Louisville, Georgia

Louisville is a city in and the county seat of Jefferson County, Georgia, United States,^[6] and also a former state capital of Georgia. It is located southwest of Augusta on the Ogeechee River, and its population was 2,493 at the 2010 census,^[7] down from 2,712 at the 2000 census. By 2020, its population was 2,381. Its name is pronounced "Lewis-ville", though it and the differently pronounced city in Kentucky were both named for Louis XVI.^[8]

Louisville, Georgia
City
Jefferson County Courthouse
Motto:  "A Capital Community"
Location in Jefferson County and the state of Georgia
Louisville Location of Louisville in the US
Coordinates: 33°0′15″N 82°24′17″W
Country	United States
State	Georgia
County	Jefferson
Incorporated	January 26, 1786; 238 years ago (1786-01-26)[1]
Named for	Louis XVI
Government [2]
• Type	Mayor–Council
• Mayor	Jenny Smith[verification needed]
• Council	Members Michelle Reaves Matthew Hodges – Mayor Pro-Tem Larry Atkins Phil Polhill Robert Dixon
Area [3]
• Total	3.68 sq mi (9.53 km2)
• Land	3.61 sq mi (9.35 km2)
• Water	0.07 sq mi (0.17 km2)
Elevation	322 ft (98 m)
Population  (2020)
• Total	2,381
• Density	659.37/sq mi (254.57/km2)
Time zone	UTC-5 (Eastern (EST))
• Summer (DST)	UTC-4 (EDT)
ZIP code(s)	30434
Area code(s)	478
FIPS code	13-47560[4]
GNIS feature ID	0332271[5]
Major airport	AGS
Website	cityoflouisvillegeorgia.com

History

Old Market, 1934

Louisville was incorporated on January 26, 1786, as the prospective state capital, though it did not become so for a decade. Savannah had served as the colonial capital, but was considered too far from the center of population in the growing state, and Augusta became the state capital in the 1780s.

Louisville was named for Louis XVI, who had aided the Continentals during the American Revolutionary War and was still the King of France when the decision to incorporate the city was made. Development of the city took years, and its state government buildings were completed in 1795. An old Revolutionary War soldiers' cemetery is located on the western side of town.

The city of Louisville served as the state capital of Georgia from 1796 to 1806. It was a center of trade, legislators, and political influence. The Jefferson County courthouse, built in 1904, stands on the site of Georgia's first permanent capitol building.^[9]

Louisville's historic open-sided market house, Old Market, (Old Slave Market) still stands in the center of downtown. The original market had sections for sales of farm produce, household goods, and enslaved African Americans. The caption of a 1934 photograph in the Library of Congress proves the sale of enslaved Black people happened at this market, with details.^[10] The Old Market is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Roads and other transportation routes intersected at the market square, the hub of the region when the town was the state capital. The state capital was moved to Milledgeville and later to Atlanta, in the Piedmont.

As a small city and county seat, Louisville now has few major businesses and industries. A marker dedicated to the Yazoo land scandal of the 18th century is located in front of the Jefferson County Courthouse. Queensborough National Bank and Trust Company was founded in 1902 and is currently headquartered in Louisville, on U.S. Highway 1.

Geography

Louisville is located slightly south of the center of Jefferson County.^[11] U.S. Route 1 passes through the east side of the city, leading northeast 46 miles (74 km) to Augusta and south 30 miles (48 km) to Swainsboro. U.S. Route 221 passes through the north side of downtown as Peachtree Street and leads southwest 10 miles (16 km) to Bartow. US-221 leaves Louisville to the north, running with US-1 15 miles (24 km) to Wrens before continuing north toward Harlem.

According to the United States Census Bureau, Louisville has a total area of 3.7 square miles (9.5 km²), of which 3.6 square miles (9.3 km²) are land and 0.1 square miles (0.2 km²), or 1.93%, are water.^[7] The western city boundary follows Rocky Comfort Creek, which flows into the Ogeechee River at the city limits' southwest corner. The Ogeechee flows to the Atlantic Ocean south of Savannah.

Demographics

Historical population

Census	Pop.	Note	%±
1810	524		—
1820	694		32.4%
1870	356		—
1880	575		61.5%
1890	836		45.4%
1900	1,009		20.7%
1910	1,039		3.0%
1920	1,040		0.1%
1930	1,650		58.7%
1940	1,803		9.3%
1950	2,231		23.7%
1960	2,413		8.2%
1970	2,691		11.5%
1980	2,823		4.9%
1990	2,429		−14.0%
2000	2,712		11.7%
2010	2,493		−8.1%
2020	2,381		−4.5%
U.S. Decennial Census[12]

Louisville racial composition as of 2020^[13]

Race	Num.	Perc.
White (non-Hispanic)	633	26.59%
Black or African American (non-Hispanic)	1,615	67.83%
Native American	1	0.04%
Asian	25	1.05%
Other/Mixed	53	2.23%
Hispanic or Latino	54	2.27%

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 2,381 people, 897 households, and 606 families residing in the city.

