Bibb County, Georgia

Bibb County is located in the U.S. state of Georgia. As of the 2020 census, its population was 157,346. Bibb County is geographically located in the Central Georgia (Middle Georgia) region, and is the largest county in the Macon metropolitan area (metropolitan statistical area).

Bibb County has a consolidated city-county government following a merger of the county with its county seat and largest city, Macon, in 2014. They were later joined in this consolidated government in 2015 by the county's only other municipality, Payne City.

History
This area was inhabited for thousands of years by successive indigenous peoples. The Ocmulgee National Monument is a national park and historic site incorporating two major mound and town complexes: Lamar Mounds and Village Site and Ocmulgee Mound Site, both located along the Ocmulgee River. They were built by indigenous peoples during the Mississippian culture era. The detailed chronicles of the Hernando de Soto expedition recorded visiting Ichisi, a major village, in 1539. Historians and archeologists have theorized it may have been located at the Lamar Mounds complex.

For centuries, the historic Native Americans Muscogee tribe, descendants of this culture, was the predominant one in a large area of Georgia, including that later organized as Bibb County. During the colonial period, Anglo colonists carried on a brisk trade with them and allied with them in certain wars in the Southeast. With European-American land hunger to extend cotton cultivation in the Georgia uplands, the Muscogee and other four Civilized Tribes of the Southeast were forcibly relocated to Indian Territory west of the Mississippi River, in the Indian Removal of the 1830s, during the administration of President Andrew Jackson. The Indian tribes affected refer to their journey is as the "Trail of Tears", since many died during the march west.

In the late 18th century, the cotton gin was invented, making profitable the processing of short-staple cotton. This could be grown across the uplands of the South, in contrast to the long-staple cotton of the Low Country. Bibb is considered one of the counties of the "Black Belt", which originally referred to the fertile dark soil in these uplands. The area was developed by European-American planters, who used enslaved African Americans as workers to clear land and develop large cotton plantations during the antebellum years. Cotton generated high profits, since it was in demand in the textile mills of the northern states and England. By the 1860 census, shortly before the American Civil War, more than a million enslaved African Americans lived in Georgia, and they constituted a majority of the population in much of the Black Belt.

Bibb County was created by act of the Georgia Legislature on December 9, 1822, with Macon to be incorporated as a town/city in December 1823; designated the county seat. It was carved from the earlier territories of the counties of Jones, Monroe, Houston, and Twiggs Counties. The county seat has not been changed since, and no other subsequent county in the state has ever been created ("erected") out of land from Bibb County.

The county was named for Dr. William Wyatt Bibb, a physician from Elbert County, who served in the U.S. House of Representatives and United States Senate from Georgia. After he moved to the new Alabama Territory, he was later elected as the first governor of the new State of Alabama upon its admission.

Civil War to present
During the Civil War, an estimated 10% of the white males in the county lost their lives while serving in the Confederate States Army. The war gained the emancipation of slaves across the South. Georgia had been a battleground, and Atlanta and many other areas were left in ruins.

Well into the 20th century, the county depended on cotton and other agriculture as its economic base. It was subject to related vagaries of weather, financial markets, and the devastation of the invasive boll weevil in the early 20th century, which destroyed cotton crops across the South.

After the Civil War and during the 20th century, the county seat of Macon continued to serve as the county's principal population center, site of the most significant landmarks, and the location of major historical events.

On July 31, 2012, voters in the City of Macon (57.8% approval) and Bibb County (56.7% approval) passed a referendum to merge the governments of the city and the county, based on the authorization of House Bill 1171 passed by the Georgia General Assembly earlier in the year. Four previous consolidation attempts (in 1933, 1960, 1972, and 1976) had failed. The consolidation took effect on January 1, 2014, along with the deannexation from the city of a small portion of land in Jones County.

In addition to Macon, Bibb County contained one other municipality, Payne City (or Payne), an enclave of around 200 people that was surrounded entirely by the preconsolidation City of Macon. In the 2012 referendum, Payne City voters rejected consolidation by a vote of 9 to 7, so it was not merged into the consolidated government. In early 2015, at the request of the small city's government, the Georgia General Assembly passed a bill dissolving Payne City, merging it with the rest of Macon-Bibb County.

