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Macon, Georgia
Consolidated city–county
Macon–Bibb County
Downtown Macon
Seal
Location in Bibb county in the state of Georgia
Macon, Georgia Location in the United States
Coordinates: 32°50′5″N 83°39′6″W / 32.83472°N 83.65167°W / 32.83472; -83.65167Coordinates: 32°50′5″N 83°39′6″W / 32.83472°N 83.65167°W / 32.83472; -83.65167
Country	United States
State	Georgia
County	Bibb
Government
• Mayor	Robert Reichert (D)
Area
• Consolidated city–county	661 km2 (255.13 sq mi)
• Land	647 km2 (249.96 sq mi)
• Water	3.2 km2 (0.5 sq mi)
Elevation	116 m (381 ft)
Population (2017)
• Consolidated city–county	152,663[1]
• Metro	228,914 (197th)
• CSA	420,693 (97th)
• Demonym	Maconites
Time zone	EST (UTC−5)
• Summer (DST)	EDT (UTC−4)
ZIP codes	31200-31299
Area code(s)	478
FIPS code	13-49000[2]
GNIS feature ID	0332301[3]
Website	maconbibb.us

Macon (/ˈmeɪkən/), officially Macon–Bibb County, is a consolidated city-county located in the state of Georgia, United States. Macon lies near the geographic center of the state, approximately 85 miles (137 km) south of Atlanta, hence the city's nickname "The Heart of Georgia."

Located near the fall line of the Ocmulgee River, Macon is the county seat of Bibb County and had a 2017 estimated population of 152,663.^[4] Macon is the principal city of the Macon metropolitan area, which had an estimated population of 228,914 in 2017. Macon is also the largest city in the Macon–Warner Robins Combined Statistical Area (CSA), a larger trading area with an estimated 420,693 residents in 2017; the CSA abuts the Atlanta metropolitan area just to the north.

In a 2012 referendum, voters approved the consolidation of Macon and Bibb County, and Macon became Georgia's fourth-largest city (just after Columbus). The two governments officially merged on January 1, 2014.^[5]

Macon is served by three interstate highways: I-16 (connecting the city to Savannah and coastal Georgia), I-75 (connecting the city with Atlanta to the north and Valdosta to the south), and I-475 (a city bypass highway).

The city has several institutions of higher education, as well as numerous museums and tourism sites. The area is served by the Middle Georgia Regional Airport and the Herbert Smart Downtown Airport. The mayor of Macon is Robert Reichert, a former Democratic member of the Georgia House of Representatives. Reichert was elected mayor of the newly consolidated city of Macon–Bibb, and he took office on January 1, 2014.^[6]

History

Macon lies on the site of the Ocmulgee Old Fields, where the Creek Indians lived in the 18th century. Their predecessors, the Mississippian culture, built a powerful chiefdom (950–1100 AD) based on an agricultural village and constructed earthwork mounds for ceremonial, burial, and religious purposes. The areas along the rivers in the Southeast had been inhabited by indigenous peoples for 13,000 years before Europeans arrived.^[7]

Macon developed at the site of Fort Benjamin Hawkins, built in 1809 at the fall line of the Ocmulgee River to protect the community and to establish a trading post with Native Americans. The fort was named in honor of Benjamin Hawkins, Superintendent of Indian Affairs for the Southeast territory south of the Ohio River for over 20 years. He lived among the Creek and was married to a Creek woman. This was the most inland point of navigation on the river from the Low Country. President Thomas Jefferson forced the Creek to cede their lands east of the Ocmulgee River and ordered the fort built. (Archeological excavations in the 21st century found evidence of two separate fortifications.)^[8]

Fort Hawkins guarded the Lower Creek Pathway, an extensive and well-traveled American Indian network later improved by the United States as the Federal Road from Washington, D.C., to the ports of Mobile, Alabama and New Orleans, Louisiana.^[8] A gathering point of the Creek and U.S. cultures for trading, it was also a center of state militia and federal troops. The fort served as a major military distribution point during the War of 1812 against Great Britain and also during the Creek War of 1813. Afterward, the fort was used as a trading post for several years and was garrisoned until 1821. It was decommissioned about 1828 and later burned to the ground. A replica of the southeast blockhouse was built in 1938 and still stands today on a hill in east Macon. Part of the fort site is occupied by the Fort Hawkins Grammar School.^[8] In the 21st century, archeological excavations have revealed more of the fort's importance, and stimulated planning for additional reconstruction of this major historical site.

