McDonough

McDonough is a city in Henry County, Georgia, United States. Its population was 22,084 at the 2010 census, up from 8,493 in 2000. The unincorporated communities of Blacksville, Flippen, Kelleytown, and Ola are located near McDonough. The town was named for naval officer Commodore Thomas Macdonough and founded in 1823 around a traditional town square design. On June 23, 1900, a washout during a thunderstorm caused a train wreck about 1.5 miles (2.4 km) north of town. This was one of the worst train crashes in American history and is known as the Camp Creek train wreck. It was featured on an episode of the paranormal TV series Haunted Towns in 2017. Several individual buildings and two historic districts in the city are listed on the National Register of Historic Places, including the downtown Mc donough Historic District. U.S. Route 23 passes through the center of the city, leading northwest 9 miles (14 km) to Stockbridge and south 7 miles (11km) to Locust Grove. I-75 leads northwest to Atlanta and southeast 56 miles (90 kilometers) to Macon.Until the mid-1960s the Southern Railway operated the Cincinnati to Miami Ponce de Leon, which made stops in McDonoug. The city is served by the following highways: Interstate 75, Georgia State Route 20, Georgia state Route 42 and Georgia StateRoute 81. The McDonagh postal code is 1-800.

History

The town was named for naval officer Commodore Thomas Macdonough and founded in 1823 around a traditional town square design. The county courthouse and historic jail building are on the north side near the Welcome Center in a historically maintained Standard Oil service station, built in 1920. The town was a relay station on the New York City to New Orleans stagecoach line and was connected by other stage lines with Fayetteville and Decatur, and with Macon by way of Jackson. On June 23, 1900, a washout during a thunderstorm caused a train wreck about 1.5 miles (2.4 km) north of town on the Camp Creek Bridge. This was one of the worst train crashes in American history and is known as the Camp creek train wreck. Several individual buildings and two historic districts in the city are listed on the National Register of Historic Places, including the downtown McDonough Historic District. It was featured on an episode of the paranormal TV series Haunted Towns in 2017. In the same area the Henry County Courthouse Annex has an original oil on canvas "Cotton Gin" (4+12 by 11 feet) by artist Jean Charlot. He painted this oil in 1942 for the town post office. His works can be found all over the world in everything from children's books to large murals. The Henry County Judicial Center is on the east side of the square. It has been replaced with the Henry county Judicial Center. It is located in the historic district of Macon, Georgia.

Geography

McDonough is in central Henry County, 28 miles (45 km) southeast of downtown Atlanta. U.S. Route 23 passes through the center of the city. I-75 leads northwest to Atlanta and southeast 56 miles (90 km) to Macon.Until the mid-1960s the Southern Railway operated the Cincinnati to Miami Ponce de Leon, which made stops in McDonough. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 12.9 square miles (33.4 km²) of which 12.7 square miles are land and 0.2 square mile (0.5 km²), or 1.50%, are water. The city is served by the following highways: Interstate 75, Georgia State Route 20,Georgia State Route 81, Georgia state Route 351, GeorgiaState Route 401, and Georgia State route 920 (unsigned designation for Jonesboro Rd) The city also has a post office, which is located in the town of Jonesboro, about 30 miles (50 km) south of Atlanta. The town's population is about 2,000. It has a population of about 1,500, according to the city's 2010 census. It is the only city in Henry County that is not in the Atlanta Metropolitan Statistical Area, which includes the towns of Macon, Stockbridge, and Locust Grove. The county seat is Atlanta, Georgia, about 40 miles (65 km) north of Mc donough. It also has an airport, which serves as a hub for air traffic to Atlanta.

Demographics

At the 2000 census, there were 8,493 people, 3,069 households and 2,102 families living in the city. The racial makeup of the city was 61.4% white, 34.3% African American, 0.2% Native American, 1.4%. Asian, 1,8% from other races, and 1% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 3.7% of the population. The median household income was $40,482 and the median family Income was $46,818. The per capita income for the city is $19,029. At the 2010 U.S. Census there were 22,084 people, 8,053 households, and 5,404 families. As of the 2020 United States census there were 29,051 people, 8,543 households,and 5,778 families residing in McDonough. Although it is considered to be located in Stockbridge many of the Eagle's Landing Country Club's homes are within Mc donough's 30253 zip code. The average household size was 2.61 and the average family size was 3.14. The Median age was 33.1 years. For every 100 females there were 90.3 males. For each 100 females age 18 and over there were 86.1 males. The city has a population of 1,737.4 inhabitants per square mile (670.8/km²). There were 9,063 housing units at an average density of 713.6 per squaremile (275.5/ km²).

