Augusta, Georgia Augusta is a city on the central eastern border of the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. The city lies directly across the Savannah River from North Augusta, South Carolina at the head of its navigable portion. Augusta, the third mos ...

was founded in 1736 as part of the

British colony A Crown colony or royal colony was a colony governed by England, and then Great Britain or the United Kingdom within the English and later British Empire. There was usually a governor to represent the Crown, appointed by the British monarch on ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

, under the supervision of colony founder

James Oglethorpe Lieutenant-General James Edward Oglethorpe (22 December 1696 – 30 June 1785) was a British Army officer, Tory politician and colonial administrator best known for founding the Province of Georgia in British North America. As a social refo ...

. It was the colony's second established town, after

Savannah A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) biome and ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach th ...

. Today, Augusta is the second-largest city in

, and the largest city of the

Central Savannah River Area The Central Savannah River Area (CSRA) is an unofficial trading and marketing region in the U.S. states of Georgia and South Carolina, spanning thirteen counties in Georgia and seven in South Carolina. The term was coined in 1950 by C.C. McCol ...

Colonial Augusta

was first used by Native Americans as a place to cross the

Savannah River The Savannah River is a major river in the Southeastern United States, forming most of the border between the states of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia and South Carolina. The river flows from the Appalachian Mountains to the Atlantic Ocean, ...

because of Augusta's location on the

Fall Line A fall line (or fall zone) is the area where an upland region and a coastal plain meet and is noticeable especially the place rivers cross it, with resulting rapids or waterfalls. The uplands are relatively hard crystalline basement rock, and the ...

. In 1736, two years after

founded

, he sent a detachment of troops on a journey up the Savannah River. He gave them an order to build at the head of the navigable part of the river. The job fell into the hands of

Noble Jones Noble Jones (June 20, 1702 – November 2, 1775), an English-born carpenter, was one of the first settlers of the Province of Georgia in colonial America and one of its leading officials. He was born in Herefordshire. As part of General James ...

, who created the settlement to provide a first line of

defense Defense or defence may refer to: Tactical, martial, and political acts or groups * Defense (military), forces primarily intended for warfare * Civil defense, the organizing of civilians to deal with emergencies or enemy attacks * Defense industr ...

against the

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

and the

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

. Oglethorpe then named the town Augusta, in honor of Princess Augusta, wife of

Frederick, Prince of Wales Frederick, Prince of Wales (Frederick Louis, German: ''Friedrich Ludwig''; 31 January 1707 – 31 March 1751) was the eldest son and heir apparent of King George II of Great Britain. He grew estranged from his parents, King George and Queen C ...

. The town was laid out on the flat slopes of the Savannah River, just east of the sand hills that would come to be known as Summerville. The townspeople got along peacefully most of the time with the surrounding tribes of

Chickasaw The Chickasaw ( ) are an Indigenous people of the Southeastern Woodlands, United States. Their traditional territory was in northern Mississippi, northwestern and northern Alabama, western Tennessee and southwestern Kentucky. Their language is ...

Creek A creek in North America and elsewhere, such as Australia, is a stream that is usually smaller than a river. In the British Isles it is a small tidal inlet. Creek may also refer to: * Creek people, a former name of Muscogee, Native Americans * C ...

Yuchi The Yuchi people are a Native American tribe based in Oklahoma, though their original homeland was in the southeastern United States. In the 16th century, the Yuchi lived in the eastern Tennessee River valley. By the late 17th century, they had ...

and

Shawnee The Shawnee ( ) are a Native American people of the Northeastern Woodlands. Their language, Shawnee, is an Algonquian language. Their precontact homeland was likely centered in southern Ohio. In the 17th century, they dispersed through Ohi ...

Indians. The Shawnees in the region were known as the Savano Indians. The name of the Savannah River is an anglicization of their tribal name. In 1739, construction began on a road to connect Augusta to Savannah. That made it possible for people to reach Augusta by

horse The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of ''Equus ferus''. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 mi ...

, rather than by boat, and more people began to migrate inland to Augusta. Later, in 1750, Augusta's first church, Saint Paul's, was built near Fort Augusta. It became the leader of the local

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

. The town's relationship with the neighboring

Cherokee The Cherokee (; , or ) people are one of the Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, they were concentrated in their homelands, in towns along river valleys of what is now southwestern ...

