Coweta County: History

Coweta County was created in 1826. Georgia's 67th county bears the name of the Coweta Indians, a Creek tribe headed by William McIntosh, Jr., the half-Scott, half Creek who relinquished lands to the Federal government in the 1825 Treaty of Indian Springs.

The county has seven municipalities. Newnan, the largest of these municipalities and the county seat, was named for General Daniel Newnan who fought in the Indian Wars, the War of 1812, and later served in the Georgia General Assembly.
The county's other incorporated municipalities are Grantville, Haralson, Moreland, Senoia, Sharpsburg and Turin.

Newnan was home at various times to the Male Academy and to the College Temple, a prestigious school which was the first to offer a Master of Arts for women.

Several notable persons have come from Coweta county. Ellis Gibbs Arnall was both an attorney general and governor of Georgia in the Talmadge era. He worked to make Georgia the first state to lower the voting age to 18 and was also successful in repealing the poll tax. Another famous Cowetan was columnist and author Lewis Grizzard, who hailed from Moreland.

Coweta County's many festivals include the Magnolia Blossom Festival in June, the Homemade Ice Cream Festival in August, and the Powers Crossroads Country Fair and Arts Festival, which is held Labor Day weekend at the historic Powers' Plantation site.

Coweta County: Demographic Information

According to the 1990 Census, the population of Coweta County was 53,853 persons. The county's population grew between 1980 and 1990 at a rate of 37.1%, compared with a state average growth rate during the period of 13.2%. The county's projected population for the year 2000 is 68,347 persons.

In Coweta County, 76.7% of the residents were white and 22.6% were black, according to the 1990 Census. Hispanics, who may also be identified as either white or black in the Census data, constituted 0.7% of the county’s population. Statewide, 71% of residents were white, 27% were black and 1.7% were Hispanic.

In addition, 31.4% of the county’s residents were age 19 or younger, while 10.1% were age 65 or older. Statewide, 30% were age 19 or younger and 10% were age 65 or older.

In Coweta County, the 1990 Census reports 7.3% of households were headed by females and had children under 18 years of age, compared with 8% statewide. Total households with children under 18 comprised 39.7% of all households in the county and 36% of those in the state.

The 1990 Census indicates that 35.4% of the adult population in Coweta County had completed high school, which was greater than the state average of 29.6%. A total of 32% of the county’s population had at least some college level education compared with the 41.3% state average.

Between 1991 and 1995, an average of 8.6% of students in grades 8 to 12 dropped out of school each year in the county. Statewide, the average percentage of dropouts was 6.7% for the same time period.

Coweta County spent an average of $3,921 per pupil for public education each year between 1990 and 1994. This expenditure was less than the statewide average of $4,002.

Between 1989 and 1993, the infant mortality rate (infant deaths per 1,000 live births) was 11.2 for the county. The statewide rate was 11.3 during the same period.

In 1992, the number of physicians in the county per 1,000 population was 1.07, compared with the 0.8 state average. Coweta County had 4.7 hospital beds per 1,000 population in 1994, which was greater than the statewide average of 3.6 beds per 1,000 population.

According to the 1990 Census, 67.5% of the housing units in the county were owner occupied. The median value of these units was $68,700. Across the state, 76% of housing units were owner occupied, with a median value of $70,700.

Between 1990 and 1994, the county’s index crime rate (crimes per 100,000 population) was 3,564. Statewide, when moving from the highest index crime rate to the lowest, Coweta County ranked number 50. Of this five year average, 6.2% were violent crimes, while 93.8% were non-violent crimes.

In 1992, 87.1% of the adult population in the county was registered to vote. Of those registered, 79.5% voted in the 1992 general election. Statewide, in 1992, 67% of eligible Georgians were registered to vote. Of those registered, 73% voted in the general election that year.

Coweta County: Economic Information

According to the Georgia Department of Labor, the largest non-government employers in the county include: Bibb Company, K-Mart Corporation, and William L. Bonnell.

Between 1990 and 1994, Coweta County’s annual unemployment rate was higher than the state’s mark, averaging 6% compared with the state’s average of 5.7%. Nationwide, unemployment for the same period averaged 6.5%.

In 1990, 58% of the county’s workforce was employed within the county while the balance, 43%, commuted out of Coweta County for employment.

The county per capita income in 1992 was less than that of the state and was less than that of the nation. Coweta County’s per capita income was $16,775, as compared with $18,549 for the state and $20,105 for the United States.

Coweta County’s median household income in 1989 was $31,925. This amount was greater than the state’s median household income of $29,021 in that same year. Nationally, the median household income in 1989 was $30,056.

In 1993, taxable sales in the county amounted to $9,900 per capita. This amount was less than the $10,636 per capita figure for the state as a whole.

Coweta County had 938 business establishments in 1991. In the six-year period of 1986-1991, the number of business establishments in the county increased by 26%. Statewide, the number of business establishments increased by 6% during the same period.

According to the Georgia Department of Revenue’s Net Property and Utility Digest, Coweta County’s assessed property value amounted to $993,237,806 in 1992, resulting in a per capita assessed property value of $18,444. At the state level, per capita assessed property value in 1992 equaled $16,112.

The newspaper with the largest daily circulation in Coweta County is the Atlanta Journal/Constitution. The county is considered part of the Atlanta television market.

During 1989, 11% of the county’s population lived below the poverty level, compared with a statewide level of 15% and a U.S. rate of 13%. In addition, 16% of the children under the age of 18 in the county lived in poverty and 18% of the elderly, persons over age 65, lived below the poverty level. Statewide, in 1989, 20% of all children and 20% of the elderly lived in poverty. Nationally, 19% of all children and 11% of the elderly were considered to be impoverished.

Residents of Coweta County received total government transfer payments amounting to $2,464 per capita in 1992, compared with $2,708 per capita statewide.

Coweta County: Government Information

From 1991 to 1995, Coweta County's average own source revenue per capita was $376. This amount was greater than the average of $325 per capita reported by other counties of similar size and was greater than the overall county average of $326.

Coweta County collected an average of $133 per capita in property tax during the past five years. This amount was less than the average of $162 per capita for other similarly sized counties. For the same period, the average per capita amount of county property tax collected in Georgia was $155. On average, property taxes accounted for 35% of the county's own source revenue during the period of 1991 to 1995.

Between 1991 and 1995, Coweta County's yearly general operating expenditures averaged $215 per capita. This amount was less than the overall county average of $274 per capita during the same period. The average yearly general operating expenditures per capita for similarly sized counties was $254 between 1991 and 1995.

From 1991 to 1995, Coweta County had an average of $25,511,372 in long-term debt outstanding each year, resulting in an average per capita debt burden of $396. This amount was greater than the $84 per capita average among the 135 counties with outstanding debt during the period and greater than the $68 per capita average for the 20 similarly sized counties with outstanding debt.

In 1996, Coweta was designated as a tier three county under Georgia's Job Tax Credit Program. Under this classification, eligible companies may receive $500 in tax credits for each new job created in the county.

According to the Association County Commissioners of Georgia, Coweta County has a 5-member board of commissioners, with the chairman elected by the members of the board. The county seat of Coweta County is Newnan.