Lamar County nearest the geographical center of Georgia, it came into being in 1920 with partition of lands formerly in Pike and Monroe coun­ties. The new county was named for Lucius Quintus Cincinnatus Lamar, a Confederate colonel, member of Congress and United States senator before being appointed secretary of the interior by President Grover Cleveland. He was eventually made a Supreme Court justice. The coun­ty seat, Barnesville, derives its name from Gideon Barnes who estab­lished a tavern and stagecoach stop there in 1820.