, who traded with Augusta, was not as good as its relationships with other tribes. During the

Anglo-Cherokee War The Anglo-Cherokee War (1758–1761; in the Cherokee language: the ''"war with those in the red coats"'' or ''"War with the English"''), was also known from the Anglo-European perspective as the Cherokee War, the Cherokee Uprising, or the Cherok ...

, their war parties came close to Augusta and were repulsed by the

. While slavery was originally banned in the colony by Oglethorpe, it soon became an integral part of Georgia's history. Under Georgia's new

constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organization or other type of entity, and commonly determines how that entity is to be governed. When these pri ...

, a new political structure was laid out in 1777; Augusta's parish government was replaced by a

county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

government, Richmond County, named after the

Duke of Richmond Duke of Richmond is a title in the Peerage of England that has been created four times in British history. It has been held by members of the royal Tudor and Stuart families. The current dukedom of Richmond was created in 1675 for Charles ...

American Revolution to the Civil War

During the

American Revolution The American Revolution (1765–1783) was a colonial rebellion and war of independence in which the Thirteen Colonies broke from British America, British rule to form the United States of America. The revolution culminated in the American ...

, Savannah fell to the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

. This left Augusta as the new

state capital Below is an index of pages containing lists of capital city, capital cities. National capitals *List of national capitals *List of national capitals by latitude *List of national capitals by population *List of national capitals by area *List of ...

and a new prime target of the British. By January 31, 1779, Augusta was captured by Lt. Col. Archibald Campbell. But Campbell soon withdrew, as American troops were gathering on the opposite shore of the Savannah River. Augusta again became the state capital, but not for long. Augusta fell into British hands once more before the end of the war. From then until the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

, with the establishment of the

Augusta Canal The Augusta Canal is a historic canal located in Augusta, Georgia, United States. The canal is fed by the Savannah River and passes through three levels (approximately total) in suburban and urban Augusta before the water returns to the river a ...

, Augusta became a leader in the production of

textiles Textile is an Hyponymy and hypernymy, umbrella term that includes various Fiber, fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, Staple (textiles)#Filament fiber, filaments, Thread (yarn), threads, and different types of #Fabric, fabric. ...

gunpowder Gunpowder, also commonly known as black powder to distinguish it from modern smokeless powder, is the earliest known chemical explosive. It consists of a mixture of sulfur, charcoal (which is mostly carbon), and potassium nitrate, potassium ni ...

, and

paper Paper is a thin sheet material produced by mechanically or chemically processing cellulose fibres derived from wood, Textile, rags, poaceae, grasses, Feces#Other uses, herbivore dung, or other vegetable sources in water. Once the water is dra ...

. The

Georgia Railroad Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of peo ...

was built by local contractors Fannin, Grant & Co in 1845, giving Augusta a rail link to

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

. The railroad connected to the

Tennessee River The Tennessee River is a long river located in the Southern United States, southeastern United States in the Tennessee Valley. Flowing through the states of Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, and Kentucky, it begins at the confluence of Fren ...

Chattanooga, Tennessee Chattanooga ( ) is a city in Hamilton County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. It is located along the Tennessee River and borders Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the south. With a population of 181,099 in 2020, it is Tennessee ...

, thus providing access from inland Georgia to the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the main stem, primary river of the largest drainage basin in the United States. It is the second-longest river in the United States, behind only the Missouri River, Missouri. From its traditional source of Lake Ita ...

. The cost-savings of this link from the middle of the country to the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...

via the Savannah River increased trade considerably. In 1845, Augusta was the location of the founding of the

Southern Baptist Convention The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), alternatively the Great Commission Baptists (GCB), is a Christian denomination based in the United States. It is the world's largest Baptist organization, the largest Protestant, and the second-largest Chr ...

, today one of the largest Protestant denominations in the country. Due to increasing tensions between northern and southern Baptists on the subject of slavery in the 1840s, southern Baptists decided to withdraw formally from the national Baptist organizations. They met at the First Baptist Church of Augusta in May 1845 and formed the new convention, naming it the Southern Baptist Convention. By 1860 Augusta had a population of 12,493; it was then one of 102 U.S. cities to have a population of over 10,000, and was the second largest city in Georgia.