Child labor in Macon, 1909. Photo by Lewis Hine.

As many Europeans had already begun to move into the area, they renamed Fort Hawkins "Newtown." After the organization of Bibb County in 1822, the city was chartered as the county seat in 1823 and officially named Macon. This was in honor of the North Carolina statesman Nathaniel Macon,^[9] because many of the early residents of Georgia hailed from North Carolina. The city planners envisioned "a city within a park" and created a city of spacious streets and parks. They designated 250 acres (1.0 km²) for Central City Park, and passed ordinances requiring residents to plant shade trees in their front yards.

The city thrived due to its location on the Ocmulgee River, which enabled shipping to markets. Cotton became the mainstay of Macon's early economy,^[10] based on the enslaved labor of African Americans. Macon was in the Black Belt of Georgia, where cotton was the commodity crop. Cotton steamboats, stage coaches, and later, in 1843, a railroad increased marketing opportunities and contributed to the economic prosperity to Macon. In 1836, the Georgia Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church founded Wesleyan College in Macon. Wesleyan was the first college in the United States chartered to grant degrees to women.^[11] In 1855, a referendum was held to determine a capital city for Georgia. Macon came in last with 3,802 votes.^[12]

During the American Civil War, Macon served as the official arsenal of the Confederacy.^[10] Camp Oglethorpe, in Macon, was used first as a prison for captured Union officers and enlisted men. Later it held officers only, up to 2,300 at one time. The camp was evacuated in 1864.^[13]

Macon City Hall, which served as the temporary state capitol in 1864, was converted to a hospital for wounded Confederate soldiers. The Union General William Tecumseh Sherman spared Macon on his march to the sea. His troops had sacked the nearby state capital of Milledgeville, and Maconites prepared for an attack. Sherman, however, passed by without entering Macon.

The Macon Telegraph wrote that, of the 23 companies which the city had furnished the Confederacy, only enough men survived and were fit for duty to fill five companies by the end of the war. The human toll was very high.^[14]

The city was taken by Union forces during Wilson's Raid on April 20, 1865.^[15]

In the twentieth century, Macon grew into a prospering town in Middle Georgia. It began to serve as a transportation hub for the entire state. In 1895, the New York Times dubbed Macon "The Central City," in reference to the city's emergence as a hub for railroad transportation and textile factories.^[16]Terminal Station was built in 1916.^[17]

Downtown Macon in the early 1900s, looking northeast near the intersections of Cotton Avenue, First Street and Poplar Street.

In 1994 Tropical Storm Alberto made landfall in Florida bringing 24 inches (61 cm) of rain, which resulted in major flooding in Georgia. Macon was one of the cities to suffer the worst flooding.^[18]

On May 11, 2008, an EF2 tornado touched down in nearby Lizella. The tornado then moved northeast to the southern shore of Lake Tobesofkee then continued into Macon and lifted near Dry Branch in Twiggs County. The tornado produced sporadic areas of major damage. Widespread straight-line wind damage was also produced along and south of the track of the tornado. The most significant damage was in Macon along Eisenhower Parkway and Pio Nono Avenue where two businesses were destroyed and several others were heavily damaged. Middle Georgia State College was also damaged by the tornado, snapping or uprooting around 50% of the campus trees and doing significant damage to several buildings on campus, with the gymnasium sustaining the worst damage. This tornado varied in intensity from EF0 to EF2 with the EF2 damage and winds up to 130 miles per hour (210 km/h) occurring near the intersection of Eisenhower Parkway and Pio Nono Avenue. Total path length was 18 miles (29 km) with a path width of 100 yards (91 m).^{[citation needed]}

