Gordon County, Georgia

Gordon County is a located in the  of. As of 2000, the population was 44,104. The 2005 Census Estimate shows a population of 50,279. The is.

History
Gordon County was created on, by an act of the  (Ga. Laws 1849-50, p. 124). The new county was formed from portions of Cass (later renamed ) and counties. All lands that would become Gordon County were originally occupied by the -- and, in fact, the area was home of, capital of the. Even while Cherokees remained on their homeland, the General Assembly enacted legislation in December 1830 that provided for surveying the Cherokee Nation in Georgia and dividing it into sections, districts, and land lots. Subsequently, the legislature identified this entire area as "" (even though it never functioned as a county). An act of, divided the Cherokee lands into ten new counties -- Cass (later renamed Bartow), Cherokee, , , , , , , , and. Cherokee lands were distributed to whites in a land lottery, but the legislature temporarily prohibited whites from taking possession of lots on which Cherokees still lived.

It was not until, that Georgia had an official basis for claiming the unceded Cherokee lands that included the future location of Gordon County. In the, a faction of the Cherokees agreed to give up all Cherokee claims to land in Georgia, , , and and move west in return for $5  million. Though a majority of Cherokees opposed the treaty and refused to leave, the and Georgia considered it binding. In 1838, troops rounded up the last of 15,000 Cherokees in Georgia and forced them to march west in what came to be known as the "."

Gordon County's original 1850 boundaries were changed numerous times between 1852 to 1877, during which time the legislature transferred portions of Cass (Bartow), Floyd, Murray,, and counties to Gordon County, while transferring land from Gordon to Floyd and Murray counties.

Georgia's 94th county was named for (1796-1842), the first Georgian to graduate from  and first president of the (See a monument to William Gordon in ).

Rail Accidents
Two fatal rail accidents took place in Gordon County in the late 20th century. The first one was in 1981 when Southern Railway train #160 collided with a log truck near the community of Oostanaula Georgia. The engineer and the driver of the log truck were fatally injured. In 1990, Train #188 ran a stop signal at the north end of the siding at Davis, Georgia and collided with Train #G38 on the same line. The engineer and conductor on #G38 and the conductor on #188 died in this collision. A monument stands at the site of the collision near the Georgia Highway 136 crossing.

Politics
In recent years, the Republicans have had a strong base in Gordon County.

2004 President Bush (R): 11671 (73.98%) Kerry (D): 4028 (25.53%) Badnarik (L): 76 (0.48%)

2004 US Senate Isakson (R): 11051 (72.18%) Majette (D): 3930 (25.67%) Buckley (L): 330 (2.16%)

2002 Governor Perdue (R): 6074 (62%) Barnes (D): 3468 (35.4%) Hayes (L): 254 (2.59%)

In April 2006, the Gordon County Republican Party selected Zach Carrier, a freshman at Calhoun High School, to lead the Gordon County Teenage Republican Party. Since then, the Gordon County Teenage Republicans have played an important role in local politics, currently the largest teenage republican group in the state of Georgia.

Geography
According to the, the county has a total area of 927 (358 ). 921 km² (356 sq mi) of it is land and 6 km² (2 sq mi) of it (0.69%) is water.

Major Highways

 * [[Image:I-75.svg|20px]]
 * [[Image:US 41.svg|20px]]
 * [[Image:US 411.svg|25px]]
 * [[Image:Georgia 3.svg|20px]]
 * [[Image:Georgia 53.svg|20px]]
 * [[Image:Georgia 61.svg|20px]]
 * [[Image:Georgia 136.svg|25px]]
 * [[Image:Georgia 156.svg|25px]]
 * [[Image:Georgia 225.svg|25px]]

Adjacent Counties

 * - north
 * - north
 * - northeast
 * - east
 * - southeast
 * - south
 * - west
 * - northwest

Demographics
As of the of 2000, there were 44,104 people, 16,173 households, and 12,259 families residing in the county. The was 48/km² (124/sq mi). There were 17,145 housing units at an average density of 19/km² (48/sq mi). The racial makeup of the county was 89.69%, 3.46% or , 0.27% , 0.53% , 0.05% , 4.98% from , and 1.01% from two or more races. 7.41% of the population were or  of any race.

There were 16,173 households out of which 35.80% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 60.40% were living together, 11.10% had a female householder with no husband present, and 24.20% were non-families. 20.30% of all households were made up of individuals and 8.10% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.70 and the average family size was 3.08.

In the county the population was spread out with 26.10% under the age of 18, 9.50% from 18 to 24, 31.40% from 25 to 44, 22.50% from 45 to 64, and 10.60% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34 years. For every 100 females there were 99.00 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 97.10 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $38,831, and the median income for a family was $43,184. Males had a median income of $29,761 versus $22,256 for females. The for the county was $17,586. About 7.50% of families and 9.90% of the population were below the, including 12.10% of those under age 18 and 14.30% of those age 65 or over.