Cotton was selling at twelve to sixteen cents a pound, and 69,000 bags of cotton were poled down the Ocmulgee River to Darien there were three new banks with capital of $1 million, and merchandise in stores was estimated at like value. Farmland in the surrounding countryside, distributed by lottery, was also quickly taken: ten years later the city boasted more than 3,000 вЂњindustrious and enterprisingвЂќ inhabitants who had flocked to the area from New England, New York, and North Carolina Bibb County had more than twice that number. Building began immediately, and the town was incorporated on December 8, 1823. With dozens of families already living around Fort Benjamin Hawkins, the 1806 frontier outpost on the east bank that had served as post office, trading вЂњfactory,вЂќ and military supplies distribution point for more than a decade, there was no shortage of bidders when the lots were put up for auction. Shortly thereafter the state legislature began carving the new land into counties and authorized the laying out of a town on the OcmulgeeвЂ™s west bank. In 1821, demoralized by their defeat at the 1814 Battle of Horseshoe Bend, the Creek Indians finally relinquished the area between the Ocmulgee and Flint rivers, as well as the Ocmulgee Old Fields, which had been withheld from the 1805 cession.

Land-hungry Americans were eager to plow it into cotton fields.

The land that became Macon/Bibb County was Indian Territory until 1821, nearly as pristine and undeveloped as Hernando de Soto found it when he rode through in 1540. The fifty-square-mile city has a strong-mayor form of government with a fifteen-member legislative council. Robins Air Force Base in Warner Robins (sixteen miles south of Macon), the largest industrial complex in the state, drives the regionвЂ™s ongoing growth. Not until the infusion of people and monies that began with military preparations for World War II (1941-45) was the stage set for a stronger, more diversified economy. She is a member of the International Association of Trichologists (IAT).Bibb County Courthouse Courtesy of Don BowmanДЄs the commercial hub of a productive agricultural region, the cityвЂ™s fortunes were tied to a southern cotton culture that brought substantial wealth, war, and subsequently genteel poverty for its first 100-plus years. She is the owner of Hairadox LLC and has her own haircare product line. She has been interviewed and featured on CNN, The Natural Hair Show and in the New York Times. Through extensive study, travelВ and experience,В Educational SpecialistВ Aishah Bilal has custom designed a natural hairДЄnd loc curriculum that prepares stylists to become creative, well-trained professionals in the demanding hair care industry. Locticians, Natural Hair Stylists and many others in mastering the treatment, care and styling ofВ all types ofВ hair. Aishah has successfully trained Cosmetologists, She applies her educational background and experiences towards public speaking and facilitating intensive workshops on hair care, maintenance and styling. Internationally Certified Trichologist, Natural Hair Subject-Matter-Expert, Master Loctician and Senior Cosmetologist, Aishah Bilal-AliВ has aВ post-masters degree in Education and over 35 years of specialized experience in the hair, beautyДЄnd fashion industries.

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