Geography
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 255 sqmi, of which 250 sqmi is land and 5.6 sqmi (2.2%) is water. The entirety of Bibb County is located in the Upper Ocmulgee River sub-basin of the Altamaha River basin.

Adjacent counties

 * Jones County – northeast
 * Twiggs County – east
 * Houston County – south
 * Peach County – south-southwest
 * Crawford County – southwest
 * Monroe County – northwest

National protected areas

 * Bond Swamp National Wildlife Refuge (part)
 * Ocmulgee National Monument

Cities

 * Macon (county seat)
 * Payne

Unincorporated communities

 * Avondale
 * Franklinton
 * Lizella
 * Sofkee
 * Walden

Demographics
As of the 2020 United States census, there were 157,346 people, 56,726 households, and 33,573 families residing in the county.

Crime
In 2022, Bibb County had the highest crime rate in Georgia. Bibb County had a rate of 52.6 crimes per 1,000 residents. The most common was larceny theft, of which there were 3,694 incidents, while the second most common crime was aggravated assault, with 1,911 committed. Overall, Bibb had the highest crime rate for seven of the ten crime categories, including murder, robbery, motor vehicle theft and arson.

Government and politics
Since the 2014 consolidation, Macon-Bibb has been governed by a mayor, elected at-large (county-wide), along with a nine-member county commission with members elected from single-member districts.

Like all other Georgia counties, Bibb has an elected sheriff responsible for maintaining the jail. Bibb's sheriff also manages the county's law enforcement duties, with their deputies acting as the city and county police force. , the current sheriff is David Davis.

Elections
In 2013, the consolidated city-county held its first elections. Macon's incumbent mayor Robert Reichert received 49% of the vote in the general election on September 17 over the other five mayoral candidates, but a winner had to take a majority of the vote. Reichert subsequently won 63% of the vote in a runoff election against former Macon mayor C. Jack Ellis. Reichert was unopposed for re-election in 2016, following the death of his only opponent before the election. Under the city-county charter, the mayor is subject to term limits and may serve only two consecutive terms. Reichert had to leave office in December 2020.

As an urban county with a majority African-American population, voters in Bibb County today consistently vote at high rates for Democratic candidates counties in presidential elections. During the late 19th century and into the late 1960s, when most African Americans were disenfranchised by the state constitution and practices under Jim Crow, white conservatives dominated the Democratic Party and voting. The combination of these two contrasting affiliations resulted in the majority of county voters having supported for a Republican presidential candidate only three times in its history. Bibb was the only county in the 2004 flag referendum to vote to keep the 2001 flag.

Recreation


Lake Tobesofkee, about 10 miles west of Macon, has three parks. Claystone, Sandy Beach, and Arrowhead Parks, each with a beach, and children's playgrounds. Sandy Beach has lighted tennis courts, a water park with many attractions, and a softball field.

Major highways

 * [[Image:I-16.svg|20px]] Interstate 16
 * [[Image:I-75.svg|20px]] Interstate 75
 * [[Image:I-475.svg|25px]] Interstate 475
 * [[Image:US 23.svg|20px]] U.S. Route 23
 * [[Image:US 41.svg|20px]] U.S. Route 41
 * U.S. Route 41 Business (Macon)
 * [[Image:US 80.svg|20px]] U.S. Route 80
 * [[Image:US 129.svg|25px]] U.S. Route 129
 * U.S. Route 129 Alternate (Macon)
 * Georgia 11.svg State Route 11
 * Georgia 19.svg State Route 19
 * Georgia 22.svg State Route 22
 * Georgia 49.svg State Route 49
 * Georgia 74.svg State Route 74
 * Georgia 87.svg State Route 87
 * Georgia 87 Connector.svg State Route 87 Connector
 * Georgia 247.svg State Route 247
 * Georgia 401.svg State Route 401 (unsigned designation for I-75)
 * Georgia 404.svg State Route 404 (unsigned designation for I-16)
 * Georgia 408.svg State Route 408 (unsigned designation for I-475)
 * Georgia 540.svg State Route 540 (Fall Line Freeway)

Pedestrians and cycling

 * Heritage Trail
 * Ocmulgee Heritage Trail