Jesup

Jesup Municipal Water Report Info

From its earliest days, Jesup's history has been interwoven with the railroads that intersected within its boundaries. After the Civil War, Willis Clary from Appling County moved to Jesup – then known simply as Station Number 6 on the Atlantic and Gulf Railroad. Using his personal funds, Clary commissioned the town survey and eventually became its first mayor. His home – now housing Bryant, Drury and Griffis offices – stands on City Lot #1. Clary married Lucinda Hall Lee, widow of Osgood Andrew Lee, and together their family became pioneers in the newly established town of Jesup.

Origin of the Name
Officially established in 1870, there are several theories about how Jesup got its name, including:

• Morris K. Jesup, a financier who purchased the Savannah, Florida and Western railroad after Civil War bankruptcy
• General Thomas Sidney Jesup, an Indian Wars hero who captured Seminole chief Osceola under controversial circumstances
• James R. Jesup, associated with the East Tennessee, Virginia, and Georgia Railroad (parent company of the Macon and Brunswick line)

Street Names
As a thoughtful planner, Clary named Jesup's streets after trees as well as using numbers. Cherry, Walnut, Elm, Pine and Hickory are among the streets in the downtown area. Numbered streets start with First Street and extend outward to what was then rural land – numbered through Eleventh Street. Exceptions to this pattern are Macon and Brunswick Streets, named for James R. Jesup's Macon and Brunswick Railroad.

Prominent Families
Jesup remained a small village through the late 1800s and into the 1900s. Town leaders established businesses along Broad Streets that ran parallel to the railroad tracks. The Whaley family became particularly influential when Willis Clary's stepdaughter, Georgia Buena Vista Lee, married Englishman Harry Whaley. The Whaleys operated a general store on Southwest Broad Street (their name remains visible on the storefront today) and owned the Merchants and Farmers Bank, which Mrs. Whaley managed successfully after her husband's death.