McDonough

History

The town was named for naval officer Commodore Thomas Macdonough and founded in 1823 around a traditional town square design. The buildings surrounding the square are intact, although there are some vacancies. The county courthouse and historic jail building are on the north side near the Welcome Center in a historically maintained Standard Oil service station, built in 1920. The station also houses the Main Street Program Office.

One block east of the square, the town's original cotton warehouse has been replaced with the Henry County Judicial Center. In the same area the Henry County Courthouse Annex has an original oil on canvas "Cotton Gin" (4+1⁄2 by 11 feet) by artist Jean Charlot. He painted this oil in 1942 for the town post office. His works can be found all over the world in everything from children's books to large murals.

The town was a relay station on the New York City to New Orleans stagecoach line and was connected by other stage lines with Fayetteville and Decatur, and with Macon by way of Jackson.

Geography

McDonough is in central Henry County, 28 miles (45 km) southeast of downtown Atlanta. U.S. Route 23 passes through the center of the city, leading northwest 9 miles (14 km) to Stockbridge and south 7 miles (11 km) to Locust Grove. Interstate 75 passes through the southwestern arm of the city, with access from Exits 216, 218, and 221. I-75 leads northwest to Atlanta and southeast 56 miles (90 km) to Macon.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 12.9 square miles (33.4 km2), of which 12.7 square miles (32.9 km2) are land and 0.2 square miles (0.5 km2), or 1.50%, are water.

Demographics

2020 census

As of the 2020 census, McDonough had a population of 29,051, 10,531 households, and 5,778 families. The median age was 34.2 years. 26.5% of residents were under the age of 18 and 10.6% of residents were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 82.5 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 77.3 males age 18 and over.

99.7% of residents lived in urban areas, while 0.3% lived in rural areas.

Of the 10,531 households, 38.9% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 35.5% were married-couple households, 17.5% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 40.7% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 26.7% of all households were made up of individuals and 7.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.

There were 11,083 housing units, of which 5.0% were vacant. The homeowner vacancy rate was 1.3% and the rental vacancy rate was 5.7%.

Economy

Snapper Inc. manufacturing residential and professional lawn care and snow removal equipment, was based in McDonough. The company began in 1894 as Southern Saw Works, and claims to have invented the first self-propelled rotary lawn mower. The company was sold to Briggs & Stratton, which operated the plant until its closure in 2015.

Goya Foods has its Atlanta offices in an unincorporated area near McDonough.

Arts and culture

Several individual buildings and two historic districts in the city are listed on the National Register of Historic Places, including the downtown McDonough Historic District.

Events

The city hosts a Geranium Festival each springtime on the third Saturday in May, celebrating the locally grown flowers and community. The one-day festival serves as a showcase of local artistry and talent through the open-air craft markets and live musical performances. The festival is sponsored by the McDonough Lions Club, and held on the McDonough Square and surrounding areas.

Sports

The city's semi-professional soccer team Georgia Revolution FC plays in the National Premier Soccer League at the Warhawk Stadium.

WWE developmental territory Deep South Wrestling was based in McDonough.

Education

Henry County School District

The Henry County School District holds grades pre-school to grade twelve. The district has twenty eight elementary schools, nine middle schools, and ten high schools. The district has 1,543 full-time teachers and over 40,000 students.

Elementary schools

Academy for Advanced Studies

Dutchtown High School

Eagle's Landing High School

Henry County Evening Academy

McDonough High School

Ola High School

Union Grove High School

Luella High School

Impact Academy

Higher education

Gordon State College has a satellite center in McDonough.

Mercer University opened a campus in McDonough in 2003, and offers teacher education, criminal justice, and general studies.

Grace Biblical Seminary opened in 2004, and offers theological and ministries degrees.{18}

Atlanta Bible College is located in McDonough.

Media

WKKP is the local radio station, broadcasting on 100.9 FM and 1410 AM; it has a classic country format.

The Henry Herald is the local county news print media.

Film

The film A Madea Christmas was filmed in the town square and around McDonough.

The television show Resurrection was filmed in the town square and around McDonough.

Scenes for the 1989 Civil War film, Glory, were filmed in the city.

A pilot episode for Roswell was filmed on the city square at the old Phillips 66 service station.

The 1977 film Smokey and the Bandit was filmed primarily in Georgia in the cities of McDonough, Jonesboro and Lithonia.

Infrastructure

Transportation

Xpress GA provides local bus service.

McDonough is served by the following highways:

Interstate 75

U.S. Highway 23

Georgia State Route 20

Georgia State Route 42

Georgia State Route 81

Georgia State Route 155

Georgia State Route 351

Georgia State Route 401

Until the mid-1960s the Southern Railway operated the Cincinnati to Miami Ponce de Leon, which made stops in McDonough.

In popular culture

"The McDonough Road" is mentioned by Rhett Butler in the 1939 film, Gone with the Wind.