Reynolds, GA

Reynolds is a Taylor County city of 926 residents at the 2020 census, and its street grid still gives away how it began. When the Central of Georgia Railroad reached the area between Macon and Columbus in 1851, Governor George W. Towns and H.H. Long laid out the town in symmetrical blocks measuring 318 feet square. One block was reserved for a depot and another for a courthouse. The railroad arrived; the courthouse never did.

ATTRRivers Langley; SaveRivers / CC BY-SA 3.0

That empty courthouse lot became a church park, with a Methodist church on one corner and a Baptist church on the other. Reynolds incorporated in 1853, and its first brick building went up in 1886. The Coleman Institute later educated local children before burning in 1917. Today the Fall Line Freeway and Georgia Routes 96 and 128 run through the city, linking Reynolds with Fort Valley, Butler, Roberta, and Oglethorpe while the old railroad-shaped street plan remains underfoot. The original grid still makes that railroad decision visible in a drive through town.