Waycross is the county seat of and the only incorporated city in Ware County in the U.S. state of Georgia. The population was 13,942 in the 2020 census.

Waycross gets its name from the city's location at key railroad junctions; lines from six directions meet at the city.

The city council in Waycross opened municipal primary elections to white women in 1917, the first town in Georgia to do so. This action was taken because some of the largest property owners in town were women who wanted a say in how their tax dollars were spent. In 1937, the federal government purchased distressed farmland for the park.

Waycross was the site of a B-29 crash in 1948, which led to the legal case United States v. Reynolds (1953), expanding the government's state secrets privilege.

During the 1950s the city had a tourist gimmick: local police would stop motorists with out-of-state license plates and escort them to downtown Waycross. There they would be met by the Welcome World Committee and given overnight lodging, dinner and a trip to the Okefenokee Swamp. The tradition faded away after the interstates opened through Georgia.

In the mid-1990s, Walter "Bubba" Eaves created a frozen hamburger ("Bubba Burger") that needed no defrosting. This was the marketed by Eaves Foods, Inc., which changed its name to Flanders Hamburgers in 2000. Bubba Burgers are now sold nationwide as well as worldwide through the United States Military Commissary system.

Geography

thumb|Waycross City Hall

Waycross is located at (31.213860, -82.354911) and is the closest city to the Okefenokee Swamp.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which is land and , or 0.17%, is water. The closest major city is Jacksonville, Florida, which is roughly away.

In May 2010, the city purchased the Bandalong Litter Trap and installed it in Tebeau Creek, a tributary of the Satilla River. The trap was invented in Australia, but is manufactured in the United States. Although the city has maintained good standing with the state's Environmental Protection Division, the city wanted to take action to reduce the amount of human-generated trash entering the Satilla River and ultimately the Atlantic Ocean. Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue said, "Water is one of Georgia's most important and precious resources... the litter trap installed by Waycross is a model of stewardship for the state and the nation." The Satilla River litter trap is the first in Georgia and only the second in the nation.

A portion of Waycross had been situated in Pierce County but effective July 1, 2015, it was no longer allowed to be located in that county. State Rep. Chad Nimmer had introduced HB 523 during the 2015 Legislative Session without providing the required statutory notice to the City of Waycross. It de-annexed the portion of Waycross located in Pierce County and precluded it from coming back into Pierce County.

Climate

Demographics

2020 census

As of the 2020 census, Waycross had a population of 13,942. The median age was 38.5 years. 26.5% of residents were under the age of 18 and 19.0% of residents were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 85.2 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 78.9 males age 18 and over.

97.8% of residents lived in urban areas, while 2.2% lived in rural areas.

There were 5,510 households in Waycross, of which 32.0% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 27.6% were married-couple households, 21.7% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 43.8% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 34.6% of all households were made up of individuals and 15.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. There were 3,197 families in the city.

!Race

!Num.

!Perc.

|-

|White

|4,940

|35.43%

|-

|Black or African American

|7,672

|55.03%

|-

|Native American

|30

|0.22%

|-

|Asian

|138

|0.99%

|-

|Pacific Islander

|8

|0.06%

|-

|Other/Mixed

|559

|4.01%

|-

|Hispanic or Latino

|595

|4.27%

|}

Media

  • Waycross Journal-Herald discontinued, restarted as weekly paper(daily newspaper)
  • The Florida Times-Union (Georgia Times-Union edition)
  • Waycross Area Television Service (WATS) Channel 10

;AM

  • WAYX AM 1230 (News Talk Radio)
  • WSFN AM 1350 (Sports Radio)

;FM

  • W201DK 88.1 (Christian)
  • WXVS 90.1 (GPB and NPR)
  • WASW 91.9 (Contemporary Christian)
  • WAYX 96.3 Classic Rock) Simulcast with WSIZ
  • WWUF 97.7 (Adult Contemporary)
  • WYNR 102.5 (Country)
  • WQGA 103.3 (Adult Contemporary)
  • WKUB 105.1 (Country)
  • WSGT 107.1 (Oldies)

Television

WXGA-TV, a Georgia Public Broadcasting outlet, is licensed to Waycross and also serves nearby Valdosta.

