Tifton is a city in Tift County,

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

, United States. The population was 17,045 at the 2020 census. The city is the

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. The term is in use in Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, Taiwan, and the United States. The equivalent term shire town is used in the US st ...

of Tift County. The area's public schools are administered by the Tift County School District.

Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College (ABAC) is a public college in Tifton, Georgia. It is part of the University System of Georgia and offers baccalaureate and associate degrees. The college is named after Abraham Baldwin, a signer of the Uni ...

has its main campus in Tifton.

Southern Regional Technical College Southern Regional Technical College is a public community college with its main campus in Thomasville, Georgia. It is part of the Technical College System of Georgia and provides education services for a seven-county service area in southwest Ge ...

and the

University of Georgia , mottoeng = "To teach, to serve, and to inquire into the nature of things.""To serve" was later added to the motto without changing the seal; the Latin motto directly translates as "To teach and to inquire into the nature of things." , establ ...

also have Tifton campuses. Sites in the area include the Coastal Plain Research Arboretum,

, and the

Georgia Museum of Agriculture & Historic Village The Georgia Museum of Agriculture & Historic Village, formerly known as Agrirama, is a 19th-century living museum located in Tifton, Georgia. It opened on July 4, 1976. The grounds consist of five areas: a traditional farm community of the 1870s, ...

. The

Tifton Commercial Historic District Tifton Commercial Historic District, in Tifton in Tift County, Georgia, is a historic district that was listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) in 1986 and expanded in 1994. The original listing was portions of 10 blocks incl ...

and the

Tifton Residential Historic District The Tifton Residential Historic District, in Tifton, Georgia, is a historic district which was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2008. History and description The majority of the district is residential. The site is roughly ...

are listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

History

Child Labor in Georgia, United States, 1909 (cropped)

Tifton was founded in 1872 in Berrien County at the junction of the

Georgia Southern and Florida Railroad The Georgia Southern and Florida Railway , also known as the ''Suwanee River Route'' from its crossing of the Suwanee River, was founded in 1885 as the Georgia Southern and Florida ''Railroad'' and began operations between Macon, GA and Valdosta ...

and the

Brunswick and Western Railroad The Brunswick and Western Railroad (known earlier as the Brunswick and Florida Railroad and the Brunswick and Albany Railroad) is a historic railroad in southern Georgia that at its greatest extent ran from Brunswick near the coast to Albany. S ...

by sawmill owner Henry H. Tift. Tifton was incorporated as a city in 1890. 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 The Seminole are a Native American people who developed in Florida in the 18th century. Today, they live in Oklahoma and Florida, and comprise three federally recognized tribes: the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma, the Seminole Tribe of Florida, an ...

,'' ''

Flamingo Flamingos or flamingoes are a type of Wader, wading bird in the Family (biology), family Phoenicopteridae, which is the only extant family in the order Phoenicopteriformes. There are four flamingo species distributed throughout the Americas ...

'' and ''

City of Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at t ...

'' and the Southern Railway's ''

Ponce de Leon Ponce may refer to: *Ponce (surname) * *Ponce, Puerto Rico, a city in Puerto Rico ** Ponce High School ** Ponce massacre, 1937 * USS ''Ponce'', several ships of the US Navy *Manuel Ponce, a Mexican composer active in the 20th century * British sla ...

'' and ''

Royal Palm ''Roystonea regia'', commonly known as the Cuban royal palm or Florida royal palm, is a species of palm that is native to Mexico, parts of Central America and the Caribbean, and southern Florida. A large and attractive palm, it has been planted ...

.'' With the discontinuance of the ''City of Miami'' in 1971, Tifton was left without passenger service.

Geography

Tifton is located in south central Georgia along Interstate 75, which runs north to south through the city, leading north to

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

and south to

Valdosta Valdosta is a city in and the county seat of Lowndes County, Georgia, United States. As of 2019, Valdosta had an estimated population of 56,457. Valdosta is the principal city of the Valdosta Metropolitan Statistical Area, which in 2021 had a ...

