Thomas and Elizabeth Almond settled in this area with her orphaned brother, Thomas Daniel Fortson, in the 1830s. In 1858, Fortson, a prominent farmer, built the Fortson House, a Greek Revival Georgian Cottage, along with surrounding outbuildings and cotton terraces, and during the Civil War he also operated a gristmill on nearby Heiferhorn Creek. His son, Thomas Willis Fortson, established a general store and in 1885 was appointed station agent and postmaster for Fortson, Georgia. Originally called Blanchard’s Crossing, the area was renamed Fortson in 1885 when the Columbus & Rome Railroad built a station on Fortson property. From 1904, the Fortson General Store and Post Office were housed in the brick building beside the tracks, and Luther Getzen Fortson operated the store and post office until 1963. Across the tracks, the Getzen House, built in 1882 for T.W. Fortson’s sister, became the home of his in-laws, Samuel Luther and Fannie Mealing Getzen, who organized the Getzen Memorial Baptist Church in 1904. The Fortson House has remained continuously in the family and was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1999.