Waycross is part of the Jacksonville, Florida television market.

Health care

With over 100 employees and 10 physicians, Satilla Regional Medical Center is a leading center in health care in the area. The three-story facility has a trauma unit, cancer care unit, outpatient surgery and imaging services. In 2012, Satilla Regional Medical Center joined the Mayo Clinic Health System and became the Mayo Clinic Health System in Waycross. The Mayo Clinic ceased operations at the hospital in 2015. The hospital later joined HCA Healthcare and has since been renamed Memorial Satilla Health.

Education

Ware County School District

The Ware County School District offers preschool to grade twelve, and consists of a preschool, six elementary schools, two middle schools, and one high school. The district has 431 full-time teachers and over 6,370 students.

Private education

  • Southside Christian School (dissolved as of May 2024)
  • Lighthouse Christian Academy (est. 2024)
  • Discovery Montessori School
  • St Joseph Academy operated from September 1948 to June 1976. Parochial school (K-8) affiliated with St Joseph's Catholic Church.

Higher education

  • South Georgia State College - Waycross campus
  • Coastal Pines Technical College - Waycross campus

Transportation

U.S. Highway 1 runs north–south through Waycross, while concurrent with U.S. Highway 23. U.S. Highway 82 and U.S. Highway 84 run east–west through Waycross.

Waycross-Ware County Airport (IATA: AYS, ICAO: KAYS, FAA LID: AYS) is a public airport located three miles (5 km) northwest of the central business district of Waycross. The City of Waycross and Ware County own it.

Waycross had been a major junction on the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad (post-1967: Seaboard Coast Line Railroad); currently, those routes are operated by successor CSX. Tracks run from Waycross northeast to Jesup, east to Nahunta, southeast to Folkston, southwest to Valdosta, west to Axson and northwest (over pre-1946 tracks of the Atlanta, Birmingham and Coast Railroad) to Douglas. CSX operates Rice Yard, a major "hump" classification yard, here. Rice Yard is also home to CSX's largest locomotive and car shops.

Notable people

  • Johnny Archer — professional pool player, "The Scorpion"
  • Michael P. Boggs — Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Georgia and former judge on the Georgia Court of Appeals.
  • Stanley Booth — author, journalist, music critic
  • Billy Carter — brother of former President Jimmy Carter, promoter of Billy Beer
  • Sonora Webster Carver — first woman horse diver
  • Tommy Castellanos — quarterback at Florida State
  • Ossie Davis — actor, writer, director, producer, Kennedy Center Honors award recipient, was born in Clinch County
  • Nikki DeLoach — former member of The New Mickey Mouse Club, the girl group Innosense|, and actress on the television series North Shore and Windfall
  • Harry D. Dixon — state representative; served in the Georgia House of Representatives for 38 years; served on the board of the Georgia Department of Transportation
  • Drayton Florence — professional football player, cornerback who played 11 seasons in NFL, highest draft pick ever from Tuskegee University
  • Ernest Jones - professional football player for the Seattle Seahawks
  • Tim McCray — professional football player from 1985 to 1990 in the CFL with the Saskatchewan Roughriders
  • Leodis McKelvin — former cornerback in the NFL
  • Caroline Pafford Miller — Pulitzer Prize-winning author
  • Gram Parsons — country singer and musician; The Byrds, The Flying Burrito Brothers, and solo artist
  • Pernell Roberts — actor, star of TV series Bonanza and Trapper John, M.D., was born in Waycross
  • Bill Shanks — Atlanta Braves sportscaster
  • Gerald Williams, former nose tackle for the Pittsburgh Steelers.
  • Brenda Wilkinson — writer raised in Waycross whose Ludell books are set there

See also

On the National Register of Historic Places:

  • First African Baptist Church and Parsonage
  • Lott Cemetery
  • Phoenix Hotel
  • United States Post Office and Courthouse

References

  • City of Waycross
  • Waycross Tourism & Conference Bureau
  • Historic Waycross
  • South Georgia Historic Newspapers Archive, Digital Library of Georgia