Country United States County Harris FIPS code 13-36220 Area 5.4 km² Zip code 31811 Local time Wednesday 9:03 AM | State Georgia Time zone Eastern (EST) (UTC-5) GNIS feature ID 0315055 Elevation 235 m Population 1,013 (2013) Area code 706 | |
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Weather -1°C, Wind NW at 14 km/h, 63% Humidity | ||
Hamilton is a city in, and the county seat of Harris County, Georgia, United States. It is part of the Columbus, Georgia-Alabama Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 1,056 at the 2014 census estimate.
Contents
Map of Hamilton, GA 31811, USA
History
Hamilton was founded in 1827 as seat of the newly formed Harris County. It was incorporated as a town in 1828 and as a city in 1903.
The city was named for U.S. Secretary of the Navy and Governor of South Carolina, Paul Hamilton (1762-1816).
In January 1912, the lynching of a black woman and three black men in Hamilton attracted national attention from the press and widespread outrage. Dusky Crutchfield, Eugene Harrington, Burrell Hardaway, and Johnie Moore had been held for questioning in the death of a white landowner. They were later shown to have been utterly innocent. They had never even been arrested. A mob of white men took them outside town, hanged and shot them. While many white families tried to build walls of silence around the murders, the effects of these crimes were long-lasting. Coverage by local white newspapers at the time suggested the four were guilty. The Montgomery Advertiser did not even report their names correctly.
Geography
Hamilton is located at 32°45′53″N 84°52′23″W (32.764669, -84.873103). U.S. Route 27 runs through the city from north to south, leading southwest 25 mi (40 km) to Columbus and north 8 mi (13 km) to Pine Mountain. Georgia State Route 116 intersects U.S. Route 27 in the city for a very short concurrency. Atlanta is 87 mi (140 km) by road to the northeast. The city is located at the southern base of the Pine Mountain Range, the most southern mountain range of the U.S. Appalachian Mountains.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 2.1 square miles (5.4 km2), all land.
Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there were 307 people, 131 households, and 83 families residing in the city. The population density was 147.2 people per square mile (56.7/km²). There were 144 housing units at an average density of 69.0 per square mile (26.6/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 67.75% White, 29.97% African American, 1.63% Asian, 0.33% from other races, and 0.33% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.33% of the population.
There were 131 households out of which 35.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 42.0% were married couples living together, 19.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 36.6% were non-families. 34.4% of all households were made up of individuals and 20.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.34 and the average family size was 3.00.
In the city, the population was spread out with 27.4% under the age of 18, 5.5% from 18 to 24, 25.7% from 25 to 44, 22.5% from 45 to 64, and 18.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 females there were 89.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 78.4 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $32,143, and the median income for a family was $38,750. Males had a median income of $28,750 versus $32,083 for females. The per capita income for the city was $18,292. About 5.2% of families and 12.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 9.6% of those under the age of eighteen and 21.8% of those 65 or over.
Education
The city is home to three of the seven schools in the county: