Taylor, one of the area's oldest communities, became a small town around 1870. Billy Taylor, son of James and Wealthy Taylor, established the post office and was appointed the first postmaster, and the town took its name from him in the latter part of 1870. In 1884, the first school opened in a one-room building, and a later two-story school used its first floor for classes and its second for the Masonic Lodge; the school served as the community center for the area until it burned in the mid-1970s. The Central of Georgia Railroad was built through Taylor in 1901, and the town began to grow. In its earlier years, Taylor had nine stores, five fertilizer warehouses, a cotton gin, saw mill, turpentine still, two churches, a school, a barbershop, three doctors, and a railroad depot. The closing of the railroad brought decline to the business community. On June 6, 1967, Taylor residents voted 41 to 4 in favor of incorporation. Travis Cheshire became the first mayor, and Geraldine Parker, Rubye Register, Homer Lee, Thaxton Whiddon, and Howard White became the first council members. Although the town had a population of 125, it later grew to approximately 1,884 and continued to prosper, with 25 businesses, seven churches, a shopping plaza, two ball fields, a park pavilion, a walking trail, and one of the largest rural water tanks with approximately 130 miles of water lines serving 2,500 water customers. In 2008, Joel Napier was elected mayor, and Dana Watts, Larry Whiddon, Merritt Carothers, Billy Snell Jr., and Kenneth Thompson Sr. were elected as council members.