Economy

Snapper Inc. manufacturing residential and professional lawn care and snow removal equipment, was based in McDonough. The company began in 1894 as Southern Saw Works, and claims to have invented the first self-propelled rotary lawn mower. Briggs and Stratton operated the plant until its closure in 2015. Goya Foods has its Atlanta offices in an unincorporated area near Mc donough. It was sold to Briggs & Stratton, which operated the company until its close in 2015, when it was bought by General Motors. It is now owned by The Kroger Company, which has its headquarters in Atlanta. It also has a distribution center in Mcdonough, where it has been in business since the 1970s and 1980s. It has also been in operation since the 1980s and 1990s as a distributor of frozen food products and other items. It closed its Atlanta office in 2011. It now has offices in Atlanta's downtown area and elsewhere in the state of Georgia, including in Cobb and Gwinnett counties, and in Georgia's Piedmont region, which includes parts of Georgia and South Carolina. It will close its Atlanta headquarters in the spring of 2015, and will be replaced by a new facility in Cobb County, Georgia, which was built in the 1990s. The Atlanta-area office of the company will be located in the Cobb County Airport, which is also in the Atlanta-Piedmont area. It opened in the early 1990s, and has been there since the early 2000s.

Events

The festival is sponsored by the McDonough Lions Club. The one-day festival serves as a showcase of local artistry and talent. 2009 marks the 32nd anniversary of the festival. The festival is held on the Mc donough Square in the city's downtown area. The Geranium Festival is held each springtime on the third Saturday in May, celebrating the locally grown flowers and community.

Sports

The city's semi-professional soccer team Georgia Revolution FC plays in the National Premier Soccer League at the Warhawk Stadium. WWE developmental territory Deep South Wrestling was based in McDonough. The city is home to the U.S. Air Force Academy and the University of Georgia's football team, the Trotters. Georgia is also home to a number of colleges, including Georgia Tech, Georgia State, Georgia Tech and Georgia State University. The Georgia Institute of Technology is located in the city's downtown area, and the Georgia Tech women's basketball team is based in the nearby city of Atlanta. The University of Georgia also has a chapter of the National Football Hall of Fame, which was established in the town in the 1930s. Georgia State's women's soccer team, Georgia Revolution, was founded in the same year as the Air Force base. Georgia University of Georgia's football team, Georgia Tech, was also based in McDonough, and plays in the National Premier Soccer League at the Warhawk Stadium. The University of Georgia also has a chapter, the Georgia College of Sport and Exercise Sciences, which opened in the early 1990s. The university's football program is based in the city, and Georgia State universities are based there, as well as the Georgia State College of Science and Technology, which was founded in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

Film

Scenes for the 1989 Oscar-winning Civil War epic, Glory were filmed in the town. A pilot episode for the WB show Roswell was filmed on the city square at the old Phillips 66 service station. The 1977 film Smokey and the Bandit was filmed primarily in Georgia in the cities of McDonough, Jonesboro and Lithonia. The town is mentioned by Rhett Butler in the 1939 classic, Gone with the Wind. A scene from the movie We Are Marshall was filmed near Miller's Mill. The film A Madea Christmas by Tyler Perry was filmed in and all around Mc donough. The television show, Resurrection was filmed and aired March 2014 in Mcdonough and was aired on the WB network in the U.S. and on the CW in the UK. The city is home to the Georgia Museum of Natural History, which was founded in 1881. The museum is located in the former home of the founder of the Georgia National Guard, George W. H. Smith, who was born in McDonoug. The Georgia National Museum of Nature and Science is based in the city and is open to the public. It is located on Hwy. 155, just south of the town, near the intersection of Mc donoug and Jonesboro. It was the inspiration for the book, "Georgia Natural History: A Biography of an American City" by George H. W. Smith. The book was written by H.W. Smith and published by the Georgia Natural History Museum in 1883.

