There was a time when the landscape of downtown Cartersville was markedly different from what it is today.

Just after the Civil War, the local economy was being driven by successful businessmen who made the area a thriving metropolis.

African Americans were able to share in that success with businesses of their own.

It’s no surprise that there were so many businesses owned by people of color, said Georgia Supreme Court Justice Robert Benham.

According to Benham, the 1880 Census reported that half of the residents of Bartow County were African American.

These businesses were scattered along Main Street, “under the bridge” on Church Street and along Tennessee Street.

According to the Census of 1870 there were 30 to 40 businesses owned and operated by African Americans.

Among those in business were blacksmiths, grocery stores, barbers, seamstresses and taxi stands and these shops would be a staple in the community for years.

That is until the 1930s when a hanging took place, said Benham during a lunch and learn at the Bartow History Museum recently.

“After that hanging the African American businesses either voluntarily left or were pushed out of the downtown area,” said Benham, who has been gathering local history for about 50 years.

So where did these businesses go?

“They went to Summer Hill,” Benham said.

Cartersville’s first African American doctor, Dr. W.R. Moore, set up practice in Summer Hill and Benham said he remembers fondly the Dew Drop Inn.

There also were several other businesses that cropped up in that area of the county.

In Adairsville there were at least 10 businesses which included a movie theater and a successful blacksmith whose business was located downtown.

Benham said the history of African Americans in Bartow County is rich and there is so much to learn.

“I’ve just scratched the surface,” Benham said.

Benham said the history of African Americans in Bartow County is extensive and that the entire community, both black and white, has played an important role in carrying on a legacy.

“It has been a journey of cooperation between people of both races and all races,” Benham said. “A lot of the progress we have enjoyed has come about because people realized they have more things in common than they have things which separated them and if they worked on the things that they had in common, the things that separated them would become less and less significant.”