Augusta

Augusta, Georgia 

The consolidated city-county of Augusta, officially known as Augusta-Richmond County, is located on Georgia's easternmost central boundary. The city is located near the head of the navigable stretch of the Savannah River, across from South Carolina. Georgia's third-largest city (after Atlanta and Columbus), Augusta is located in the Fall Line portion of the state. 

Without including the unconsolidated cities of Blythe and Hephzibah, Augusta-Richmond County had a population of 202,081 in 2020, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. It ranks as the 116th-largest city in the country. A vote in 1995 between the two jurisdictions marked the beginning of the merging process between the City of Augusta and Richmond County. July 1st, 1996 saw the completion of the merger. The capital of the Augusta metropolitan region is Augusta. It was the second-largest metro area in the state in 2020 with 611,000 inhabitants (after Atlanta). The metropolitan region is the 95th largest in the country. 

In honor of Princess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha (1719–1772), wife of Frederick, Prince of Wales and mother of the British king George III, Augusta was founded in 1736. Augusta served as the primary location for Confederate powder mills during the American Civil War. In the early and middle 20th century, Augusta became a popular resort destination in the Eastern United States due to its temperate climate. The Masters golf event is held in Augusta every spring, and it is what makes it famous around the world. Almost 200,000 spectators from all over the world attend the Masters at Augusta National Golf Club. Most people agree that Augusta National membership is the most elite in the world of golf. 

By automobile, I-20 connects Augusta to downtown Atlanta in about two hours. The U.S. Army installation Fort Gordon is located in the city. The new National Cyber Security Headquarters' location in Augusta was declared in 2016. 

History 

Indigenous people of many different cultures have long lived near the river, depending on it for transportation, water, and fish. Native Indians utilized Augusta because of its placement on the fall line as a spot to cross the Savannah River. 

James Oglethorpe dispatched a group of soldiers to investigate the upper Savannah River in 1735, two years after he established Savannah. He instructed them to construct a fort at the beginning of the river's navigable section. Noble Jones, the expedition's leader, established a town as the first line of defense for the coastal regions against a future interior Spanish or French attack. Princess Augusta, the wife of Frederick, Prince of Wales and mother of King George III, was honored when Oglethorpe gave the town its name. On his way back to Savannah from a risky trip to Coweta Town, close to modern-day Phenix City, Alabama, Oglethorpe stopped in Augusta in September 1739. He had negotiated a peace treaty with them in their homelands in northern and western Georgia after meeting with an assembly of 7,000 Native American warriors there. The Siege of Augusta during the American Revolutionary War led to the Americans retaking the city from the British. From 1785 until 1795, Augusta served as the second state capital of Georgia (alternating for a period with Savannah, the first). 

Since the Black Belt in the Piedmont was created for cotton farming, Augusta quickly grew into a market town. Short-staple cotton was well-suited to upland locations, and the development of the cotton gin made its processing viable. Thousands of slaves were transported from the Upper South to the Deep South as part of the domestic slave trade to work on cotton plantations. Many of the slaves came from the Lowcountry, where the sizable Sea Island cotton and rice estates had fostered the development of the Gullah culture. 

Augusta was the location of numerous defense enterprises, including powder-works facilities, during the Civil War. Following the war, Augusta's textile industry experienced great success, and many mills, including Enterprise Mill, Sibley Mill, and King Mill, were built along the Augusta Canal. 

The Augusta Fire of 1916, which destroyed 25 blocks of the city and other historically significant structures, occurred there. 

As the largest city in the region, Augusta served as the hub of activity both during and after Reconstruction. It served as the location of civil rights protests in the middle of the 20th century. A mentally handicapped youngster named Charles Oatman was murdered by his cellmates in an Augusta jail in 1970. After six black men were killed by police and each was later determined to have been shot in the back, there was a riot involving 500 people in protest of his killing. James Brown, a well-known singer and performer, was enlisted to assist ease the tensions, and he was successful. 

Geography 

Around 150 miles (240 kilometers) east of Atlanta and 110 miles (190 kilometers) west of Columbia, Augusta is situated along the Georgia/South Carolina border. The city may be found at 33.4700, 81.9750, which is 33°28′12′′N and 81°58′30′′W. 

The Augusta-Richmond County balance has a total area of 306.5 sq mi (793.8 km2), of which 302.1 sq mi (782.4 km2) is land and 4.3 sq mi (11.1 km2) (1.42%) is water, according to the United States Census Bureau. 

On the fall line, which forms a number of tiny falls on the river, Augusta is situated about halfway up the Savannah River. The city is the beginning of the Georgia Piedmont region and the end of the river's navigable canal 

On the fall line, close to Augusta, the Clarks Hill Dam is constructed, creating Clarks Hill Lake. The Stevens Creek Dam, which produces hydroelectric power, is located further downstream, close to the boundary of Columbia County. The Augusta Diversion Dam, which initiates the Augusta Canal and directs Savannah River water into the canal, is located much further downstream. 

