The Town was incorporated by the General Assembly on 20 Dec 1828, with a Commissioner style government. John B. Davis, Samuel Flournoy, William Goss, George W. B. Towns and H. R. Ward being appointed the first town commissioners to pass laws and ordinances. On the first Saturday of each year, elections were to be held to elect the 5 succeeding commissioners.

Shortly thereafter, the proposed town was surveyed and the lots were laid off in a square grid, but through time and expansion, the square became a circle with a radius of one mile, with the Talbot County Courthouse now occupying the center of town.

The auctioning off of the soon to be town of Talbotton lots began May 1,1828 and were knocked off to the highest bidders. The following list of purchasers was located in the Minutes of the Inferior Court, Bk A, pg 38-41.

SQUARE A
Lot 1  Williamson M. Truman    $400.00
    2  Charles L. Pate          190.00
    3  James Jones              201.00
    4  Silas Strickland         332.00
    5  George W. B. Towns       200.00
    6  George W. B. Towns        60.00
    7  William H. Mitchell       60.00
    8  Reuben Phillips           38.25
    9  Reuben Phillips           30.75
   10  Henry Claiborne           45.00
   11  G. W. B. Towns            61.00
   12  Rueben Phillips           62.00
   13  Moses D. Smith            23.00
   14  Thomas P. McKeen           3.00
   15  Silas Strickland          23.00
   16  Littleton Hooten          25.00
   17  Phillip Steed             25.00
   18  Col J. N. Birch           20.00
   19  Col J. N. Birch           20.00
   20  Phillip Steed             40.00
   21  Hamilton Duke            104.00
   22  Hamilton Duke             95.00
   23  George W. B. Towns        40.00
   24  James Bridgeman           22.00
   25  William S. Goss           43.82 1/2
   26  Hugh Truman               78.87 1/2 

SQUARE B
    1  A. P. Manley              86.00
    2  John B. Davis            200.00
    3  Abraham Lawrence         155.00
    4  William P. McKeen        400.00(Franklin House Hotel)
    5  Joseph B. Smith          201.00
    6  John B. Davis             80.00
    7  John P. Blackmon          31.12 1/2
    8  Reuben Phillips           21.25
    9  Abraham Fort              70.00
   10  Miranda Fort              33.00
   11  William P. McKeen         60.00
   12  Abraham Lawrence          60.00
   13  Charles Leath             60.00
   14  William P. McKeen         60.00
   15  Silas Strickland         120.00
   16  John P. Blackmon         161.00
   17  John P. Blackmon         101.00
   18  William P. McKeen        102.00
   19  Thomas G. Bugg           101.00
   20  Baptist Church           n/c
   21  Baptist Church           n/c
   22  Washington Academy       n/c
   23  Presbyterian Church      n/c
   24  Baptist Church           12.00
   25  Robert Brooks            23.00

SQUARE C
Lot 1  E. Chambless            $220.00
    2  W. J. McCartiff (?)      161.00
    3  William H. Mitchell      150.00
    4  Robertson & Thompson     312.00
    5  D. R. Allen              260.00
    6  Elijah Wells              70.00
    7  Charles Fisher            65.00
    8  Charles Fisher
    9  William Quinley           45.00
   10  Rush Hudson               40.00
   11  Sam H. Willcocks          31.00
   12  Henry Ligon               17.00
   13  Rush Hudson               42.00
   14  Rush Hudson
   15  A. P. Manley             100.00
   16  Thomas G. Bugg            78.00
   17  Charles Fisher            blank
   18  Thomas G. Bugg            78.00
   19  G. W. B. Towns            75.00
   20  Henry Mims                75.00
   21  Henry Mims                75.00
   22  Methodist Church          n/c
   23  Methodist Church          n/c
   24  blank
   25  blank
   26  Richard Langford           7.00
   27  Richard Langford          15.00
   28  James Jones               13.00
   29  James Jones               21.00
   30  blank
   31  blank
   32  Henry Ligon               25.00
   33  Henry Ligon               10.00
   34  Silas Strickland           4.00
   35  Silas Strickland          14.00
   36  Richard Langford          12.00

