Gwinnett County, Georgia

County in Georgia, United States From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Gwinnett County, Georgiamap

Gwinnett County (/ɡwɪˈnɛt/ gwih-NEHT) is located in the north central portion of the U.S. state of Georgia.[2] It forms part of the Atlanta metropolitan area, being located about 9 miles (14 km) northeast of Atlanta city limits. In 2020, the population was 957,062, making it the second-most populous county in Georgia (after Fulton County).[1] Its county seat is Lawrenceville.[3] The county is named for Button Gwinnett, one of the signatories of the Declaration of Independence.[4]

Quick Facts Country, State ...
Gwinnett County
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Location within the U.S. state of Georgia
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Georgia's location within the U.S.
Coordinates: 33°58′N 84°02′W
Country United States
State Georgia
FoundedDecember 15, 1818; 206 years ago (1818)
Named forButton Gwinnett
SeatLawrenceville
Largest cityPeachtree Corners
Area
  Total437 sq mi (1,130 km2)
  Land430 sq mi (1,100 km2)
  Water6.4 sq mi (17 km2)  1.5%
Population
 (2020)
  Total942,627[1]
  Estimate 
(2023)
983,526 Increase
  Density2,123/sq mi (820/km2)
Time zoneUTC−5 (Eastern)
  Summer (DST)UTC−4 (EDT)
Congressional districts6th, 7th, 9th
Websitegwinnettcounty.com
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Gwinnett County is the most ethnically-diverse county in Georgia,[5][6][7] with significant populations of Black, Hispanic, and Asian residents. As of the 2020 Census, no ethnicity constitutes more than a third of its population.[8]

History

In 1813, Fort Daniel was created during the War of 1812 in territory that would become Gwinnett County.[9] The county was created in 1818 by an act of the Georgia General Assembly, Gwinnett County was formed from parts of Jackson County (formerly part of Franklin County) and from lands gained through the cession of Creek Indian lands. Named for Button Gwinnett, one of the signatories of the Declaration of Independence, the first county election was held at the home of Elisha Winn, and the first Superior Court was held in his barn. The county seat was later placed at Lawrenceville.[10]

In 1831, a group of white men were tried and found guilty in Lawrenceville for violating Georgia law by living in the Cherokee Nation without a valid passport from the Governor. Two of the men appealed to the US Supreme Court in Worcester v. Georgia, which resulted in a ruling stating that only the federal government had jurisdiction over native lands, a decision which still stands.[11]

In 1861, all three of Gwinnett County's representatives at the Georgia Constitutional Convention (1861) in Milledgeville voted against secession. Towards the end of the war, Union troops foraged in Gwinnett County as part of the Atlanta Campaign.[11] The Freedmen's Bureau was active in Gwinnett County during Reconstruction. In 1871, the courthouse in Lawrenceville was burned by the Ku Klux Klan in an attempt to avoid prosecution for their crimes, which included the shooting of a Black election manager in Norcross.[12]

Early in the county's history, gold mining was a minor industry. The Gwinnett Manufacturing Company, a cotton textile factory, operated in Lawrenceville in the 1850s through 1865, when it burned. The Bona Allen Company in Buford, Georgia produced saddles, harnesses and other leather goods from 1873 to 1981.[11]

The northeastern part of Gwinnett County was removed in 1914 to form a part of the new Barrow County.

Geography

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The Elisha Winn House served as Gwinnett County's first courthouse.
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The Historic Gwinnett County Courthouse (no longer used).

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 437 square miles (1,130 km2), of which 430 square miles (1,100 km2) is land and 6.4 square miles (17 km2) (1.5%) is water.[13] The county is located in the upper Piedmont region of the state.

It is located along the Eastern Continental Divide. A portion of the county to the northwest is a part of the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area chain.

Allocation of water from the regional reservoir, Lake Lanier, at the extreme north of the county, has been subject to the Tri-state water dispute.

