126-461: Toccoa is a city in far Northeast Georgia near the border with South Carolina . It is the county seat of Stephens County , Georgia , United States, located about 50 miles (80 km) from Athens and about 90 miles (140 km) northeast of Atlanta . The population was 9,133 as of the 2020 census. The Indigenous Nations of the Mississippian culture , and historic Yuchi , linked to
252-526: A humid subtropical climate similar to much of the rest of the state of Georgia. As of the 2020 United States Census , there were 9,133 people, 3,359 households, and 2,135 families residing in the city. As of the census of 2010, Toccoa had a population of 8,491. The July 2014 population estimate was 8,257. The median age of a Toccoa resident is 35.4. The number of companies in Toccoa is 1,135. In educational attainment, high school graduate or higher percentage
378-405: A patent of his cotton gin on October 28, 1793; the patent was granted on March 14, 1794, but was not validated until 1807. Whitney's patent was assigned patent number 72X. There is slight controversy over whether the idea of the modern cotton gin and its constituent elements are correctly attributed to Eli Whitney. The popular image of Whitney inventing the cotton gin is attributed to an article on
504-546: A primary language , while 7.82% (795,646) spoke Spanish, and 6.55% (666,849) spoke languages other than English or Spanish at home, with the most common of which were Vietnamese, Chinese, and Korean. In total, 14.38% (1,462,495) of Georgia's population age 5 and older spoke a mother language other than English. According to the Pew Research Center , the composition of religious affiliation in Georgia
630-468: A AAA rating. If Georgia were a stand-alone country, it would be the 28th-largest economy in the world, based on data from 2005. Cotton gin A cotton gin —meaning "cotton engine " —is a machine that quickly and easily separates cotton fibers from their seeds, enabling much greater productivity than manual cotton separation. The separated seeds may be used to grow more cotton or to produce cottonseed oil . Handheld roller gins had been used in
756-531: A coastline on the Atlantic Ocean, Georgia is also vulnerable to hurricanes , although direct hurricane strikes were rare during the 20th century. Georgia often is affected by hurricanes that strike the Florida Panhandle , weaken over land, and bring strong tropical storm winds and heavy rain to the interior, a recent example being Hurricane Michael , as well as hurricanes that come close to
882-649: A governor appointed by the king of Great Britain . The Province of Georgia was one of the Thirteen Colonies that revolted against British rule in the American Revolution by signing the 1776 Declaration of Independence . The State of Georgia's first constitution was ratified in February 1777. Georgia was the 10th state to ratify the Articles of Confederation on July 24, 1778, and was
1008-565: A hangar dance at the airport, and a special banquet featuring keynote speakers and veterans. The Ritz Theatre is a restored 1939 art deco movie theater, located in the Downtown Toccoa Historic District at 139 Doyle Street. It is an active venue for a variety of entertainment. "Born from fire, and twice rebuilt from ashes, Downtown Toccoa's Albemarle Hotel has witnessed Toccoa's growth, and its struggles, for more than 100 years." The current building, dating from
1134-538: A hill overlooking the upper Tugalo River . The Greek revival antebellum house was built by his enslaved African-American workers, and the timber for the house was harvested from his plantation. The Prather family cemetery was developed to the right of the house. During the Civil War, General Robert Toombs , a close friend of Prather, used this house as a refuge from Union troops. The soldiers pursued him to Riverside, but he hid and escaped capture. The Prather Bridge
1260-528: A major speech, and finished at Warm Springs for a vacation. Camp Toccoa was developed nearby as a World War II paratrooper training base. It was the first training base for the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the Army's 101st Airborne Division . Its Easy Company was subject of the non-fiction book and an HBO miniseries adaptation of the same name: Band of Brothers . Traveler's Rest , an antebellum 19th-century inn, known locally as Jarrett Manor,
1386-492: A modified Forbes version, one man and a boy could produce 250 pounds per day. If oxen were used to power 16 of these machines, and a few people's labor was used to feed them, they could produce as much work as 750 people did formerly. The Indian roller cotton gin, known as the churka or charkha , was introduced to the United States in the mid-18th century, when it was adopted in the southern United States . The device
SECTION 10
#17327755240191512-835: A national leader in the civil rights movement . King joined with others to form the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) in Atlanta in 1957 to provide political leadership for the Civil Rights Movement across the South. The civil rights riots of the 1956 Sugar Bowl would also take place in Atlanta after a clash between Georgia Tech 's president Blake R. Van Leer and Governor Marvin Griffin . On February 5, 1958, during
1638-475: A restored 1939 dealership but has moved to Clarkesville, GA in Habersham County. There are over 100 years of automotive history on display. Vehicles can be stored, listed on consignment, for sale by owner or donated and everything is displayed as museum exhibits. The Currahee Military Museum, located in downtown Toccoa at the original train station where arriving GIs would disembark, is dedicated to
1764-418: A result, the region became even more dependent on plantations that used black slave labor, with plantation agriculture becoming the largest sector of its economy. While it took a single laborer about ten hours to separate a single pound of fiber from the seeds, a team of two or three slaves using a cotton gin could produce around fifty pounds of cotton in just one day. The number of slaves rose in concert with
1890-475: A single roller made of iron or wood and a flat piece of stone or wood. The earliest evidence of the cotton gin is found in the fifth century, in the form of Buddhist paintings depicting a single-roller gin in the Ajanta Caves in western India . These early gins were difficult to use and required a great deal of skill. A narrow single roller was necessary to expel the seeds from the cotton without crushing
2016-404: A small scale. Whitney's gin is made with two rotating cylinders. The first cylinder has lines of teeth around the circumference, and angled against this cylinder is a metal plate with small holes, "ginning ribs", through which the teeth can fit with minimal gaps. The teeth grip the cotton fibers as the mechanism rotates, dragging them through these small holes. The seeds are too big to fit through
