The history of Toccoa-Stephens County must begin with the Creek and Cherokee Indians who lived in the area before white settlers moved onto the frontier in the 1790s. There were a number of Cherokee settlements in the area. Two of the largest were Estahoe, near the location of Yonah Dam today, and Tugaloo on the lower Tugaloo River. Inhabited by more than 600 people, Tugaloo was a trade center at the confluence of Toccoa Creek and the Tugaloo River, a religious meeting place and a congregating point for the Cherokees.

Trade was established between the Cherokees and the British settlement in Charleston, S.C. The demise of Tugaloo Town came during the Revolutionary War when Cherokees aligned themselves with the British forces in the area. Tugaloo was attacked and destroyed by members of the Georgia and South Carolina militias. The only evidenced of the Cherokee town that remains is a large Indian mound rising above the waters of Lake Hartwell. A historic marker on Highway 123 at the Georgia-South Carolina border helps mark the spot.

Extensive excavations of the Tugaloo Town site were undertaken in the 1950s, prior to the flooding of the area by the waters of Lake Hartwell.

Politically, the present area of Stephens County was divided when Habersham County was formed out of Franklin County in 1820. The northern half of present Stephens County was in Habersham and the remainder in Franklin.

The division would remain this way until 1906 when the present Stehpens County was formed by an act of the Georgia Legislature.

The county was named for Alexander H. Stephens, the former vice president of the Confederacy. The City of Toccoa owes its beginning to the railroad and a group of three far-thinking speculators. The three investors, Dr. O.M. Doyle of Oconee County, S.C., B.Y. Sage of Atlanta and Thomas Alexander of Atlanta anticipated the coming of the railroad through a village known as Dry Pond. The trio purchased 1,765 acres and had it surveyed into lots, publicized a May 27, 1873, lot sale and brought in excursion trains full of people.

The City of Toccoa was officially chartered in 1874 and the names of downtown streets reflect the visionary trio. Sage, Doyle, and Alexander streets still crisscross downtown Toccoa today. Toccoa was located in Habersham County, but many local residents thought it was too far and too difficult to cross the mountain to the county seat in Clarkesville.

A group of citizens launched a drive for a new county and their efforts were rewarded with the creation of Stephens County by an act of the state legislature. The first elected county officers took office on Jan. 1, 1906. Toccoa was the seat of the new county.

Great strides were made in Toccoa-Stephens County during the late 1930s. Capps Cotton Mill was purchased in 1937 by J&P Coats Co. and would remain a manufacturing fixture in the county for almost 70 years. Industrialist R.G. LeTourneau opened an earth moving equipment manufacturing plant in 1938 and the Toccoa Airport was constructed at the end of that year.

World War II had a significant impact on the community. The U.S. army created Camp Toccoa where paratroopers in the army’s new airborne units were trained. The LeTourneau plant churned out earth moving machines used by the military in all theaters of war. Employment at the plant grew to as many as 2,000 during the war years. LeTourneau’s Lake Lousie facility, later known as Georgia Baptist Assembly, was converted to a hospital to treat wounded service personnel.

Toccoa-Stephens County continued to prosper after the war. The City of Toccoa installed and started operation of a natural gas system that today stretches from near Elberton all the way to Franklin, N. C. In the late 1960s, the City of Toccoa launched a massive urban redevelopment project of the downtown area. Dilapidated buildings were demolished and city streets re-worked to make the downtown area a covered mall shopping area.

In 2007 after more than 35 years in existence, those canopies were demolished and Doyle Street re-opened to traffic. The city observed its centennial in 1974 and was named an All-America City in 1976.

Toccoa-Stephens County has been called home by a number of well-known people including singer James Brown and Olympic gold medalist Paul Anderson.

* Stephens County, Georgia and its People published by the Stephens County Historical Society.

* The Stephens County Historical  Society Musemum located adjacent to the Toccoa-Stephens County Chamber of Commerce office on Alexander Street. The society also has a military musemum.

* The Toccoa Record’s Centennital Times published in 2005 in observance of Stephens County’s centennial.