Waycross, Georgia: The Junction That Almost Became Newcross

Waycross, Georgia, nearly ended up as Newcross: the men who named the railroad junction also weighed Westcross, Eastcross, Southcross and Crossways. Nearly every version ties the name to lines crossing, but they tell different stories about who said it first.

Tebeauville and the junction

Before there was a Waycross, there was Tebeauville. The city’s history says that small settlement grew up in the late 1850s around a railroad station named for Frederic Edmund Tebeau. The junction that made the town was where two major rail lines met, one running from Savannah and another from Brunswick to Albany. As late as 1870, the WPA’s Georgia guide says, Waycross “was only a railroad junction with fifty inhabitants and a few scattered houses.” The town was incorporated in 1874, and Tebeauville was later absorbed into it.

The older place-name books keep it short. The Geological Survey’s 1905 bulletin of place names, by Henry Gannett, says the town was “named from the crossing of two ways or roads.” The Georgia guide says Waycross “owes its development as well as its name to its being the converging point of several railroads and five highways.”

Newcross, Crossways and the other candidates

The city’s main account takes you to a meeting in nearby Blackshear. Dr. Daniel Lott, Maj. Henry Haines of the Savannah railroad and B. F. Allen, editor of The Georgian, sat down to name the junction. They tried Westcross, Eastcross, Southcross, Crossways and Newcross, and Newcross nearly won before they settled on Waycross, for a town at a crossroads of major travel routes.

The city also keeps three other stories. One credits Allen’s son, who called the place “the crossing of the ways.” Another says Mrs. Wm. Foster Parker pointed out workers “way across” a field. And some give the name to Rev. W. H. Thomas, who saw in it the “Way of the Cross.” The first two still come back to crossing paths, while the last one reads the word a different way.

None of these stories comes with a record of the meeting, and the city presents them as tales “passed down over time.” What you can say for sure is what the old books say: a crossing gave Waycross its name. Look at the 1953 map and the point is hard to miss, with tracks coming into town from every side.

Quick answers

Why is it called Waycross?

Because it grew up where railroads and roads crossed. The 1905 Gannett bulletin says it was “named from the crossing of two ways or roads,” and the Georgia WPA guide says the same about its railroads and highways.

Who named Waycross, Georgia?

That’s the disputed part. The city’s history says Dr. Daniel Lott, Maj. Henry Haines and B. F. Allen chose it at a meeting in Blackshear, but it also credits Allen’s son, Mrs. Wm. Foster Parker and Rev. W. H. Thomas in other versions.

Was Waycross almost called something else?

Yes, according to the city. Westcross, Eastcross, Southcross, Crossways and Newcross were all considered, and Newcross nearly became the final choice.

What was Waycross called before?

Tebeauville, a settlement around a railroad station named for Frederic Edmund Tebeau, says the city.

Key dates

1. 1870Waycross is still only a railroad junction with about fifty people, according to the Georgia guide.
2. 1874Waycross is incorporated.

Getting there

Open Waycross in Google Maps

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• Satellite
• Terrain

Opens in a new tab. The pin is the center of Waycross in the USGS place-name record.

The closest airports, Amtrak stations and intercity bus stops, measured in a straight line from the center of Waycross.

Airports

• Brunswick Golden Isles (BQK) 53 mi 85 km
• Valdosta Regional (VLD) 62 mi 100 km
• Jacksonville International (JAX) 64 mi 102 km

Amtrak trains

• Jesup station (JSP) 39 mi 62 km
• Jacksonville station (JAX) 70 mi 112 km

Intercity buses

• Greyhound Waycross Jones St under 1 mi 0.7 km
• FlixBus Brunswick Sunoco 47 mi 75 km

Distances are as the crow flies, not by road. We don't list schedules or fares because they change; check with the airline, Amtrak or the bus company before you go. Official data (FAA commercial service airports (2025), FAA airport locations, Amtrak stations and Intercity Bus Atlas) from the FAA and the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics, checked Nov 6, 2026.

Historical Sources & References

• Henry Gannett, The Origin of Certain Place Names in the United States (1905), p. 318. Waycross “named from the crossing of two ways or roads.”
• Federal Writers’ Project, Georgia: A Guide to Its Towns and Countryside (1940, revised 1954), pp. 239-240. The name from “the converging point of several railroads and five highways”; a junction with fifty inhabitants in 1870.
• City of Waycross, “History of Waycross, Georgia”. The Blackshear meeting and the names considered; the stories of Allen’s son, Mrs. Parker and Rev. Thomas; Tebeauville and the 1874 incorporation.
• GNIS feature 356622 (U.S. Geological Survey). The USGS place-name entry and coordinates for Waycross, in Ware County.