Duluth was originally Cherokee territory. When Duluth was established in the early 19th century, it was primarily forested land occupied by tribespeople. An Indian trail, called Old Peachtree Road by the settlers, was extended through the area during the War of 1812 to connect Fort Peachtree in present-day Atlanta with Fort Daniel near present-day Dacula. When Gwinnett County was established in 1818, white settlement of the area accelerated.

Cotton merchant Evan Howell constructed a road connecting his cotton gin at the Chattahoochee River with Old Peachtree Road, creating Howell’s Cross Roads. The settlement later became known as “Howell’s Crossing”. Howell was the grandfather of Atlanta Mayor Evan P. Howell and great-grandfather of Atlanta Constitution publisher Clark Howell.

Howell’s Crossing was renamed “Duluth” in 1871 after Congress funded a north–south railroad line into the community. It was named after the city of Duluth, Minnesota. The Midwestern city had gotten its own railroad connection not long before, which had prompted Rep. J. Proctor Knott, a Kentucky Democrat, to make a speech in Congress mocking the project as wasteful. That speech drew national attention. According to contemporary reports, Evan P. Howell himself jokingly suggested the name change in a speech about the arrival of railroad service in the Georgia town. (Duluth, Minnesota, is named for Daniel Greysolon, Sieur du Lhut (1636–1710), a French captain and explorer of the upper Midwest, who negotiated peace between the Chippewa and the Sioux nation.)

The railroad encouraged the growth of Duluth’s economy. A schoolhouse was built in 1871 on the site of what is now Coleman Middle School (formerly Duluth Middle School and Duluth Elementary School). The first Methodist church was organized in 1871, and the first Baptist congregation formed in 1886. Both churches continue today at new locations along State Route 120. The Bank of Duluth was charted in 1904, followed by the Farmers and Merchants Bank in 1911. Neither survived the Great Depression.

In 1922, Duluth elected Georgia’s first female mayor, Alice Harrell Strickland. She donated 1-acre (4,000 m) of land for a “community forest” and began efforts to conserve land for public recreation.

Duluth grew rapidly in the 1970s and 1980s, along with the rest of Gwinnett County. Georgia Governor George Busbee became a resident of Duluth in 1983 after leaving office, moving to the Sweet Bottom Plantation subdivision developed by Scott Hudgens. A major revitalization of the Duluth downtown area was undertaken in the early 21st century. Development along Sugarloaf Parkway has continued with the construction of the Gwinnett Arena near the Gwinnett Convention Center.

In much of the 20th century, when Gwinnett County was still rural, Duluth was known in the area as being one of the few small towns with its own hospital, Joan Glancy Memorial Hospital. Consequently, many older residents of the area who call other towns home were actually born in Duluth. Joan Glancy was replaced with Gwinnett Medical Center – Duluth in 2006. The site of the old Joan Glancy hospital is now GMC’s Glancy Campus, home to the Glancy Rehabilitation Center, the Duluth location of GMC’s Diabetes & Nutrition Education Center and the Duluth location of GMC’s Center for Sleep Disorder.

The city made national headlines twice in 2005. In March, Fulton County Courthouse shooting suspect Brian Nichols was captured in a Duluth apartment after holding a woman hostage. In April, local resident Jennifer Wilbanks was reported missing a few days before her planned wedding to John Mason. She was found a few days later in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where she admitted to having lied about being kidnapped.

Duluth is located in the northeastern section of the Atlanta metropolitan area. Approximately 25 mi (40 km) from Downtown Atlanta, the city lies in the west-central section of Gwinnett County, bounded to the north by the Chattahoochee River (which also acts as the county line), northeast by Suwanee, south by unincorporated land, and west by Berkeley Lake. Sometimes, though, the area in Fulton County that is very near the city is considered Duluth as well.

Unincorporated portions of Forsyth County use a Duluth ZIP code despite being outside Duluth city limits in a different county. A significant part of the nearby city of Johns Creek in Fulton County shares at least one ZIP code with Duluth.

Duluth has a humid subtropical climate (Cfa.) The monthly averages range from 41.0 °F in January to 78.3° in July. The local hardiness zone is 7b.

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 31,873 people, 11,202 households, and 7,634 families residing in the city.

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The City of Duluth is governed by a mayor and five city council members, who together appoint the city administrator and city clerk. Elections are held every two years, in the odd-numbered years, and the mayor and council members are elected for staggered four-year terms.

The mayor of Duluth is Greg Whitlock, who was inaugurated in November of 2023. Nancy Harris was mayor for 16 years prior to Whitlock, and was also the former principal of B.B. Harris Elementary School and Suwanee Elementary School. Harris Elementary is named for her father, B.B. Harris, also a former principal and Gwinnett County School Superintendent.

The city is represented in the Georgia General Assembly by Senator Zahra Karinshak, Representative Bonnie Rich and Representative Pedro “Pete “Marin who together form the city’s legislative delegation.

Gwinnett County Public Schools operates public schools serving residents of the city.

• Berkeley Lake Elementary (Duluth)
• Chattahoochee Elementary (Duluth)
• Chesney Elementary (Duluth)
• Harris Elementary (Duluth)
• Mason Elementary (Peachtree Ridge)
• Parsons Elementary (Peachtree Ridge)

• Coleman Middle School (Duluth)
• Duluth Middle School (Duluth)
• Hull Middle School (Peachtree Ridge)

• Duluth High School (Duluth)
• Peachtree Ridge High School (Peachtree Ridge)

• Atlanta Adventist Academy (Duluth)
• Duluth Junior Academy (Duluth)
• Duluth Montessori School (Duluth)
• Notre Dame Academy (Duluth)

Gwinnett County Public Library operates the Duluth Branch in Duluth.