Civil War to World War II

Originally, Augustans welcomed the idea of the Civil War. The new

Confederate Powderworks The Confederate Powderworks, also known as the Augusta Powder Works, was a gunpowder factory during the American Civil War. It is one of the only permanent structures completed by the Confederate States of America that wasn't destroyed by Union f ...

were the only permanent structures constructed and completed by the Confederacy. Over 2000 Augustans went away to fight in the war, but war did not set into the minds of Augustans until the summer of 1863 when Confederate sympathizers came crowding into Augusta, leading to shortages in housing and provisions. Next came the threatening nearness of General Sherman's advancing army, causing panic in the streets of the once-quiet town. However, the city was never burned to the ground. After the War, Augusta and Georgia were both under

martial law Martial law is the replacement of civilian government by military rule and the suspension of civilian legal processes for military powers. Martial law can continue for a specified amount of time, or indefinitely, and standard civil liberties ...

during the period known as

Reconstruction Reconstruction may refer to: Politics, history, and sociology *Reconstruction (law), the transfer of a company's (or several companies') business to a new company *''Perestroika'' (Russian for "reconstruction"), a late 20th century Soviet Union ...

. During this time, African American civil rights were expanded. Following the end of Reconstruction, the

European American European Americans are Americans of European ancestry. This term includes both people who descend from the first European settlers in the area of the present-day United States and people who descend from more recent European arrivals. Since th ...

majority population of Georgia and other Southern

U.S. The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 contiguous ...

states enacted

Jim Crow laws The Jim Crow laws were U.S. state, state and local laws introduced in the Southern United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries that enforced Racial segregation in the United States, racial segregation, "Jim Crow (character), Ji ...

to limit the rights of African Americans. These restrictions would not be lifted until the Civil Rights Movement of the mid-20th century. Specifically, the

Richmond County School System The Richmond County School System is an American public school system based in Augusta, Georgia. Its boundary is that of Richmond County. It is run by the Richmond County Board of Education which, under Article VIII, § V, Paragraph 2, requ ...

refused to educate African American students at all. In 1899, a group of parents took their objections in a class actions suit the Supreme Court in '' Cumming v. Richmond County Board of Education''. The court ruled that the use of state funds was not within federal purview under the Fourteenth Amendment. This ruling was overturned in ''Brown v. Board of Education''. In 1828, the

Georgia General Assembly The Georgia General Assembly is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is bicameral, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. Each of the General Assembly's 236 members serve two-year terms and are directl ...

granted a formal charter for the Medical Academy of Georgia, and the school began training physicians in two borrowed rooms of the City Hospital. By 1873, an affiliation was made with the

University of Georgia The University of Georgia (UGA or Georgia) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university with its main campus in Athens, Georgia, United States. Chartered in 1785, it is the oldest public university in th ...

, and the school became the Medical Department of the University. The school would become the

Medical College of Georgia The Medical College of Georgia (often referred to as MCG) is the medical school of Augusta University, the state's only public medical school, and one of the top 10 largest medical schools in the United States. Established in 1828 as the Medical ...

in 1956. In 1914,

University Hospital A teaching hospital or university hospital is a hospital or medical center that provides medical education and training to future and current health professionals. Teaching hospitals are almost always affiliated with one or more universities a ...

was founded near the Medical College, forming the anchor of a heavily developed medical sector in the city. Unlike most Southern cities, Postbellum life for Augusta was very prosperous. By the beginning of the 20th century, Augusta had become one of the largest inland

cotton Cotton (), first recorded in ancient India, is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus '' Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure ...

markets in the world. A new military

cantonment A cantonment (, , or ) is a type of military base. In South Asia, a ''cantonment'' refers to a permanent military station (a term from the British Raj). In United States military parlance, a cantonment is, essentially, "a permanent residential ...