2142-531: A state-wide office. Julian Bond , a noted civil rights leader, was elected to the state House in 1965, and served multiple terms there and in the state senate. Atlanta Mayor Ivan Allen Jr. testified before Congress in support of the Civil Rights Act, and Governor Carl Sanders worked with the Kennedy administration to ensure the state's compliance. Ralph McGill , editor and syndicated columnist at
2268-421: A system gin, and obtained related patents. The Munger System Ginning Outfit (or system gin) integrated all the ginning operation machinery, thus assuring the cotton would flow through the machines smoothly. Such system gins use air to move cotton from machine to machine. Munger's motivation for his inventions included improving employee working conditions in the gin. However, the selling point for most gin owners
2394-690: A training mission flown by a B-47 , a Mark 15 nuclear bomb , also known as the Tybee Bomb , was lost off the coast of Tybee Island near Savannah. The bomb was thought by the Department of Energy to lie buried in silt at the bottom of Wassaw Sound . By the 1960s, the proportion of African Americans in Georgia had declined to 28% of the state's population, after waves of migration to the North and some immigration by whites. With their voting power diminished, it took some years for African Americans to win
2520-404: A transportation hub, in 1991 UPS established its headquarters in the suburb of Sandy Springs . In 1992, construction finished on Bank of America Plaza , the tallest building in the U.S. outside of New York or Chicago. On February 19th, 2003, Georgia adopted its current state flag , resembling the state's first official flag. In 2024, it was announced that Atlanta would host multiple games during
2646-506: A variety of pines, oaks, hollies, cypress , sweetgum , scaly-bark and white hickories , and sabal palmetto . East Georgia is in the subtropical coniferous forest biome and conifer species as other broadleaf evergreen flora make up the majority of the southern and coastal regions. Yellow jasmine and mountain laurel make up just a few of the flowering shrubs in the state. White-tailed deer are found in nearly all counties of Georgia. The northern mockingbird and brown thrasher are among
SECTION 20
#17327755240192772-402: A wide range of concert experiences. The ensemble has premiered works by young composers, presents a yearly Christmas concert with a one hundred voice choir, and incorporates budding performers from nearby Toccoa Falls College. The rock band Luxury originated in Toccoa, at Toccoa Falls College, in the early 1990s. The Miles Through Time Automotive Museum was a co-op style automotive museum in
2898-495: Is 112 °F (44 °C) in Louisville on July 24, 1952, while the lowest is −17 °F (−27 °C) in northern Floyd County on January 27, 1940. Georgia is one of the leading states in frequency of tornadoes , though they are rarely stronger than EF1 . Although tornadoes striking the city are very rare, an EF2 tornado hit downtown Atlanta on March 14, 2008, causing moderate to severe damage to various buildings. With
3024-769: Is a regional financial services company with more than 1,300 employees. Annual events include the Currahee Military Weekend, the Ida Cox Music Series, Toast of Toccoa, Summer Movies at the Ritz, Costume Parade, Harvest Festival, ChristmasFest, and Christmas Parade. Toccoa is the home of a regional orchestra. The Toccoa Symphony Orchestra is made up of volunteer musicians from the surrounding community, in South Carolina , and Georgia . The symphony exists to provide quality symphonic music to
3150-543: Is believed to be a former food supply storage facility, based on its position near the former camp's gates and the foundation's construction. It was donated to the museum in 2011 by the Milliken company, which was using it as a machine shop. The museum intends to restore the building, along with the surrounding grounds. On the first Saturday of every October, a six-mile race is held along the Colonel Sink Trail,
3276-570: Is felt chiefly in the mountainous areas of the northern part of the state, which are farther away from the ocean and can be 4,500 feet (1,400 m) above sea level. The USDA plant hardiness zones for Georgia range from zone 6b (no colder than −5 °F (−21 °C)) in the Blue Ridge Mountains to zone 8b (no colder than 15 °F (−9 °C) ) along the Atlantic coast and Florida border. The highest temperature ever recorded
3402-458: Is known as the regional South Appalachian Mississippian culture , by contrast, settlements were smaller and the peoples typically built a single platform mound in the larger villages. Salvage archeological studies were conducted by Dr. Joseph Caldwell of the University of Georgia in 1957, prior to flooding of this area after construction of a dam downriver. He determined the first settlement
3528-498: Is located at 34°34′29″N 83°19′12″W / 34.57472°N 83.32000°W / 34.57472; -83.32000 (34.574725, −83.319865). According to the United States Census Bureau , the city has a total area of 8.4 square miles (22 km), of which 8.3 square miles (21 km) is land and 0.1 square miles (0.26 km) (0.60%) is water. Altitude is 313 m (1,027 ft). Toccoa has
3654-549: Is located outside Toccoa. It stands near Lake Hartwell , which was created by flooding an area of the Tugaloo River after completion of the Hartwell Dam in 1962. The inn has been designated as a National Historic Landmark . Toccoa Falls is located on the campus of Toccoa Falls College . The short 100-yard path to the base of the 186-foot (57 m) high natural waterfall is gravel-paved and easily walkable. Toccoa
3780-417: Is now named Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL). The busiest and most efficient airport in the world, it accommodates more than a hundred million passengers annually. Employing more than 60,000 people, the airport became a major engine for economic growth. With the advantages of cheap real estate, low taxes, right-to-work laws and a regulatory environment limiting government interference,
3906-459: Is the home of Toccoa Falls College , a private Christian college. North Georgia Technical College has the Currahee campus just south of Toccoa. Amtrak 's Crescent connects Toccoa with the cities of New York , Philadelphia , Baltimore , Washington , Charlotte , Atlanta , Birmingham , and New Orleans . The Amtrak station is at 47 North Alexander Street. The Amtrak line is shared with
Toccoa, Georgia - Misplaced Pages Continue
4032-549: The Atlanta Constitution , earned admiration by writing in support of the Civil Rights Movement. In 1970, newly elected Governor Jimmy Carter declared in his inaugural address that the era of racial segregation had ended. In 1972, Georgians elected Andrew Young to Congress as the first African American Congressman since the Reconstruction era . In 1980, construction was completed on an expansion of what
4158-421: The 1980 census , 1,584,303 people from Georgia claimed English ancestry out of a total state population of 3,994,817, making them 40% of the state, and the largest ethnic group at the time. Today, many of these same people claiming they are of "American" ancestry are actually of English descent, and some are of Scots-Irish descent; however, their families have lived in the state for so long, in many cases since
