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Madison, Georgia

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Country
  
United States

Elevation
  
679 ft (207 m)

Area code(s)
  
706

Zip code
  
30650

State
  
Georgia

Time zone
  
Eastern (EST) (UTC-5)

FIPS code
  
13-49196

Population
  
3,973 (2013)

Madison, Georgia httpspbstwimgcomprofileimages4775302710848

Weather
  
14°C, Wind NW at 3 km/h, 27% Humidity

Points of interest
  
Madison Town Park, Madison Museum of Fine Art, Morgan County African‑American

Driving around city of madison georgia


Madison is a city in Morgan County, Georgia, United States. It is part of the Atlanta-Athens-Clarke-Sandy Springs Combined Statistical Area. The population was 3,636 at the 2000 census. The city is the county seat of Morgan County and the site of the Morgan County Courthouse.

Contents

Map of Madison, GA 30650, USA

The Historic District of Madison is one of the largest in the state. Many of the nearly 100 antebellum homes have been carefully restored. Bonar Hall is one of the first of the grand-style homes built in Madison during the town's cotton-boom heyday between 1840-60.

Madison was named the #1 Small Town in America by Travel Holiday magazine. Budget Travel magazine voted Madison as one of the world's 16 most picturesque villages.

Madison received a 2017 Live, Work, Play City Award presented by the Georgia Municipal Association in conjunction with Georgia Trend Magazine, during GMA’s annual Mayors’ Day Conference in Atlanta. Madison was recognized for advancing job creation, housing offerings and recreational amenities.

Madison is featured on Georgia's Antebellum Trail, and is designated as one of the state's Historic Heartland cities.

The nearest state park is Hard Labor Creek, located approximately 12 miles west of Madison. The park is known for its golf course, rustic camping and Hard Labor Creek Observatory, which is part of the Georgia State University Astronomy program.

A visit to madison georgia


History

Madison was founded in 1807 as seat of the newly formed Morgan County, and was named for President James Madison.

The community was described in an early 19th century issue of White's Statistics of Georgia as "the most cultured and aristocratic town on the stagecoach route from Charleston to New Orleans." In a 1849 edition of White's Statistics of Georgia, the following was written about Madison: "In point of intelligence, refinement, and hospitality, this town acknowledges no superior."

While many believe that Sherman spared the town because it was too beautiful to burn during his March to the Sea, the truth is that Madison was home to pro-Union Congressman (later Senator)Joshua Hill. Hill had ties with General William Tecumseh Sherman's brother in the House of Representatives, so his sparing the town was more political than appreciation of its beauty.

In 1895 Madison was audited as having in successful operation an oil mill with a capital of $35,000, a soap factory, a fertilizer factory, four steam ginneries, a mammoth compress, two carriage factories, a furniture factory, a grist and flouringmill, a bottling works, a distillery with a capacity of 120 gallons a day, an ice factory with a capital of $10,500, a canning factory with a capital of $10,000, a bank with a capital of $75,000, surplus $12,000, and a number of small industries operated by individual enterprise.

Madison has one of the largest historic districts in the state of Georgia, and tourists from all over the world come to marvel at the antebellum architecture of the homes.

Geography

Madison is located at 33°35′17″N 83°28′21″W (33.588038, -83.472368).

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 8.9 square miles (23 km2), of which, 8.9 square miles (23 km2) of it is land and 0.04 square miles (0.10 km2) of it (0.45%) is water.

Madison is situated on a high ridge which traverses Morgan County from the northeast to the southwest at an elevation of 760 feet.

Demographics

As of the census of 2000, there were 3,636 people, 1,362 households, and 964 families residing in the city. The population density was 410.2 people per square mile (158.5/km²). There were 1,494 housing units at an average density of 168.5 per square mile (65.1/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 48.93% White, 47.83% African-American, 0.08% Native American, 0.99% Asian, 1.10% from other races, and 1.07% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.09% of the population.

There were 1,362 households out of which 32.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 44.0% were married couples living together, 22.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 29.2% were non-families. 25.2% of all households were made up of individuals and 10.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.61 and the average family size was 3.11.

In the city, the population was spread out with 26.1% under the age of 18, 7.4% from 18 to 24, 28.2% from 25 to 44, 22.4% from 45 to 64, and 15.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females there were 84.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 77.9 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $36,055, and the median income for a family was $40,265. Males had a median income of $40,430 versus $21,411 for females. The per capita income for the city was $19,551. About 10.3% of families and 11.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 14.2% of those under age 18 and 13.3% of those age 65 or over.

Morgan County School District

The Morgan County School District holds pre-school to grade twelve, and consists of two elementary schools, a middle school, and a high school. The district has 210 full-time teachers and over 3,171 students.

