Great Trail Horse

The vicinity of Dacula was one of the first areas in present-day metropolitan Atlanta to be settled by whites (around the time of the War of 1812), but the area remained mostly undeveloped until the late 20th century. The Dacula area is home to some of the oldest buildings in greater Atlanta, such as the Elisha Winn House, which originally acted as the courthouse for Gwinnett County. Dacula itself began in the late 1800s under the name of Chinquapin Grove, where Dacula Elementary now stands. The town was renamed named "Hoke", in 1891 after a Seaboard Air Line Railroad executive, but that name was changed due to the Post Office Department's protest. Dacula's name was formed from letters in Decatur and Atlanta, two cities to the west that were already prospering at the time of Dacula's founding.