4284-773: The 2020 United States census . This was an increase of 1,024,255, or 10.57% over the 2010 figure of 9,687,653 residents. As of 2010 , the number of illegal immigrants living in Georgia more than doubled to 480,000 from January 2000 to January 2009, according to a federal report. That gave Georgia the greatest percentage increase among the 10 states with the biggest undocumented immigrant populations during those years. Georgia has banned sanctuary cities . In 2018, The top countries of origin for Georgia's immigrants were Mexico , India , Jamaica , Korea , and Guatemala . There were 743,000 veterans in 2009. According to HUD 's 2022 Annual Homeless Assessment Report , there were an estimated 10,689 homeless people in Georgia. In
4410-692: The 2026 FIFA World Cup , which further substantiated the economic investment and growth in the city and state. Beginning from the Atlantic Ocean, the state's eastern border with South Carolina runs up the Savannah River , northwest to its origin at the confluence of the Tugaloo and Seneca Rivers . It then continues up the Tugaloo (originally Tugalo) and into the Chattooga River , its most significant tributary . These bounds were decided in
4536-545: The American Civil War , were almost exclusively enslaved. The Great Migration of hundreds of thousands of blacks from the rural South to the industrial North from 1914 to 1970 reduced the African American population. Georgia had the second-fastest-growing Asian population growth in the U.S. from 1990 to 2000, more than doubling in size during the ten-year period. Indian people and Chinese people are
4662-990: The Apalachicola , the Chatot , the Yuchi , the Chiaha, the Chickasaw , the Okmulgee, the Shawnee and the Timucua . Today there are no federally recognized tribes in Georgia, but there are three state-recognized tribes. Many inhabitants of Georgia identify as being Native American alone (32,151 people in 2010 census and 50,618 in 2020) or Native American in combination with one or more other races (51,873 people in 2010 census and 163,423 in 2020). Many Georgians also reported belonging to various Native American tribes in 2010 census,
4788-579: The Chattahoochee River near West Point . It continues downriver to the point where it joins the Flint River (the confluence of the two forming Florida's Apalachicola River ); the southern border goes almost due east and very slightly south, in a straight line to the St. Mary's River , which then forms the remainder of the boundary back to the ocean. The water boundaries are still set to be
4914-519: The Civil War , it was the last state to be readmitted to the Union on July 15, 1870. In the late 19th century, during the post- Reconstruction period, Georgia's economy underwent significant changes, driven by a coalition of influential politicians, business leaders, and journalists, notably Henry W. Grady , who promoted the " New South " ideology focused on reconciliation and industrialization . In
5040-563: The Confederacy (with secessionists having a slight majority of delegates) and became a major theater of the Civil War . Major battles took place at Chickamauga , Kennesaw Mountain , and Atlanta . In December 1864, a large swath of the state from Atlanta to Savannah was destroyed during General William Tecumseh Sherman 's March to the Sea . 18,253 Georgian soldiers died in service, roughly one of every five who served. In 1870, following
5166-615: The Eastern Continental Divide , has been Georgia's capital city since 1868. It is the most populous city in Georgia, with a 2020 U.S. census population of just over 498,000. The state has seventeen cities with populations over 50,000, based on official 2020 U.S. census data. Along with the rest of the Southeast, Georgia's population continues to grow rapidly, with primary gains concentrated in urban areas. The U.S. Census Bureau lists fourteen metropolitan areas in
Toccoa, Georgia - Misplaced Pages Continue
5292-483: The Indian subcontinent since at earliest AD 500 and then in other regions. The Indian worm-gear roller gin was invented sometime around the 16th century and has, according to Lakwete, remained virtually unchanged up to the present time. A modern mechanical cotton gin was created by American inventor Eli Whitney in 1793 and patented in 1794. Whitney's gin used a combination of a wire screen and small wire hooks to pull
5418-659: The Mississippi River . On January 2, 1788, Georgia became the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution . Between 1802 and 1804, a portion of western Georgia was carved out to create the Mississippi Territory , which eventually became the U.S. states of Alabama and Mississippi . Georgia declared its secession from the Union on January 19, 1861, joining the ranks of the original seven Confederate States . After
5544-584: The Muscogee Creek confederacy and later allies of the Cherokee , occupied Tugaloo and the area of Toccoa for over 1,000 years prior to colonization. The Mississippian culture was known for building earthen platform mounds . In the Mississippi and Ohio valleys, the people developed some large, dense cities and complexes featuring multiple mounds and, in some cases, thousands of residents. In what
5670-849: The Norfolk Southern Railway . Before Amtrak, Toccoa was a stop on the Airline Belle , a regional train of the Southern Railway from 1879 to 1931. Toccoa is also home to the Toccoa Airport , a small executive airport to the northeast of town. The airport was built by R.G. LeTourneau and is sometimes referred to as R.G. LeTourneau Field. The nearest interstate highway is Interstate 85 . State highway 17 bypasses Toccoa, and highway 17 Alt runs through Toccoa. US highway 123 / state highway 365 runs through Toccoa as well. The Toccoa Record newspaper
5796-479: The North Georgia mountains , receives moderate to heavy precipitation, which varies from 45 inches (1,100 mm) in central Georgia to approximately 75 inches (1,900 mm) around the northeast part of the state. The degree to which the weather of a certain region of Georgia is subtropical depends on the latitude, its proximity to the Atlantic Ocean or Gulf of Mexico , and the elevation. The latter factor
5922-538: The Reconstruction era , Georgia became the last Confederate state to be restored to the Union . With white Democrats having regained power in the state legislature, they passed a poll tax in 1877, which disenfranchised many poor black (and some white) people, preventing them from registering. In 1908, the state established a white primary ; with the only competitive contests within the Democratic Party, it
6048-766: The Southern Baptist Convention with 1,759,317; the United Methodist Church with 619,394; and the Roman Catholic Church with 596,384. Non-denominational Evangelical Protestant had 566,782 members, the Church of God (Cleveland, Tennessee) has 175,184 members, and the National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc. has 172,982 members. The Presbyterian Church (USA) is the largest Presbyterian body in