SQUARE D
Lot 1  John B. Davis            340.00
    2  Hamilton Duke            204.00
    3  Thomas G. Bugg           155.00
    4  William Low & John Evans 239.00
    5  James Bell               200.00 (Talbutton Hotel)
    6  James Bell                70.00
    7  James Bell                40.00
    8  James Bell                20.00
    9  Willis Cox                10.00
   10  Willis Cox                16.50
   11  A. Camp                   30.00
   12  Thomas Finch              62.00
   13  William Snellings         65.00
   14  Leonard H. Young          12.49
   15  William S. Goss           23.75
   16  Talbutton Jail lot        n/c
   17  Bell & Wills              50.00 for #17, #18, & #19
   18  Bell & Wills
   19  Bells & Wills
   20  Talbotton Grave Yard       n/c   (Oak Hill Cemetery)
   21  Silas Strickland           6.00
   22  Silas Strickland           6.00
   23  Silas Strickland          17.25
   24  James Bell                15.25
   25. 

Talbotton Hotel
James Bell built a hotel on lot #5, Square D, in about 1828, Probably first known as the Bell Hotel, he sold it in 1833 to Col John N. Birch, who also purchased the adjacent lots 6, 7, 8. By that time, it was known as the Talbotton Hotel. After Birch died in 1835, the hotel was sold to Bartley Whithurst. A succession of owners followed, Joseph Pou, John Neal, the Mrs Thomas J.(Susan Thompson) Claiborne and Edward H. Harvey. It became known as the Claiborne House. It became a private home by 1883, and burned down in 1935.

The first session of the Georgia Supreme Court met in the Claiborn House dining room in 1846.

Franklin House
William P. McKeen purchased one of the two highest priced lots in Talbotton, lot #4, Square B, for $400, and soon erected a hotel & tavern there. He sold it in August 1835 to John Tooke and Leonard P. Breedlove.

Tooke & Breedlove sold the property to Peter Flournoy Mahone in May 1840. By that time, there was both a shoe factory owned by James Bacchus, and Joseph Wynn's shoe store located adjacent to the Hotel.

Although Peter F. Mahone died in August 1850, you will find him listed in the Sept 1850 census, in the Franklin House, #483 . His estate sold the Hotel in December 1855 to Peter Dennis and William Spain. It was known as the Dennis House until it was sold in 1860 to James P. Miller of Geneva.

Betty Dewberry was operating a millinery in the Hotel in 1860.

Edward H. Harvey purchased the Hotel either during or after the Civil War, and it was known as the Harvey Hotel. It burned in 1870.

Mansion House
Probably built abt 1837 by Peter F. Mahone, who purchased lots 5 & 6, Square A from William & George W. B. Towns that year. By 1856, William Yarbrough owned the property, which was then auctioned off to William R. Neal. By 1857 James J. Tooke owned the property and it became known as the Tooke House. In 1860 Burrell A. Richards of Geneva became the owner, & it became known as the Richards Hotel until it was sold in 1876 by Mrs Jane Shaw of Columbus Ga to William & Louisa Keller and became known as the Keller Hotel.

Thornton House
Built on the northeast corner of Courthouse Square, on the site of the old burned Franklin House, by Captain Seaborn Webster Thornton of the W. J. Weekes & Co., in 1877.

The building was two-story, brick and was designed to encompass 2 shops on the ground floor, known as Thornton's Palace Stores, containing a dry goods store and a fashionable ladies wear emporium, and a dining room and a saloon in the basement, with the hotel offering 30 large rooms on the second floor. Then acknowledged as Talbotton's finest building, it burned September 1890.

Weston House
What began as a boarding house by Mrs Elizabeth Jane Harvey Weston in about 1874, quickly became Talbotton's favorite gathering place after the Thornton House burned in 1890. Later, Mrs Dollie Downs Weston took over as owner and hostess. Dinner parties, afternoon teas, receptions and whist parties were held here. Lawyers & judges, in town for court sessions, drummers, political candidates, country visitors in town to shop, and train travelers made Weston House their home away from home. The Hotel burned, along with the old Claiborne House in 1935.

Keller Hotel
In 1876, William and Louisa Gilmore Keller assumed ownership of the old Mansion House, and operated it until Mr Keller's death in 1903.

John H. Weekes and William J. Weekes, brothers, came into the Co about 1832. They soon opened a dry goods store which prospered. They purchased their fist building from Elias H. Beall in 1849, lot 1, Square A. They sold everything from books, caps, carpets, clothing, coffins, drugs, fertilizers, furniture, groceries, hardware, harness, hats, patent medicines, saddles, and school supplies, to shoes.