The southern and central portions of Gwinnett County are located in the Upper Ocmulgee River sub-basin of the Altamaha River basin. Most of the county's northern edge, from south of Peachtree Corners to north of Buford, is located in the Upper Chattahoochee River sub-basin of the ACF River Basin (Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint River Basin). The county's eastern edge, north and south of Dacula, is located in the Upper Oconee River sub-basin of the same Altamaha River basin.[14]

Adjacent counties

Communities

Cities

Towns

Census-designated places

Unincorporated communities

Demographics

More information Census, Pop. ...
Historical population
CensusPop.Note
18204,589
183013,289189.6%
184010,804−18.7%
185011,2574.2%
186012,94015.0%
187012,431−3.9%
188019,53157.1%
189019,8991.9%
190025,58528.6%
191028,82412.7%
192030,3275.2%
193027,853−8.2%
194029,0874.4%
195032,32011.1%
196043,54134.7%
197072,34966.2%
1980166,903130.7%
1990352,910111.4%
2000588,44866.7%
2010805,32136.9%
2020957,06218.8%
2023 (est.)983,526[16]2.8%
U.S. Decennial Census[17]
1790-1880[18] 1890-1910[19]
1920-1930[20] 1930-1940[21]
1940-1950[22] 1960-1980[23]
1980-2000[24] 2010[25] 2020[26]
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Gwinnett County is often cited as one of the counties in the US that has demographically changed the most rapidly. As recently as 1990, over 90% of Gwinnett County's population was white. By 2007, the county was considered majority-minority county.[27][28]

More information Race / Ethnicity (NH = Non-Hispanic), Pop 2000 ...
Gwinnett County, Georgia – Racial and ethnic composition
Note: the US Census treats Hispanic/Latino as an ethnic category. This table excludes Latinos from the racial categories and assigns them to a separate category. Hispanics/Latinos may be of any race.
Race / Ethnicity (NH = Non-Hispanic) Pop 2000[29] Pop 2010[25] Pop 2020[26] % 2000 % 2010 % 2020
White alone (NH) 394,164 354,316 310,583 66.98% 44.00% 32.45%
Black or African American alone (NH) 76,837 184,122 257,124 13.06% 22.86% 26.87%
Native American or Alaska Native alone (NH) 1,057 1,535 1,532 0.18% 0.19% 0.16%
Asian alone (NH) 42,180 84,763 126,526 7.17% 10.53% 13.22%
Pacific Islander alone (NH) 211 343 387 0.04% 0.04% 0.04%
Other race alone (NH) 1,099 2,489 6,489 0.19% 0.31% 0.68%
Mixed race or Multiracial (NH) 8,763 15,718 33,961 1.49% 1.95% 3.55%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 64,137 162,035 220,460 10.9% 20.12% 23.04%
Total 588,448 805,321 957,062 100.00% 100.00% 100.00%
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As of the 2020 United States census, there were 957,062 people, 301,471 households, and 230,960 families residing in the county.

In 2010, the median income for a household in the county was $63,219 and the median income for a family was $70,767. Males had a median income of $48,671 versus $39,540 for females. The per capita income for the county was $26,901. About 8.7% of families and 11.0% of the population were below the poverty line, including 15.1% of those under age 18 and 8.1% of those age 65 or over.[30]

Economy

Government and politics

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Gwinnett County police car in 2021
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Gwinnett County police car in 2003

Under Georgia's "home rule" provision, county governments have free rein to legislate on all matters within the county, provided that such legislation does not conflict with state or federal law, or state or federal Constitutions.

