Muscogee County, Georgia

Muscogee County is a county located on the central western border of the U.S. state of Georgia named after the Muscogee that originally inhabited the land with its western border with the state of Alabama that is formed by the Chattahoochee River. As of the 2020 census, the population was 206,922. Its county seat and only city is Columbus, with which it has been a consolidated city-county since the beginning of 1971.

Muscogee County is part of the Columbus, GA–AL, metropolitan statistical area.

The only other city in the county was Bibb City, a company town that disincorporated in December 2000, two years after its mill closed permanently. Fort Moore (formerly Fort Benning), a large Army installation, takes up nearly one quarter of the county and extends into Chattahoochee County; it generates considerable economic power in the region.

History

Inhabited for thousands of years by varying cultures of indigenous peoples, this area was territory of the historic Creek people at the time of European encounter.

The land for Lee, Muscogee, Troup, Coweta, and Carroll counties was ceded by a certain eight chiefs among the Creek people in the 1825 Treaty of Indian Springs. The Creek Nation declared the land cession illegal, because it did not represent the will of the majority of the people. The United States Senate did not ratify it. The following year, the US government negotiated another treaty with the Creek, by which they ceded nearly as much territory under continued pressure from the state of Georgia and US land commissioners.

The counties' boundaries were created by the Georgia General Assembly on June 9, but they were not named until December 14, 1826. The county was originally developed by American Indians for cotton plantations. In many areas of what became known as the Black Belt for the fertility of soil and development of plantations, American Indians who were reclassified by the government as Colored/Negro made up the majority of population in many counties.

This county was named by American Indians for the native Muscogee or Creek people. Parts of the then-large county (which extended east to the Flint River) were later taken to create every other neighboring Georgia county, including Harris County to the north in 1827 and Chattahoochee County to the south in 1854.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 221 square miles (570 km²), of which 216 square miles (560 km²) is land and 4.6 square miles (12 km²) (2.1%) is water.

The county is located on the fall line between the Atlantic coastal plain to the south and the Piedmont to the north. As such, the newly constructed Fall Line Freeway runs across the northern portion of the county along JR Allen Parkway, and areas across the northern part of the county are hillier compared to the southern part of the county.

The majority of Muscogee County, from north of Columbus running northeast in the direction of Ellerslie, is located in the Middle Chattahoochee River-Walter F. George Lake subbasin of the ACF River Basin (Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint River Basin). The northwestern corner of the county, south of Fortson, is located in the Middle Chattahoochee River-Lake Harding subbasin of the same ACF River Basin.

Major highways

Adjacent counties

• Harris County (north)
• Talbot County (northeast)
• Chattahoochee County (south)
• Russell County, Alabama (southwest/CST border except for Phenix City as the city is jointed by the Columbus Metropolitan Area)
• Lee County, Alabama (west/CST border)

Communities

Cities

• Columbus (county seat)

Former incorporated communities

• Bibb City

Unincorporated communities

• Fort Moore (military base)

Demographics

According to the 2000 U.S. census, there were 186,291 people, 69,819 households, and 47,686 families living in the county. The population density was 861 inhabitants per square mile (332/km²). In 2010, there were 189,885 people, 74,081 households, and 47,742 families living in the county. By the 2020 United States census, there were 206,922 people, 73,134 households, and 45,689 families residing in the city.

Education

Higher education

Public

• Columbus State University
• Columbus Technical College
• Troy University - main campus in Troy, Alabama

Private

Primary and secondary education

Public schools

Muscogee County School District serves all parts of the county except Fort Moore for grades K-12. Fort Moore children are zoned to Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) schools for grades K-8. However, high school students attend the public high schools in the respective counties they are located in.

Private and religion-based schools

Homeschooling

In regards to homeschooling, the Official Code of Georgia Annotated states the following:

Required Subjects: A basic academic educational program that includes, but is not limited to, reading, language arts, math, social studies, and science. [Ga. Code Ann. § 20-2-690(c)(4).]

Government and politics

Muscogee County has voted for Democratic candidates by increasing margins since 1992, although partisan leanings have become increasingly stratified by race, class, and in-county migration after 1965. The county has not supported a Republican for president since 1988, but broke free of Solid South voting patterns earlier than most counties in Georgia.

Presidential

United States Congress

Georgia General Assembly

Georgia State Senate

Georgia House of Representatives

See also

• National Register of Historic Places listings in Muscogee County, Georgia
• List of counties in Georgia

References

External links

• Documents from Muscogee County in the Digital Library of Georgia