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Milledgeville

1911 Encyclopedia Britannica

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a city and the county-seat of Baldwin county, in the central part of Georgia, U.S.A., on the Oconee river, at the head of navigation, 32 m. E.N.E. of Macon. Pop. (1890), 3322; (1900), 4219, of whom 2663 were negroes. It is served by the Georgia and the Central of Georgia railways. Milledgeville is situated in the Cotton Belt, and its principal industry is the preparation of cotton for the markets. The importance of the place, however, is mainly educational and historical. It is the seat of the Middle Georgia Military and Agricultural College, which occupies the old capitol building, and of the Georgia Normal and Industrial College for girls (1889; enrolment 1908-1909, 653), which is a part of the University of Georgia, and occupies the site of the old state penitentiary. About 2 m. north-west of Milledgeville is the state juvenile reformatory; 2 m. south of the city are the state asylums for white and negro insane; and 3 m. north-west is the state prison farm. Milledgeville was founded in 1803, and was named in honour of John Milledge (1757-1818), a representative in Congress in1792-1793and 1795-1802, governor of Georgia in 1802-1806, a United States senator in 1806-1809, and a benefactor of the state university. In 1804 it was made the seat of the state government in place of Louisville (capital in 1795-1804; pop. in 1900, 1009), a dignity it held until 1868. The city was first chartered in 1836. Although admirably situated for trade and manufacturing, Milledgeville was surpassed in both by Macon, which became the commercial emporium of middle Georgia; but it was a favourite place of residence for the wealthy and cultivated class of Georgians before the Civil War. It was seized by General William T. Sherman on the 23rd of November 1864. In order to remove the state documents beyond reach of the enemy, Governor Joseph E. Brown called upon the convicts in the penitentiary for aid, granting them pardons in return for their services.