. Other highways that pass through the city include

U.S. Route 41 U.S. Route 41, also U.S. Highway 41 (US 41), is a major north–south United States Numbered Highway that runs from Miami, Florida, to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Until 1949, the part in southern Florida, from Naples to Miami, ...

U.S. Route 82 U.S. Route 82 (US 82) is an east–west United States highway in the Southern United States. Created on July 1, 1931 across central Mississippi and southern Arkansas, US 82 eventually became a 1,625-mile (2,615 km) route extending from ...

U.S. Route 319 U.S. Route 319 (US 319) is a spur of U.S. Route 19, US 19. It runs for from the foot of the John Gorrie Memorial Bridge across from downtown Apalachicola, Florida to U.S. Route 1 in Georgia, US 1/Georgia State Route 4, SR 4 in Wadley, Georgia, th ...

, and

Georgia State Route 125 State Route 125 (SR 125) is a state highway that runs south-to-north in an S-shape through the southern part of the U.S. state of Georgia. It travels through Lowndes, Lanier, Berrien, Tift, Irwin, and Ben Hill counties connecting the ...

Demographics

2020 census

As of the

2020 United States census The United States census of 2020 was the twenty-fourth decennial United States census. Census Day, the reference day used for the census, was April 1, 2020. Other than a pilot study during the 2000 census, this was the first U.S. census to of ...

, there were 17,045 people, 5,906 households, and 3,779 families residing in the city.

2010 census

As of the

2010 United States Census The United States census of 2010 was the twenty-third United States national census. National Census Day, the reference day used for the census, was April 1, 2010. The census was taken via mail-in citizen self-reporting, with enumerators servin ...

, there were 16,350 people living in the city. The racial makeup of the city was 49.4% White, 36.0% Black, 0.1% Native American, 1.9% Asian, 0.0% Pacific Islander, 0.1% from some other race and 1.1% from two or more races. 11.4% were Hispanic or Latino of any race.

2000 census

As of the

census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses incl ...

of 2000, there were 15,060 people, 5,532 households, and 3,601 families living in the city. The population density was . There were 6,102 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 61.26%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White on ...

, 31.57%

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

, 0.23% Native American, 1.64%

Asian Asian may refer to: * Items from or related to the continent of Asia: ** Asian people, people in or descending from Asia ** Asian culture, the culture of the people from Asia ** Asian cuisine, food based on the style of food of the people from Asi ...

, 0.03%

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe the original p ...

, 4.61% from

other races Other often refers to: * Other (philosophy), a concept in psychology and philosophy Other or The Other may also refer to: Film and television * ''The Other'' (1913 film), a German silent film directed by Max Mack * ''The Other'' (1930 film), a ...

, and 0.65% from two or more races.

Hispanic The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad. The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to Vic ...

Latino Latino or Latinos most often refers to: * Latino (demonym), a term used in the United States for people with cultural ties to Latin America * Hispanic and Latino Americans in the United States * The people or cultures of Latin America; ** Latin A ...

of any race were 7.56% of the population. There were 5,532 households, out of which 33.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 40.9% were married couples living together, 20.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 34.9% were non-families. 29.5% of all households were made up of individuals, and 11.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.50 and the average family size was 3.08. The median income for a household in the city was $30,234, and the median income for a family was $37,023. Males had a median income of $27,206 versus $20,174 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or total income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. It is calculated by dividing the area's total income by its total population. Per capita i ...

for the city was $16,455. About 20.7% of families and 26.9% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for t ...

, including 41.0% of those under age 18 and 13.7% of those age 65 or over.

Arts and culture

Libraries

Tifton has a

public library A public library is a library that is accessible by the general public and is usually funded from public sources, such as taxes. It is operated by librarians and library paraprofessionals, who are also Civil service, civil servants. There are ...

, in addition to an extensive college library located at nearby

Points of interest

* Coastal Plain Research Arboretum *

Until recently, Tifton was the home of the world's second largest

magnolia ''Magnolia'' is a large genus of about 210 to 340The number of species in the genus ''Magnolia'' depends on the taxonomic view that one takes up. Recent molecular and morphological research shows that former genera ''Talauma'', ''Dugandiodendro ...