6174-692: The Tennessee River . Georgia consists of five principal physiographic regions : The Cumberland Plateau , Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians , Blue Ridge Mountains , Piedmont , and the Atlantic coastal plain . Each region has its own distinctive characteristics. For instance, the region, which lies in the northwest corner of the state, includes limestone, sandstone, shale, and other sedimentary rocks, which have yielded construction-grade limestone, barite, ocher, and small amounts of coal. The state of Georgia has approximately 250 tree species and 58 protected plants. Georgia's native trees include red cedar ,
6300-401: The U.S. Census Bureau , its 2023 estimated population was 11,029,227. Atlanta , a global city , is both the state's capital and its largest city. The Atlanta metropolitan area , with a population of more than 6.3 million people in 2023, is the sixth most populous metropolitan area in the United States and contains about 57% of Georgia's entire population. Other major metropolitan areas in
6426-491: The crank handle in the cotton gin, first appeared sometime during the late Delhi Sultanate or the early Mughal Empire. The incorporation of the worm gear and crank handle into the roller cotton gin led to greatly expanded Indian cotton textile production during the Mughal era. It was reported that, with an Indian cotton gin, which is half machine and half tool, one man and one woman could clean 28 pounds of cotton per day. With
SECTION 50
#17327755240196552-470: The paratroopers of World War II who trained at Camp Toccoa . Camp Toccoa was located just outside the city proper, at the foot of Currahee Mountain , and was formerly known as Camp Toombs. The museum houses the original Aldbourne stables where paratroopers of the 101st Airborne Division were housed temporarily in England in 1944. Only one building remains of the original Camp Toccoa. The building
6678-649: The 100 fastest-growing in the United States. Georgia is defined by a diversity of landscapes, flora, and fauna. The northern part of the state features the Blue Ridge Mountains , which are part of the broader Appalachian Mountain range. Moving south, the Piedmont plateau stretches from the foothills of the Blue Ridge to the Fall Line , an escarpment that marks the transition to the Coastal Plain in
6804-571: The 160 bird species that live in the state. Reptiles include the eastern diamondback , copperhead , and cottonmouth snakes as well as alligators; amphibians include salamanders , frogs and toads . There are about 79 species of reptile and 63 amphibians known to live in Georgia. The Argentine black and white tegu is currently an invasive species in Georgia. It poses a problem to local wildlife by chasing down and killing many native species and dominating habitats. The most popular freshwater game fish are trout , bream , bass , and catfish , all but
6930-533: The 16th century. This mechanical device was, in some areas, driven by waterpower. The worm gear roller gin, which was invented in the Indian subcontinent during the early Delhi Sultanate era of the 13th to 14th centuries, came into use in the Mughal Empire sometime around the 16th century, and is still used in the Indian subcontinent through to the present day. Another innovation, the incorporation of
7056-420: The 1797 Treaty of Beaufort , and tested in the U.S. Supreme Court in the two Georgia v. South Carolina cases in 1923 and 1989. The border then takes a sharp turn around the tip of Rabun County , at latitude 35°N , though from this point it diverges slightly south (due to inaccuracies in the original survey, conducted in 1818). This northern border was originally the Georgia and North Carolina border all
7182-562: The 18th century from rice-growing regions of West Africa led to the development of Gullah -Geechee language and culture in the Low Country among African Americans. They share a unique heritage in which many African traditions of food, religion and culture were retained. In the creolization of Southern culture, their foodways became an integral part of Low Country cooking. Sephardic Jews, French-speaking Swiss people, Moravians, Irish convicts, Piedmont Italians and Russian people immigrated to
7308-643: The 1930s, retains some of the previous structure. For many years, it was known as the Alexander Apartments. The hotel is located in the Downtown Toccoa Historic District, and is on the National Register of Historic Places. Stephens County Schools serves students in preschool through grade twelve. There are four elementary schools, a middle school, and a high school. The district has 304 full-time teachers and over 4,405 students. Stephens County High School finished building its new facility in
7434-573: The 4th state to ratify the United States Constitution on January 2, 1788. After the Creek War (1813–1814) , General Andrew Jackson forced the Muscogee (Creek) tribes to surrender land to the state of Georgia, including in the Treaty of Fort Jackson (1814) , surrendering 21 million acres in what is now southern Georgia and central Alabama, and the Treaty of Indian Springs (1825) . In 1829, gold
7560-413: The American Civil War. In modern cotton production, cotton arrives at industrial cotton gins either in trailers, in compressed rectangular " modules " weighing up to 10 metric tons each or in polyethylene wrapped round modules similar to a bale of hay produced during the picking process by the most recent generation of cotton pickers. Trailer cotton (i.e. cotton not compressed into modules) arriving at
7686-400: The American Colonies ) Indian agent Col. George Chicken was one of the first English colonists to mention Toccoa in his journal from 1725, calling it Toxsoah. As early as 1740, the Unicoi Turnpike , an important Native American trading path, connected Tennessee to Savannah by way of Toccoa. The route began on the Savannah River , just below the entrance of Toccoa Creek . In 1830, it
SECTION 60
#17327755240197812-426: The Atlanta metropolitan area became a national center of finance, insurance, technology, manufacturing, real estate, logistics, and transportation companies, as well as the film, convention, and trade show businesses. As a testament to the city's growing international profile, in 1990 the International Olympic Committee selected Atlanta as the site of the 1996 Summer Olympics . Taking advantage of Atlanta's status as
7938-405: The Cherokee on the infamous " Trail of Tears " extinguished most of their land claims to this area. The US government released former Cherokee and Creek ( Muscogee ) lands for sale and settlement by European Americans in Georgia. A more substantial bridge was built across the Tugaloo River in 1850. That year James D. Prather supervised the construction of his plantation house known as Riverside, on
8064-552: The Clock in the Afternoon came in the War hoop from Ouconey with a piece of a Scalp of one of the Enemies Scouts, giving an Accot that Scouts being in Number Twenty four that went out from old Estotoe, and Toxsoah having come upon the tracts of three of the Enemy found they were made downwards towards the other Towns (on wch) they Concluded to waylay the Path thinking by that means to Catch the Enemy being three in Number returning back to their old tracts near Estotoe from Town to Town." George Chicken, Journal (quoted in Travels in
