Muscogee County is a county located on the central western border of the U.S. state of Georgia named after the Muscogee that originally inhabited the land with its western border with the state of Alabama that is formed by the Chattahoochee River. As of the 2020 census, the population was 206,922. Its county seat and only city is Columbus, with which it has been a consolidated city-county since the beginning of 1971.
Muscogee County is part of the Columbus, GA–AL, Metropolitan Statistical Area.
The only other city in the county was Bibb City, a company town that disincorporated in December 2000, two years after its mill closed permanently. Fort Moore (formerly Fort Benning), a large Army installation, takes up nearly one quarter of the county and extends into Chattahoochee County; it generates considerable economic power in the region.
History
Inhabited for thousands of years by varying cultures of indigenous peoples, this area was territory of the historic Creek people at the time of European encounter.
The land for Lee, Muscogee, Troup, Coweta, and Carroll counties was ceded by a certain eight chiefs among the Creek people in the 1825 Treaty of Indian Springs. The Creek Nation declared the land cession illegal, because it did not represent the will of the majority of the people. The United States Senate did not ratify it. The following year, the US government negotiated another treaty with the Creek, by which they ceded nearly as much territory under continued pressure from the state of Georgia and US land commissioners.
The counties' boundaries were created by the Georgia General Assembly on June 9, but they were not named until December 14 of 1826. The county was originally developed by American Indians for cotton plantations. In many areas of what became known as the Black Belt for the fertility of soil and development of plantations, American Indians who were reclassified by the government as Colored/Negro made up the majority of population in many counties.
This county was named by American Indians for the native Muscogee or Creek people. Parts of the then-large county (which extended east to the Flint River) were later taken to create every other neighboring Georgia county, including Harris County to the north in 1827.
Geography
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (2.1%) is water.
The county is located on the fall line between the Atlantic coastal plain to the south and the Piedmont to the north. As such, the newly constructed Fall Line Freeway runs across the northern portion of the county along JR Allen Parkway, and areas across the northern part of the county are hillier compared to the southern part of the county.
The majority of Muscogee County, from north of Columbus running northeast in the direction of Ellerslie, is located in the Middle Chattahoochee River-Walter F. George Lake subbasin of the ACF River Basin (Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint River Basin). The northwestern corner of the county, south of Fortson, is located in the Middle Chattahoochee River-Lake Harding subbasin of the same ACF River Basin.
Major highways
Interstate 14 (Extension is coming) Interstate 185 U.S. Route 27 U.S. Route 27 Alternate U.S. Route 80 U.S. Route 280 State Route 1 State Route 22 State Route 22 Connector State Route 22 Spur State Route 85 State Route 219 State Route 411 (unsigned designation for I-185) State Route 520 State Route 540 (Fall Line Freeway)
Adjacent counties
Harris County (north) Talbot County (northeast) Chattahoochee County (south) Russell County, Alabama (southwest/CST border except for Phenix City as the city is jointed by the Columbus Metropolitan Area) Lee County, Alabama (west/CST border)
Demographics
2000 census
As of the census of 2000, there were 186,291 people, 69,819 households, and 47,686 families living in the county. The population density was . There were 76,182 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 50.42% White, 43.74% Black or African American, 0.38% Native American, 1.54% Asian, 0.14% Pacific Islander, 1.90% from other races, and 1.87% from two or more races. 4.49% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.
There were 69,819 households, out of which 34.60% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 44.70% were married couples living together, 19.60% had a female householder with no husband present, and 31.70% were non-families. 26.70% of all households were made up of individuals, and 9.40% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.54 and the average family size was 3.08.