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. Although it no longer grows, the tree still stands. It is not known where the new second largest magnolia tree resides.

Georgia Museum of Agriculture and Historic Village

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 site and faithfully restored or preserved. Costumed interpreters explain and demonstrate the lifestyle and activities of this time in Georgia's history.

Historic districts

The

was listed on the

on April 30, 2008. It is bounded generally by 14th Street, Goff Street, 2nd Street and Forrest Avenue at coordinates . The

and the Tift County Courthouse are also on the National Register.

Sports

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 The Georgia Firebirds were a professional indoor football team based in Albany, Georgia, and played their home games at the Albany Civic Center. Previously, the Firebirds played as an outdoor football team in various semi-pro leagues before going ...

relocated from Waycross, Georgia to Tifton.

Education

Tift County School District

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. The district has 467 full-time teachers and over 7,641 students.

Private schools

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

Higher education

- Main Campus *

- Tifton Campus *

- Tifton Agricultural Campus

Media

The Tifton Gazette ''The Tifton Gazette'' is a weekly newspaper published in Tifton, Georgia. It is operated by South Georgia Media Group, a division of Community Newspaper Holdings CNHI, LLC (formerly Community Newspaper Holdings, Inc.) is an American publisher ...

'' 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'' is a twice-weekly online newspaper with an email circulation of 5,800. It is operated by Sayles Unlimited Marketing.

Infrastructure

Transportation

Major highways

Interstate 75 Interstate 75 (I-75) is a major north–south Interstate Highway in the Great Lakes and Southeastern regions of the United States. As with most Interstates that end in 5, it is a major cross-country, north–south route, traveling from S ...

* U.S. Highway 41 *

* State Route 125

Airports

Henry Tift Myers Airport Henry Tift Myers Airport is a public use airport located two nautical miles (4 km) southeast of the central business district of Tifton, a city in Tift County, Georgia, United States. It is owned by the Tifton & Tift County Airpor ...

is a public airport located two miles (3 km) southeast of Tifton, serving the general aviation community, with no scheduled commercial airline service.

Notable people

Nanci Bowen Nanci Bowen (born March 31, 1967, in Tifton, Georgia) is an American professional golfer. She attended the University of Georgia and her rookie season on the LPGA Tour The Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) is an American organizat ...

- LPGA golfer *

Austin Brown Nathaniel Austin Brown (born November 22, 1985) is an American singer-songwriter and record producer Early life Brown was born in Tarzana, California, on November 22, 1985, to Nathaniel Brown and Rebbie Jackson. He is a member of the Jackson ...

- member of a cappella group Home Free *

Justin Brownlee Justin Donta Brownlee (born April 23, 1988) is an American-born Filipino professional basketball player for the Barangay Ginebra San Miguel of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA). College career Brownlee played college basketball at St ...

- professional basketball player for the

Barangay Ginebra San Miguel The Barangay Ginebra San Miguel is a professional basketball team in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA). The most popular team in the league, it is owned by Ginebra San Miguel, Inc. (formerly, La Tondeña Distillers, Inc.), a subsidia ...

of the PBA *

Caitlin Carmichael Caitlin Elizabeth Carmichael is an American actress. Life and career Carmichael was born in Tifton, Georgia. She has appeared in a number television shows and films, including ''Shake It Up'', ''iCarly'', ''Hot in Cleveland'', '' Law & Order: ...

child actress The term child actor or child actress is generally applied to a child acting on stage or in movies or television. An adult who began their acting career as a child may also be called a child actor, or a "former child actor". Closely associated ...

* Larry Dean -

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, p ...

for the

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. Founded in 1960 as an expansion ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

* Dennis Dove - former

MLB Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

pitcher * Harold Bascom Durham Jr.,

US Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

2d Lieutenant awarded the

Medal of Honor The Medal of Honor (MOH) is the United States Armed Forces' highest military decoration and is awarded to recognize American soldiers, sailors, marines, airmen, guardians and coast guardsmen who have distinguished themselves by acts of valor. ...