, named Camp Hancock, opened nearby during

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. In 1916 a large fire destroyed over 700 buildings in the city including many of its finest residences. In 1927, Owen Robertson Cheatham founded the lumber company

Georgia Pacific Georgia-Pacific LLC is an American pulp and paper company based in Atlanta, Georgia, and is one of the world's largest manufacturers and distributors of tissue, pulp, paper, toilet and paper towel dispensers, packaging, building products and r ...

in Augusta, before it moved to

Portland, Oregon Portland ( ) is the List of cities in Oregon, most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon, located in the Pacific Northwest region. Situated close to northwest Oregon at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, ...

, and later to

. Prior to

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of the United Stat ...

constructed a new fort in Richmond County,

Camp Gordon Fort Gordon, formerly known as Fort Eisenhower and Camp Gordon, is a United States Army installation established southwest of Augusta, Georgia in October 1941. It is the current home of the United States Army Signal Corps, United States Army Cy ...

, which was finished a few days after the attack on

Pearl Harbor Pearl Harbor is an American lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. It was often visited by the naval fleet of the United States, before it was acquired from the Hawaiian Kingdom by the U.S. with the signing of the Reci ...

. Many new soldiers were brought to this camp to train to go off to war. Within the few months after WWII, many of the GIs at Camp Gordon had been sent back home, and the importance of the army in the community seemed to almost come to an end. Music legend

James Brown James Joseph Brown (May 3, 1933 – December 25, 2006) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, musician, and record producer. The central progenitor of funk music and a major figure of 20th-century music, he is referred to by Honorific nick ...

, then a teenager, often performed for the soldiers. Brown grew up in Augusta during the 1930s and 1940s (he lived with his aunt, who was the madam of a house of prostitution on Twiggs St.).

World War II to consolidation

Augusta's golden age

In 1948, new life came to the city when the U.S. Army moved the Signal Training Center and Military Police School to Camp Gordon. Later, in November 1948, the Clarks Hill Reservoir was created by a newly constructed dam, which provided the city with a supply of

hydroelectric Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is Electricity generation, electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies 15% of the world's electricity, almost 4,210 TWh in 2023, which is more than all other Renewable energ ...

power. In 1950, plans were announced to build the

Savannah River Plant The Savannah River Site (SRS), formerly the Savannah River Plant, is a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) reservation in the United States, located in the state of South Carolina on land in Aiken, Allendale and Barnwell counties adjacent to the ...

nearby, which boosted the city's population about 50,000. Augusta moved into the second half of the 20th century on the threshold of becoming an urban industrial center in the South.

E-Z-GO Textron Inc. is an American industrial conglomerate based in Providence, Rhode Island. Textron's subsidiaries include Arctic Cat, Bell Textron, Kautex, Textron Aviation (which itself includes the Beechcraft and Cessna brands), and Lycoming E ...

and

Club Car Club Car is an American company that manufactures electric and gas-powered golf carts and small utility vehicles for personal and commercial use. It is currently owned by Platinum Equity after being acquired in 2021. Before that, the company wa ...

, the two largest

golf car A golf cart (alternatively known as a golf buggy or golf car) is a small motorized vehicle designed originally to carry two golfers and their golf clubs around a golf course with less effort than walking. Over time, variants were introduced t ...

manufacturers in the world, are centered in Augusta, and the

Norfolk Southern The Norfolk Southern Railway is a Class I freight railroad operating in the Eastern United States. Headquartered in Atlanta, the company was formed in 1982 with the merger of the Norfolk and Western Railway and Southern Railway. The comp ...

and

CSX CSX Transportation , known colloquially as simply CSX, is a Railroad classes, Class I freight railroad company operating in the Eastern United States and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Operating about 21,000 route miles () of trac ...

run through the middle of downtown Augusta. The city is also a large private company hot-spot, home to the Georgia Bank & Trust and

CareSouth Encompass Health Corporation, based in Birmingham, Alabama, is the nation's largest provider of inpatient rehabilitative services, offering facility-based care through its network of 166 inpatient rehabilitation hospitals located in 38 states a ...