8190-492: The Georgia coastline, brushing the coast on their way north without ever making landfall. Hurricane Matthew of 2016 and Hurricane Dorian of 2019 did just that. Due to anthropogenic climate change , the climate of Georgia is warming. This is already causing major disruption, for example, from sea level rise (Georgia is more vulnerable to it than many other states because its land is sinking) and further warming will increase it. Atlanta , located in north-central Georgia at
8316-448: The Johns House, a Victorian cottage near Prather Bridge Road, was built in 1898. When the Georgia General Assembly created Stephens County in 1905, Toccoa was established as the county seat. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt visited Toccoa on March 23, 1938 during the Great Depression . Roosevelt's train made a brief stop there, and he made remarks from the rear platform of the presidential train. He traveled to Gainesville to deliver
8442-481: The South. Additionally, the greatly expanded supply of cotton created strong demand for textile machinery and improved machine designs that replaced wooden parts with metal. This led to the invention of many machine tools in the early 19th century. The invention of the cotton gin caused massive growth in the production of cotton in the United States, concentrated mostly in the South. Cotton production expanded from 750,000 bales in 1830 to 2.85 million bales in 1850. As
8568-465: The Supreme Court's ruling in Worcester v. Georgia (1832) that U.S. states were not permitted to redraw Indian boundaries, President Jackson and the state of Georgia ignored the ruling. In 1838, his successor, Martin Van Buren , dispatched federal troops to gather the tribes and deport them west of the Mississippi . This forced relocation, known as the Trail of Tears , led to the death of more than four thousand Cherokees. In early 1861, Georgia joined
8694-437: The United States, the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir Atlanta , located in the suburb city of Lilburn . Georgia is home to large Sikh religion population with 4 gurudwaras (Sikh religious worship places). Georgia is home to several historic synagogues including The Temple (Atlanta) , Congregation Beth Jacob (Atlanta) , and Congregation Mickve Israel (Savannah) . Chabad and the Rohr Jewish Learning Institute are also active in
8820-435: The United States. Scots-Irish who acquired land in the lottery moved to this area from the backcountry of North Carolina and the Georgia coast. The Georgia Gold Rush , starting in 1828, also attracted many new settlers to North Georgia. European Americans pressed the government to take over the land of the Five Civilized Tribes, seeking cheaper land to develop for cotton plantations. Short-staple cotton, which could be grown in
8946-472: The cleaning of seeds from short-staple cotton, it damaged the fibers of extra-long staple cotton ( Gossypium barbadense ). In 1840 Fones McCarthy received a patent for a "Smooth Cylinder Cotton-gin", a roller gin. McCarthy's gin was marketed for use with both short-staple and extra-long staple cotton but was particularly useful for processing long-staple cotton. After McCarthy's patent expired in 1861, McCarthy type gins were manufactured in Britain and sold around
9072-423: The colonial period, that they choose to identify simply as having "American" ancestry or do not in fact know their own ancestry. Their ancestry primarily goes back to the original thirteen colonies and for this reason many of them today simply claim "American" ancestry, though they are of predominantly English ancestry. Historically, about half of Georgia's population was composed of African Americans who, before
9198-622: The colony's settlement, known as the Oglethorpe Plan , which envisioned an agrarian society of yeoman farmers and prohibited slavery. The colony was invaded by the Spanish in 1742, during the War of Jenkins' Ear . In 1752, after the government failed to renew subsidies that had helped support the colony, the Trustees turned over control to the crown . Georgia became a crown colony , with
9324-444: The cotton gin by 1796. However, the evidence indicates Whitney did invent the saw gin, for which he is famous. Although he spent many years in court attempting to enforce his patent against planters who made unauthorized copies, a change in patent law ultimately made his claim legally enforceable – too late for him to make much money from the device in the single year remaining before the patent expired. While Whitney's gin facilitated
9450-458: The cotton gin led to an increase in the use of slaves on Southern plantations. Because of that inadvertent effect on American slavery, which ensured that the South's economy developed in the direction of plantation-based agriculture (while encouraging the growth of the textile industry elsewhere, such as in the North), the invention of the cotton gin is frequently cited as one of the indirect causes of
9576-569: The cotton is held by rapidly rotating saw cylinders. The gin stand uses the teeth of rotating saws to pull the cotton through a series of "ginning ribs", which pull the fibers from the seeds which are too large to pass through the ribs. The cleaned seed is then removed from the gin via an auger conveyor system. The seed is reused for planting or is sent to an oil mill to be further processed into cottonseed oil and cottonseed meal . The lint cleaners again use saws and grid bars, this time to separate immature seeds and any remaining foreign matter from
9702-479: The cotton through, while brushes continuously removed the loose cotton lint to prevent jams. It revolutionized the cotton industry in the United States, but also inadvertently led to the growth of slavery in the American South . Whitney's gin made cotton farming more profitable and efficient so plantation owners expanded their plantations and used more of their slaves to pick cotton. Whitney never invented
9828-478: The culmination of what geographer Charles S. Aiken has termed the second ginning revolution, in which the privately owned plantation gins were replaced by large-scale public ginneries. This revolution, in turn, led to a major restructuring of the cotton gin industry, as the small, scattered gin factories and shops of the nineteenth century gave way to a dwindling number of large twentieth-century corporations designing and constructing entire ginning operations." One of
9954-726: The few (and perhaps only) examples of a Munger gin left in existence is on display at Frogmore Plantation in Louisiana. Prior to the introduction of the mechanical cotton gin, cotton had required considerable labor to clean and separate the fibers from the seeds. With Eli Whitney's gin, cotton became a tremendously profitable business, creating many fortunes in the Antebellum South . Cities such as New Orleans, Louisiana ; Mobile, Alabama ; Charleston, South Carolina ; and Galveston, Texas became major shipping ports, deriving substantial economic benefit from cotton raised throughout
