HURTSBORO, Town In Russell County, on the
Central of Georgia Railway and the Seaboard Air Line
Railway, 16 miles west of Scale, and 64 miles east of
Montgomery. The corporate limits include all tho territory
in a circle having a diameter of 1 mile, from a center at
the crossing of Main Street and the Central of Georgia
Railway tracks. Altitude: 346 feet. Population: 1890—433;
1900—407; 1910—764. It was originally incorporated by the
legislature in 1872, but adopted the municipal code in
1908. It has a public school building, erected In 1909 at
a cost of $10,000; an electric light and water plant,
erected In 1914 at a cost of $32,000; a volunteer fire
department, organized in 1914; 4-1/2 miles of sanitary
sewerage, installed In 1914 at a cost of $11,000; and an
unimproved municipal park of five acres. Its bonded
indebtedness Is $43.000—$10,000. 6 per cent school bonds
due In 1929, $24,000, 6 per cent water and light bonds due
in 1924, and $9,000, 5 per cent water and light extension
bonds due in 1936. The Hurtsboro Tribune, established by
W. J. Baldwin, January 17, 1913, is published there. The
Bank of Hurtsboro (State) and the Farmers and Merchants
Bank (State), are its banking Institutions. Its industries
are a cotton seed oil mill, 2 cotton ginneries, 4 cotton
warehouses, 2 fertilizer plants, 2 gristmills, a planing
mill, 3 sawmills, a bottling plant, and the
municipal plants above referred to.
The town was originally "Station
No. 4" on the Mobile & Girard Railroad. In 1857 Joel
Hurt, Sr., from Edenton, Ga., located there, and with
William Marshall, bought the land now included in the
town, and established a sawmill. In 1868 when the Mobile
& Glrard Railroad reached the place, the mill company
laid off the town, with the mill in the center, and called
it Hurtville for the principal founder. The first church
was founded by the Methodists, Rev. Mr. Pilley, pastor.
The post office was established in 1860, with James P.
Marshall as postmaster. He was succeeded by T. C. Hill who
served from 1861 to 1866. On account of a similarity to
the name Huntsvllle and consequent confusion in the
handling of mails, the name was changed to Hurtsborough in
1882 and shortly thereafter the spelling was altered to
Hurtsboro. The Savannah, Amerlcus & Montgomery
Railroad (now Seaboard Air Line Railway) reached the town
in 1892.
Among the early settlers were
Nimrod W. Long, first representative from the county in
the legislature, Ed. N. Brown, Jr., the Mexican railway
and mining engineer, and Joel Hurt, Jr.
