Tift County, Georgia facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Tift County
U.S. county
Tift County Courthouse, (Built 1912), Tifton
Location within the U.S. state of Georgia
Georgia's location within the U.S.
Country	United States
State	Georgia
Founded	August 17, 1905; 119 years ago (1905)
Named for	Henry Harding Tift
Seat	Tifton
Largest city	Tifton
Area
• Total	269 sq mi (700 km2)
• Land	259 sq mi (670 km2)
• Water	9.9 sq mi (26 km2)  3.7%%
Population
• Estimate  (2018)	40,571
• Density	155/sq mi (60/km2)
Time zone	UTC−5 (Eastern)
• Summer (DST)	UTC−4 (EDT)
Congressional district	8th

Tift County is a county located in the south central portion of the U.S. state of Georgia. As of the 2010 census, the population was 40,118. The county seat is Tifton.

Tift County comprises the Tifton, Georgia Micropolitan Statistical Area.

History

The county was created on August 17, 1905, and is named for Henry Harding Tift, who founded Tifton. In 1872, Tift purchased about 65,000 acres of virgin pine timberland there in the wiregrass section of South Georgia and established a sawmill and a village for his workers. Tift eventually expanded into turpentine and barrel-making operations, and turned his barren timberlands into farms for cotton, corn, livestock, fruit, tobacco, pecans and sweet potatoes. When the Georgia Southern and Florida Railway intersected the Brunswick and Western Railroad near Tift's mill in 1888, the settlement was connected to Atlanta and became a boom town. It was incorporated as Tifton by the Georgia Legislature in 1890.

Tift provided employment and financial growth opportunities for his flourishing market center by founding the Tifton Cotton Mill, the Bank of Tifton, and other types of businesses in which he had a leading interest. These included fruit growing, groceries and general merchandise, cottonseed oil, lumber, brick and stone, and several railroads, all essential for the development of a region. Tift also established a model farm north of town and donated a large parcel of acreage for an agricultural experiment station; these enterprises led eventually to the development of Abraham Baldwin College and the Coastal Plain Experiment Station in Tifton.

Tift’s civic commitment was most evident in his donation of lands for churches (Methodist, Baptist, and Episcopal) and Fulwood Park, and in his decades of service as a city councilman and mayor. Through a variety of business and civic undertakings, Tift contributed significantly to the economic and social development of south central Georgia. Though a captain of industry, agriculture, and finance, he is best remembered for his civic service and generosity.

Tift County was created on Aug. 17, 1905, by an act of the General Assembly (Ga. Laws 1905, p. 60). Because Georgia law in 1905 did not allow a new county to be named after a living person, the legislature voted to name Tift County after Nelson Tift of Albany, Georgia, who was an uncle of Henry Harding Tift.

In 2013, John Edward (Edd) Dorminey a native of Tifton, author and historian drafted resolutions and presented them to the Tifton and Tift County Commissions which were passed unanimously. Soon after with assistance from Representative Jay Roberts the Georgia House of Representatives and the Senate voted to approve the submitted resolution establishing the naming of Tift County after its rightful founder, Henry Harding Tift.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 269 square miles (700 km²), of which 259 square miles (670 km²) is land and 9.9 square miles (26 km²) (3.7%) is water.

The western portion of Tift County, roughly west of Interstate 75, is located in the Little River sub-basin of the Suwannee River basin. The county's southeastern third, from north of Tifton heading southeast, is located in the Withlacoochee River sub-basin of the same Suwannee River basin. The northeastern portion of the Tift County, east of Chula, is located in the Alapaha River sub-basin of the same larger Suwannee River basin.

Major highways

Adjacent counties

• Irwin County (northeast)
• Berrien County (southeast)
• Cook County (south)
• Colquitt County (southwest)
• Worth County (west)
• Turner County (northwest)

Demographics

2010 census

As of the 2010 United States Census, there were 40,118 people, 14,836 households, and 10,327 families living in the county. The population density was 154.9 inhabitants per square mile (59.8/km²). There were 16,434 housing units at an average density of 63.5 per square mile (24.5/km²). The racial makeup of the county was 61.4% white, 29.0% black or African American, 1.3% Asian, 0.2% American Indian, 6.5% from other races, and 1.6% from two or more races. Those of Hispanic or Latino origin made up 10.1% of the population. In terms of ancestry, 20.8% were American, 9.1% were Irish, and 7.1% were English.

Of the 14,836 households, 36.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 47.0% were married couples living together, 17.6% had a female householder with no husband present, 30.4% were non-families, and 25.6% of all households were made up of individuals. The average household size was 2.60 and the average family size was 3.12. The median age was 34.5 years.

The median income for a household in the county was $36,847 and the median income for a family was $45,376. Males had a median income of $35,423 versus $29,297 for females. The per capita income for the county was $18,394. About 16.9% of families and 22.8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 32.9% of those under age 18 and 14.4% of those age 65 or over.

2020 census

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 41,344 people, 15,144 households, and 10,703 families residing in the county.

Communities

Cities

• Omega
• Tifton
• Ty Ty

Census-designated places

• Phillipsburg
• Unionville

Unincorporated communities

• Brookfield
• Chula

Education

Tift County School District headquarters

Tift County School District operates public schools.

See also

In Spanish: Condado de Tift para niños