Originally known as Ebenezer, Reese grew up along an old post road near the Little River in Morgan County. Historic maps identify the community as Ebenezer in Durdin’s Militia District as early as 1839, and it was not until around the turn of the century that it came to be known as Reese. An 1882 application for a new post office location addressed to Mr. Joseph Reese indicates that a post office named Ebenezer already existed, suggesting that Reese took its name from a family in the area. A handwritten note on that same record says that all maps of Georgia showed Ebenezer in Morgan County at the location of the proposed post office of Reese, linking the two names to the same place. In addition to a post office, Reese had a school and a general store. A church and cemetery at Milton Chapel served the community of Reese between 1895 and 1940, and just north of Reese the small community of Austin had a cotton gin, post office, and general store. Reese is recognized as a significant part of Morgan County history.