Updated on Apr 13, 2021
Enjoy your stay in Fitzgerald in this cozy, newly remodeled house! This house has all the amenities and wants you will need while on vacation. Have a glass of wine while enjoying Netflix on the...
Your next Georgia getaway awaits at this incredible Fitzgerald vacation rental! Located on a beautiful, 368-acre plot of land, this stunning 3-bedroom, 4-bathroom house provides a perfect...
Stay in this spacious private home w/in walking distance to downtown & the Grand Theatre. Our historic home sleeps 10 and includes a full kitchen; Butler's Pantry; separate, bright, laptop-friendly...
Fitzgerald is a city in and the county seat of Ben Hill County in the south central portion of the U.S. state of Georgia. As of the 2010 census, it had a population of 9,053. It is the principal city of the Fitzgerald Micropolitan Statistical Area, which includes all of Ben Hill and Irwin counties.
Fitzgerald was developed in 1895 by Philander H. Fitzgerald, an Indianapolis newspaper editor. A former drummer boy in the Union Army during the Civil War, he founded it as a community for war veterans – both from the Union and from the Confederacy. The majority of the first citizens (some 2700) were Union veterans. It was incorporated on December 2, 1896. The town is located less than from the site where Confederate president Jefferson Davis was captured on May 10, 1865.
Fitzgerald was an early planned city. It was laid out as a square, with intersecting streets dividing it into four wards. Each of the wards was divided into four blocks and each block had sixteen squares. The first two streets running north–south on the west side of the city were named after Confederate generals Lee and Johnston, whereas the first two on the east side were named after Union generals Grant and Sherman.
After about a year, the residents planned a Thanksgiving harvest parade. Separate Union and Confederate parades were planned. But when the band struck up to play, the Confederates joined the Union veterans to march as one under the US flag. This was at a time of increasing reconciliation nationwide between white soldiers of the North and South historian David Blight notes that outstanding issues of race were pushed aside. In this period southern states had already begun to pass new constitutions that raised barriers to voter registration, following Mississippi's in 1890, and essentially disenfranchised most freedmen and many poor whites. By 1900, Fitzgerald was a sundown town, prohibiting African Americans from living there.
In recent years, the unofficial, and sometimes controversial, mascot of the city has become the red junglefowl, a wild chicken native to the Indian subcontinent. In the late 1960s, a small number were released into the woods surrounding the city and have thrived to this day. In 2019, work began on a tall topiary statue of a chicken.
The Ben Hill County Courthouse and Ben Hill County Jail in Fitzgerald are listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP). The "Fitzgerald Commercial Historic District" was listed on the NRHP on April 28, 1992. It is generally bounded by Ocmulgee, Thomas, Magnolia and Lee streets. The "South Main-South Lee Streets Historic District" was listed on the NRHP on April 13, 1989 it is generally bounded by Magnolia Street, S. Main Street, Roanoke Drive, and S. Lee Street. The Dorminy-Massee House at 516 W. Central Avenue, the Holtzendorf Apartments at 105 W. Pine Street, and the Miles V. Wilsey House at 137 Hudson Road are also listed on the register. The Blue and Gray Museum is located near downtown in the original AB&A railroad depot built in 1908.
Fitzgerald is located in south central Georgia at (31.715432, -83.256464). U.S. Route 129 passes through the center of the city, leading north to Abbeville, Hawkinsville, and eventually Macon, and south to Ocilla, Nashville, and Lakeland. U.S. Route 319 also passes through Fitzgerald, leading northeast to McRae and Dublin and southwest to Tifton.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which is land and , or 1.64%, is water.
As of the 2020 United States census, there were 9,006 people, 3,346 households, and 1,932 families residing in the city.
As of the 2010 United States Census, there were 9,053 people living in the city. 51.2% were African American, 42.1% White, 0.3% Native American, 0.9% Asian, 0.0% Pacific Islander, 0.1% from some other race and 1.1% from two or more races. 4.3% were Hispanic or Latino of any race.
As of the census of 2000, there were 8,758 people, 3,448 households, and 2,210 families living in the city. The population density was 1,208.8 people per square mile (466.4/km2 ). There were 3,968 housing units at an average density of 547.7 per square mile (211.3/km2 ). The racial makeup of the city was 49.27% African American, 47.27% White, 0.18% Native American, 0.31% Asian, 2.28% from other races, and 0.69%
More about FITZGERALD under "Town Info"
This page uses material from the Wikipedia article Fitzgerald, Georgia , which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0.