In 2012, voters in Macon and Bibb County approved a new consolidated government between the city and county, making the city's new boundary lines the same as the county's and deannexing a small portion of the city that once lay in Jones County.^[5]

Downtown Macon seen from the Ocmulgee National Monument

Consolidation

On July 31, 2012, voters in Macon (57.8 percent approval) and Bibb County (56.7 percent approval) passed a referendum to merge the governments of the city of Macon and most of unincorporated Bibb County, based on the authorization of House Bill 1171, passed by the Georgia General Assembly earlier in the year;^[19] four previous consolidation attempts (in 1933, 1960, 1972, and 1976) had failed.^[20][21][22]

Under the consolidation, the governments of Macon and Bibb County were replaced with a single mayor and a nine-member countywide commission elected to office by county districts. A portion of Macon that extends into nearby Jones County was deincorporated from Macon. Robert Reichert is the first mayor of Macon-Bibb after the election in September 2013 and a runoff with C. Jack Ellis in October.^{[6][23][24][25]}

Timeline

Geography

The Macon-Bibb County Courthouse

The Ocmulgee River is a major river that runs through the city. Macon is one of Georgia's three major Fall Line Cities, along with Augusta and Columbus. The Fall Line is where the hilly lands of the Piedmont plateau meet the flat terrain of the coastal plain. As such, Macon has a varied landscape of rolling hills on the north side and flat plains on the south. The fall line, where the altitude drops noticeably, causes rivers and creeks in the area to flow rapidly toward the ocean. In the past, Macon and other Fall Line cities had many textile mills powered by the rivers.

Macon is located at 32°50′05″N 83°39′06″W / 32.834839°N 83.651672°W / 32.834839; -83.651672 (32.834839, −83.651672).^[55]

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 56.3 square miles (146 km²), of which 55.8 square miles (145 km²) is land and 0.5 square miles (1.3 km²) (0.82%) is water.

Macon is approximately 330 feet (100 m) above sea level.^[3]

Climate

Macon has a humid subtropical climate (Köppen climate classification Cfa). The normal monthly mean temperature ranges from 46.3 °F (7.9 °C) in January to 81.8 °F (27.7 °C) in July. On average, there are 4.8 days with 100 °F (38 °C)+ highs,^[a] 83 days with 90 °F (32 °C)+ highs,^[b] and 43 days with a low at or below freezing; the average window for freezing temperatures is November 7 thru March 22, allowing a growing season of 228 days. The city has an average annual precipitation of 45.7 inches (1,160 mm). Snow is occasional, with about half of the winters receiving trace amounts or no snowfall, averaging 0.7 inches (1.8 cm); the snowiest winter was 1972−73 with 16.5 in (42 cm).^[56][57][58]

Surrounding cities and towns

Downtown Macon at night

Demographics

Location of the Macon-Warner Robins-Fort Valley CSA and its components:

  Macon Metropolitan Statistical Area

  Warner Robins Metropolitan Statistical Area

  Fort Valley Micropolitan Statistical Area

Macon is the largest principal city of the Macon-Warner Robins-Fort Valley CSA, a Combined Statistical Area that includes the Macon metropolitan area (Bibb, Crawford, Jones, Monroe, and Twiggs counties), the Warner Robins metropolitan area (Houston County), and the Fort Valley micropolitan area (Peach County),^[62][63][64] which had a combined population of 346,801 at the 2000 census.^[2]

As of the official 2010 U.S. Census,^[2] the population of Macon was 91,351. In the last official census, in 2000, there were 97,255 people, 38,444 households, and 24,219 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,742.8 people per square mile (672.9/km²). There were 44,341 housing units at an average density of 794.6 per square mile (306.8/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 67.94% African American, 28.56% White, 0.02% Native American, 0.65% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 0.46% from other races, and 0.77% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.48% of the population.

There were 38,444 households out of which 30.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 33.0% were married couples living together, 25.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 37.0% were non-families. 31.7% of all households were made up of individuals and 12.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.44 and the average family size was 3.08.

In the city, the population was spread out with 26.9% under the age of 18, 11.3% from 18 to 24, 27.5% from 25 to 44, 20.0% from 45 to 64, and 14.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34 years. For every 100 females, there were 79.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 72.8 males.

