Long before European settlement, the land along the Chattahoochee River was inhabited by the Muscogee (Creek) Nation. Following forced removal in the early 19th century, the area became home to scattered farming communities such as Rico, Goodes, Rivertown, and Campbellton. For decades, this region was part of Campbell County, which eventually went bankrupt during the Great Depression and merged into Fulton County in 1932.
Throughout the 20th century, the region known today as Chattahoochee Hills remained largely rural and agricultural, even as the rest of Fulton County and the greater Atlanta region experienced explosive suburban growth. By the early 2000s, residents began to fear that their rural way of life would be swallowed by encroaching subdivisions and strip malls.
In response, landowners and environmentalists formed the "Chattahoochee Hill Country Alliance" to create a land-use plan that would preserve at least 70 percent of the area as green space, while clustering future development into traditional village nodes. To secure local control over this visionary zoning, residents voted to incorporate. On December 1, 2007, the city was officially founded as Chattahoochee Hill Country, a name that was simplified to Chattahoochee Hills shortly thereafter.