10080-425: The fibers ("lint") in the bolls are tightly interwoven with seeds. To make the fibers usable, the seeds and fibers must first be separated, a task which had been previously performed manually, with production of cotton requiring hours of labor for the separation. Many simple seed-removing devices had been invented, but until the innovation of the cotton gin, most required significant operator attention and worked only on
10206-464: The fibers. The bale press then compresses the cotton into bales for storage and shipping. Modern gins can process up to 15 tonnes (33,000 lb) of cotton per hour. A single-roller cotton gin came into use in India by the 5th century. An improvement invented in India was the two-roller gin, known as the "churka", "charki", or "wooden-worm-worked roller". The earliest versions of the cotton gin consisted of
10332-429: The fibers. The bale press then compresses the cotton into bales for storage and shipping. Modern gins can process up to 15 tonnes (33,000 lb) of cotton per hour. Modern cotton gins create a substantial amount of cotton gin residue (CGR) consisting of sticks, leaves, dirt, immature bolls, and cottonseed. Research is currently under way to investigate the use of this waste in producing ethanol . Due to fluctuations in
10458-786: The following cities: Toccoa, Eastanollee , Martin , and Avalon . Major industrial parks in the area are Toccoa Industrial Park, Meadowbrook Industrial Park, and Hayestone Brady Business Park. The top Stephens County employers in descending order are the Stephens County School System, Caterpillar, Patterson Pump, ASI (GEM Industries), American Woodmark Corp., Standard Register, Sage Automotive Interiors, Habersham Plantation, Toccoa Falls College, Coats & Clark, Eaton Corporation, and PTL Company (an elevator fixtures and parts manufacturer). Founded and headquartered in Toccoa, 1st Franklin Financial Corporation
10584-438: The gin is sucked in via a pipe, approximately 16 inches (41 cm) in diameter, that is swung over the cotton. This pipe is usually manually operated but is increasingly automated in modern cotton plants. The need for trailers to haul the product to the gin has been drastically reduced since the introduction of modules. If the cotton is shipped in modules, the module feeder breaks the modules apart using spiked rollers and extracts
10710-475: The gin stand ran smoothly, a condenser to make the clean cotton coming out of the gin easier to handle, and indoor presses so that cotton no longer had to be carried across the gin yard to be baled. Then, in 1879, while he was running his father's gin in Rutersville, Texas , Robert S. Munger invented additional system ginning techniques. Robert and his wife, Mary Collett, later moved to Mexia, Texas , built
10836-575: The holes, and are thus removed from the rotating cotton by the metal plate, before they fall into a collecting pot. On the other side of the first cylinder, there is a second cylinder, also rotating, with brushes attached. This second cylinder wipes the cotton from the first, and deposits it into the collecting bucket. The seed is reused for planting or is sent to an oil mill to be further processed into cottonseed oil and cottonseed meal . The lint cleaners again use saws and grid bars, this time to separate immature seeds and any remaining foreign matter from
10962-503: The increase in cotton production, increasing from around 700,000 in 1790 to around 3.2 million in 1850. The invention of the cotton gin led to increased demands for slave labor in the American South , reversing the economic decline that had occurred in the region during the late 18th century. The cotton gin thus "transformed cotton as a crop and the American South into the globe's first agricultural powerhouse". The invention of
11088-400: The largest Asian groups in Georgia. In addition, according to census estimates, Georgia ranks third among the states in terms of the percent of the total population that is African American (after Mississippi and Louisiana ) and third in numeric Black population after New York and Florida. Georgia also has a sizeable Latino population. Many are of Mexican descent. Georgia is the state with
11214-691: The largest of which was the Cherokee (21,525 people). Other tribes reported in Georgia in 2010 included for example the Muscogee (2,370 people), the Choctaw (1,419), the Sioux (1,027), the Seminole (664) and more. Georgia's 2018 total gross state product was $ 602 billion. For years Georgia as a state has had the highest credit rating by Standard & Poor's (AAA) and is one of only 15 states with
11340-525: The largest pieces of foreign material from the cotton. The module feeder's loose cotton is then sucked into the same starting point as the trailer cotton. The cotton then enters a dryer, which removes excess moisture. The cylinder cleaner uses six or seven rotating, spiked cylinders to break up large clumps of cotton. Finer foreign material, such as soil and leaves, passes through rods or screens for removal. The stick machine uses centrifugal force to remove larger foreign matter, such as sticks and burrs, while
11466-441: The last of which are produced in state hatcheries for restocking. Popular saltwater game fish include red drum , spotted seatrout , flounder , and tarpon . Porpoises , whales, shrimp , oysters , and blue crabs are found inshore and offshore of the Georgia coast. The majority of the state is primarily a humid subtropical climate . Hot and humid summers are typical, except at the highest elevations. The entire state, including
11592-422: The machine to harvest cotton: it still had to be picked by hand. The invention has thus been identified as an inadvertent contributing factor to the outbreak of the American Civil War . Modern automated cotton gins use multiple powered cleaning cylinders and saws, and offer far higher productivity than their hand-powered precursors. Cotton fibers are produced in the seed pods ("bolls") of the cotton plant where
11718-522: The mid-20th century, several notable figures from Georgia, including Martin Luther King Jr. , emerged as key leaders in the civil rights movement . Atlanta was chosen to host the 1996 Summer Olympics , celebrating the centennial of the modern Olympic Games . Since 1945, Georgia has experienced significant population and economic expansion, aligning with the larger Sun Belt trend. Between 2007 and 2008, 14 of Georgia's counties were listed among
11844-548: The original thalweg of the rivers. Since then, several have been inundated by lakes created by dams, including the Apalachicola/Chattahoochee/Flint point now under Lake Seminole . An 1818 survey erroneously placed Georgia's border with Tennessee one mile (1.6 km) south of the intended location of the 35th parallel north. State legislators still dispute this placement , as correction of this inaccuracy would allow Georgia access to water from