Economy

Personal income

According to the 2010 Census, the median household income in the city was $28,366, as compared with the state average of $49,347. The median family income was $37,268. Full-time working males had a median income of $34,163 versus $28,082 for females. The per capita income for the city was $17,010. About 24.1% of families and 30.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 43.6% of those under age 18 and 18.4% of those over 65.^[65]

Retail

Malls include: The Shoppes at River Crossing, Macon Mall, and Eisenhower Crossing. Traditional^{[clarification needed]} shopping centers are in the downtown area, and Ingleside Village.^[66]

Military

Robins Air Force Base, the largest single-site industrial complex in the state of Georgia,^[67] is just 10 miles south of Macon on Highway 247 next to the city of Warner Robins.

The headquarters of the 48th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, Georgia Army National Guard is located.

Arts and culture

Musical heritage

A statue of Otis Redding

Macon is the birthplace or hometown of musicians Emmett Miller, The Allman Brothers Band, Randy Crawford, Mark Heard, Lucille Hegamin, Otis Redding, Little Richard, Mike Mills,^[68] and Bill Berry of R.E.M., as well as more recent artists like violinist Robert McDuffie and country artist Jason Aldean.^{[clarification needed]}September Hase, an alternative rock band, was discovered in Macon. Capricorn Records, run by Macon natives Phil Walden and briefly Alan Walden, made the city a hub for Southern rock music in the late 1960s and 1970s.^[69] Composer Ben Johnston was also born in Macon.

The Macon Symphony Orchestra,^[70] a youth symphony, and the Middle Georgia Concert Band perform at the Grand Opera House in downtown Macon.^[71]

Festivals

Cherry Blossom Festival

Georgia State Fair

• 
  International Cherry Blossom Festival - a 10-day celebration held every mid-March in Macon


• The Mulberry Street Festival^[72] - an arts and crafts festival held downtown the last weekend of March


• The Juneteenth Freedom Festival - An annual June performing arts and educational celebration of the end of American slavery in 1865, celebrating black freedom and heritage both ancient and contemporary


• Pan African Festival - An annual celebration of the African diaspora and culture, held in April


• Ocmulgee Indian Celebration - A celebration of the original residents of the land where Macon now sits, this festival is held in September^{[clarification needed Since what year?]} at Ocmulgee National Monument. Representatives from the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, Seminole, and other nations come to share stories, exhibit Native art, and perform traditional songs and dance.


• The Georgia Music Hall of Fame hosts Georgia Music Week in September.


• Macon's annual Bragg Jam festival features an Art and Kids' Festival along the Ocmulgee Heritage Trail and a nighttime Pub Crawl.


• Macon Film Festival^[73] - An annual celebration of independent films, held the third weekend in July

Points of interest

Fort Benjamin Hawkins

Ocmulgee National Monument

Historical sites

• 
  Terminal Station is a railroad station that was built in 1916,^[17] and is located on 5th St. at the end of Cherry St. It was designed by architect Alfred Fellheimer, prominent for his design of Grand Central Terminal in New York City in 1903.


• 
  Ocmulgee National Monument is located near downtown Macon. It preserves some of the largest ancient earthwork mounds in Georgia built by the Mississippian culture a millennium ago, c. 950-1150. It was sacred to the historic Muscogee (Creek Nation) as well. Archeological artifacts reveal 13,000 years of human habitation at the site.^[7] The park features a spiral mound, funeral mound, temple mounds, burial mounds, and a reconstructed earth lodge. It is the first Traditional Cultural Property designated by the National Park Service east of the Mississippi River.


• 
  Fort Benjamin Hawkins, a major military outpost (1806-1821), was a command headquarters for the U.S. Army and Georgia militia on the boundary between U.S.-held and Native land, as well as a trading post or factory for the Creek Nation. It was a supply depot during U.S. campaigns of the War of 1812 and the Creek and Seminole Wars.


