On December 13, 1879, a preliminary county seat charter was adopted and A.C. Butts donated 50 acres in the center of the county for an administrative concentration point. It was named Moultrie, after General William Moultrie, a Revolutionary War hero.

By 1900, through the work of businessmen, bankers, and speculators, the county was on the road to becoming a farmer’s paradise. Land was cleared and development companies began dividing the one-time forested area into farm tracts. Experienced farmers from North Georgia and the Carolinas were invited to come and develop the land. The county’s agriculture industry thrives today.