Gwinnett County, Georgia is governed by a five-member Board of Commissioners, which exercises both legislative and executive authority within the county. The Chair of the Board is elected county-wide and serves full-time. The four other commissioners are elected from single-member districts and serve part-time positions. The board hires a county administrator who oversees daily operations of the county's twelve executive departments. Gwinnett County has a police department that operates under the authority of the Board of Commissioners. Some of the local Gwinnett city budgets have recently come under increasing scrutiny of the General Funds allocated to police services. Cities such as Duluth have allocated as much as forty percent of their city budgets, reaching some of the highest levels in the nation.[44] Solutions to high spending being discussed include additional “investment in mental health, housing, youth development and living wages would stabilize communities and prove more effective than policing.”[45]

In addition to the Board of Commissioners, county residents also elect persons to the following positions: Sheriff, District Attorney, Probate Court Judge, Clerk of State/Superior Court, Tax Commissioner, State Court Solicitor, Chief Magistrate Judge (who appoints other Magistrate Court judges), Chief Superior Court Judge and Superior Court Judges, and Chief State Court Judge and State Court Judges.

Gwinnett County has the largest public school system in the state of Georgia.[46] Members of the Board of Education are elected from special election districts in the county.

For most of the time from 1964 to 2012, the county was a Republican stronghold in presidential elections. The only Democrat to carry the county in this period was former Georgia governor Jimmy Carter in 1976, who carried Gwinnett County during his sweep of every county in the state. However, the Republican edge narrowed, and then eventually was eliminated, in the 2010s as the county, as well as the rest of the Atlanta metro area, became larger and more diverse. In 2016, Hillary Clinton became the first Democrat to win Gwinnett County in 40 years and the first non-Georgian Democrat to do so since John F. Kennedy in 1960, doing so by 5.9 points. This was due to changing demographics, with white college educated voters, as well as a white flight out of the county. In 2018, Stacey Abrams became the first Democrat to win Gwinnett County in a gubernatorial election since 1986 when Joe Frank Harris swept every county statewide. The Democratic trend became even more apparent in 2020, when Joe Biden won the county by 18.2 points, the best showing for a non-Georgian Democrat since Kennedy's 73.50%.

Raphael Warnock earned 62.8% of the vote here in the 2022 Senate runoff election, substantially improving upon Biden's result.

More information Year, Republican ...
United States presidential election results for Gwinnett County, Georgia[47]
Year Republican Democratic Third party(ies)
No.%No.%No.%
2024 172,819 41.13% 242,185 57.65% 5,123 1.22%
2020 166,400 40.16% 241,994 58.40% 5,956 1.44%
2016 146,989 44.41% 166,153 50.20% 17,808 5.38%
2012 159,855 53.76% 132,509 44.56% 4,992 1.68%
2008 158,746 54.56% 129,025 44.35% 3,167 1.09%
2004 160,445 65.66% 81,708 33.44% 2,190 0.90%
2000 121,756 63.71% 61,434 32.15% 7,921 4.14%
1996 96,610 59.29% 53,819 33.03% 12,516 7.68%
1992 81,822 54.34% 44,253 29.39% 24,501 16.27%
1988 66,372 75.47% 20,948 23.82% 620 0.71%
1984 54,749 79.48% 14,139 20.52% 0 0.00%
1980 27,185 52.84% 21,958 42.68% 2,309 4.49%
1976 13,912 40.03% 20,838 59.97% 0 0.00%
1972 18,181 86.26% 2,896 13.74% 0 0.00%
1968 5,350 30.59% 3,230 18.47% 8,909 50.94%
1964 6,823 50.42% 6,705 49.55% 3 0.02%
1960 2,336 26.50% 6,479 73.50% 0 0.00%
1956 1,443 20.24% 5,687 79.76% 0 0.00%
1952 1,015 14.42% 6,026 85.58% 0 0.00%
1948 413 11.08% 2,832 75.99% 482 12.93%
1944 713 17.60% 3,339 82.40% 0 0.00%
1940 728 15.26% 4,023 84.32% 20 0.42%
1936 541 18.49% 2,382 81.41% 3 0.10%
1932 91 3.36% 2,616 96.60% 1 0.04%
1928 1,062 52.26% 970 47.74% 0 0.00%
1924 207 15.52% 1,011 75.79% 116 8.70%
1920 1,140 40.93% 1,645 59.07% 0 0.00%
1916 222 10.99% 1,528 75.64% 270 13.37%
1912 55 3.35% 997 60.72% 590 35.93%
1908 541 32.77% 677 41.01% 433 26.23%
1904 132 5.98% 1,219 55.23% 856 38.79%
1900 373 22.50% 1,052 63.45% 233 14.05%
1896 773 35.77% 1,250 57.84% 138 6.39%
1892 253 9.20% 1,572 57.14% 926 33.66%
1888 186 8.40% 2,004 90.56% 23 1.04%
1884 146 11.77% 1,094 88.23% 0 0.00%
1880 244 11.87% 1,812 88.13% 0 0.00%
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Gwinnett County is one of six "reverse pivot counties", counties that voted Republican in 2008 and 2012, and voted Democratic in 2016 and 2020.[48]

