Dublin, Georgia
Encyclopedia
Dublin is a city in Laurens County
, Georgia
, United States
. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 16,201. The city is the county seat
of Laurens County
.
.
Because of Dublin's location as a midpoint between Savannah
and Atlanta
, the town in recent decades became home to a small assortment of industrial distribution centers, which complemented various industries—textiles, furniture, and paper, among others—that had already established themselves there in the second half of the 20th century. Historically, however, Dublin's economy was based on the local cotton, corn, and soybean trades, which blossomed as the town's central location enabled it to thrive with the growth of the railroad.
Originally, Dublin and the surrounding area was home to Native Americans of the Muskogee people. Most of the Muskogee fled westward with the arrival of European settlers, many of them organizing themselves into armed resistance units, which fought government forces and British militias to protect their native territory well into the early 19th century. Ultimately, most of the Muskogee diaspora settled in what is now Oklahoma.
Despite the Irish ancestry of Dublin's first non-indigenous settlers, the town, like most of Middle Georgia, by the late 19th century had evolved from mixture of ethnicities. Most of population descended from Scottish, English, and other western European immigrants. The considerable African-American population descended from most of whose roots lay in Angola
or throughout the in west Africa. By the end of the 20th century, the town had also become home to a growing population of recent immigrants, many of them professionals from India, Korea, and Latin America. As labor migrations from Mexico and Central America shifted from the southwest U.S. to much of the southeast, many immigrants from those regions also moved to Dublin in the first decade of the 21st century.
Dublin, according to a historical marker at the town's main Oconee bridge, was one of the last encampments at which Confederate President
Jefferson Davis
and his family stayed before being captured by Union forces in May 1865.
The town, along with a reference to the Oconee river and Laurens County, is mentioned in the opening paragraph of James Joyce's Finnegans Wake
: "nor had topsawyer's rocks by the stream Oconee exaggerated themselves to Laurens County's gorgios while they went doublin their mumper all the time." (Joyce explained in a letter: "Dublin, Laurens Co, Georgia, founded by a Dubliner, Peter Sawyer, on r. Oconee. Its motto: Doubling all the time.")
to form the Altamaha
, a river which then proceeds to its mouth on the Atlantic Ocean
.
According to the United States Census Bureau
, the town has a total area of 13.3 square miles (34.4 km²), of which, 13.2 square miles (34.2 km²) of it is land and 0.1 square mile (0.258998811 km²) of it (0.45%) is water.
The United States Postal Service
operates the Dublin Post Office and the Court Square Station in Dublin.
holds grades pre-school to grade twelve, that consists of four elementary schools, a middle school, and a high school. The district has 231 full-time teachers and over 3,262 students.
holds grades pre-school to grade twelve, that consists of four elementary schools, two middle schools, and two high schools. The district has 381 full-time teachers and over 6,034 students.
Dublin is the principal city of the Dublin Micropolitan Statistical Area
, a micropolitan area
that covers Johnson
and Laurens counties and had a combined population of 53,434 at the 2000 census
.
As of the census
of 2000, there were 15,857 people, 6,130 households, and 4,027 families residing in the city. The population density
was 1,200.7 people per square mile (463.5/km²). There were 6,977 housing units at an average density of 528.3 per square mile (203.9/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 45.54% White, 51.42% African American, 0.20% Native American, 1.75% Asian, 0.04% Pacific Islander, 0.29% from other races
, and 0.76% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.14% of the population.
There were 6,130 households out of which 31.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 39.2% were married couples
living together, 23.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 34.3% were non-families. 31.1% of all households were made up of individuals and 12.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.44 and the average family size was 3.05.
In the city the population was spread out with 26.7% under the age of 18, 9.0% from 18 to 24, 24.8% from 25 to 44, 22.2% from 45 to 64, and 17.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females there were 85.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 80.2 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $28,532, and the median income for a family was $36,463. Males had a median income of $30,830 versus $21,553 for females. The per capita income
for the city was $16,560. About 22.5% of families and 27.5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 41.1% of those under age 18 and 21.2% of those age 65 or over.
take place in nearby East Dublin, Ga.
