Troup County, Georgia facts for kids

Troup County
Quick facts for kids Troup County
	County
	Troup County
	Troup County Courthouse and Government Center in LaGrange, April 2012.
	Location within the U.S. state of Georgia
	; Georgia's location within the U.S.;
Country	United States
State	Georgia
Founded	June 9, 1826; 196 years ago
Named for	George Troup
Seat	LaGrange
Largest city	LaGrange
Area
• Total	446 sq mi (1,160 km2)
• Land	414 sq mi (1,070 km2)
• Water	32 sq mi (80 km2) 7.2%%
Population
• Estimate (2020)	70,214
• Density	162/sq mi (63/km2)
Time zone	UTC−5 (Eastern)
• Summer (DST)	UTC−4 (EDT)
Congressional district	3rd

Troup County (pronounced troop) is a county located in the west central portion of the U.S. state of Georgia. As of the 2010 census, the population was 67,044. The county seat is LaGrange.

Troup County comprises the LaGrange, GA Micropolitan Statistical Area. It is included in the Atlanta-Athens-Clarke County-Sandy Springs, GA Combined Statistical Area.

History

For thousands of years, this area of what is now defined as west central Georgia was occupied by cultures of indigenous peoples. In the historic period, it was controlled by the Creek people.

The land for Lee, Muscogee, Troup, Coweta, and Carroll counties was ceded by the Creek to the United States in the 1825 Treaty of Indian Springs. The counties' boundaries were created by the Georgia General Assembly on June 9, 1826, but they were not named until December 14, 1826.

The county is named for George Troup, thirty-fourth governor of Georgia, U.S. representative, and senator.

As with much of the Piedmont, this area was developed in the antebellum era for cotton cultivation. By 1860 Troup County was the fourth-wealthiest in Georgia and fifth-largest slaveholding county in the state.

According to U.S. Census data, the 1860 Troup County population included 6,223 whites, 37 "free colored" and 10,002 slaves. By the 1870 census, the white population had increased about 3% to 6,408, while the "colored" population had increased about 12% to 11,224.

In the late 19th century, entrepreneurs in LaGrange built the first cotton mill, and others were rapidly established in this area. Initially they employed only white workers. Textile manufacturing was a major part of the economy until the late 20th century, when textile manufacturing moved offshore to areas with cheaper labor.

20th century to present

During the first half of the 20th century, thousands of blacks left Georgia and other southern states in what is known as the Great Migration. They were seeking work as mechanization reduced the number of farm jobs, and they were seeking more opportunities than in the Jim Crow South, where they were disenfranchised and socially suppressed.

On September 8, 1940, 16-year-old Austin Callaway, a black youth, was arrested in LaGrange as a suspect in an attack on a white woman. The next night a small, armed group of white men took him from the county jail, driving him out to the nearby countryside, where they lynched him.

By 1960, the county was recorded in the US Census as having 31,418 whites and 15,760 "Negroes" (or blacks, African Americans). Following passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, blacks gradually regained the ability to vote and take part in the political process.

On January 25, 2017, Mayor Jim Thornton and Police Chief Louis M. Dekmar, of the county seat of LaGrange, publicly apologized to more than 200 people gathered for a reconciliation service at Warren Temple United Methodist Church for the police's failure decades before to protect Callaway, saying:

"I sincerely regret and denounce the role our Police Department played in Austin's lynching, both through our action and our inaction," Chief Dekmar told a crowd at a traditionally African-American church. "And for that, I’m profoundly sorry. It should never have happened."

As of 2015, the official historian of Troup County is writer Forrest Clark Johnson, III, who has published several books on the county and region's history. He is a retired former teacher in the county's school system.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 446 square miles (1,160 km²), of which 414 square miles (1,070 km²) is land and 32 square miles (83 km²) (7.2%) is water.

The entirety of Troup County is located in the Middle Chattahoochee River-Lake Harding sub-basin of the ACF River Basin (Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint River Basin).

Major highways

Interstate 85
Interstate 185
U.S. Route 27
U.S. Route 29
State Route 1
State Route 14
State Route 14 Connector
State Route 14 Spur
State Route 18
State Route 54
State Route 100
State Route 103
State Route 109
State Route 219
State Route 403 (unsigned designation for I-85)
State Route 411 (unsigned designation for I-185)

Adjacent counties

Coweta County (northeast)
Meriwether County (east)
Harris County (south)
Chambers County, Alabama (southwest/CST Border except for Lanett and Valley as they are part of the Columbus Metropolitan Area)
Randolph County, Alabama (northwest/CST Border)
Heard County (north)

Demographics

Historical population
Census	Pop.	%±
1830	5,799	—
1840	15,733	171.3%
1850	16,879	7.3%
1860	16,262	−3.7%
1870	17,632	8.4%
1880	20,565	16.6%
1890	20,723	0.8%
1900	24,002	15.8%
1910	26,228	9.3%
1920	36,097	37.6%
1930	36,752	1.8%
1940	43,879	19.4%
1950	49,841	13.6%
1960	47,189	−5.3%
1970	44,466	−5.8%
1980	50,003	12.5%
1990	55,536	11.1%
2000	58,779	5.8%
2010	67,044	14.1%
2020 (est.)	70,214	4.7%
U.S. Decennial Census 1790-1960 1900-1990 1990-2000 2010-2013

2010 census

As of the 2010 United States Census, there were 67,044 people, 24,828 households, and 17,489 families residing in the county. The population density was 161.9 inhabitants per square mile (62.5/km²). There were 28,046 housing units at an average density of 67.7 per square mile (26.1/km²). The racial makeup of the county was 61.5% white, 33.4% black or African American, 1.6% Asian, 0.3% American Indian, 0.1% Pacific islander, 1.7% from other races, and 1.5% from two or more races. Those of Hispanic or Latino origin made up 3.2% of the population. In terms of ancestry, 12.3% were English, 12.1% were American, 11.4% were Irish, and 7.3% were German.

Of the 24,828 households, 37.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 45.0% were married couples living together, 20.3% had a female householder with no husband present, 29.6% were non-families, and 25.1% of all households were made up of individuals. The average household size was 2.62 and the average family size was 3.12. The median age was 36.3 years.

The median income for a household in the county was $41,770 and the median income for a family was $50,625. Males had a median income of $39,960 versus $28,218 for females. The per capita income for the county was $19,699. About 15.5% of families and 19.8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 30.1% of those under age 18 and 14.2% of those age 65 or over.

2020 census

Troup County racial composition
Race	Num.	Perc.
White (non-Hispanic)	38,099	54.88%
Black or African American (non-Hispanic)	24,157	34.8%
Native American	127	0.18%
Asian	1,608	2.32%
Pacific Islander	36	0.05%
Other/Mixed	2,443	3.52%
Hispanic or Latino	2,956	4.26%

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 69,426 people, 24,436 households, and 15,354 families residing in the county.

Communities

Harrisonville
Hogansville
LaGrange
Long Cane
Mountville
West Point
Woodfield
Gray Hill