Climate 

Despite its low elevation and humidity, Augusta shares the same humid subtropical climate (Köppen Cfa) as the rest of the state, with brief, mild winters, hot, humid summers, and a significant diurnal temperature fluctuation for much of the year. There are 53 nights per year with a low below freezing, 82 days that reach or surpass 90 °F (32 °C), and 5.5 days that reach 100 °F (38 °C). The monthly daily average temperature varies from 45.4 °F (7.4 °C) in January to 81.6 °F (27.6 °C) in July. From 1 °F (18 °C) on January 21, 1985 to 108 °F (42 °C) on August 10, 2007, and August 21, 1983, are considered extreme dates. Due in significant part to Augusta's elevation—downtown Augusta is about 900 ft (270 m) lower than downtown Atlanta—snowfall is not nearly as frequent as in Atlanta. The biggest snowfall ever seen was 14.0 inches, which fell in February 1973. (35.56 cm). Wintertime also presents the risk of freezing rain. 

Economy 

A regional hub for biotechnology, cyber security, and medicine is Augusta. More than 7,000 people work at Augusta University, which is the only graduate school in public health sciences in the state. The Medical District of Augusta, which includes University Hospital, employs approximately 25,000 people and generates over $1.8 billion in revenue. 

The Savannah River Site, a Department of Energy nuclear plant, the U.S. Army Cyber Center of Excellence at Fort Gordon, which is in charge of managing training for Cyber, Signal Corps, and Electronic Warfare, and Augusta University are the three biggest employers in the area. The Augusta neighborhood has seen a decline in bankruptcy filings and a minor decrease in the unemployment rate from late 2009 to March 2011, despite layoffs from multiple corporations during the U.S. economic recession and a relatively high state jobless rate. The Masters Golf Tournament lowers unemployment rates in the spring, so these unemployment figures are deceptive. In April 2011, unemployment rates reached a two-year low of 8.3%; however, as of July 2011, they had climbed to 9.9%. 

In addition to the U.S. Army Cyber Command moving to Fort Gordon from Fort Meade, the construction of the Georgia Cyber Center in Downtown Augusta has made the Augusta metro region a destination for cyber security-based enterprises wishing to locate to the area. Every year, TechNet is held in Augusta. This event attracts officials from the military, the government, and the commercial sector to the city to display new technologies connected to cyberspace and to discuss attempts to collaborate on this topic between the public and private sectors. 

CareSouth, NutraSweet, T-Mobile, Covidien, Solo Cup Company, Automatic Data Processing, Graphic Packaging International, Solvay S.A., Bridgestone, Teleperformance, Olin Corporation, Sitel, E-Z-GO, Taxslayer, Elanco, KSB Company (Georgia Iron Works), Club Car (Worldwide Headquarters), Halocarbon, MTU Friedrichshafen (subsidiary of Tognum), MTU Friedrichshafen (subs 

Sports 

Formerly playing at Lake Olmstead Stadium in Augusta, the Augusta GreenJackets minor league baseball team now plays at SRP Park near the Savannah River in North Augusta, South Carolina. As an affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates, the team debuted in 1988 as the Augusta Pirates. The GreenJackets are currently the Class A affiliate of the Atlanta Braves after formerly being associated with the Boston Red Sox and San Francisco Giants. 

A minor-league professional ice hockey team from Augusta, Georgia was known as the Augusta Lynx. From 1998 through 2008, the James Brown Arena served as the Lynx's home venue. The NHL's Tampa Bay Lightning and the AHL's Norfolk Admirals were affiliates of the ECHL team The Lynx. 

A professional minor league ice hockey team, the Augusta RiverHawks. From 2010 until 2013, they competed in the Southern Professional Hockey League (SPHL). The James Brown Arena served as their home field. 

A professional Arena football team named the Augusta Stallions was established in 1999. They were one of the initial 15 clubs that participated in the first-ever AF2 season in 2000. Before to moving to the Southeast Division in 2001 and the Eastern Division in 2002, they were once a member of the American Conference. The group disbanded in 2002. 

The Palmetto Rugby Union, a division 2 men's club that is a part of the USA Rugby South Conference, is where the Augusta Rugby Football Club (ARFC) competes. 

The Soul City Sirens are an all-female flat track roller derby team in Augusta. This league was started in 2008 and is skater-owned and entirely volunteer. 

The former Augusta 706ers, a minor league professional basketball team in the American Basketball Association, are also based in Augusta. Due to a lack of funding, the team, which was created in 2017, ceased operations in December 2018. All of the team's home games were held at James Brown Arena. 

Population 

Georgia's Columbia County and Richmond County both contain the city of Augusta. It serves as Richmond County's County seat as well. It is the third-largest city in Georgia and the 126th-largest city in the United States with a projected population of 203,953 in 2023. The population of Augusta has grown by 0.93% from the most recent census, which showed a population of 202,081 in 2020, and is now expanding at a pace of 0.31% annually. Augusta has a population density of 675 persons per square mile with a total length of about 306 miles. 

With a poverty rate of 27.35 percent, Augusta's average household income is $57,952. The median monthly cost of rent in recent years has been, and the median value of a home is. In Augusta, the median age is 34.2 years, with men's median ages being 32 and women's median ages being 36.5.