11970-469: The original cotton flower, or sticks and other debris attached to the fibers from passing through. A series of brushes on a second rotating cylinder then brushed the now-cleaned fibers loose from the wires, preventing the mechanism from jamming. Many contemporary inventors attempted to develop a design that would process short staple cotton , and Hodgen Holmes, Robert Watkins, William Longstreet , and John Murray had all been issued patents for improvements to
12096-401: The region and to bring together musicians from throughout northeast Georgia. The symphony was founded in 1977 by Pinkie Craft Ware and Archie Sharretts, both music educators. Since its founding, the symphony has performed at least three concerts every season. It is supported by a board of directors and an extensive network of patrons. The orchestra collaborates with many musicians and provides
12222-476: The same trail used by the paratroopers as part of their training for combat. Known as one of the most daunting races in America. The common refrain is "Three Miles Up And Three Miles Down." The race is part of the Currahee Military Weekend, which features World War II military reenactments in a staged military camp, weapons demonstrations, book signings by veterans, a parade through the downtown historic district,
12348-503: The second-highest total of these extralegal executions of any state in the South. The overwhelming number of victims were black and male. Political disfranchisement persisted through the mid-1960s, until after Congress passed the Voting Rights Act of 1965 . An Atlanta-born Baptist minister who was part of the educated middle class that had developed in Atlanta's African-American community, Martin Luther King Jr. , emerged as
12474-471: The seeds. The design was similar to that of a mealing stone , which was used to grind grain. The early history of the cotton gin is ambiguous, because archeologists likely mistook the cotton gin's parts for other tools. Between the 12th and 14th centuries, dual-roller gins appeared in India and China. The Indian version of the dual-roller gin was prevalent throughout the Mediterranean cotton trade by
12600-611: The southern region of the state. The highest elevation in the state is Brasstown Bald , reaching 4,784 feet (1,458 m) above sea level, while the lowest point is at the Atlantic Ocean . Except for some elevated areas in the Blue Ridge, Georgia predominantly experiences a humid subtropical climate . Among the states located entirely east of the Mississippi River, Georgia ranks as the largest in terms of land area . Before settlement by European colonists , Georgia
12726-556: The speed at which the gin could operate. In the middle of the 20th Century gins using a rotating blade replaced ones using a reciprocating blade. These descendants of the McCarthy gin are the only gins now used for extra-long staple cotton in the United States. For a decade and a half after the end of the Civil War in 1865, a number of innovative features became widely used for ginning in the United States. They included steam power instead of animal power, an automatic feeder to assure that
12852-617: The spring of 2012. It includes a four-sided gymnasium arena, better fine arts facilities, and a larger media center. Crossroads Juvenile Academy is an alternative school in Stephens County that gives behaviorally impaired students a second chance. Mountain Education Center is an online night school that grants full Georgia high school diplomas. This course is designed not only for full-time students but also part-time students who are working to recover lost credits. Toccoa
12978-489: The state during the colonial era. As of 2011 , 58.8% of Georgia's population younger than 1 were minorities (meaning they had at least one parent who was not non-Hispanic white) compared to other states like California with 75.1%, Texas with 69.8%, and New York with 55.6%. The largest European ancestry groups as of 2011 were: English 8.1%, Irish 8.1%, and German 7.2%. As of 2021 , 85.62% (8,711,102) of Georgia residents age 5 and older spoke English at home as
13104-563: The state include Augusta , Savannah , Columbus , and Macon . The Province of Georgia was established in 1732, with its first settlement occurring in 1733 when Savannah was founded. By 1752, Georgia had transitioned into a British royal colony , making it the last and southernmost of the original Thirteen Colonies . Named in honor of King George II of Great Britain , the Georgia Colony extended from South Carolina down to Spanish Florida and westward to French Louisiana along
13230-540: The state, with 300 congregations and 100,000 members. The other large body, Presbyterian Church in America , had at its founding date 14 congregations and 2,800 members; in 2010 it counted 139 congregations and 32,000 members. The Roman Catholic Church is noteworthy in Georgia's urban areas, and includes the Archdiocese of Atlanta and the Diocese of Savannah . Georgia is home to the second-largest Hindu temple in
13356-423: The state. By the 2022 Public Religion Research Institute 's study, 71% of the population were Christian; throughout its Christian population, 60% were Protestant and 8% were Catholic. Jehovah's Witnesses and Mormons collectively made up 3% of other Christians according to the study. Judaism , Islam , Buddhism , and Hinduism collectively formed 4% of the state's non-Christian population; New Age spirituality
13482-561: The state. The population of the Atlanta metropolitan area added 1.23 million people (24%) between 2000 and 2010, and Atlanta rose in rank from the eleventh-largest metropolitan area in the United States to the ninth-largest . The Atlanta metropolitan area is the cultural and economic center of the Southeast ; its official population in 2020 was over 6 million, or 57% of Georgia's total population. The United States Census Bureau reported Georgia's official population to be 10,711,908 as of
13608-458: The subject written in the early 1870s and later reprinted in 1910 in The Library of Southern Literature . In this article, the author claimed Catharine Littlefield Greene suggested to Whitney the use of a brush-like component instrumental in separating out the seeds and cotton. Greene's alleged role in the invention of the gin has not been verified independently. Whitney's cotton gin model
13734-462: The third-lowest percentage of older people (65 or older), at 12.8 percent (as of 2015 ). The colonial settlement of large numbers of Scottish American , English American and Scotch-Irish Americans in the mountains and Piedmont, and coastal settlement by some English Americans and African Americans, have strongly influenced the state's culture in food, language and music. The concentration of African slaves repeatedly "imported" to coastal areas in
13860-481: The uplands through this area, had become profitable since the invention of the cotton gin for processing it. At the urging of President Andrew Jackson , Congress passed the Indian Removal Act of 1830 , authorizing the government to force cessions of land by Southeast tribes in exchange for lands west of the Mississippi River , in what became known as Indian Territory , now Oklahoma. The 1838 removal of
