Toccoa, Georgia

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Toccoa is a famous city in Stephens County, Georgia, United States. Toccoa is located approximately 50 miles from Athens and approximately 90 miles northeast of Atlanta. The population was 9,323 at the 2000 census. The city is the county seat of Stephens County^GR6.

Toccoa was the birthplace of singer Ida Cox, B-Shoc and strongman and philanthropist Paul Edward Anderson. It is also the hometown of former Clemson and NBA basketball player Dale Davis, former Georgia Tech and NFL football player Pat Swilling, and All-American (Georgia Tech) football player Ken Swilling.

The Toccoa Falls College is located here. On November 6, 1977 the Kelly Barnes Dam, located above the college, failed. The resulting flood killed 39 [1].

Camp Toccoa, a World War II paratrooper training base, was located near here. It was the main training base for "Easy Company", 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, of the Army's 101st Airborne Division, whose experiences in the Second World War were the basis for the book and subsequent HBO miniseries "Band of Brothers". Toccoa is also home to the Travelers Rest.

On May 7, 2000 Mary Ann Stephens of Toccoa was shot to death outside a Ramada Inn in Jacksonville, Florida while on vacation with her husband. The incident received national attention and resulted in an Academy Award-winning French documentary, Murder on a Sunday Morning, on the arrest and acquittal of the original suspect [2].

1 Geography
2 Demographics
3 Transportation
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Geography

Toccoa is located at 34°34′29″N, 83°19′12″W (34.574725, -83.319865)^GR1.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 21.7 km² (8.4 mi²). 21.5 km² (8.3 mi²) of it is land and 0.1 km² (0.1 mi²) of it (0.60%) is water.

[edit] Demographics

As of the census^GR2 of 2000, there were 9,323 people, 3,879 households, and 2,443 families residing in the city. The population density was 433.2/km² (1,121.3/mi²). There were 4,378 housing units at an average density of 203.4/km² (526.6/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 75.47% White, 21.46% African American, 0.29% Native American, 0.68% Asian, 0.17% Pacific Islander, 0.53% from other races, and 1.41% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.41% of the population.

There were 3,879 households out of which 26.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 45.0% were married couples living together, 15.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 37.0% were non-families. 33.4% of all households were made up of individuals and 16.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.29 and the average family size was 2.91.

In the city the population was spread out with 22.4% under the age of 18, 10.8% from 18 to 24, 24.0% from 25 to 44, 22.1% from 45 to 64, and 20.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 females there were 81.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 75.9 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $25,345, and the median income for a family was $31,912. Males had a median income of $28,004 versus $20,807 for females. The per capita income for the city was $14,942. About 15.8% of families and 21.7% of the population were below the poverty line, including 31.0% of those under age 18 and 16.9% of those age 65 or over.