Education

Jefferson County School District

The Jefferson County School District holds pre-school to grade twelve, and consists of two elementary schools, two middle schools, a high school, and an academy school.^[14] The district has 199 full-time teachers and over 3,526 students.^[15]

• Louisville Academy
• Carver Elementary School
• Wrens Elementary School
• Jefferson County Middle School
• Jefferson County High School

Private education

• Thomas Jefferson Academy

Notable people

• William Wright Abbot III (1922-2009), historian
• John M. Berrien (1781-1856), US Senator and US Attorney General
• Reuben Walker Carswell (1837-1889), lawyer, politician, and Confederate officer
• Howell Cobb (1815-1868), former Governor of Georgia, Speaker of the House, US Secretary of the Treasury, and President of the Confederate States Provisional Congress
• Willis F. Denny (1874-1905), architect
• Clarence Ditlow (1944-2016), consumer advocate for automobile safety
• Roger Lawson Gamble (1787-1847), US Representative
• James Gunn (1753-1801), US Senator
• Kydran Jenkins (2002-) linebacker Purdue Boilermakers
• Herschel V. Johnson (1812-1880), former Governor of Georgia and candidate for Vice President in the 1860 United States presidential election.
• Spike Jones (1947-), NFL punter (Houston Oilers, Buffalo Bills, and Philadelphia Eagles)
• Mirabeau B. Lamar (1798-1859), 2nd President of the Republic of Texas
• Tony F. Mack (1966-), Mayor of Trenton, New Jersey
• James Luther Mays (1921-2015), Old Testament scholar
• John Milton (1807-1865) former Governor of Florida
• Ambrose R. Wright (1826-1872), lawyer, politician, and Confederate general
• William Ambrose Wright (1844-1929), Georgia State Comptroller General

See also

• Georgia (U.S. state) portal

• Central Savannah River Area
• List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state)
• Local radio station: WPEH, Big Peach Radio (92.1 FM and 1420 AM)
• National Register of Historic Places listings in Jefferson County, Georgia

References

1. Holmes, Yulssus Lynn (1996). Those Glorious Days: A History of Louisville as Georgia's Capital, 1796-1807. Macon, Georgia: Mercer University Press. p. 26. ISBN 0-86554-527-8. LCCN 96030440. OCLC 35084837. OL 992000M.
2. "City Officials". City of Louisville, Georgia. 2017. Archived from the original on May 9, 2017. Retrieved May 17, 2017.
3. "2020 U.S. Gazetteer Files". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved December 18, 2021.
4. "U.S. Census website". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved January 31, 2008.
5. "US Board on Geographic Names". United States Geological Survey. October 25, 2007. Archived from the original on February 12, 2012. Retrieved January 31, 2008.
6. "Find a County". National Association of Counties. Archived from the original on May 31, 2011. Retrieved June 7, 2011.
7. "Geographic Identifiers: 2010 Census Summary File 1 (G001): Louisville city, Georgia". American Factfinder. U.S. Census Bureau. Archived from the original on February 13, 2020. Retrieved May 4, 2018.
8. Krakow, Kenneth K. (1975). Georgia Place-Names: Their History and Origins (PDF). Macon, GA: Winship Press. p. 137. ISBN 0-915430-00-2. Archived (PDF) from the original on March 11, 2016. Retrieved March 13, 2019.
9. Louisville Archived August 6, 2013, at the Wayback Machine, Georgia.gov, accessed August 27, 2013.
10. "Slave Market, Public Square, Louisville, Jefferson County, GA". Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA. Retrieved May 18, 2022.
11. "US Gazetteer files: 2010, 2000, and 1990". United States Census Bureau. February 12, 2011. Retrieved April 23, 2011.
12. "Census of Population and Housing". Census.gov. Retrieved June 4, 2015.
13. "Explore Census Data". data.census.gov. Retrieved December 15, 2021.
14. Georgia Board of Education^{[permanent dead link‍]}, Retrieved June 20, 2010.
15. School Stats Archived November 25, 2011, at the Wayback Machine, Retrieved June 20, 2010.

Further reading

• Strong, Robert Hale (1961). Halsey, Ashley (ed.). A Yankee Private's Civil War. Chicago: Henry Regnery Company. pp. 106–108. LCCN 61-10744. OCLC 1058411.

External links

Government

• Official website

General information

• Geographic data related to Louisville, Georgia at OpenStreetMap
• Louisville, Georgia at the Digital Library of Georgia
• Louisville, Georgia at Jefferson County Chamber of Commerce and Development Authority of Jefferson County (jeffersoncounty.org)
• Louisville, Georgia at New Georgia Encyclopedia
• Louisville Public Library at Jefferson County Library System
• The Sacking of Louisville at The Historical Marker Database (HMdb.org)