other commodities [https://dlg.usg.edu/record/dlg_vang_gwn124]|left]]

=== 1900s ===
Dacula's name is said to be formed from letters in [[Decatur, Georgia|Decatur]] and [[Atlanta]] by a postmaster.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gwinnettchamber.org/Dacula.dacula.0.html |title=Dacula |work=Gwinnett Chamber |access-date=2010-06-28 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100621131133/http://gwinnettchamber.org/Dacula.dacula.0.html |archive-date=2010-06-21 }}</ref> The two cities to the west that were already prospering at the time of Dacula's founding. The New-Herald issue dated June 16, 1899 stated that Dacula would soon decide whether or not it wished to be incorporated; however, the town was not incorporated until 1905, because residents feared that incorporation would destroy business and industry.<ref name=":1" />

Religion has and continues to be a driving force in Dacula. One of the first churches built in the town was a Methodist church, founded by Rev. R. P. Jackson. A News-Herald issue dated January 25, 1912 describes the brick building was no larger than 40x60 ft.<ref name=":1" />

The town was once home to a train station on a [[CSX]] line through northeast Georgia, although the station closed in the mid-1950s.