Gwinnett County Board of Commissioners

More information District, Name ...
DistrictNamePartyFirst electedIncorporated Cities of Gwinnett County represented[49]
  At-Large (Chair) Nicole Love Hendrickson Democratic 2020 All
  1 Kirkland Carden Democratic 2020 Duluth, Peachtree Corners, Berkeley Lake, Suwanee, Norcross
  2 Ben Ku Democratic 2018 Lilburn, Unincorporated Tucker, Unincorporated Stone Mountain, Unincorporated Norcross, Unincorporated Lawrenceville
  3 Jasper Watkins III Democratic 2020 Auburn, Braselton, Dacula, Lawrenceville, Grayson, Loganville, Snellville
  4 Matthew Holtkamp Republican 2022 Buford, Lawrenceville, Rest Haven, Sugar Hill, Suwanee
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United States Congress

More information Senators, Name ...
Senators Name Party First Elected Level
  Senate Class 2 Jon Ossoff Democratic 2021 Senior Senator
  Senate Class 3 Raphael Warnock Democratic 2021 Junior Senator
Representatives Name Party First Elected Area(s) of Gwinnett County represented
  District 6 Rich McCormick Republican 2022 Sugar Hill, Buford, Suwanee
  District 7 Lucy McBath Democratic 2018 Peachtree Corners, Duluth, Lawrenceville, Lilburn, Suwanee, Loganville, Snellville, Norcross, Grayson, Dacula
  District 9 Andrew Clyde Republican 2020 Buford, Suwanee, Sugar Hill, Lawrenceville
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Georgia General Assembly

Georgia State Senate

More information District, Name ...
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Georgia House of Representatives

More information District, Name ...
District Name Party First Elected Area(s) of Gwinnett County represented
  30 Derrick McCollum Republican 2022 Braselton
  48 Scott Hilton Republican 2016 Peachtree Corners
  88 Billy Mitchell Democratic 2002 Peachtree Corners, Lilburn
  94 Karen Bennett Democratic 2012 Mountain Park
  95 Dar'shun Kendrick Democratic 2018 Snellville
  96 Pedro Marin Democratic 2002 Peachtree Corners, Duluth, Norcross
  97 Ruwa Romman Democratic 2022 Norcross, Berkeley Lake, Peachtree Corners, Duluth
  98 Marvin Lim Democratic 2020 Lilburn, Norcross
  99 Matt Reeves Republican 2022 Sugar Hill, Duluth, Suwanee
  100 David Clark Republican 2022 Buford, Suwanee, Sugar Hill, Rest Haven
  101 Gregg Kennard Democratic 2018 Lawrenceville, Suwanee
  102 Gabe Okoye Democratic 2022 Lawrenceville
  103 Soo Hong Republican 2022 Buford, Rest Haven, Sugar Hill, Suwanee
  104 Chuck Efstration Republican 2012 Auburn, Dacula, Lawrenceville
  105 Farooq Mughal Democratic 2022 Buford, Lawrenceville, Dacula
  106 Shelly Hutchinson Democratic 2022 Snellville
  107 Sam Park Democratic 2016 Lawrenceville
  108 Jasmine Clark Democratic 2018 Lilburn, Mountain Park
  109 Dewey McClain Democratic 2016 Lilburn
  110 Segun Adeyina Democratic 2022 Grayson, Loganville
  111 Rey Martinez Republican 2022 Dacula
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Hospitals

