Crawford County is a county in the central part of the U.S. state of Georgia. According to the 2020 census, the population was 12,130. The county seat is Knoxville, and the largest city is Roberta. Crawford County is part of the Macon, Georgia metropolitan area.
History
Crawford County, located in west central Georgia, is the fifty-seventh county in Georgia. The county covers 325 square miles (840 km²) and was formed on December 9, 1822, from Houston County. Houston County had been created from land given up by the Creek Indians in the 1821 Treaty of Indian Springs. Crawford County is named after William H. Crawford, a statesman who served as a U.S. senator, minister to France, and secretary of the treasury.
The first white settlers in the area were Indian agent Benjamin Hawkins. He arrived in 1803 and built a five-square-mile compound on the Flint River, using slave labor. The compound included a shop and plantation, known as the Creek Agency Reserve. Although Hawkins was liked by the Creeks, he believed Native Americans should adopt a lifestyle similar to European Americans. His efforts to encourage this change were not successful. Hawkins died at the reserve in 1816. David B. Mitchell was appointed in 1817 to replace him.
Knoxville, Georgia, was established along the Federal Road, the main stagecoach route from Washington, D.C., to New Orleans. This made Knoxville a natural choice for the county seat. Today, Roberta is the main population center, located one mile west of Knoxville. Although Knoxville is no longer an incorporated city, it still serves as the county seat. The current courthouse, built in 2002, replaced one constructed in 1851, which still stands. The Old Courthouse is a historical site and now functions as a museum.
Roberta, originally called New Knoxville, is the only incorporated city in the county. It was incorporated on December 26, 1890. Roberta began as a railroad office and warehouse in 1886, located at the Atlanta and Florida Railway’s "89 Fort Valley" milepost. In 1888, after a freight depot and passenger station were built, people started settling nearby. The town was named Roberta by Hiram McCrary, who gave the railroad the right to pass through his land. McCrary named it after his young daughter.
Most residents of Knoxville moved to Roberta when the railroad arrived. For many years, Roberta was a popular tourist stop on the route to Florida, as passenger train service was a key form of transportation. After trains were replaced by cars, Roberta became a quiet residential town. The rail tracks were removed in the 1980s, leaving only the rail bed. From 1950 to 1965, tourism revived through Highway US 341, which connected travelers to coastal resorts. However, the construction of an interstate diverted traffic to Macon, Georgia, leading to the decline of diners and motels. Today, Roberta is a small, quiet Southern town. Other communities in Crawford County include Musella, Gaillard, Horns, Lee Pope, and Zenith.
Musella first appeared on Georgia maps in 1895. The Atlanta and Florida Railway (A&F) named the community Musella as a flag stop. The A&F began building 105 miles (169 km) of track from Atlanta to Fort Valley in 1880. The railroad planned to route tracks from Culloden to Knoxville but faced resistance from Crawford County residents, who did not want the railroad passing through their county seat. Instead, the A&F built tracks to Musella. When Musella became a flag stop, farmers gained better access to markets, encouraging migration from nearby Ceres, Georgia. Cotton from Ceres was moved to Musella, and a general store and post office were built there, making Musella a hub of economic activity in northern Crawford County. Today, Musella preserves its historical character.
In the county’s early years, settlers relied on agriculture (cotton and oats), then on cattle ranching, timber harvesting, and sand extraction as main sources of income. Agriculture remains important, along with manufacturing and health and social services. Many residents also work in nearby areas.
Notable figures from Crawford County include Jefferson Franklin Long, Georgia’s first African-American congressional representative and the first African American to speak from the U.S. House of Representatives. Long, born into slavery in Knoxville, became a tailor after the Civil War. His interest in equal rights led him to politics. He was elected to Congress in December 1870 and served until March 1871 during the Reconstruction era.
John Pemberton, the inventor of Coca-Cola, was also born in Knoxville. Pemberton was a Confederate lieutenant colonel who later helped establish Georgia’s first pharmacy licensing board. His laboratory for chemical analysis and manufacturing became the first state-run facility to test soil and crop chemicals.
Joanna Troutman, who designed the first Lone Star flag (later adopted as the Texas State Flag), was born in Crawford County. She gave her flag to a Volunteer Georgia Battalion that traveled to Texas in 1835 to support Texan independence. The flag was first flown at Velasco on January 8, 1836, and later at Goliad on March 8, 1836, following Texas’s declaration of independence. Troutman lived most of her life in Knoxville, but her remains were moved to the Texas State Cemetery in Austin, where a bronze statue honors her. A portrait of Troutman also hangs in the Texas State Capitol.
In 1775, naturalist William Bartram discovered a previously unknown plant in Crawford County. He named it Hydrangea Quercifolia, now known as the Oakleaf Hydrangea. Bartram described the area near Sweetwater Creek as a “delightful diversified rural scene,” noting it “promises a happy, fruitful and salubrious region.”
Crawford County pottery was a successful business in the 1800
Geography
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 326 square miles (840 km²), of which 325 square miles (840 km²) is land and 1.6 square miles (4.1 km²) (0.5%) is water.
The fall line of the eastern United States divides the county, meaning that the northern parts of the county are generally more hilly than the southern parts, which are flatter and have more farmland and agriculture. The Fall Line Freeway crosses a small part of the southern section of the county along Georgia State Route 96.
The western part of Crawford County, west of Musella and Knoxville, is part of the Upper Flint River sub-basin of the ACF River Basin (Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint River Basin). The northeastern part of the county, northeast of Byron, is part of the Upper Ocmulgee River sub-basin of the Altamaha River basin. A southeastern corner of Crawford County, north of Fort Valley, is part of the Lower Ocmulgee River sub-basin of the same Altamaha River basin.
- Monroe County – north
- Bibb County – east-northeast
- Peach County – east-southeast
- Taylor County – southwest
- Macon County – south
- Upson County – northwest
- Houston County – extreme east at Echeconee Creek
Demographics
According to the 2020 census, the county had a population of 12,130 people. The median age of residents was 45.5 years. Twenty point eight percent of residents were younger than 18 years old, and nineteen point six percent were 65 years old or older. For every 100 females, there were 99.5 males. For every 100 females aged 18 and older, there were 98.4 males aged 18 and older. Zero percent of residents lived in urban areas, and 100 percent lived in rural areas.
The racial makeup of the county was as follows: 74.3% White, 18.7% Black or African American, 0.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3% Asian, 0.0% Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander, 1.3% from some other race, and 5.0% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino residents of any race made up 3.4% of the population.
There were 4,679 households in the county. Thirty point one percent of households had children under the age of 18 living with them, and 25.4% had a female householder with no spouse or partner present. About 24.4% of all households included only one person, and 10.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years old or older.
The county had 5,154 housing units, of which 9.2% were vacant. Of the occupied housing units, 79.8% were owned by the residents, and 20.2% were rented. The vacancy rate for homes owned by people was 0.9%, and the vacancy rate for rented homes was 5.3%.
Politics
As of the 2020s, Crawford County mostly votes for the Republican Party, with over 74% of voters supporting Donald Trump in the 2024 election. For elections to the United States House of Representatives, Crawford County is part of Georgia's 2nd congressional district, which is currently represented by Mike Collins. For elections to the Georgia State Senate, Crawford County is part of District 18. For elections to the Georgia House of Representatives, Crawford County is part of District 134.