Laurens County, Georgia
Laurens County is a county located in the U.S. state of Georgia. It was created on December 10, 1807. As of 2000, the population was 44,874. The 2007 Census Estimate shows a population of 47,520...
, Georgia
Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 16,201. The city is the county seat
County seat
A county seat is an administrative center, or seat of government, for a county or civil parish. The term is primarily used in the United States....
of Laurens County
Laurens County, Georgia
Laurens County is a county located in the U.S. state of Georgia. It was created on December 10, 1807. As of 2000, the population was 44,874. The 2007 Census Estimate shows a population of 47,520...
.
History
The original settlement was named after the city Dublin, IrelandIreland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
.
Because of Dublin's location as a midpoint between Savannah
Savannah, Georgia
Savannah is the largest city and the county seat of Chatham County, in the U.S. state of Georgia. Established in 1733, the city of Savannah was the colonial capital of the Province of Georgia and later the first state capital of Georgia. Today Savannah is an industrial center and an important...
and Atlanta
Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta is the capital and most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia. According to the 2010 census, Atlanta's population is 420,003. Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, which is home to 5,268,860 people and is the ninth largest metropolitan area in...
, the town in recent decades became home to a small assortment of industrial distribution centers, which complemented various industries—textiles, furniture, and paper, among others—that had already established themselves there in the second half of the 20th century. Historically, however, Dublin's economy was based on the local cotton, corn, and soybean trades, which blossomed as the town's central location enabled it to thrive with the growth of the railroad.
Originally, Dublin and the surrounding area was home to Native Americans of the Muskogee people. Most of the Muskogee fled westward with the arrival of European settlers, many of them organizing themselves into armed resistance units, which fought government forces and British militias to protect their native territory well into the early 19th century. Ultimately, most of the Muskogee diaspora settled in what is now Oklahoma.
Despite the Irish ancestry of Dublin's first non-indigenous settlers, the town, like most of Middle Georgia, by the late 19th century had evolved from mixture of ethnicities. Most of population descended from Scottish, English, and other western European immigrants. The considerable African-American population descended from most of whose roots lay in Angola
Angola
Angola, officially the Republic of Angola , is a country in south-central Africa bordered by Namibia on the south, the Democratic Republic of the Congo on the north, and Zambia on the east; its west coast is on the Atlantic Ocean with Luanda as its capital city...
or throughout the in west Africa. By the end of the 20th century, the town had also become home to a growing population of recent immigrants, many of them professionals from India, Korea, and Latin America. As labor migrations from Mexico and Central America shifted from the southwest U.S. to much of the southeast, many immigrants from those regions also moved to Dublin in the first decade of the 21st century.
Dublin, according to a historical marker at the town's main Oconee bridge, was one of the last encampments at which Confederate President
President of the Confederate States of America
The President of the Confederate States of America was the Head of State and Head of Government of the Confederate States of America, which was formed from the states which declared their secession from the United States, thus precipitating the American Civil War. The only person to hold the...
Jefferson Davis
Jefferson Davis
Jefferson Finis Davis , also known as Jeff Davis, was an American statesman and leader of the Confederacy during the American Civil War, serving as President for its entire history. He was born in Kentucky to Samuel and Jane Davis...
and his family stayed before being captured by Union forces in May 1865.
The town, along with a reference to the Oconee river and Laurens County, is mentioned in the opening paragraph of James Joyce's Finnegans Wake
Finnegans Wake
Finnegans Wake is a novel by Irish author James Joyce, significant for its experimental style and resulting reputation as one of the most difficult works of fiction in the English language. Written in Paris over a period of seventeen years, and published in 1939, two years before the author's...
: "nor had topsawyer's rocks by the stream Oconee exaggerated themselves to Laurens County's gorgios while they went doublin their mumper all the time." (Joyce explained in a letter: "Dublin, Laurens Co, Georgia, founded by a Dubliner, Peter Sawyer, on r. Oconee. Its motto: Doubling all the time.")