• 
  Cannonball House - historic site^[74]


• Luther Williams Field


• 
  Rose Hill Cemetery - one of Macon's oldest cemeteries
  


• 
  Sidney Lanier Cottage - historical home of the poet Sidney Lanier^[75]


• 
  Temple Beth Israel - The Jewish congregation was founded in 1859, and now occupies a domed Neoclassical facility built in 1902.^[76]


• 
  Wesleyan College - first chartered women's college in the world

Museums

• 
  The Allman Brothers Band Museum - the "Big House" used by the Allman Brothers Band in the early 1970s, now a museum of Allman Brothers history and artifacts


• The Georgia Children's Museum^[77] - interactive education, located in the downtown Museum District


• Georgia Sports Hall of Fame


• 
  Museum of Arts and Sciences (Macon) and Planetarium


• 
  Tubman Museum of African American Art, History, and Culture - the largest African American museum in the Southeast

Community

• 
  City Hall, Georgia's capitol for part of the Civil War

Macon City Auditorium -- World's Largest True Copper Dome

Cox Capitol Theater

• 
  Douglass Theatre, named for its founder Charles Henry Douglas. An entrepreneur from a prominent black family, he was an established theatre developer well versed in the vaudeville and entertainment business. The theatre has undergone modern renovations and hosts numerous theatrical events.


• The Grand Opera House, where the Macon Symphony Orchestra performs


• 
  Hay House - also known as the "Johnston-Felton-Hay House," it has been referred to as the "Palace of the South"^[78]


• 
  City Auditorium, the world's largest true copper dome ^[79]


• Macon Coliseum


• Macon Little Theatre, established in 1934, the area's oldest community theatre, producing seven plays/musicals per season


• Waddell Barnes Botanical Gardens

Sports

Macon is home to the Mercer Bears, who compete at the NCAA Division I level in sports that include soccer (men's and women's), football, baseball, basketball (men's and women's), tennis, and lacrosse. Central Georgia Technical College also competes in men's and women's basketball. Wesleyan College, an all-female school, has teams in basketball, soccer, cross country, tennis, softball, and volleyball.

Former teams

Parks and recreation

The city maintains several parks and community centers.^[81]

Ocmulgee Riverwalk

• Ocmulgee Heritage Trail - a green way of parks, plazas, and landmarks along the Ocmulgee River in downtown Macon


• Bloomfield Park


• East Macon Park


• Frank Johnson Recreation Center


• Freedom Park


• L.H. Williams Community School Center


• Memorial Park


• North Macon Park


• Rosa Jackson


• Senior Center


• John Drew Smith Tennis Center


• Tattnall Square Tennis Center


• Gateway Park Otis Redding^[82]

Government

The mayor is Robert Reichert, a former member of the Georgia House of Representatives, who was elected to the position in 2007.

The city council is, to date, the only city council in Georgia to conduct partisan elections, with the city council leaning mostly to the Democratic Party.^{[citation needed]}

Education

Mercer University

Public high schools

• Central High School


• 
  Howard High School (Macon, Georgia)^[83]


• 
  Northeast Health Science Magnet High School^[84]


• 
  Rutland High School (Macon, Georgia)^[85]


• 
  Southwest Magnet High School and Law Academy^[86]


• 
  Westside High School^[87]

Private high schools

• Central Fellowship Christian Academy^{[citation needed]}


• First Presbyterian Day School


• Mount de Sales Academy


• Stratford Academy


• Tattnall Square Academy


• Windsor Academy


• Covenant Academy^[88]


• Bethany Christian Academy^{[citation needed]}

Private and specialized schools

• The Academy for Classical Education^[89]


• Macon Charter Academy^[90]


• Northwoods Academy^[91]


• Elam Alexander Academy^[92]


• Georgia Academy for the Blind^[93]

Colleges and universities

Approximately 30,000 college students live in the greater Macon area.^[94] Mercer, Middle Georgia State University, and Wesleyan College have the largest populations of "traditional" college students.^{[citation needed]} Georgia College & State University has a "Center for Graduate and Professional Learning" in Macon.^[95]

• Mercer University


• Middle Georgia State University


• Wesleyan College


• Central Georgia Technical College


• 
  Fort Valley State University - satellite campus


• 
  Georgia College & State University - satellite campus


• 
  Troy University - satellite campus


• 
  Virginia College - satellite campus


• 
  Miller-Motte Technical College - satellite campus

Media

Macon has a substantial number of local television and radio stations. It is also served by two local papers.

