Douglas County is a county located in the north central portion of the U.S. state of Georgia. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the population was 144,237, having more than doubled since 1990. The county seat is Douglasville. The city of Villa Rica, and a small portion of Austell are both also located in Douglas County. Douglas County is included in Metro Atlanta. It has attracted new residents as jobs have increased in the Atlanta area.
History
Name
The county was created during Reconstruction after the American Civil War. The Georgia General Assembly named it after former Illinois senator Stephen A. Douglas, an Illinois senator and the Democratic opponent of Abraham Lincoln in the presidential election of 1860. The existing historical marker says:
Historical marker:
County seat
The act creating Douglas County provided that in November 1870, voters of the new county would elect county officers, and vote to select the site of the county seat. In the election, some voters chose a site near the center of the county, but a larger number voted for the settlement known as "Skinned Chestnut" or "Skin(t) Chestnut," based on a Creek Indian landmark tree. The courthouse commissioners chose this site as county seat and proceeded to sell lots and build a courthouse. It later changed its name to Douglasville.
A group of citizens filed suit against the commissioners. The case ultimately went to the Supreme Court of Georgia, which ruled against the commissioners. Both sides agreed to postpone further action until the route of the Georgia Western Railroad through Douglas County was determined. The General Assembly enacted legislation on February 28, 1874, directing that an election be held on April 7, 1874, to determine the location of the county seat—but with the provision that the site be located on the Georgia Western Railroad. In the election, voters confirmed Douglasville as the county seat. On February 25, 1875, the General Assembly incorporated Douglasville.
Geography
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (0.5%) is water.
Douglas County's elevation above sea level ranges as low as at the Chattahoochee River to as high as ; one of the county's highest elevation points lies inside the city of Douglasville. Andy Mountain, between Villa Rica and Winston – west of Douglasville along Bankhead Highway, has the highest elevation in Douglas County. Two other elevated summits are located in the county, known as Cedar Mountain at , and Pine Mountain at .
Douglas County sits in Georgia's Piedmont region, which makes its elevation vary due to many rolling hills that Douglas County sits on near the tail end of the Appalachian Mountains. There are no high mountain peaks in Douglas County, just a range of ridges, hills and valleys.
The entirety of Douglas County is located in the Middle Chattahoochee River-Lake Harding sub-basin of the ACF River Basin (Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint River Basin).
{| class="wikitable sortable"
! Location
! Height
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|Andy Mountain
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|Cedar Mountain, Georgia
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|Winston
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|Downtown Douglasville
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|Beulah
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|Pine Mountain
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|White City
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|Fairplay
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|Wellstar Douglas Hospital
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|Midway
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|Hannah
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|McWhorter
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|Lithia Springs
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|Villa Rica
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|Groovers Lake
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|}
Bodies of water
- The Chattahoochee River borders the county to the east and southeast.
- Sweetwater Creek runs in the eastern side of the county in the Lithia Springs area. The USGS stream gauge (NWS identifier AUSG1) at Lithia Springs is considered to be "near Austell" by the National Weather Service, however, even though that city is further away and in Cobb and not Douglas.
- George Sparks Reservoir makes its home at Sweetwater Creek State Park.
- The Dog River is a small, almost creek like river in the western side of Douglas county and travels south and eastward until it ends at the Dog River Reservoir in the southern part of the county.
- The Dog River Reservoir is Douglas County's main source of drinking water, and also serves as a recreational lake for residents of the county.
All of these water sources had massive flooding during the 2009 Atlanta floods.
Climate
Douglas County has been experiencing numerous natural disasters over the most recent decades. Being located in the Southeastern United States' Dixie Alley, the county experiences strong storms and tornadoes.
The county has suffered through numerous ice storms throughout the years. They bring everything to a stand still in the area due to the lack of equipment to deal with the road ice problem and drastic amounts of power outages. Some of the worst ice storms were in 1938, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2005, and 2010.
The March 1993 Storm of the Century brought to Douglasville, with drifts measuring several feet.
In 2005, Hurricane Katrina's remnants tore through the area spawning tornadoes, causing wind damage, and flooding rains. Katrina killed 2 people in Georgia.
In 2007, the county suffered one of the worst droughts in the area's history, causing a complete watering ban and resulting in the Bugaboo Fire, the largest wildfire in Georgia history. The fire was located in southeast Georgia's Okefenokee Swamp, but it still affected the county with smoke often through the life of the fire.
2008 was the first time in Douglas County history that two tornadoes touched down in the same year. They were:
- March 7, 2008: This tornado damaged many homes and ripping one home in half in the Brookmont subdivision on Chapel Hill Road. Arbor Place Mall also reported broken windows from the storm. The tornado also damaged the Chapel Hill Kroger grocery store and threw a heavy air conditioning unit onto cars below. There was only one injury reported from the storm.
- May 11, 2008: Known as the "Mother's Day Tornado," the EF2 caused damage all over the county. It first touched down in the Fairplay area and then moved through the rest of the county, picking up wind speeds up to . A filling station in Douglasville was destroyed by the storm, with the large roof being thrown onto the street. No injuries or deaths were reported. The governor of Georgia declared a state of emergency for Douglas County and many other counties in the state on May 12, 2008.
On September 21, 2009, Douglas County was devastated by the worst flood in Georgia history. Over of rain fell in one night causing many roads to be destroyed and many homes a total loss. The county was later declared a disaster area, and the governor of Georgia declared a state of emergency. The flooding's worst affected areas were in the areas of Douglasville, Villa Rica, Austell, Lithia Springs, and Chapel Hill. The disaster killed more than eight people in the county, most of them in the Douglasville area. The Austell death toll was also high but it was reported in the Cobb County losses.
On Sunday night on January 9, 2011, right after Douglasville's first white Christmas in decades, a snowstorm developed over Douglas County and caused as much as 8 inches of snow in the area. The storm closed grocery stores, the courthouse, and Arbor Place Mall until that Wednesday, January 12. Schools were closed the entire second week of January.
Adjacent counties
- Cobb County– northeast
- Fulton County – southeast
- Carroll County – west
- Paulding County – northwest
Communities
Cities
- Austell: Most of Austell is in Cobb County, GA with a small portion extending into northeastern Douglas County
- Douglasville (county seat)
- Villa Rica: The western portion of Villa Rica is located in Carroll County, GA
Census-designated places
- Fairplay
- Lithia Springs: Formerly a city, but voted to dissolve in 2000.
Unincorporated communities
- Beulah
- Bill Arp
- Chapel Hill
- Fairplay
- Hannah
- McWhorter
- White City
- Winston