Geography
Dublin is located at 32°32′15"N 82°55′6"W (32.537463, -82.918358). The town, named such because the Middle Georgia piedmont reminded Irish settlers of terrain in their native country, was founded on the Oconee river, which starts in the foothills of the Blue Ridge mountains in northern Georgia before combining with the Ocmulgee RiverOcmulgee River
The Ocmulgee River is a tributary of the Altamaha River, approximately 255 mi long, in the U.S. state of Georgia...
to form the Altamaha
Altamaha River
The Altamaha River is a major river of the American state of Georgia. It flows generally eastward for 137 miles from its origin at the confluence of the Oconee River and Ocmulgee River towards the Atlantic Ocean, where it empties into the ocean near Brunswick, Georgia. There are no dams...
, a river which then proceeds to its mouth on the Atlantic Ocean
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...
.
According to the United States Census Bureau
United States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau is the government agency that is responsible for the United States Census. It also gathers other national demographic and economic data...
, the town has a total area of 13.3 square miles (34.4 km²), of which, 13.2 square miles (34.2 km²) of it is land and 0.1 square mile (0.258998811 km²) of it (0.45%) is water.
Government and infrastructure
The city was expected to approve a ban on sagged down trousers in September 2010.The United States Postal Service
United States Postal Service
The United States Postal Service is an independent agency of the United States government responsible for providing postal service in the United States...
operates the Dublin Post Office and the Court Square Station in Dublin.
Dublin City School District
The Dublin City School DistrictDublin City School District
The Dublin City School District is a public school district in Laurens County, Georgia, USA, based in Dublin, Georgia. It serves the city of Dublin and the surrounding communities in Laurens County, Georgia.-Schools:...
holds grades pre-school to grade twelve, that consists of four elementary schools, a middle school, and a high school. The district has 231 full-time teachers and over 3,262 students.
- Hillcrest Elementary School
- Moore Street Elementary School
- Saxon Heights Elementary School
- Susie Dasher Elementary School
- Dublin Middle School
- Dublin High SchoolDublin High School (Dublin, Georgia)Dublin High School is a public high school located in Dublin, Georgia, USA. The school is part of the Dublin City School District, which serves the city of Dublin in Laurens County, Georgia.- Football :...
Laurens County School District
The Laurens County School DistrictLaurens County School District
The Laurens School District is a public school district in Laurens County, Georgia, USA, based in Dublin, Georgia. It serves the communities of Allentown, Cadwell, Dexter, Dublin, Dudley, East Dublin, Lovett, Montrose, and Rentz, Georgia.-Schools:...
holds grades pre-school to grade twelve, that consists of four elementary schools, two middle schools, and two high schools. The district has 381 full-time teachers and over 6,034 students.
- East Laurens Elementary School
- East Laurens Primary School
- Northwest Laurens Elementary
- Southwest Laurens Elementary
- East Laurens Middle School
- West Laurens Middle School
- East Laurens High SchoolEast Laurens High SchoolEast Laurens High School is a public high school located in East Dublin, Georgia, USA. The school is part of the Laurens County School District, which serves Laurens County, Georgia.-External Links:**...
- West Laurens High SchoolWest Laurens High SchoolWest Laurens High School is a public high school located in Dexter, Georgia, USA. The school is part of the Laurens County School District, which serves Laurens County, Georgia.-External Links :**...
Higher Education
- Heart of Georgia Technical College - Main Campus
- Middle Georgia CollegeMiddle Georgia CollegeMiddle Georgia College is a publicly supported, residential,charter unit of the University System of Georgia, in the city Cochran in the U.S. state of Georgia. Founded in 1884, the school is the oldest two-year college in the United States. It is currently being transformed into a 4 year college...