13986-470: The way to the Mississippi River , until Tennessee was divided from North Carolina , and the Yazoo companies induced the legislature of Georgia to pass an act, approved by the governor in 1795, to sell the greater part of Georgia's territory presently comprising Alabama and Mississippi . The state's western border runs in a straight line south-southeastward from a point southwest of Chattanooga , to meet
14112-524: The world. McCarthy's gin was adopted for cleaning the Sea Island variety of extra-long staple cotton grown in Florida, Georgia and South Carolina. It cleaned cotton several times faster than the older gins, and, when powered by one horse, produced 150 to 200 pounds of lint a day. The McCarthy gin used a reciprocating knife to detach seed from the lint. Vibration caused by the reciprocating motion limited
14238-709: Was 2% of the religious population. Approximately 23% of the state was irreligious . Population percentage of Georgia in the United States 2010: 3.14% 2020: 3.23% Tribes which historically lived in what is now Georgia include the Muscogee (including the Hitchiti subgroup), the Cherokee , the Oconi , the Guale , the Yamasee and the Apalachee . Other tribes which at various times lived in or migrated through Georgia include
14364-533: Was 70% Protestant, 9% Catholic, 1% Mormon, 1% Jewish, 0.5% Muslim, 0.5% Buddhist, and 0.5% Hindu. Atheists , deists , agnostics, and other unaffiliated people make up 13% of the population. Overall, Christianity was the dominant religion in the state, as part of the Bible Belt . According to the Association of Religion Data Archives in 2010, the largest Christian denominations by number of adherents were
14490-512: Was 84.1%. The total housing units in Toccoa is 4,009. The median household income was $ 34,047. The foreign-born population was 213. The percentage of individuals below the poverty level was 24.4%. Stephens County Development Authority (SCDA) was established in 1965 to continue and sustain the growth of Northeast Georgia . SCDA is responsible for the recruitment of new businesses such as industrial, manufacturing, distribution, corporate and regional headquarters and customer service centers. SCDA serves
14616-430: Was adopted for cleaning long-staple cotton but was not suitable for the short-staple cotton that was more common in certain states such as Georgia . Several modifications were made to the Indian roller gin by Mr. Krebs in 1772 and Joseph Eve in 1788, but their uses remained limited to the long-staple variety, up until Eli Whitney's development of a short-staple cotton gin in 1793. Eli Whitney (1765–1825) applied for
14742-561: Was another way to exclude black people from politics. They constituted 46.7% of the state's population in 1900, but the proportion of Georgia's population that was African American dropped thereafter to 28%, primarily due to tens of thousands leaving the state during the Great Migration . According to the Equal Justice Initiative 's 2015 report on lynching in the United States (1877–1950), Georgia had 531 deaths,
14868-484: Was born near Toccoa, then part of Habersham County . Travelers had to rely on using fords, and later ferries, to get across the Tugaloo River. The first Prather's Bridge was a swinging bridge built in 1804 by James Jeremiah Prather. The first bridge was washed away during a freshet, an overflow caused by heavy rain. Georgia conducted a Land Lottery of 1820 , although the Cherokee had not yet ceded this area to
14994-451: Was burned in 1863 by Confederate troops during the Civil War to keep the Union enemy from crossing. James Jeremiah Prather and his son, James Devereaux Prather, rebuilt the bridge in 1868. This bridge lasted until 1918, when it was washed away. It was rebuilt in 1920 by James D. Prather. It was afterward replaced by a concrete bridge, but the wooden bridge was kept as a landmark. Vandals burned it down in 1978. According to historical accounts,
15120-420: Was capable of cleaning 50 pounds (23 kg) of lint per day. The model consisted of a wooden cylinder covered by rows of slender wires which caught the fibers of the cotton bolls. Each row of wires then passed through the bars of a comb-like grid, pulling the cotton fibers through the grid as they did. The comb-like teeth of the grids were closely spaced, preventing the seeds, fragments of the hard dried calyx of
15246-478: Was converted to a toll road. European Americans did not settle here until after the American Revolutionary War , when the government gave land grants in lieu of pay owed to veterans. A group led by Col. William H. Wofford moved to the area when the war ended. It became known as Wofford's Tract, or Wofford's Settlement. Col. Wofford is buried near Toccoa Falls . His son, William T. Wofford ,
15372-695: Was discovered in the North Georgia mountains leading to the Georgia Gold Rush and establishment of a federal mint in Dahlonega , which continued in operation until 1861. The resulting influx of American settlers put pressure on the federal U.S. government to take land from the Cherokee Nation . In 1830, President Andrew Jackson signed into law the Indian Removal Act , sending many eastern Indian nations to reservations in present-day Oklahoma, including all of Georgia's tribes. Despite
15498-635: Was founded about 800 CE and lasted to 1700, when the village was burned. By that time, it was occupied by proto-Creek who were descendants of the Mississippians. Colonial maps until the American Revolution identified this village as one of the Hogeloge people, now known as Yuchi . While they later became allies of the Cherokee, they were of a different ethnicity and language group. "Saturday the 25th day of September 1725. About four of
15624-554: Was founded in 1873. Georgia (U.S. state) Georgia is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States . It borders Tennessee to the northwest, North Carolina to the north, South Carolina to the northeast, the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, Florida to the south, and Alabama to the west. Of the 50 United States , Georgia is the 24th-largest by area and eighth most populous . According to
15750-581: Was inhabited by the mound building cultures. The Province of Georgia was founded by British General James Oglethorpe at Savannah on February 12, 1733, a year after its creation as a new British colony. It was administered by the Trustees for the Establishment of the Colony of Georgia in America under a charter issued by (and named for) King George II . The Trustees implemented an elaborate plan for
15876-499: Was the accompanying cost savings while producing cotton both more speedily and of higher quality. By the 1960s, many other advances had been made in ginning machinery, but the manner in which cotton flowed through the gin machinery continued to be the Munger system. Economic Historian William H. Phillips referred to the development of system ginning as "The Munger Revolution" in cotton ginning. He wrote, "The Munger innovations were
#18981