Levi B Smith & Joseph Pou had a law firm in Talbotton about 1840, located at Square A, on a portion of lot # 6.

Hiram Warner & George W. B. Towns started a law firm in town about 1833. It was situated in the home on Lot 12, Square D, erected by Robert Snellings in 1832. Warner moved on to become one of the first three justices of the Ga Supreme Court, while Towns later became Governor of Georgia.

Freeman's Grocery was located lot 5, Square B before 1859.

Barnard Curley, apprenticed as a tailor in Macon, came to Talbot Co around 1842, and opened up a tailor's shop on the corner of Washington Ave and Monroe Ave, lot #5, Square B, opposite the Franklin Hotel. The location of his shop, his domain, became known as "Curley's Corner". Later He was elected Captain, Southern Rifles, CSA.

William Keller's store dealt in confectionaries, bakery goods and "fancy groceries". Known as Keller's Corner.

Walter E. Dennis was operating the local telegraph office & it was situated in the Old Thornton House by about 1883.

Joseph Wynn owned and operated a shoe store as early as 1840.

Anthony G. Perryman's law offices were located in the upper story of William Ragland's Grocery Store in 1843.

Lazarus Straus came into Talbotton in 1854, looking to obtain a license to peddle his goods in the County, opted to sell from a store front instead. He rented space in Barnard Curley's tailor shop. That small space was the herald of the later R. H. Macy & Company, one of this county's most successful merchandise enterprises.

William Batts Spain established a stagecoach, hack and mail line, livery stable, & blacksmith shop in Talbotton in the 1850's. Henry L. B. Jones was a partner, with Asa W. Chapman becoming their partner in 1859. Asa Chapman sold Spain his interest in 1860, and Spain died in 1872. In 1873, George W. Gamage and William H. Martin, both of Talbotton, purchased Spain's business, & it became known as Gamage & Martin's Livery, Feed & Sales Stables.

John H. Wallace & Baugh owned and operated a store on lot 2, Square A before 1840. Later William Ragland's Grocery Store was located there.

Joseph Bayard Jackson & wife came into County in 1832. In 1855, Joseph had a tailor shop on north side of public square adjoining the Drug & Book Store of George W. Jones on the west.

Thomas A. Brown was a Talbotton merchant pre 1832.

Gamage & Martin Stagelines avidly promoted their spring & summer travel packages to Chalybeate Springs, White Sulphur Springs & Warm Springs just across the county line, in the foothills of Meriwether Co. They were extremely popular mineral hot springs resorts, complete with hotel & cottage accommodations. The Springs resorts were much touted for their healthy benefits, the relief they afforded from the valley heat, and their social whirl. Newspapers in the two counties and Columbus were diligent in reporting the daily arrival & departure of the guests.

The resorts were neglected during the Civil War, but enjoyed a later revival. Coaches operated by W.B. Spain of Talbotton made daily runs to and from Geneva through Talbotton up to the Resorts. Fare from Geneva to Chalybeate Springs was $3.00 and $4.00 a person to Warm Springs.

Peter Dennis and William Batts Spain were partners in a general merchandise store before 1860.

William Keller & Anderson W. Wynn were partners in a store on Courthouse Square in Talbotton before 1860. They sold groceries, confectioneries, general merchandise, and featured a soda fountain. The partnership was dissolved August 1860, and Wynn became the sole proprietor.

Captain Seaborn W. Thornton owned & operated the Thornton House, also a cotton warehouse. In 1866, he and T. W. Newsome became the proprietors of the "West Georgia Gazette" newspaper.

T. H. Persons & Son were operating a dry goods store there in 1860.

By the time of the 1850 Census, there was a many and varied list of occupations and entrepreneurs listed as living in Talbotton. Included were a dentist, 6 doctors, 6 lawyers, 6 tailors, 2 silversmiths, 2 druggists, a safe maker, 2 wagon makers & 2 carriage makers, a painter, 2 brick masons, 2 plasterers, 6 carpenters, gin makers, mechanics, gunsmith, millers, saddlers, peddlars, schoolteachers, music teacher, shoemakers, millwrights, and millers. Talbot County was preparing to move into the future.