  • Morgan County Primary School
  • Morgan County Elementary School
  • Morgan County Middle School
  • Morgan County High School

    • Notable citizens

  • Benny Andrews, nationally recognized as an artist, teacher, author, activist, and advocate of the arts, grew up in rural Morgan County. He was known as the "Dot Man" for his folk technique of painting.
  • Raymond Andrews (June 6, 1934 – November 25, 1991), African-American novelist, grew up in rural Morgan County.
  • George Gordon Crawford (August 24, 1869 – March 20, 1936), industrialist, was born in Madison.
  • Tommy Durden, the steel guitarist and songwriter who co-wrote Elvis Presley's breakthrough hit, "Heartbreak Hotel", was born in Morgan County.
  • Oliver "Ollie" Hardy (born Norvell Hardy) (January 18, 1892 – August 7, 1957), comic actor famous as one half of Laurel and Hardy, lived in Madison as a child where his Mother owned a hotel called The Hardy House. The Madison-Morgan Cultural Center is a preserved Romanesque Revival schoolhouse housing the room where Oliver Hardy attended first grade.
  • Albert T. Harris, World War II naval hero was born in Madison.
  • Bill Hartman (William Coleman "Bill" Hartman, Jr., March 17, 1915 – March 16, 2006) the Washington Redskins' running back, started playing American football in Madison.
  • Joshua Hill (January 10, 1812 – March 6, 1891) was a United States Senator who lived in Madison. During the Civil War, General William Tecumseh Sherman, a friend of Hill, did not burn Madison, Georgia on his "March to the Sea".
  • Lancelot Johnston (1790-1866) resided in Madison. Johnston is credited with having perfected the process of extracting oil from cotton seed. He also invented the cotton seed huller.
  • Eugenius Aristides Nisbet began his practice of law in Madison Georgia, before later being elected as one of the three initial justices of the Supreme Court of Georgia in 1845.
  • Brooks Pennington Jr., Georgia businessman, philanthropist and politician, operated his father's seed store on Main Street.
  • Seaborn Reese (November 28, 1846 – March 1, 1907), the American politician, jurist and lawyer, was born in Madison. Reese filled the seat for Georgia in the United States House of Representatives during the 47th United States Congress. He was reelected to the 48th and 49th Congresses, serving from December 4, 1882, until March 3, 1887.
  • Mark Schlabach, the American sports journalist, New York Times best-selling author and columnist and reporter for ESPN.com lives in Madison.
  • William Tappan Thompson, humorist and writer who co-founded the Savannah Morning News newspaper in the 1850s, lived in Madison in the 1840s and worked on the city's first newspaper, The Southern Miscellany.
  • Jesse Triplett, lead guitarist with Collective Soul, was born in Madison and attended the Morgan County School System.
  • Philip Lee Williams (born January 30, 1950), novelist, poet, and essayist, grew up in Madison. He is the winner of many literary awards including the 2004 Michael Shaara Prize for his novel A Distant Flame (St. Martin’s), an examination of southerners who were against the Confederacy’s position in the American Civil War. He is also a winner of the Townsend Prize for Fiction for his novel The Heart of a Distant Forest, and has been named Georgia Author of the Year four times by the Georgia Writers Association. In 2007, he was recipient of a Georgia Governor’s Award in the Humanities.

    • Culture

    Madison is home to numerous art galleries and museums.

    The Madison-Morgan Cultural Center (MMCC) provides a regional focus for performing and visual arts, plus permanent exhibits including a historical exhibit of Georgia's Piedmont region. The Center occupies an elegantly restored 1895 Romanesque Revival building and is located in the heart of Madison's nationally registered Historic District.

    Athens band, R.E.M., recorded an MTV Unplugged session at Madison-Morgan Cultural Center in 1991, where they played "Losing My Religion" with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. Because of the legal dispute between Viacom and YouTube only a Japanese version of the permformance is available on YouTube. The song won the award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal at the 34th Annual Grammy Awards in 1992.

    The Steffen Thomas Museum of Art houses an extensive collection the art, research and documentation of the body of work of expressionist artist Steffen Thomas. The museum is located a few miles from Madison, towards 'the real' Buckhead.

    The Morgan County African American Museum is located in Madison.

    Heritage Hall is maintained by the Morgan County Historical Society and has been restored for its architectural and historical significance. Heritage Hall was built in Greek Revival style in 1811 and was a private residence until 1977.

    Madison is the home of the Southern Cross Guest Ranch, the only dude ranch in Georgia.

    An independently owned and operated cinema, Ricky D's, opened in 2014 and has since closed and was located on the square in downtown Madison.

    Madison was home to one local radio station, WYTH (1250 AM), which played pop standards and oldies. The station took a direct hit during the 2011 tornado that struck Madison.

    The Bruce Weiner Microcar Museum was located in Madison. Housing the largest collection of microcars in the world, the Microcar Museum featured over 300 bubble cars, which are tiny two-door vehicles with engines no greater than 300ccs. The microcar was invented in Europe during the depression after World War II. The museum collection was auctioned off February, 15-16 2013.

    The Madison Artists' Guild has more than 150 members and is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the education in, and encouragement of, artistic endeavor in its members and the community through planned programs and regular gatherings.

    Madison Museum of Fine Art is also located in the city.

    References

    Madison, Georgia Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA


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