Whigham is a city in Grady County,

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 ...

, United States. The population was 428 in 2020.

History

The community was named after Robert Whigham, a local merchant. 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 ...

incorporated Whigham as a town in 1896. It was incorporated again as a city in 1970.

Geography

Whigham is located in western Grady County at (30.884219, -84.324927).

U.S. Route 84 U.S. Route 84 (US 84) is an east–westUS 84 was signed north-south in parts of Colorado and New Mexico. United States Numbered Highway that started as a short Georgia–Alabama route in the original 1926 scheme. Later, in 1941, it h ...

passes through the center of town as Broad Avenue; it leads east to

Cairo Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...

, the

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...

, and west to Bainbridge.

Valdosta Valdosta is a city in and the county seat of Lowndes County in the U.S. state of Georgia. As the principal city of the Valdosta metropolitan statistical area, which in 2023 had a metropolitan population of 151,118, according to the US Census B ...

is to the east, and

Dothan, Alabama Dothan is a city in and the county seat of Houston County, Alabama, Houston County in the U.S. state of Alabama. A slight portion of the city extends into Dale County, Alabama, Dale and Henry County, Alabama, Henry counties. It had a population ...

, is to the west. Whigham is located halfway between

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in Shelby County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. Situated along the Mississippi River, it had a population of 633,104 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of municipalities in Tenne ...

, and

Miami, Florida Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

. According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

, the city has a total area of , of which , or 0.98%, is water.

Demographics

As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2000, there were 631 people, 179 households, and 134 families residing in the city. In 2020, its population declined to 428.

Education

Grady County School System operates area public schools. Whigham School, a K-8 school, is in Whigham. Cairo High School in

serves Whigham.Schools
" '' Grady County Schools''. Retrieved on April 9, 2009.

Notable people

The

electric blues Electric blues is blues music distinguished by the use of electric amplification for musical instruments. The guitar was the first instrument to be popularly amplified and used by early pioneers T-Bone Walker in the late 1930s and John Lee Ho ...

guitarist, songwriter, and singer

Johnnie Marshall Johnnie B. Marshall Jr. (born June 2, 1961) is an American electric blues guitarist, songwriter, and singer. His best known songs are "Found Another Woman" and "98 Cents in the Bank". Discovered by Johnny Rawls in the mid 1990s, Marshall has rel ...

was born in Whigham in 1961. Ernest Riles, former infielder for the

San Francisco Giants The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Div ...

and

Milwaukee Brewers The Milwaukee Brewers are an American professional baseball team based in Milwaukee. The Brewers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central Di ...

lived here during his time with the Giants.

References

{{authority control Cities in Georgia (U.S. state) Cities in Grady County, Georgia