Social Circle is a city in southern Walton County, extending into Newton County, in the U.S. state of Georgia, east of Atlanta. As of the 2020 census, Social Circle had a population of 4,974.

History

It is unclear why the name "Social Circle" was applied to this place. According to tradition, Social Circle was named from an incident in which a group of people living in the settlement offered water to a weary traveler, whose response was "This certainly is a social circle". The city also officially notes that a citizen of another village community which was already known by the name of Social Circle joined the settlement in its early days.

Social Circle was incorporated as a town in 1869, and as a city in 1904. According to city officials, ICE plans to use the structure as an immigrant detention center holding "anywhere from 7,500 to 10,000 detainees". The city shut off and padlocked the water meter to the proposed site until "ICE indicates how water and sewer will be served without exceeding our limited infrastructure capacity".

Geographical data

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which are land and is water.

A CSX Transportation line maintenance facility operates in the city's railroad station. The city's railyard contained one of the relatively few remaining concrete coaling towers in the southeastern United States. The coaling tower was removed sometime after June 2022 as it is no longer visible on Google Maps as of February 2023.

Demographics

, of the 4,974 people in Social Circle, at least 4,221 people lived in Walton County and at least 41 lived in Newton County.

Racial and ethnic composition

{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center;"

|+Social Circle city, Georgia – Racial and ethnic composition<br /><small></small>

!Race / Ethnicity <small>(NH = Non-Hispanic)</small>

!Pop 2000

!Pop 2010

!style="background-color: #ffffb3;" |Pop 2020

!% 2000

!% 2010

!style="background-color: #ffffb3;" |% 2020

|-

|White alone (NH)

|1,889

|2,512

|style='background: #ffffe6; |2,986

|55.90%

|58.94%

|style='background: #ffffe6; |60.03%

|-

|Black or African American alone (NH)

|1,396

|1,521

|style='background: #ffffe6; |1,635

|41.31%

|35.69%

|style='background: #ffffe6; |32.87%

|-

|Native American or Alaska Native alone (NH)

|2

|8

|style='background: #ffffe6; |7

|0.06%

|0.19%

|style='background: #ffffe6; |0.14%

|-

|Asian alone (NH)

|6

|24

|style='background: #ffffe6; |31

|0.18%

|0.56%

|style='background: #ffffe6; |0.62%

|-

|Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander alone (NH)

|0

|0

|style='background: #ffffe6; |0

|0.00%

|0.00%

|style='background: #ffffe6; |0.00%

|-

|Other race alone (NH)

|4

|10

|style='background: #ffffe6; |29

|0.12%

|0.23%

|style='background: #ffffe6; |0.58%

|-

|Mixed race or Multiracial (NH)

|32

|53

|style='background: #ffffe6; |168

|0.95%

|1.24%

|style='background: #ffffe6; |3.38%

|-

|Hispanic or Latino (any race)

|50

|134

|style='background: #ffffe6; |118

|1.48%

|3.14%

|style='background: #ffffe6; |2.37%

|-

|Total

|3,379

|4,262

|style='background: #ffffe6; |4,974

|100.00%

|100.00%

|style='background: #ffffe6; |100.00%

|}

2020 census

As of the 2020 census, Social Circle had a population of 4,974. The median age was 36.7 years. 26.6% of residents were under the age of 18 and 16.8% of residents were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 91.6 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 84.7 males age 18 and over.

0.0% of residents lived in urban areas, while 100.0% lived in rural areas.

There were 1,769 households in Social Circle, of which 40.1% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 46.1% were married-couple households, 15.8% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 32.2% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 23.9% of all households were made up of individuals and 13.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The district holds pre-school to grade twelve, and consists of two elementary schools, a middle school, and a high school. The district has 90 full-time teachers and over 1,448 students.

  • Social Circle Elementary School
  • Social Circle Middle School
  • Social Circle High School

Transportation

;Through highways

:

;Nearby highways

:

:

:

: (Unsigned Designation for I-20)

Notable people

  • Kyle Chandler – actor
  • Alonzo F. Herndon – Georgia's first African-American millionaire
  • Jay C. (Jack) Higginbotham – jazz trombonist
  • Eddie Mapp – country blues harmonicist
  • Danny McDevitt – former baseball pitcher, retired here
  • Emma Sansom - assisted Nathan Bedford Forrest cross the Black Creek River in Gadsden, Alabama
  • Wylly Folk St. John - journalist and novelist
  • A season 5 episode of the Discovery Channel series A Haunting, called The Exorcism of Cindy Sauer, takes place in Social Circle in 2010.
  • Paramount+ Movie: Jerry and Marge Go Large was filmed mainly in Social Circle.

References

  • Official website