The area gets its name from the family whose homestead was broadly located in the southwest corner of the intersection of Peachtree St. and Collier Rd. Andrew Jackson Collier, a member of this family and early pioneer of the area, operated an antebellum grist mill off Tanyard Creek, near Collier Rd.
A major Civil War battle took place in what is now Collier Hills as Confederate forces attacked forces led by General William T. Sherman in July 1864.