Newton County is a community of firsts. Established on December 24th, 1821 Newton County has been at the forefront of innovations since its inception. The first innovation came from the Newton County School Systems. During the early 1900’s, school children either walked to school or didn’t attend at all. The Newton School Board came up with a brilliant solution: mule-drawn wagons, the first ever school bus!
The educational innovations didn’t stop there. Newton County schools were the first to change over from using the dipper in the water bucket to having each child use his own cup from which to drink. They were extremely proud of this and took the photo with cups visible.
Newton County Schools also started the Corn Club which they claim to be a predecessor of the 4-H Club. Mr. Adams from the Brick Store community started the program. George Claud Adams dedicated his life to agriculture and the community. He was born the 12th of 16 children and spent most of his early life on the family farm. Even though he had less than one year of formal education, never attending high school or college, Adams dedicated much of his career to improving the education of boys and girls both in the classroom and on the farm. Adams organized the Boys' Corn Club in Newton County in 1904. These corn clubs are widely known as the predecessors of Georgia 4-H, making Adams the “Father of 4-H” in Georgia.
Newton County was also one of the first “Camera Ready” communities in Georgia. Starting in 2010, Gov. Nathan Deal, in conjunction with the Georgia Film Office launched a new initiative to ensure that Georgia counties had a film liaison to assist with the production of films. Newton County was the first to join the initiative, having already established relationships with Hollywood film crews from earlier productions like The Dukes of Hazzard and In the Heat of the Night.
Newton County: A history of firsts!