  • Northside Hospital – Lawrenceville
  • Northside Hospital – Duluth
  • Piedmont Hospital Eastside, formerly an HCA hospital, purchased by Piedmont in 2020.

Media

The county's main newspaper is the Gwinnett Daily Post.

The Spanish language newspaper El Nuevo Georgia has its headquarters in unincorporated Gwinnett County, near Norcross.[50][51]

Telemundo Atlanta and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution are both based in Gwinnett.

Parks

Gwinnett County Parks and Recreation operates and maintains parks, playgrounds, swimming pools, golf courses and recreation centers in the county. The department also runs recreational and educational programs.[52] The parks system has won many awards such as the gold medal in 2008 from American Academy for Park and Recreation Administration and National Recreation and Park Association. They were also finalists in 1999, 2006, and 2014.[53] The system has also been cited to use STEM by NRPA.[54]

Education

Primary and secondary schools

Gwinnett County Public Schools operates the public schools for residents in Gwinnett County, with the exception of residents inside the Buford city limits, which are served by the Buford City School District.[55] There are 143 schools in the district—21 high schools, 29 middle schools, 80 elementary schools and 13 specialty schools, making it the largest school district in Georgia.

There is a charter school in Peachtree Corners, International Charter Academy of Georgia.

Private education

Closed

Colleges and universities

Sports

Minor-league affiliates of the NHL Nashville Predators and the MLB Atlanta Braves play home games and talent scout in the area.

In 2016, the Georgia Swarm of the National Lacrosse League relocated from Minnesota and began playing games at Infinite Energy Arena. The team won the league championship in 2017.

Georgia Force of Arena Football League had also played at Arena at Gwinnett Center before the team folded in 2012.

More information Club, Sport ...
Club Sport League Venue Founded Titles
Atlanta Gladiators Ice hockey ECHL Gas South Arena 1995 0
Gwinnett Stripers Baseball International League Coolray Field 2009 0
Georgia Swarm Lacrosse National Lacrosse League Gas South Arena 2004 1
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Gwinnett also hosts the Gwinnett Lions Rugby Football Club, a Division 3 Men's Rugby Team competing in the Georgia Rugby Union.[60]

Transportation

Airport

The county maintains a regional airport under the name Gwinnett County Airport, formerly Briscoe Field. The closest major airport serving the region is Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport.

Major roads and expressways

Transit systems

Pedestrians and cycling

  • Beaver Ruin Creek Greenway (Proposed)
  • Camp Creek Greenway[67]
  • Cedar Creek Trail Loop
  • Crooked Creek Trail (Proposed)[68]
  • Harbins Greenway (Proposed)[69]
  • Ivy Creek Greenway (Under construction)
  • Ivy Creek-Snellville Trail (Proposed)[69]
  • Norcross-Lilburn Trail (Proposed)[69]
  • Piedmont Pathway (Proposed)[69]
  • Riverlands Path (Under construction)
  • Sugar Hill Greenway (Under construction)
  • Suwanee Creek Greenway (Under construction)
  • The Loop Trail (Proposed)[69]
  • Western Gwinnett Bikeway (Under construction)

In 2015, Peachtree Corners conducted a Livable Centers Initiative (LCI) survey which indicated public desire for more multi-use trails. Beginning in 2016, Peachtree Corners has been in the process of constructing 11.5 miles of multi-use trails within the city limits.[70]

In 2016, Suwanee unveiled the first Bike Share program in Gwinnett County.[71]

Notable people

See also

References

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