Editing Louisville, Georgia (section)

== History ==
[[File:Slave Market, Public Square, Louisville (Jefferson County, Georgia).jpg|thumb|right|278px|[[Old Market (Louisville, Georgia)|Old Market]], 1934]]
Louisville was [[Municipal corporation|incorporated]] on January 26, 1786, as the prospective state capital, though it did not become so for a decade. [[Savannah, Georgia|Savannah]] had served as the colonial capital, but was considered too far from the center of population in the growing state, and Augusta became the state capital in the 1780s.

Louisville was named for [[Louis XVI of France|Louis XVI]], who had aided the [[Continental Army|Continentals]] during the [[American Revolutionary War]] and was still the [[French monarchy|King]] of [[Early modern France|France]] when the decision to incorporate the city was made. Development of the city took years, and its state government buildings were completed in 1795. An old Revolutionary War soldiers' cemetery is located on the western side of town.

The city of Louisville served as the [[List of capitals in the United States|state capital]] of Georgia from 1796 to 1806. It was a center of trade, legislators, and political influence. The Jefferson County courthouse, built in 1904, stands on the site of Georgia's first permanent capitol building.<ref>[http://georgia.gov/cities-counties/louisville Louisville] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130806013706/http://georgia.gov/cities-counties/louisville |date=August 6, 2013 }}, Georgia.gov, accessed August 27, 2013.</ref>

Louisville's historic open-sided market house, [[Old Market (Louisville, Georgia)|Old Market]], (Old Slave Market) still stands in the center of downtown. The original market had sections for sales of farm produce, household goods, and [[Slavery in the United States|enslaved African Americans]]. The caption of a 1934 photograph in the Library of Congress proves the sale of enslaved Black people happened at this market, with details.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Slave Market, Public Square, Louisville, Jefferson County, GA |url=https://www.loc.gov/item/ga0248/ |access-date=2022-05-18 |website=Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA}}</ref> The Old Market is listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places listings in Jefferson County, Georgia|National Register of Historic Places]]. Roads and other transportation routes intersected at the market square, the hub of the region when the town was the state capital. The state capital was moved to [[Milledgeville, Georgia|Milledgeville]] and later to [[Atlanta]], in the [[Piedmont (United States)|Piedmont]].

As a small city and county seat, Louisville now has few major businesses and industries. A marker dedicated to the [[Yazoo land scandal]] of the 18th century is located in front of the Jefferson County Courthouse. Queensborough National Bank and Trust Company was founded in 1902 and is currently headquartered in Louisville, on [[U.S. Route 1 in Georgia|U.S. Highway 1]].