McRae was a city in and the county seat of Telfair County, Georgia, United States. It was designated as the seat in 1871, after being established the previous year as a station on the Macon and Brunswick Railroad. Upon the city's merger with adjacent Helena in 2015, the new county seat is the combined city of McRae-Helena.

As of the 2010 census, McRae had a population of 5,740, up from 2,682 at the 2000 census, due largely to expansion of the city limits to incorporate the area and prison population of the McRae Correctional Institution, a privately owned and operated prison under contract to the federal government. The prison is a low-security facility holding adult males; it is owned and operated by CoreCivic.

History

thumb|Old Water Works building

McRae was founded in 1870 as station number eleven on the Macon and Brunswick Railroad. In 1871, the seat of Telfair County was transferred to McRae from Jacksonville. McRae was incorporated on March 3, 1874, and was named for a pioneering Scottish family. The community was named after Daniel M. McRae, the original owner of the town site. During the antebellum years and after the Civil War, the county had an economy largely based on cotton plantations, and McRae was a trading center. McRae was incorporated as a city in 1902. During the racial violence of the Red Summer of 1919 one Berry Washington, an elderly black man, was arrested and put in the McRae jail after defending two girls from assault. On May 25 a large mob led by a Baptist minister conspired with a McRae deputy to seize Berry Washington from jail and lynch him over in Milan.

McRae and Telfair County approved construction of a private prison in the early 21st century to hold federal prisoners, in the belief that it would provide jobs to local residents. McRae Correctional Facility, a low-security prison for adult males, has been owned and operated by CCA, the largest prison company in the United States in 2015, since it opened in 2003.

Geography

120px|thumb|right|Liberty Square

McRae is located in northern Telfair County at (32.064508, -82.898251). Helena is to the northwest.

Several U.S. highways pass through McRae. U.S. Routes 23 and 341 pass through the city as Oak Street, leading northwest to Eastman and southeast to Hazlehurst, while U.S. Routes 280, 319, and 441 pass through as Third Avenue, crossing US 23/341 in the center of town. US 280 leads northeast to Vidalia and west to Cordele, while US 319/441 leads south to the small town of Jacksonville and north to Dublin.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which is land and , or 1.77%, is water. The district has 112 full-time teachers and over 1,648 students.

  • Telfair County Elementary School
  • Telfair County Middle School
  • Telfair County High School

Demographics

As of the census

See also

  • Telfair County Courthouse and Jail

References

  • City of McRae-Helena official website
  • Telfair County Chamber of Commerce
  • Telfair Enterprise newspaper
  • Christiane Badgly, A Prison for McRae (50:29 minutes), 2003, made for Arte France; not yet aired in the US