24/7 Trauma & Biohazard Cleanup Near North Shellman Shellman, GA

Shellman is a small city in Randolph County in southwest Georgia, one of only two municipalities in the county alongside the county seat, Cuthbert.

Shellman was incorporated on April 5, 1883, and it was originally named Ward, in honor of John P. Ward, who helped bring the South-Western Rail Road to the area and place a depot at the center of town.

Only two years later, in 1885, the town was renamed Shellman in honor of Major R. F. Shellman, general traffic manager of the Central of Georgia Railroad.

The Shellman Historic District, covering the city's commercial center, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.

Shellman's 1893 Central of Georgia railroad depot was rehabilitated in the mid-1990s and now serves as a community center.

The 2020 census counted 861 residents in Shellman, living in 374 households, down from a peak population of 1,254 in 1980.

Shellman was the birthplace of Gertrude Baines, who was recognized as the world's oldest living person before her death in Los Angeles on September 11, 2009, at age 115.

NFL player Thomas Davis and former NBA player Donnell Harvey both grew up in Shellman.

Shellman covers about 3.2 square miles in Georgia's peanut and cotton country, and agriculture — including the local peanut and grain businesses — remains central to its economy.

The Randolph County Historical Society has documented the town's past in two published works, 'A History of Shellman (1827-1883)' and 'Historic Buildings of Shellman (1830-1950).'