Tifton, Georgia

Tifton, Georgia
City
Tifton City Hall
Nickname:  Friendly City
Location in Tift County and the state of Georgia
Coordinates: 31°27′48″N 83°30′36″W / 31.46333°N 83.51000°W / 31.46333; -83.51000
Country	United States
State	Georgia
County	Tift
Government
• Mayor	Julie Smith
• City Manager	Emily Beeman
Area [1]
• Total	13.04 sq mi (33.76 km2)
• Land	12.84 sq mi (33.26 km2)
• Water	0.19 sq mi (0.50 km2)
Elevation	354 ft (108 m)
Population  (2020)
• Total	17,045
• Density	1,327.18/sq mi (512.43/km2)
Time zone	UTC-5 (EST)
• Summer (DST)	UTC-4 (EDT)
ZIP codes	31793-31794
Area code	229
FIPS code	13-76476[2]
GNIS feature ID	0324159[3]
Website	www.tifton.net

Tifton is a city in and the county seat of Tift County, Georgia, United States. The population was 17,045 at the 2020 census.^[4]

The area's public schools are administered by the Tift County School District. Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College has its main campus in Tifton. Southern Regional Technical College and the University of Georgia also have Tifton campuses.

Sites in the area include the Coastal Plain Research Arboretum, Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College, and the Georgia Museum of Agriculture & Historic Village. The Tifton Commercial Historic District and the Tifton Residential Historic District are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Tifton was founded in 1872 in Berrien County at the junction of the Georgia Southern and Florida Railroad and the Brunswick and Western Railroad by sawmill owner Henry H. Tift. Tifton was incorporated as a city in 1890.^[5] In 1905, it was designated county seat of the newly formed Tift County.

Several Chicago-Florida and Cincinnati-Florida passenger trains made stops in Tifton: the Atlantic Coast Line's Seminole, Flamingo and City of Miami and the Southern Railway's Ponce de Leon and Royal Palm. With the discontinuance of the City of Miami in 1971, Tifton was left without passenger service.

Tifton is located in south central Georgia along Interstate 75, which runs north to south through the city, leading north 167 mi (269 km) to Atlanta and south 45 mi (72 km) to Valdosta. Other highways that pass through the city include U.S. Route 41, U.S. Route 82, U.S. Route 319, and Georgia State Route 125.

Historical population

Census	Pop.	Note	%±
1900	1,384		—
1910	2,381		72.0%
1920	3,005		26.2%
1930	3,390		12.8%
1940	5,228		54.2%
1950	6,831		30.7%
1960	9,903		45.0%
1970	12,179		23.0%
1980	13,749		12.9%
1990	14,215		3.4%
2000	15,060		5.9%
2010	16,350		8.6%
2020	17,045		4.3%
U.S. Decennial Census[8]

Tifton racial composition as of 2020^[9]

Race	Num.	Perc.
White (non-Hispanic)	7,367	43.22%
Black or African American (non-Hispanic)	6,349	37.25%
Native American	29	0.17%
Asian	434	2.55%
Other/Mixed	575	3.37%
Hispanic or Latino	2,291	13.44%

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 17,045 people, 5,906 households, and 3,779 families residing in the city.

Tifton has a public library,^[10] in addition to an extensive college library located at nearby Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College.

• Coastal Plain Research Arboretum
• Georgia Museum of Agriculture & Historic Village

Until recently, Tifton was the home of the world's second largest magnolia tree, which was located in Magnolia Tree Park. In 2004, the tree was burned in a fire. The cause of the fire has never been given by local authorities. Currently, the tree and observation area are blocked from visitors by a gate.^[11] Although it no longer grows, the tree still stands. It is not known where the new second largest magnolia tree resides.

The Georgia Museum of Agriculture & Historic Village, formerly known as Agrirama, is located in Tifton, Georgia. It opened on July 4, 1976. The grounds consist of five areas: a traditional farm community of the 1870s, an 1890s progressive farmstead, an industrial sites complex, rural town, and national peanut complex; and the Museum of Agriculture Center. Over 35 structures have been relocated to the 95-acre (380,000 m²) site and faithfully restored or preserved. Costumed interpreters explain and demonstrate the lifestyle and activities of this time in Georgia's history.

The Tifton Residential Historic District was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on April 30, 2008. It is bounded generally by 14th Street, Goff Street, 2nd Street and Forrest Avenue at coordinates 31°27′35″N 83°30′25″W / 31.45972°N 83.50694°W / 31.45972; -83.50694 (Tifton Residential Historic District). The Tifton Commercial Historic District and the Tift County Courthouse are also on the National Register.

In 2000, the boys 10u baseball team won the state championship with an undefeated season (24–0).

In 2010, the indoor football team Georgia Firebirds relocated from Waycross, Georgia to Tifton.

The Tift County School District holds pre-school to grade twelve, and consists of, eight elementary schools, two middle schools, one high school, and an alternative school.^[12] The district has 467 full-time teachers and over 7,641 students.^[13]

• Tiftarea Academy, located in Chula, Georgia (K-12)
• Grace Baptist Christian School

• Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College - Main Campus^[14]
• Southern Regional Technical College - Tifton Campus^[15]
• University of Georgia - Tifton Agricultural Campus^[16]

The Tifton Gazette is a weekly newspaper published Thursdays in Tifton, Georgia. It is operated by South Georgia Media Group, a division of Community Newspaper Holdings Inc. The Tifton Grapevine ^[17] is a twice-weekly online newspaper with an email circulation of 5,800. It is operated by Sayles Unlimited Marketing.

• Interstate 75
• U.S. Highway 41
• U.S. Route 82
• U.S. Route 319
• State Route 125

• Henry Tift Myers Airport is a public airport located two miles (3.2 km) southeast of Tifton, serving the general aviation community, with no scheduled commercial airline service.

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• Linyi, China (2010)^[19]

• Tifton, Georgia website
• South Georgia Historic Newspapers Archive, Digital Library of Georgia
• Tifton, Georgia family in 1909