Dr. Crawford W. Long on March 30, 1842, first used ether for surgical anesthesia. Born in Danielsville, Georgia on November 1, 1815, he entered UGA, then known as Franklin College at the age of 14. Upon graduating five years later, he apprenticed under Dr. Grant of Jefferson, Georgia, before leaving Georgia to attend the Medical Department of Transylvania University and the University of Pennsylvania Medical School. It was here that he received his surgical training.  Following one year’s internship in New York City, Crawford W. Long returned to Jefferson and purchased the practice of his former mentor, Dr. Grant.

Jefferson County, originally part of Burke and Warren counties, was created in 1796 and named for Thomas Jefferson.

Louisville, the county seat, was named in honor of King Louis XVI of France, because of the support given by France to the Colonials in the Revolution. Louisville was Georgia's third state capital, but its first "permanent" one. The Jefferson County Courthouse, built in 1904, stands on the site of Georgia's first permanent capitol, constructed in 1795.

Louisville was the site of the Constitutional Convention of 1798 in which the state's pre-Civil War constitution was adopted. Georgia's Great Seal, which is still in use today, was adopted at the same time.

The Old Market House, the county's major tourist attraction, dates to the 1790s and served as the commercial center for the region during the time that the state capital was in Louisville. The photo above shows the old slave marketplace in Jefferson and Reese Grocery in Jefferson.  Read more history here.
Photos:  Courtesy of Vanishing Georgia Project

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