Apalachee is an unincorporated settlement in Morgan County, in the U.S. state of Georgia. Apalachee was one of the earliest settlements in Morgan County.[1] It stretches along Lower Apalachee and Parsonage Roads 7spell=inNaNspell=in north of the county seat of Madison.
The first settlers arrived in the Apalachee area around 1820, making it one of the oldest communities in Morgan County.[1] Apalachee was first known as Dogsboro (or Dogsborough[2]), a name of unknown origin, in the years before a railroad line was built through the settlement.[3]
In 1888, the Central of Georgia Railway opened a station in the settlement, which was followed by a post office[2] the following year.[4] The station was named Florence, for Florence Few, a daughter of Joe C. Few,[2] one of the first settlers in the area and builder of the town's first store.[3]
Due to the existence of another Florence in Georgia, the town adopted the name of Apalachee around 1896 from the name of the nearby Apalachee River,[2] [3] which in turn was named for Apalachee Indians.[5]
By 1900, the community had 47 inhabitants.[6] The Georgia General Assembly incorporated Apalachee as a town in August 1907.[2] [3] [7]
Apalachee was considered a "prosperous town" in the early 20th century,[3] with prosperity dependent on the transport of cotton.[2] At is peak, the town had cotton gins, cotton seed presses, warehouses, two churches, a pharmacy, a physician, a general store, a Masonic lodge and a broom and handkerchief factory.[2] [3]
However, the town was hit hard by losses from the boll weevil and Great Depression that it gradually declined in the latter part of the century.[2] The post office closed in 1957[4] and the town was officially dissolved in 1995[5] along with many other inactive Georgia municipalities. The railroad has been removed. Few buildings still exist today,[8] and most remaining structures are residences on the north side of Parsonage Road. The historic Apalachee School, the white elementary and middle school from 1911 to 1951,[2] remains standing.