Around 1828, a large number of people traveled from Newberry, South Carolina, in covered wagons, oxcarts, on horseback, and by foot. In the group were preachers, farmers, masons, and most any other occupation of the day. The names read like a current register of the area, since these forerunners have numerous descendants still making their homes in Senoia. In the group from South Carolina were the Atkinsons, Addys, Pages, Youngs, Levells, Shells, Barnes, Falls, Moses and many others. They scattered across the countryside, each trying to find a new start. And find it they did in the rich land of eastern Coweta. Raising cotton, corn, and livestock, the area was an agricultural Utopia.

Many of Senoia's residents migrated from Newberry, South Carolina. Shown is Newberry's "Old Courthouse."

The first "settlement" in the area was called Location, two miles south of present day Senoia, where a post office had been established. In 1854, Willow Dell was established. Settlers continued to move to the area. The founding date for Senoia is 1860, for in that year the Rev. Francis Warren Baggarly bought land on which the modern town of Senoia now sits. On October 9, 1864, after many of the people of Willow Dell had moved closer to the two railroads that ran through the area, the community was renamed Senoia, and a post office was reestablished. The first building to be erected was known as the Rock House. Intended for mercantile purposes, it soon became a commissary for the Confederacy, as the war broke out soon after its completion. The first church,a Methodist Episcopal, with the Rev. Baggarly as minister, and the first Sunday school was also organized in the upstairs. A high school was opened in 1865, quite an accomplishment for a rural southern town at the end of the civil war.

Post Civil War
After the war, Senoia saw the completion of the Savannah, Griffin and North Alabama Railroad, which crossed through the town. Agricultural products such as cotton and peaches were shipped by rail from Senoia. Senoia was officially incorporated as a city on December 12, 1866. Pride in their town was very evident, as the citizens aspired to have the county seat moved there in 1876. Their bid was unsuccessful. Today with its collection of architectural treasures, most of the town comprises a historic district on the National Register of Historic Places. Senoia was officially chartered as a city around 1905, about the same time the railways moved in. The city still features architecture from all those periods - including structures dating to the 1840s - with most of the architecture from the city's charming downtown dating from the turn of the century.

Senoia has one known citizen who died in combat. Edward Couch was killed in action in Vietnam. The city of Senoia honored its lone fallen hero by naming its newest bridge in his honor in 2001.