Newnan, Georgia

History

Newnan was established as county seat of Coweta County (replacing the defunct town of Bullsboro) in 1828 and was named for North Carolinian General Daniel Newnan. It quickly became a prosperous magnet for lawyers, doctors, other professionals, and merchants. Much of Newnan's prosperity was due to its thriving cotton industry, which relied on slavery.

Newnan was largely untouched by the Civil War due to its status as a hospital city (for Confederate troops), and as a result still features much antebellum architecture. Celebrated architect Kennon Perry designed many of the town's 20th century homes. During the Atlanta Campaign, Confederate cavalry defeated Union forces at the nearby Battle of Brown's Mill.

Newnan was also host to the trial in 1948 of wealthy landowner John Wallace, the first white man in the south to be condemned to death by the testimony of African Americans, two field hands who were made to help with burning the body of murdered white sharecropper Wilson Turner. These events were portrayed in the novel Murder in Coweta County. The film version starred Johnny Cash, Andy Griffith, and June Carter.

The city is home to one of the few Georgia counties with a museum that focuses mainly on African American history. The Coweta County African American Heritage Museum and Research Center, or Caswell House, was opened in July 2003 in a donated mill village house once owned by Ruby Caswell. The museum sits on Farmer Street on an old, unmarked, slave cemetery. It has collected hundreds of family genealogical records by interviewing residents and going through the census records. The museum also houses the Coweta Census Indexes from 1870 to 1920.

The first black library in the county was the Sara Fisher Brown Library. Built in the 1950s, the library has since been converted into the Community Action For Improvement Center.

The Farmer Street Cemetery is the largest slave cemetery in the South, and may be the largest undisturbed one in the nation. It is within the city limits of Newnan.

Geography

Newnan is located in the center of Coweta County at 33°22′35″N 84°47′19″W (33.376411, -84.788648). U.S. Route 29 passes through the center of the city, leading northeast 13 miles (21 km) to Palmetto and south 7 miles (11 km) to Moreland. Interstate 85 passes through the eastern side of the city, with access from exits 41 and 47, and leads northeast 40 miles (64 km) to downtown Atlanta and southwest 125 miles (201 km) to Montgomery, Alabama. U.S. Route 27A leads northwest from the center of Newnan 22 miles (35 km) to Carrollton.

According to the United States Census Bureau, Newnan has a total area of 18.6 square miles (48.3 km²), of which 18.3 square miles (47.4 km²) is land and 0.35 square miles (0.9 km²), or 1.88%, is water.

Shopping

Newnan is a shopping hub and has experienced rapid commercial development. One of the more popular developments is Ashley Park, an open-air shopping mall near I-85.

Demographics

Newnan’s population is approximately 33,039 and Coweta County’s population is approximately 127,400. From 2000- 2010, the population of city of Newnan grew by 42.7% as compared to 1990-2000, when the county grew by 65.7%. Growth: Newnan grew by 30% from 1990-2000 and in 2000-2010 was 103.4%

Climate: The climate is moderate with an average temperature of 64.3 degrees Fahrenheit (45.8 degrees in the winter and 79.1 degrees in the summer). The annual rainfall is 51.84 inches.

The racial makeup of the city was 57.8% White Alone, 30.6% African American Alone, 0.3% Native American Alone, 2.8% Asian Alone, 0.1% Pacific Islander Alone, 5.6% from Some Other Race Alone, and 2.8% from Two or More Races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 11.4% of the population. There were 13,783 households out of which 34.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 42.5% were married couples living together, 17.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 33.4% were non-families. 28.6% of all households were made up of individuals and 7.3% 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 3.17. In the city, the population was spread out with 30.8% under the age of 19, 7.8% from 20 to 24, 29.8% from 25 to 44, 21.9% from 45 to 64, and 9.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 33.3 years.

The median income for a household in the city was $50,175 and the median income for a family was $64,615. Males had a median income of $50,753 versus $39,691 for females. The per capita income for the city was $19,081. About 17.3% of families and 22.0% of the population were below the poverty line, including 32.0% of those under age 18 and 5.7% of those age 65 or over. Sources: American Factfinder, ESRI

Coweta County School District

The Coweta County School District holds pre-school to grade twelve, and consists of nineteen elementary schools, six middle schools, and three high schools. The district has 1,164 full-time teachers and over 18,389 students.

Middle schools

High schools

Higher education

Mercer University has a Regional Academic Center in Newnan. The center opened in 2010 and offers programs through the university's College of Continuing and Professional Studies.

The University of West Georgia has a campus located in Newnan, near downtown. This campus currently has two undergraduate programs: Bachelor of Science in Nursing and Early Childhood Education.

Newnan is also home to a campus of West Georgia Technical College.

Notable people

Television and movies

Major roads

Airports