The Civil Rights Movement and backlash

The Civil Rights Movement shaped Augusta as it did the rest of the United States. In 1961, soul musician

Ray Charles Ray Charles Robinson (September 23, 1930 – June 10, 2004) was an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. He is regarded as one of the most iconic and influential musicians in history, and was often referred to by contemporaries as "The Gen ...

canceled a scheduled performance at the Bell Auditorium when he learned that the Black attendees would be segregated from the whites and forced to sit in the balcony. A few days after the

Kent State shootings The Kent State shootings (also known as the Kent State massacre or May 4 massacre"These would be the first of many probes into what soon became known as the Kent State Massacre. Like the Boston Massacre almost exactly two hundred years before (Ma ...

and

Jackson State killings The Jackson State killings occurred on May 15, 1970, at Jackson State College (now Jackson State University) in Jackson, Mississippi. On May 14, 1970, city and state police confronted a group of students outside a campus dormitory. Shortly aft ...

in May 1970, Black 16-year-old Charles Oakman was tortured and beaten to death in a county jail. White officials refused to provide answers, prompting Black citizens to demonstrate for racial justice at the county jail. White officials responded to property damage with physical violence, and police shot at least 60 people and killed six participating in the collective rebellion. Today, African Americans constitute 53.6 percent (2006 estimate) of the population of Augusta-Richmond County. Slavery and Jim Crow continue to shape present inequities, and race relations remain contentious in city politics.

Urban decline

Beginning in the late 1970s, businesses started leaving downtown Augusta for both Regency Mall and

Augusta Mall Augusta Mall is a two level super-regional shopping mall in Augusta, Georgia, United States. It is one of the largest malls in the state of Georgia, and it is the largest mall in the Augusta metropolitan area. The anchor stores are Dick's Sport ...

, which started a trend of urban abandonment and decay. To counter this trend, city politicians and business leaders promoted revitalizing Augusta's hidden riverfront (obscured by a levee) into Riverwalk Augusta, with parks, an amphitheater, hotels, museums, and art galleries. The first segment of Riverwalk Augusta was opened in the late 1980s and later expanded in the early 1990s. However, the renaissance of the riverfront did not appear to be spilling over into Augusta's main street, Broad Street, as more businesses were leaving and more storefronts boarded up. Broad Street is the second widest Broad street in America.

Revitalization

In 1995, members of the art community and downtown boosters started a monthly event called First Friday. It was a night festival whose aim was to bring crowds back to downtown. It featured local bands, street performers, and art galleries with extended evening hours. Since 1995, more businesses have returned to downtown, including many new restaurants and bars. A block of upper Broad Street has been named Artists' Row and is home to several locally owned art galleries. First Friday still continues today in addition to many revitalization efforts to downtown. Downtown Augusta has become an epicenter of new growth in recent years though with new focuses on revitalizing historic structures in Downtown to include the former First Baptist Church on Greene Street as well as the

Miller Theater The Miller Theater is a former movie theater and vaudeville house in Augusta, Georgia. The Miller was built by architect Roy A. Benjamin utilizing the Arte Moderne style of architecture and was owned by Frank Miller. Due to an economic downturn i ...

, the

Lamar Building The Lamar Building is a 17-story skyscraper in Augusta, Georgia. It was scheduled to be completed in 1916, but the Augusta Fire of 1916 forced crews to demolish the building and restart. It was finally completed in 1918. A penthouse level was a ...

, and King Mill - all located on Broad Street - which are continuing to be revitalized by developers. Investments have also been made into public art which includes the establishment of the Augusta Sculpture Trail in Downtown Augusta as well as new featured murals showing Augusta native

and some of his notable works. Other new developments have been proposed for new construction in future years to include new mixed use developments along Telfair Street, Greene Street, James Brown Boulevard, and Ellis Street as well as a new hotel on Broad Street and the conversion of the Fifth Street Bridge into a new pedestrian bridge over the Savannah River.

1996 consolidation

In 1995, citizens of the city of Augusta and Richmond County voted to merge governments. Citizens of

Hephzibah, Georgia Hephzibah () is a city in southern Richmond County, in the U.S. state of Georgia. It is part of the Augusta metropolitan area as well as the Central Savannah River Area. The population was 4,011 at the 2010 census, and 3,830 in 2020. ''Hephzibah ...

and

Blythe, Georgia Blythe is a city, mostly in Richmond County, Georgia, Richmond County and partly in Burke County, Georgia, Burke County, in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city had a populati ...

decided to remain separate. The consolidation took effect January 1, 1996 with the city of Augusta surrendering its

city charter A city charter or town charter (generically, municipal charter) is a legal document (''charter'') establishing a municipality such as a city or town. The concept developed in Europe during the Middle Ages. Traditionally, the granting of a charter ...

and merging operations with Richmond County.

