Griffin, Georgia

History

The Macon and Western Railroad was extended to a new station in Griffin in 1842.

In 1938, Alma Lovell had been distributing religious Bible tracts as a Jehovah's Witness but was arrested for violating a city ordinance requiring prior permission for distributing literature. In Lovell v. City of Griffin, the U.S. Supreme Court found that the city had violated her First Amendment and Fourteenth Amendment rights.

The Griffin Commercial Historic District, among the National Register of Historic Places listings in Spalding County, Georgia) is generally bounded by Central Alley, Sixth Street, Taylor Street and Eighth Street. The district includes the Griffin Grocery Company Building, now the Griffin Regional Welcome Center.

Spanish–American War

Griffin raised two batteries of Field Artillery for the Spanish–American War, Batteries A and B, Georgia Volunteer Light Artillery, which was organized as follows:

One of the officers resigned before the unit was mustered out. Three of the enlisted men transferred to other units, six were discharged for disability, ten were discharged for various reasons, two died of disease, and four deserted. Neither unit actually left Griffin.

Geography

Griffin is located at 33°14′51″N 84°16′15″W (33.247602, -84.270891). According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 14.6 square miles (38 km²), of which 14.5 square miles (38 km²) is land and 0.1 square miles (0.26 km²) (0.55%) is water.

Demographics

As of the census of 2000, there were 23,451 people, 8,876 households, and 5,955 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,615.0 people per square mile (623.6/km²). There were 9,636 housing units at an average density of 663.6 per square mile (256.2/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 49.88% African American, 46.98% White, 0.17% Native American, 0.99% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 0.98% from other races, and 0.98% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.22% of the population.

There were 8,876 households out of which 33.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 38.1% were married couples living together, 24.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 32.9% were non-families. 27.7% of all households were made up of individuals and 11.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.60 and the average family size was 3.17.

In the city, the population was spread out with 28.7% under the age of 18, 9.8% from 18 to 24, 28.9% from 25 to 44, 18.8% from 45 to 64, and 13.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 33 years. For every 100 females, there were 86.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 80.2 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $30,088, and the median income for a family was $33,963. Males had a median income of $30,488 versus $21,352 for females. The per capita income for the city was $15,563. About 17.7% of families and 21.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 28.4% of those under age 18 and 16.0% of those ages of 65 or over.

Education

The Griffin-Spalding County School District holds grades pre-school to grade twelve and consists of eleven elementary schools, four middle schools, and three high schools. The district has 661 full-time teachers and over 10,648 students.

Griffin Technical College was located in Griffin from 1963 and, following a merger, a branch of Southern Crescent Technical College is in Griffin. The Griffin Synodical Female College was established by Presbyterians but closed. The University of Georgia maintains a branch campus in Griffin.

Sports and recreation

The Griffin Warriors, a World Basketball Association team, played at the high school in 2006.

Media

The Griffin Daily News is a local paper, founded in 1872. WMVV is a local Christian station, WHIE AM broadcasts country music, while WKEU (AM) broadcasts oldies. WYFK, a Christian station, has their W290AG translator in Griffin.

Citizens of note

Fiction

Nonfiction