- Dublin Campus
Demographics
Dublin micropolitan area
The Dublin Micropolitan Statistical Area, as defined by the United States Census Bureau, is an area consisting of two counties in Georgia, anchored by the city of Dublin....
, a micropolitan area
United States micropolitan area
United States Micropolitan Statistical Areas , as defined by the United States Office of Management and Budget, are urban areas in the United States based around a core city or town with a population of 10,000 to 49,999. The micropolitan area designation was created in 2003...
that covers Johnson
Johnson County, Georgia
Johnson County is a county located in the U.S. state of Georgia. As of 2000, the population was 8,560. The 2007 Census Estimate shows a population of 9,533...
and Laurens counties and had a combined population of 53,434 at the 2000 census
United States Census, 2000
The Twenty-second United States Census, known as Census 2000 and conducted by the Census Bureau, determined the resident population of the United States on April 1, 2000, to be 281,421,906, an increase of 13.2% over the 248,709,873 persons enumerated during the 1990 Census...
.
As of the census
Census
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...
of 2000, there were 15,857 people, 6,130 households, and 4,027 families residing in the city. The population density
Population density
Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans...
was 1,200.7 people per square mile (463.5/km²). There were 6,977 housing units at an average density of 528.3 per square mile (203.9/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 45.54% White, 51.42% African American, 0.20% Native American, 1.75% Asian, 0.04% Pacific Islander, 0.29% from other races
Race (United States Census)
Race and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the Federal Office of Management and Budget and the United States Census Bureau, are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...
, and 0.76% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.14% of the population.
There were 6,130 households out of which 31.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 39.2% were married couples
Marriage
Marriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found...
living together, 23.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 34.3% were non-families. 31.1% of all households were made up of individuals and 12.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.44 and the average family size was 3.05.
In the city the population was spread out with 26.7% under the age of 18, 9.0% from 18 to 24, 24.8% from 25 to 44, 22.2% from 45 to 64, and 17.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females there were 85.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 80.2 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $28,532, and the median income for a family was $36,463. Males had a median income of $30,830 versus $21,553 for females. The per capita income
Per capita income
Per capita income or income per person is a measure of mean income within an economic aggregate, such as a country or city. It is calculated by taking a measure of all sources of income in the aggregate and dividing it by the total population...
for the city was $16,560. About 22.5% of families and 27.5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 41.1% of those under age 18 and 21.2% of those age 65 or over.
Festivals
Dublin is known for its St Patrick’s festival which takes place during all of March. Also the Redneck GamesRedneck Games
The Redneck Games are held in East Dublin, Georgia annually. The games were started by General Manager for WQZY-FM "Y96"; Mac Davis in response to a comment made by the media; that when the 1996 Olympic Games went to Atlanta, it would be held by a group of rednecks.Taking offense to this, Mac Davis...
take place in nearby East Dublin, Ga.
Pageants
Dublin is home to a several scholarship pageants, which are largely popular in the Southern United States:- The Miss Saint Patricks Scholarship pageant, sponsored by the Pilot Club, is held every year in March in conjunction with the Saint Patrick's DaySaint Patrick's DaySaint Patrick's Day is a religious holiday celebrated internationally on 17 March. It commemorates Saint Patrick , the most commonly recognised of the patron saints of :Ireland, and the arrival of Christianity in Ireland. It is observed by the Catholic Church, the Anglican Communion , the Eastern...
celebration. - Dublin and Laurens County's America's Junior MissAmerica's Junior MissDistinguished Young Women, formerly known as America's Junior Miss, is a national non-profit organization that provides scholarship opportunities to high school senior girls. Depending on the schedule of the various state and local programs, young women are eligible during the summer preceding...
Pageant is a scholarship competition held yearly for high school juniors. The winners of both the Dublin and Laurens County pageants advance to the state pageant. - The Miss and Outstanding Teen Irish Capital Scholarship Pageant is an official Miss AmericaMiss AmericaThe Miss America pageant is a long-standing competition which awards scholarships to young women from the 50 states plus the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands...
preliminary pageant and is held in the fall.