In January 1834 the post office was established, and in December the state legislature incorporated Cumming and officially made it the Forsyth county seat. The town was named for William Cumming, a Georgia native who made his reputation while serving as a colonel in the U.S. Army during the War of 1812 (1812-15).
Cumming benefited from the Georgia gold rush of the 1830s and 1840s as numerous businesses sprung up in town to meet the needs of prospectors. The discovery of gold in California in 1849 lured many
A reputation for racial intolerance plagued Cumming during most of the twentieth century. In 1912 Georgia governor Joseph M. Brown sent four companies of state militia to the city to prevent a riot by white residents after three African American males raped a young white woman. However, the militia could do little to prevent a month-long campaign by night riders to force all African American
Few African Americans lived in Cumming in 1987 when the city garnered nationwide attention for its role in a pair of civil rights demonstrations. In January, a small group of demonstrators marched through the streets of Cumming to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday. They were met by a group of protesters from the local Ku Klux Klan chapter, who threw stones and glass bottles at the marchers.
The attack on the marchers drew nationwide attention, and the next week, on January 24, a group of 20,000 people, some from as far away as California and including such well-known civil rights leaders and politicians as Hosea Williams and U.S. senator Gary Hart, gathered in Cumming to hold a civil rights demonstration. While local officials and business leaders attempted to welcome the marchers, a counterdemonstration of 1,000-2,000 also gathered. A large contingent of police and National Guard troops kept the heated situation from erupting into violence. The event was one of the largest civil rights demonstrations since the 1960s.
The demonstration marked the beginning of a period of change for Cumming. While the population had remained largely static for more than 100 years, new residents starting moving into the city in the 1980s as the Atlanta metropolitan area expanded. The completion of Georgia 400,
Cumming has several visitor attractions. Each October the town holds the Cumming Country Fair and Festival, which draws patrons from Atlanta and north Georgia. Fans of country music can enjoy the Concerts in the Country series held each summer and fall at Lanierland Music Park. Sawnee Mountain Preserve opened it gates to nature enthusiasts in 2005 and provides several miles of hiking trails, picnic areas, and an outdoor amphitheater.
According to the 2010 U.S. census, Cumming's population was 5,430, an increase from the 2000 population of 4,220.
Garland C. Bagley, History of Forsyth County, Georgia, 2 vols. (Easley, S.C.: Southern Historical Press, 1985-90).
C. B. Hackworth, "'Completing the Job' in Forsyth County," Southern Exposure 8 (winter 1980): 26-28.
Don L. Shadburn, ed. and comp., Pioneer History of Forsyth County, Georgia (Roswell, Ga.: W. H. Wolfe Associates, 1981).
James D. Williams, "The Long, Sad Road to Cumming, Georgia," Crisis (March 1987): 12-21, 47.
Christopher Allen Huff, University of Georgia
A project of the Georgia Humanities Council, in partnership with the University of Georgia Press, the University System of Georgia/GALILEO, and the Office of the Governor.