The Gainesville, Midland, Jefferson and Southern Railway built tracks through Jug Tavern in 1883 to connect Gainesville and Social Circle. Regular stops were made at Bethlehem, Jug Tavern and Mulberry. Controlling interest in the route was acquired several years later by the Georgia Railroad and Banking Company. In 1887, the Georgia, Carolina and Northern Railroad began building tracks from Baltimore to Atlanta. The company then merged with Seaboard Air Line Railway a few years later. Originally, plans were made to lay tracks about four miles south of Jug Tavern, but the company was offered a one mile right-of-way by several large landowners to bring the tracks through Jug Tavern. The first Seaboard train passed through town on April 24, 1892. The advent of the railroads brought to Winder new mobility and numerous cultural and economic advantages. Many local residents became wealthy as a result of the influx of shoppers and overnight visitors. The town’s business section grew up between the Gainesville Midland and Seaboard lines, with the oldest residential areas developing nearby. Winder’s population changed dramatically during this period. In 1890, Jug Tavern’s population totaled 202 and by 1895, 1,200 people lived in the town; Winder’s

population increased by almost one-thousand people in a five-year period. On November 17, 1884, Dr. Wiley H. Bush deeded to the Gainesville, Jefferson and Southern Railroads a right-of-way extending 100 feet on each side of the center of its existing track. This property included the

land Bush owned in both Jackson and Walton counties. Present-day Midland Avenue in Winder follows the route of the railroad through present-day Winder. Six years later, on December 8, 1890, Bush deeded additional acreage to the Georgia, Carolina and Northern Railway Company. After this company was merged into the Seaboard Air Line Railway in 1892, a passenger depot was constructed on Porter Street. The depot was later presented to the City of Winder, served as the office of the Chamber of Commerce, and was occupied by the Barrow County Historical Society (The Barrow County Historical Society is currently [1997] located in the old jail, behind the courthouse).