Smithville, Georgia

Smithville is a city in Lee County, Georgia, United States. The population was 593 in 2020. It is part of the Albany, Georgia metropolitan statistical area.

Smithville, Georgia
City
Smithville Governmental Building and Library
Location in Lee County and the state of Georgia
Coordinates: 31°54′7″N 84°15′19″W
Country	United States
State	Georgia
County	Lee
Area [1]
• Total	2.54 sq mi (6.59 km2)
• Land	2.54 sq mi (6.59 km2)
• Water	0.00 sq mi (0.00 km2)
Elevation	328 ft (100 m)
Population  (2020)
• Total	593
• Density	233.10/sq mi (89.98/km2)
Time zone	UTC-5 (Eastern (EST))
• Summer (DST)	UTC-4 (EDT)
ZIP code	31787
Area code	229
FIPS code	13-71464[2]
GNIS feature ID	0356540[3]
Website	georgia.gov/cities-counties/smithville

History

A post office was established at Smithville in 1871.^[4] The community was named after the local Smith family.^[5] The Georgia General Assembly incorporated Smithville as a town in 1863.^[6]

The Morgan Farm is located near Smithville, and is a late-19th century historic, rural African American farmstead recognized as a Centennial Farm (1995) by the state of Georgia, and listed as on the National Register of Historic Places (1998).^[7]

Geography

Smithville is located in northwestern Lee County at 31°54′7″N 84°15′19″W (31.902073, -84.255336).^[8] It is bordered to the north by the Sumter County line.

U.S. Route 19 runs through the west side of the city, leading south 12 miles (19 km) to Leesburg, the Lee county seat, and north 13 miles (21 km) to Americus. Georgia State Route 118 passes through the center of Smithville, leading east 12 miles (19 km) to Leslie and southwest 14 miles (23 km) to Dawson.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 2.5 square miles (6.5 km²), all of it recorded as land.^[9] Muckaloochee Creek forms the northeast border of the city. The creek is a south-flowing tributary of Muckalee Creek and part of the Flint River watershed.

Demographics

Historical population

Census	Pop.	Note	%±
1880	320		—
1900	597		—
1910	574		−3.9%
1920	761		32.6%
1930	777		2.1%
1940	619		−20.3%
1950	676		9.2%
1960	732		8.3%
1970	713		−2.6%
1980	867		21.6%
1990	804		−7.3%
2000	774		−3.7%
2010	575		−25.7%
2020	593		3.1%
U.S. Decennial Census[10] 1850-1870[11] 1870-1880[12] 1890-1910[13] 1920-1930[14] 1940[15] 1950[16] 1960[17] 1970[18] 1980[19] 1990[20] 2000[21] 2010[22]

Smithville racial composition as of 2020^[23]

Race	Num.	Perc.
White (non-Hispanic)	163	27.49%
Black or African American (non-Hispanic)	403	67.96%
Native American	2	0.34%
Asian	5	0.84%
Other/Mixed	8	1.35%
Hispanic or Latino	12	2.02%

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 593 people, 239 households, and 143 families residing in the city.

Education

Public schools are operated by the Lee County School District. Students are zoned to Lee County High School.

Notable people

• Bessie Jones (1902–1984), gospel and folk singer
• Bill McAfee (1907–1958), baseball player and mayor
• Tampa Red (1904–1981), also known as Hudson Woodbridge, Chicago blues and hokum musician in Blues Hall of Fame
• William J. Sears (1874–1944), congressman, from Florida
• Ja'Lia Taylor (born 1989) first woman to run for mayor of Smithville, academia, social justice activist^[24]

Gallery

• 
  Dismuke Public Safety Building, houses the Smithville Police Department
• 
  Smithville Post Office