* Todd Fordham - former NFL offensive lineman * Bob Hoffman - sports promoter *

Kip Moore Kipling Christian Moore (born April 2, 1980) is an American country music singer and songwriter signed to MCA Nashville. He has released a total of four studio albums for the label: '' Up All Night'', '' Wild Ones'', '' Slowheart'', and '' Wi ...

, country music singer * Matt Moore - former chairman of the

South Carolina Republican Party The South Carolina Republican Party (SCGOP) is the state affiliate of the national Republican Party in South Carolina. It is one of two major political parties in the state, along with the South Carolina Democratic Party, and is the dominant pa ...

* Wyc Orr - politician and lawyer *

Ralph Puckett Ralph Puckett Jr. (born December 8, 1926) is a retired United States Army officer. He led the Eighth Army Ranger Company during the Korean War and was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross (United States), Distinguished Service Cross for his acti ...

Colonel, Distinguished Graduate of the

United States Military Academy The United States Military Academy (USMA), also known metonymically as West Point or simply as Army, is a United States service academy in West Point, New York. It was originally established as a fort, since it sits on strategic high groun ...

, awarded

Distinguished Service Cross The Distinguished Service Cross (D.S.C.) is a military decoration for courage. Different versions exist for different countries. *Distinguished Service Cross (Australia) The Distinguished Service Cross (DSC) is a military decoration awarded to ...

(with

oak leaf cluster An oak leaf cluster is a ribbon device to denote preceding decorations and awards consisting of a miniature bronze or silver twig of four oak leaves with three acorns on the stem. It is authorized by the United States Armed Forces for a speci ...

Silver Star The Silver Star Medal (SSM) is the United States Armed Forces' third-highest military decoration for valor in combat. The Silver Star Medal is awarded primarily to members of the United States Armed Forces for gallantry in action against an e ...

(with oak leaf cluster),

Legion of Merit The Legion of Merit (LOM) is a military award of the United States Armed Forces that is given for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services and achievements. The decoration is issued to members of the eight ...

(with 2 oak leaf clusters), etc. * Austin Scott - U. S. Congressman representing

Georgia's 8th congressional district Georgia's 8th congressional district is a congressional district in the U.S. state of Georgia. The district is currently represented by Republican Austin Scott. The district is located in central and south-central Georgia, and stretches from ...

* Members of

alternative rock Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from Popular culture, mainstre ...

band September Hase *

Clay Shiver Spencer Clay Shiver (born December 7, 1972) is a former American football center in the National Football League (NFL) for the Dallas Cowboys and Carolina Panthers. He played college football at Florida State University, where he was a member o ...

-former NFL offensive lineman * James "Chick" Stripling - Fiddler, comedian, and buck dancer *

Tyson Summers Tyson Summers (born April 11, 1980) is an American college football coach. He is the defensive coordinator at Western Kentucky University, a position he had held since 2022. He previously served as an analyst at the University of Florida. Prior ...

- American college football coach *

Cyndi Thomson Cyndi Thomson (born October 19, 1976) is an American country music artist. Thomson wrote songs with songwriter Tommy Lee James and in 2000, she signed with Capitol Records Nashville as a recording artist. She released her first album, '' My Wor ...

- country music singer * Dina Titus - U.S. Congresswoman representing

Nevada's 3rd congressional district Nevada's 3rd congressional district is a congressional district occupying the area south of Las Vegas, including Henderson, Boulder City and much of unincorporated Clark County. The district was initially created after the 2000 census. It was ...

* Neil Norman - Associate Professor College of William & Mary

Sister city

* Linyi, China (2010)Tifton becomes sister city to Linyi, China » Local News
. Tifton Gazette. Retrieved on 2013-08-09.

References

External links

Tifton, Georgia website

South Georgia Historic Newspapers Archive
Digital Library of Georgia
Tifton, Georgia family in 1909
{{authority control Cities in Georgia (U.S. state) Micropolitan areas of Georgia (U.S. state) Cities in Tift County, Georgia County seats in Georgia (U.S. state)