Lumpkin, Georgia Explained

Lumpkin, Georgia should not be confused with Lumpkin County, Georgia.

Lumpkin, Georgia
Subdivision Name:United States
Unit Pref:Imperial
Area Footnotes:[1]
Area Total Km2:4.14
Area Land Km2:4.10
Area Water Km2:0.04
Area Total Sq Mi:1.60
Area Land Sq Mi:1.58
Area Water Sq Mi:0.02
Population Total:891
Population Density Km2:217.50
Population Density Sq Mi:563.21
Utc Offset:-5
Timezone Dst:EDT
Utc Offset Dst:-4
Coordinates:32.0497°N -84.7958°W
Elevation M:183
Elevation Ft:600
Postal Code:31815
Blank Info:13-47980[2]
Blank1 Name:GNIS feature ID
Blank1 Info:0317484[3]

Lumpkin is a city and county seat of Stewart County, Georgia, United States. Per the 2020 census, the population was 891.[4]

History

This area of Georgia was inhabited by succeeding cultures of indigenous Native Americans for thousands of years before European contact. Historical tribes included the Cherokee, Choctaw and Creek, who encountered European Americans as their settlements moved into traditional territory. During the Indian removal of 1830, the United States government forced such tribes to move west of the Mississippi River to Indian Territory, to extinguish their claims and make way for more European-American settlement.

Lumpkin was incorporated by European Americans on March 30, 1829. First named the county seat of Randolph County on December 2, 1830, it became the seat of Stewart County when the latter was split from Randolph three weeks later. The city was named in honor of Wilson Lumpkin, a two-term governor of Georgia and legislator who supported Indian removal. His namesake county is at the northern end of the state.[5]

The town grew as a commercial center served by stagecoach. Its merchants traded with the planters in the area. This was part of the Black Belt, named for the fertile land in the upland South that supported extensive cotton plantations in the 19th century. In the antebellum years, planters depended on the labor and skills of hundreds of thousands of enslaved African Americans to cultivate and process the cotton for market.[5]

After the war, many freedmen stayed in the area as sharecroppers and tenant farmers, and the economy continued to depend on agriculture. With land erosion and depletion, cotton farming gave way to peanut and pine tree cultivation, and labor needs decreased. The population of the county dropped markedly from the Great Migration of blacks to industrial jobs in the North and Midwest in the early decades of the 20th century, but the town of Lumpkin remained relatively stable. The county is still quite rural.[5]

Lumpkin was the first small town in Georgia to complete a successful historic preservation project to encourage what has become known as heritage tourism. It restored the Bedingfield Inn, built in 1836 and located on the central square. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

On December 5, 1954, a destructive F2 tornado hit the northwest side of town, killing one and injuring 20.[6] [7]

In the 1960s, a group of citizens created a living history complex known as Westville. They relocated 30 historic structures to create a grouping of western Georgia architecture as would have been found in an 1850s working village. Some of the buildings were purchased from the collection of John Word West established in 1928 in Jonesboro, Georgia. The village, staffed by volunteers to give the sense of daily life, has since moved to Columbus, Georgia.[5]

The nearby private Stewart Detention Center houses federal detainees for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The facility is owned and run by CoreCivic. In 2011 Stewart ranked as the largest and busiest such facility in the United States. Stewart County's share of revenue from the federal government, 85 cents per inmate per day, amounted to more than half of the county's entire annual budget.[8] It was removed from the 2020 U.S. Census geography for Lumpkin city hence the decline in population.

Geography

Lumpkin is located at .[9] U.S. Route 27 passes west of the city, leading north 37miles to Columbus and south 132miles to Tallahassee, Florida. Georgia State Route 27 also passes through the city, leading southwest 24miles to Georgetown on the Alabama state line and east 9miles to Richland.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 1.6mi2, of which 1.6mi2 is land and 0.04mi2 (1.25%) is water.

Demographics

Lumpkin city, Georgia – Racial and ethnic composition
!Race / Ethnicity (NH = Non-Hispanic)!Pop 2010[10] !Pop 2020[11] !% 2010!% 2020
White alone (NH)39624614.45%27.61%
Black or African American alone (NH)89359932.58%67.23%
Native American or Alaska Native alone (NH)560.18%0.67%
Asian alone (NH)2801.02%0.00%
Pacific Islander alone (NH)010.00%0.11%
Some Other Race alone (NH)930.33%0.34%
Mixed Race or Multi-Racial (NH)10200.36%2.24%
Hispanic or Latino (any race)1,4001651.08%1.80%
Total2,741891100.00%100.00%
Note: the US Census treats Hispanic/Latino as an ethnic category. This table excludes Latinos from the racial categories and assigns them to a separate category. Hispanics/Latinos can be of any race.

At the census of 2000, there were 1,369 people, 552 households, and 367 families residing in the city; by 2020, its population declined to 891.

Government

The current mayor of Lumpkin is Jimmy Babb. Charles Gibson, his predecessor, elected in 2010, was the first African-American elected to this office.

Education

The Stewart County School District holds pre-school to grade twelve, and consists of an elementary school, middle school, and high school.[12] The district has 58 full-time teachers and over 704 students.[13]

Notable People

Further reading

Notes and References

  1. Web site: 2020 U.S. Gazetteer Files. United States Census Bureau. December 18, 2021.
  2. Web site: U.S. Census website. United States Census Bureau. 2008-01-31.
  3. Web site: US Board on Geographic Names. 2008-01-31. United States Geological Survey. 2007-10-25.
  4. Web site: Lumpkin city, Georgia. United States Census Bureau. April 15, 2022.
  5. http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-2255 Matthew M. Moye, "Lumpkin"
  6. Web site: Georgia Event Report: F2 Tornado . NCDC . National Climatic Data Center . 4 July 2020.
  7. Book: Grazulis . Thomas P. . Thomas P. Grazulis . Significant Tornadoes 1680–1991: A Chronology and Analysis of Events . July 1993 . The Tornado Project of Environmental Films . . 1-879362-03-1 . 983 .
  8. News: Redmon. Jeremy. Georgia deportation jail largest in nation. 1 August 2016. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. 17 Jan 2011.
  9. Web site: US Gazetteer files: 2010, 2000, and 1990. United States Census Bureau. 2011-04-23. 2011-02-12.
  10. Web site: P2 Hispanic or Latino, and Not Hispanic or Latino by Race – 2010: DEC Redistricting Data (PL 94-171) – Lumpkin city, Georgia. United States Census Bureau.
  11. Web site: P2 Hispanic or Latino, and Not Hispanic or Latino by Race – 2020: DEC Redistricting Data (PL 94-171) – Lumpkin city, Georgia. United States Census Bureau.
  12. http://public.doe.k12.ga.us/ReportingFW.aspx?PageReq=111&PID=62&PTID=69&CountyId=728&T=0&FY=2008 Georgia Board of Education
  13. http://www.school-stats.com/GA/STEWART/STEWART_COUNTY.html School Stats