Homerville, Georgia
| Homerville, Georgia | |
|---|---|
| City | |
Homerville City Hall
|
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 Location in Clinch County and the state of Georgia |
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| Coordinates: 31°2′13″N 82°45′5″W / 31.03694°N 82.75139°WCoordinates: 31°2′13″N 82°45′5″W / 31.03694°N 82.75139°W | |
| Country | United States |
| State | Georgia |
| County | Clinch |
| Area | |
| • Total | 3.51 sq mi (9.08 km2) |
| • Land | 3.49 sq mi (9.04 km2) |
| • Water | 0.02 sq mi (0.04 km2) |
| Elevation | 177 ft (54 m) |
| Population (2010) | |
| • Total | 2,456 |
| • Density | 704/sq mi (271.7/km2) |
| Time zone | Eastern (EST) (UTC-5) |
| • Summer (DST) | EDT (UTC-4) |
| ZIP code | 31634 |
| Area code(s) | 912 |
| FIPS code | 13-39748 |
| GNIS feature ID | 0356319 |
Homerville is a city in Clinch County, Georgia, United States. The population was 2,456 at the 2010 census, a decrease of 12.38% from its population of 2,803 at the 2000 census. The city is the county seat of Clinch County. Homerville was incorporated February 15, 1869.
Clinch County was created on February 14, 1850, by an act of the Georgia General Assembly, and was named for General Duncan Lamont Clinch, a decorated United States brigadier general and Georgia congressman who had recently died. Clinch, Georgia's 95th county, was formed from land originally inhabited by the Oconee people and consolidated portions of Ware County and Lowndes County. The act creating the county named Elijah Mattox, Simon W. Nichol, Timothy Kirkland, Benjamin Sirmans, and John J. Johnson as commissioners charged with selecting a county seat and constructing a courthouse.
The designated commissioners quickly settled on a site just southwest of the present-day Homerville, and in memory of President James K. Polk decided to name the county seat "Polk". Two years later, however, the Georgia General Assembly inexplicably changed the name of the county seat to "Magnolia", just as the county's first courthouse was completed. The first courthouse was quite small and was destroyed in 1856 when a citizen, presumably dissatisfied with legal proceedings brought against him, decided to destroy the courthouse by fire.
In February 1853, Dr. John Homer Mattox and his family moved from their former home on the Suwannee River and settled on a tract of land adjacent to the Magnolia stage route. In recognition of his family name, he called the settlement "Homerville". Shortly thereafter the Atlantic and Gulf Railroad expansion replaced the stage route, and Mattox's settlement was simply known as "Station No.11".
Over time the settlement grew, and in 1860 approximately 275 citizens of Clinch County petitioned the Georgia General Assembly to move the county seat from the nearby Magnolia to Mattox's settlement. Later the same year, the legislature relented and officially named Station No. 11 the county seat of Clinch County. It would take approximately nine more years for the legislature to officially recognize the name Homerville and incorporate the city.
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