Newspapers and magazines

• 
  The Telegraph, a daily newspaper, is published in Macon.


• The 11th Hour


• 
  Gateway Macon (web portal), The Local's Guide for Things To Do in Macon.


• Macon Business Journal, a journal chronicling the business community in the Middle Georgia region.


• The Mercer Cluster


• 
  Macon Community News, a monthly positive news print newspaper.

Infrastructure

Medical Center of Central Georgia

Hospitals

• Central Georgia Rehabilitation Hospital


• Coliseum Medical Centers


• Coliseum Northside Hospital


• Navicent Medical Center of Central Georgia

Transportation

Airports

• 
  Macon Downtown Airport is located near downtown. It has a large number of corporate and private aviation aircraft.


• 
  Middle Georgia Regional Airport provides public air service to Macon as well as cargo flights. The airport is situated 9 mi (14 km) south of downtown.

Highways

Interstates:

• 
   Interstate 14 (Future)
  


• 
   Interstate 16
  


• 
   Interstate 75
  


• 
   Interstate 475
  

U.S. Routes:

• 
  U.S. Route 23
  


• 
  U.S. Route 41
  


• 
  U.S. Route 80
  


• 
  U.S. Route 129
  

State Routes:

• 
  State Route 11
  


• 
  State Route 19
  


• 
  State Route 22
  


• 
  State Route 49
  


• 
  State Route 74
  


• 
  State Route 87
  


• 
  State Route 87 Connector
  


• 
  State Route 247
  


• 
  State Route 401 (unsigned designation for I-75)


• 
  State Route 404 (unsigned designation for I-16)


• 
  State Route 408 (unsigned designation for I-475)


• 
  State Route 540 (Fall Line Freeway) (future)

Mass Transit

MTA-MAC City Bus

The Macon Transit Authority (MTA) is Macon's public-transit system, operating the Public Transit City Bus System throughout Macon-Bibb County. Most commuters in Macon and the surrounding suburbs use private automobiles as their primary transportation. This results in heavy traffic during rush hour and contributes to Macon's air pollution. The MTA has a total of 10 city bus routes and an express bus that serves suburban Warner Robins just south of the city.^{[citation needed]}

Macon Transit Authority has a tourist trolley system. The trolleys have offered tours of the downtown Macon area since 1999. The tours consist of all of the major historical sites such as the Georgia Music Hall of Fame, the Hay House, and the Tubman Museum. There are three trolleys holding up to 39 passengers.

Greyhound Lines provides intercity bus service.

Macon grew as a center of rail transport after the 1846 opening of the Macon and Western Railroad.^[96] Two of the most note-worthy train companies operating through the city were the Central of Georgia Railway and the Southern Railway. The city continued to be served by passenger trains until the 1970s.
Macon is included in the proposed Georgia Rail Passenger Program to restore inter-city rail service.

Pedestrians and cycling

Notable people

Sister cities

Macon has six sister cities, as designated by Sister Cities International, Inc. (SCI):^[97]

See also

• Central Georgia


• Downtown Macon, Georgia


• Macon, Georgia metropolitan area


• 
  List of mayors of Macon, Georgia

Notes

References

Bibliography

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Macon, Georgia.

• Official website


• Macon-Bibb County Convention and Visitors Bureau


• 
  Macon (the New Georgia Encyclopedia)


• 
  Macon (Georgia) travel guide from Wikivoyage


• 
  "Macon", New Georgia Encyclopedia, Georgia Humanities Council 
  


• 
  "Genealogical & Historical Room". Macon: Middle Georgia Regional Library. 
  


• 
  Items related to Macon, various dates (via Digital Public Library of America)


• 
  "Subject Guides: Macon". Middle Georgia State University Libraries. 
  


• Rees stereograph collection from the Digital Library of Georgia