A century ago, Turin was little more than a quiet crossroads. Before the Civil War, the nearby village of Preston, about a mile south of present-day Turin, was the only settlement in the area. That changed after the war, when construction began on a railroad from Griffin to Chattanooga. By 1870, the 60-mile line from Griffin to Carrollton was complete, operated as the Savannah, Griffin, and North Alabama Railroad Company. It linked Coweta and Carroll counties with the Central Railroad’s main line at Griffin and became an important economic lifeline.

That same year, a town plan for Turin was drawn, and Preston was relocated to the new rail line. In 1890, a post office opened, and the town was officially chartered as Turin. Local legend says the name came from schoolchildren inspired by stories from Italian railroad workers about their hometown of Turin, Italy.

Turin quickly grew, adding homes, brick stores, cotton gins, a grocery, hardware and drug stores, a millinery shop, barber, blacksmith, doctors, and multiple general stores. In 1886, the Methodist Church moved from nearby Tranquil to Turin. Four years later, 32 members from Mt. Lebanon Baptist in Sharpsburg formed Turin Baptist Church. While worshiping temporarily in the Presbyterian Church near the railroad station, they purchased a lot from Mrs. Addie Harris Russell and built a Gothic-style sanctuary, dedicated in 1891 by Rev. J. H. Hall of Newnan. The building featured high-arched windows, Victorian corbeling, tongue-and-groove wainscoting, and even decorative door hinges.

Turin thrived as an agricultural hub during the cotton boom. In 1903, Ed Dominick founded the Turin Banking Company, and in 1920, built the town’s second cotton gin. But prosperity faded when the bank closed in 1927, followed by the Great Depression and the boll weevil’s destruction of cotton crops. By 1936, Dr. Stovall wrote, “Plenty of people in town but nobody seems to have any money.” The paving of Highway 16 in 1937 helped revive the economy, and farmers shifted to peaches, shipping a record 55 railcars in 1940. Turin Baptist expanded with a fellowship hall and classrooms in 1979, an addition in 1987, and a stained-glass window above the baptistry in 1989. The church remains active today.