Brunswick, GA was laid out in 1771 in the grid style following General Oglethorpe’s plan for Savannah. By the early 1830’s, Brunswick had a courthouse, jail, and about 30 houses and stores. Thomas Butler King of Retreat Plantation on St. Simons Island along with Urbanus Dart and William Davis of Brunswick, formed a company to construct a canal north to the Altamaha River. This canal would connect the natural port with interior plantations. Thomas Butler King also founded the Brunswick and Florida Railroad. The city of Brunswick was incorporated in 1836, the same year the Oglethorpe House hotel was built.

G2286 - Launching Liberty Ship, 1940's

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In 1838, a newspaper was started, and a bank opened. Glynn Academy employed four teachers and had 85 students. A financial panic in 1837 caused timber and cotton prices to tumble and undermined the progress of the canal and railroad projects. Following a period of depression, the Altamaha-Brunswick Canal opened in 1854, followed by the railroad in 1856.

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G561 - Oglethorpe Hotel, 1892

Brunswick also received its second charter in the same year of 1856. By 1860, it had a population of 468, a bank, a weekly newspaper, and a sawmill which employed nine workers. During the Civil War, Confederate troops retreated, burning wharves and the Oglethorpe House to keep them from falling into Union hands. The city was evacuated with most of the citizens fleeing to Waynesville. .

G2471 - Sign to St. Simons Island

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The canal and railroad stopped operation, and Brunswick was abandoned for the third time since it’s founding. After the Civil War, the area endured a period of depression. The 1880’s introduced a new era of prosperity with the lumber, shipping and naval stores industries. It was during this time that many of Brunswick’s many fine commercial & residential structures were built. In 1888, the Oglethorpe Hotel opened its doors, and people arrived in throngs.  

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G771 - Shrimp Fleet

In 1898 a powerful hurricane swept through Brunswick damaging many of those fine buildings and devastating crops. During World War I, wooden and concrete ships were built in Brunswick for the war effort. Throughout the Second World War, blimps from Glynco, the largest blimp base in the world, safely escorted 98,000 ships without a single vessel lost to enemy submarines. The J. A. Jones Shipyard was the site of the construction of ninety-nine Liberty ships

G741 - Hurricane of 1898

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Today Brunswick is home to a thriving port. Brunswick's Old Town residential and commercial district is the largest small town, urban National Register of Historic Places district in Georgia. Visitors & residents alike enjoy the charms of Brunswick's oak-lined, moss-draped streets, squares and gracious homes.

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G888 - Richard Egan in town for filming of "The View from Pompey's Head"

G375 - The Deck Restaurant, Sea Island Causeway, 1950's

G602 - Glynn County Courthouse, Early 1900's

G603 - Glynn Academy

G707 - Oak at the corner of Gloucester & Newcastle Streets, 1940's

G723 - Liberty Ships at dock, 1940's

G743 - Confederate Memorial Day Parade, 1903

G744 - Glynco

G805 - Loading Naval Stores

G836 - Glynco, 1961

G837 - Glynco

G1062 - Hanover Park, Early 1900's

  G1078 - Lovers Oak, Turn of the Century

G1161 - Brunswick Fire Department, Turn of the Century

G1467 - President & Mrs. McKinley at the Brunswick Railroad Station, 1899

G2043 - Newcastle Street, showing fire house & City Hall, Early 1900's