Education

The Henry County School District holds grades pre-school to grade twelve. The district has 1,543 full-time teachers and over 40,000 students. Gordon State College has a satellite center in McDonough and has been a partner with the Academy for Advanced Studies since 2009. Mercer University offers Teacher Education programs through the university's Tift College of Education as well as programs in Criminal Justice and General Studies in the College of Continuing and Professional Studies. Atlanta Bible College is located in Mc donough. The school district has twenty eight elementary schools, nine middle schools, and ten high schools. It also has an evening school and an online school. The Henry County Public Schools are located in the city's downtown area. The high schools are in the town of McDonougle, which has a population of around 20,000. The public schools have a total of twenty-eight elementary schools. They also have a high school, a middle school, and a private school. They have an evening and online school as well. The schools have an average of over 1,500 students in each of their schools. The highest school in the district is the Henry County High School, with a student population of more than 20,500. It has an average enrollment of over 10,000 people. It is the only school district in the state with more than 1,200 students in the public school system. The county also has a few private schools, including Henry County Evening Academy and Henry County Private School, which offers online classes.

Air Quality, Water Quality, Superfund Sites & UV Index

The Air Quality index is in McDonough, Henry County, Georgia = 6.8. These Air Quality index is based on annual reports from the EPA. Higher values are better (100=best). The number of ozone alert days is used as an indicator of air quality, as are the amounts of seven pollutants including particulates, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, lead, and volatile organic chemicals. The Water Quality Index is 59. A measure of the quality of an area’s water supply as rated by the EPA. Higher values are better (100=best). The EPA has a complex method of measuring the watershed quality, using 15 indicators such as pollutants, turbidity, sediments, and toxic discharges. The Superfund Sites Index is 87. Higher is better (100=best). Based upon the number and impact of EPA Superfund pollution sites in the county, including spending on the cleanup efforts. The UV Index in McDonough = 5.3 and is a measure of an area's exposure to the sun's ultraviolet rays. This is most often a combination of sunny weather, altitude, and latitude. The UV Index has been defined by the WHO (www.who.int/news-room/questions-and-answers/item/radiation-the-ultraviolet-(uv)-index) and is uniform worldwide.

Employed

The most recent city population of 29,051 individuals with a median age of 31.8 age the population grows by 99.56% in McDonough, Henry County, Georgia population since 2000 and are distributed over a density of 2,260.43 residents per square mile of area (872.72/km²). There are average 2.58 people per household in the 6,265 households with an average household income of $45,429 a year. The unemployment rate in Alabama is 10.30% of the available work force and has dropped -6.39% over the most recent 12-month period and the projected change in job supply over the next decade based on migration patterns, economic growth, and other factors will increase by 16.92%. The number of physicians in McDonough per 100,000 population = 130.5.

Weather

The annual rainfall in McDonough = 49.6 inches and the annual snowfall = 0.8 inches. The annual number of days with measurable precipitation (over .01 inch) = 94. The average number of days per year that are predominantly sunny = 214. 91 degrees Fahrenheit is the average daily high temperature for the month of July and 32.6 degrees Fahrenheit is the average daily low temperature for the month of January. The Comfort Index (higher=better) is 32, where higher values mean a more pleasant climate. The Comfort Index measure recognizes that humidity by itself isn't the problem. (Have you noticed nobody ever complains about the weather being 'cold and humid?) It's in the summertime that we notice the humidity the most, when it's hot and muggy. Our Comfort Index uses a combination of afternoon summer temperature and humidity to closely predict the effect that the humidity will have on people.

Median Home Cost

The percentage of housing units in McDonough, Henry County, Georgia which are owned by the occupant = 52.84%. A housing unit is a house, apartment, mobile home, or room occupied as separate living quarters. The average age of homes = 8 years with median home cost = $128,200 and home appreciation of -5.08%. This is the value of the years most recent home sales data. Its important to note that this is not the average (or arithmetic mean). The median home price is the middle value when you arrange all the sales prices of homes from lowest to highest. This is a better indicator than the average, because the median is not changed as much by a few unusually high or low values. The property tax rate of $10.60 shown here is the rate per $1,000 of home value. If for simplification for example the tax rate is $14.00 and the home value is $250,000, the property tax would be $14.00 x ($250,000/1000), or $3500. This is the 'effective' tax rate.

Study

The local school district spends $5,628 per student. There are 15.3 students for each teacher in the school, 477 students for each Librarian and 445 students for each Counselor. 5.77% of the area’s population over the age of 25 with an Associate Degree or other 2-year college degree, 13.97% with a master’s degree, Ph.D. or other advanced college degree and 6.20% with high school diplomas or high school equivalency degrees (GEDs).