Doerun, hub of northwest Colquitt County’s rich farming section and third-ranking town in the county in population, owes its existence to Reverend W.W. Williams, a Primitive Baptist preacher, who loved the soil, trees, and people.
The Reverend Williams, pioneer settler and founder of Doerun, saw in northwest Colquitt County excellent prospects and set about immediately to develop it. In the area, a small stream ran through a beautiful stand of yellow pines. Pioneer hunters termed it “a perfect doe run” and thus the community was named Doerun.
A post office was applied for and chartered in 1895. In 1898 a “break” came – the Georgia Northern Railroad build several more miles of track which placed Doerun on the rail line. The town was officially chartered in 1900. That same year, Doerun citizens elected their first mayor and council, built their first school, secured telegraph service and a banking facility was established.
From a one-house, one-store spot in the piney woods in 1894, Doerun assumed a municipal atmosphere and “plenty of forward steam.” Gins and warehouses were constructed to process and store the cotton and peanut crops, modern buildings were built and a newspaper began publication.
Despite World War I and II, Doerun held its own and still showed growth in industry and agriculture. Doerun supplied perhaps more World War II heroes than any other place of comparable size in the country.
Today, Doerun has some 25 licensed businesses, a modern elementary school complex and complete city services (electricity, natural gas, water, and sewer). Founded on faith and enthusiasm, “the doe is still running.”
