Dacula - Then and Now

By: Douglas W. Lewis, Dacula resident and Gwinnett County attorney 

The 21st Annual Dacula Memorial Day Parade will be held on Monday, May 26, 2014. The theme for this year’s parade is “Courage – Sacrifice – Freedom”.  The patriotic parade is expected to draw over 150 entries and over 10,000 spectators.  The 20th Annual Dacula 1 Mile Fun Run and 5k Run will kick off the Memorial Day festivities and is always a great time.

In celebration of the upcoming annual tradition of Dacula’s Memorial Day Parade we take a brief look back at the history of our great town.

Dacula is unique for many reasons one of which is the fact that no other city in America shares its name. Dacula’s history can be traced back to the time of the War of 1812 when Fort Daniel was built at Hog Mountain near the intersection of Ga Highway 324 and Ga. Highway 124.

In 1812, the founding father of Gwinnett County, Elisha Winn, built a house for his family on what is now known as Dacula Road. The Elisha Winn House and Fair is a must see when visiting Dacula.

In 1818, Gwinnett County was formed from portions of Hall County and Jackson County. Mr. Winn was appointed as the first judge and his barn was used as the first ‘courthouse’ for the new county. A jail was also located on the Winn property.

In the early 1820s, the Federal Highway, which was built south of Fort Daniel, became the stage route to Athens. In the 1840’s the community became known as Chinquapin Grove.

One of Dacula’s first pioneer citizens was J. W. Hamilton who was born in Gwinnett County on November 7th, 1847. Mr. Hamilton served in the Confederate Army and later built a small wooden house in 1891 around which Dacula would grow.

Samuel Freeman, another Dacula pioneer, completed medical school in Atlanta and then settled on land at the intersection of Fence and Dacula roads where he built a small hospital.   Dr. Freeman was a surgeon during the Civil War. Dr. Freeman donated land for the Methodist Church and the first school in the area and the community began to be known as ‘Freeman Town’.

The name of the community changed again when in 1891 contractors laying track for the Seaboard Airline Railroad chose the area which later became Dacula to be their temporary work camp. A small post office was built and the area was named after a surveyor and called ‘Hoke’.

Dacula was officially incorporated in 1905. The community’s postmaster, John Freeman, was required to provide the government with the town’s name. Mr. Freeman rejected the names of ‘Hoke’ and ‘Freeman Town’ and instead took an odd combination of certain letters from ‘Decatur’ and ‘Atlanta’, which were two nearby prosperous towns, to form the original and unique name of ‘Dacula’.

Gwinnett County and Dacula Attorney Douglas W. Lewis has over twenty years of experience in Gwinnett County and the Atlanta Metro area handling family law and divorce cases, personal injury cases, criminal defense, civil litigation cases and estate planning matters.  If you have any questions or want to schedule an office consultation then please contact Doug Lewis by phone at 770-682-3765, via email at dlewis@dwlewislaw.com, or at the firm’s website.