In 1822 Pike County, the state’s fifty-sixth county, was created from Monroe County in west central Georgia by the state legislature. Later, parts of Pike County were used to create Upson (1824), Spalding (1851), and Lamar (1920) counties. Pike County, which comprises 218 square miles, and its county seat, Zebulon, are named after Zebulon Pike, a general in the War of 1812 (1812-15) and an explorer of the Louisiana Territory. Pike’s name was made famous by his discovery of a Colorado mountain, subsequently named Pikes Peak.

Georgia’s statewide system of tuition-free public schools dates from the late nineteenth century. Because the architectural styles of school buildings vary from one time period to another and according to local district preference, Georgia’s public schools are often easily categorized by type. A building type identifies the overall form or outline of the main or original part of the building, as well as the general layout of interior rooms. State funding for public education has varied from minimal support throughout the early nineteenth century to more substantial assistance through the state Board of Education (later the Georgia Department of Education), which was established in 1870.

A U.S. senator from Georgia for thirty-eight years, Richard B. Russell Jr. became one of the most influential senators of his time. From 1935 until the passage of the Civil Rights Act in 1964, Russell used his clout as leader of the Southern Bloc in the Senate to prevent the passage of national civil rights legislation. ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7qLHOq56imZWjsLqvy6innpyZlnuwvsZomKusmZi5pr%2BOmqmtq12Ywq3A1KucaKqZmLWivsNmmWaqpajAprjLZqGrZWFthnh5kHJuamedYoN1hJFo

Businesses line U.S. 41 in Ringgold, the county seat of Catoosa County, ca. 1930s-40s. The New Georgia Encyclopedia does not hold the copyright for this media resource and can neither grant nor deny permission to republish or reproduce the image online or in print. Requests for permission to publish or reproduce the resource should be submitted to the Georgia Archives. ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7qLHOq56imZWjsLqvy6innpyZlnuwvsZomKusmZi5pr%2BOnKaupqSesrR5wqKrop2jYrumtcahmaiqmKS8pb%2BOq6Cnn5ekuaV7zGZram5kZA%3D%3D

Georgia’s natural resources include fourteen river basins, which support a rich diversity of native fish and mussel species. A river basin consists of the entire geographic area (hillside, valley, plain) from which water flows into the primary river, which is made up of an intricate network of smaller rivers and streams. Rain falling within a river basin, or watershed, runs downhill until it reaches a stream. Small streams join other streams and flow into a river, and eventually that river flows into the sea.