Crime Scene & Biohazard Cleanup Near Downtown Commerce Commerce, GA

Commerce is a city in Jackson County in northeast Georgia, about 70 miles northeast of Atlanta on Interstate 85, with a small portion extending into Banks County.

Commerce began in the early 1800s as Harmony Grove, a trading post on an old Native American route, and the community was officially incorporated as a town on December 24, 1884.

The town changed its name from Harmony Grove to Commerce in 1909, reflecting its ambitions as a cotton market and trading center.

Harmony Grove Mills, organized in 1893, turned Commerce into a textile town producing denim overalls; its mill village still makes up much of the city's southeast side, though the mill closed in 2004.

The 2020 census counted 7,387 people in Commerce, up from 6,544 in 2010, and growth has accelerated since with new industry along the I-85 corridor.

The ancient Lacoda Trail, a major Creek and Cherokee trade route from Athens to the north Georgia mountains, passed through present-day Commerce; a nine-mile stretch of State Route 334 still follows it as the Lacoda Trail Memorial Parkway.

Commerce is home to a Tanger Outlets center at Interstate 85 that draws shoppers from across northeast Georgia and upstate South Carolina.

Just north of town in Banks County, Atlanta Dragway opened in 1976 and hosted the NHRA Southern Nationals from 1981 until the track's final season in 2021.

Commerce operates one of Georgia's independent city school districts, anchored by Commerce High School.

Commerce's downtown participates in one of the oldest Main Street programs in Georgia, focused on historic preservation and redevelopment.