1996 to present

The Augusta Museum of History highlights Augusta's history and famous natives and Historic AugustaHistoric Augusta.org
/ref> has helped preserve architecturally important sites throughout the city.

Cyber boom

In 2013, the U.S. Army announced the relocation of the U.S. Army Cyber Command from its

Fort Meade Fort George G. Meade is a United States Army installation located in Maryland, that includes the Defense Information School, the Defense Media Activity, the United States military bands#Army Field Band, United States Army Field Band, and the head ...

in Maryland to

Fort Gordon Fort Gordon, formerly known as Fort Eisenhower and Camp Gordon, is a United States Army installation established southwest of Augusta, Georgia in October 1941. It is the current home of the United States Army Signal Corps, United States Army Cy ...

in Augusta. This announcement led to a cyber security economic boom in the Augusta metro region with many defense contractors and other private cyber security companies relocating their headquarters and their workforce to Augusta. A later announcement in 2017 by then Georgia Governor

Nathan Deal John Nathan Deal (born August 25, 1942) is an American politician and former lawyer who served as the 82nd governor of Georgia from 2011 to 2019. A Republican, he previously served as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives. Deal served ...

of an investment of $100 million dollars to construct a state of the art cyber training facility in Augusta on the site of the former Georgia Golf Hall of Fame and Botanical Gardens. This Georgia Cyber Center was completed the next year in 2018 and now provides office and collaborative spaces for cyber-related companies such as Parsons and

BAE Systems BAE Systems plc is a British Multinational corporation, multinational Aerospace industry, aerospace, military technology, military and information security company, based in London. It is the largest manufacturer in Britain as of 2017. It is ...

as well as is the home of the

Augusta University Augusta University (AU) is a public research university and academic medical center in Augusta, Georgia, United States. It is part of the University System of Georgia and has satellite medical campuses in Savannah, Albany, Rome, and Athens, Geo ...

and the

Augusta Technical College Augusta Technical College is a Public college, public technical school based in Augusta, Georgia. It was opened in 1961 and is part of the Technical College System of Georgia. The school has three campuses, one in Augusta, Georgia, Augusta (Rich ...

cyber security and information technology programs and a new cyber crime lab for the Georgia Bureau of Investigations.

References

External links

Augusta Chronicle: Augusta's History
Series of news articles from 1995 on Augusta history
Augusta Museum of History

The Augusta Richmond County Historical Society

Saint Paul's Church

Picturing Augusta: Historic Postcards from the Collection of the East Central Georgia Regional Library System
Turn-of-the-twentieth-century postcards of the Augusta area from the collection of the East Central Georgia Regional Library System
Robert E. Williams Photographic Collection:
African-Americans in the Augusta, Ga. Vicinity (Richmond Co.), circa 1872–1898. Late-nineteenth-century photographs of Augusta-area African American people, places, agriculture, family life, and more from the collections of the Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20081109211608/http://www.jimcrowhistory.org/resources/resources.htm The History of Jim Crow: Teacher Resourcesbr>Lucy Craft Laney MuseumAugusta Metro Courier
weekly newspaper targeted toward local African American community
Augusta Movement
Civil Rights Digital Library.

News articles

Augusta Chronicle: Augusta's Black History
Various articles about African American history in Augusta
Augusta Chronicle: Death of jail inmate fueled fire for riots
2000 article about the May 1970 Augusta riots
Augusta Chronicle: Brown eased crowd during riots
2006 article about James Brown's role in trying to calm 1970 city riots
Augusta Chronicle: Race Relations
2004–2005 series of articles on local race relations
Metro Spirit: "chronicle.hate.com"
2007 article about racial attacks on the Augusta Chronicle message board, includes quotes from African American figures in local government
Metro Spirit: Color of Law
2007 article on lack of more local African American attorneys

article about the future of the Augusta Focus newspaper {{DEFAULTSORT:History Of Augusta, Georgia