Photo Gallery: "Lewis Lawrence Griffin"
For pictures of Griffin City Hall (the location of this sign), see the
marker "The City of Griffin" in this county.
Sign text:
Born in South Carolina, October 3, 1794. Lewis Lawrence
Griffin moved to Georgia with his widowed mother in the early 1800's. He
fought in the Georgia Militia under General Daniel Newnan in Florida and,
later, under Generals John Floyd and Thomas Glascock in the Creek Wars. He
was a country merchant, a General in the Militia, a legislator. In 1833 the
Legislature chartered the Monroe Railroad Co. and he was made its president.
In 1840 General Griffin auctioned off lots in the town which
was named for him and through which the railroad would pass. He planned a
great city with wide boulevards. A philanthropist, he gave generous lots to
churches, schools, public buildings and a parade ground. He sacrificed a
fortune attempting to save the railroad and the bank connected with it from
financial ruin. Unsuccessful, he moved to Mississippi where he made another
fortune and died in 1867.
When he visited Griffin in 1856 to receive a hero's welcome,
the town newspaper commented: "He did more than any other man to arouse the
people of Central and Western Georgia to a proper sense of the necessity of
works of internal improvement. Every prediction that he made in reference to
the beneficial results of his designs has been fulfilled.
126-18 Georgia Historical Commission 1959
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