2010 Lyerly City Council Members
A Brief History of Lyerly
The first communities in the area that would become Lyerly were Glenwood and Melville. Glenwood was located approximately 1 mile northwest of what is now Lyerly (around what is now the intersection of Smallin Road and Back Valley). Glenwood also had the se
cond school in the area that would become Chattooga County (Chattooga Academy was the first). Melville was located off of now Georgia Highway 100 near Holland. Melville had the only post office in what was to become West Chattooga County. A local business named Andrew J. Mosteller had plans to develop a new Melville until the Chattanooga, Rome; Columbus Railway came through what is now Lyerly.A prominent Chattanooga Banker name Capt. Charles A. Lyerly financed the development and then owned property in the area. The town of Lyerly was chartered by the general assembly on September 29, 1891. The legislation said the town limits would be 1/2 mile radius from the train depot but would not cross the Chattooga River. The town was to be governed by a Mayor and 5 councilmen. The Post Office later moved near the train depot. Lyerly then absorbed Glenwood and Melville. Lyerly developed its first school in 1889. Lyerly's population was 322 in 1910, but grew considerably the next few years because of A.J. Lee's water system.
Many local businesses thrived in Lyerly including dry goods stores, cotton farming, The Lyerly Telephone company and The Lyerly Bank. Most of the went bankrupt during the depression. In 1920, Capt. Lyerly donated a Fire Bell to The Town of Lyerly that still sets on a monument erected by Bob Kimbell in 1988