LaGrange, Georgia

LaGrange is named after the country estate near Paris of the wife of the Marquis de La Fayette. When La Fayette, a Revolutionary War hero, visited Georgia in 1825 on a national tour, he remarked on the similarity of local topography to his wife's property.[6]

The European-American settlement of LaGrange began in the early 19th century, soon after the territory was ceded to the United States by the Creek Indians and the territorial legislature established Troup County. The city was incorporated in December 1828.[6] The area was developed for cotton plantations, and planters migrating from the eastern areas of the South brought along or bought enslaved African Americans in the domestic slave trade to use as laborers.

By 1860 Troup County had become the fourth-wealthiest county in Georgia, based on cotton as a commodity crop. It was the fifth-largest slaveholding county in the state.[6] As the county seat, LaGrange was a center of trade for this prosperous area, and wealthy planters built more than 100 significant homes in the city.

During the American Civil War, LaGrange was defended by a volunteer women's auxiliary group known as the Nancy Harts or Nancy Hart Rifles, named after Nancy Hart. After defeating the Confederates in nearby West Point, Georgia, Colonel Oscar H. La Grange led his Union troops to the county seat of LaGrange. He placed Confederate prisoners near the front of the column. The Nancy Harts negotiated a surrender with the colonel.

Although local assets were burned and looted by Union troops, Colonel La Grange spared the private homes of LaGrange, including Bellevue, the home of former US Senator and then Confederate senator Benjamin Harvey Hill, a slave owner. La Grange may have been returning positive treatment which he had earlier received while in captivity. He had been given medical care by Confederates and was attended by a niece of Senator Hill. After recovery, Col. La Grange was exchanged for a Confederate prisoner, and he returned to battle duty.

To show their gratitude for his sparing their homes, one of the Nancy Harts hosted a dinner for Col. La Grange. He paroled some local prisoners so they could attend. Many women of the town cooked all night to provide the meal. The next morning the Federal troops marched out, taking various men of the town as prisoners of war. They were soon released, when it was learned that General Robert E. Lee had surrendered at Appomattox.

LaGrange is at 33.0367° N, 85.0319° W. The city is in west central Georgia along Interstates 85 and 185, which run east of the city, with Interstate 85 leading northeast 68 mi (109 km) to Atlanta and southwest 96 mi (154 km) to Montgomery, Alabama. Interstate 85 gives direct access to the city from exits 13, 14 and 18. Interstate 185 runs south from the city 43 mi (69 km) to Columbus. U.S. Route 27, U.S. Route 29, Georgia State Route 219, and Georgia State Route 109 all meet in the interior of the city. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the city has an area of 112.8 mi (181.5 km), of which 111.4 mi (179.3 km) is land and 1.4 mi (2.3 km) is water.

John F. Kennedy campaigning for president in LaGrange, October 1960

LaGrange is governed by a mayor and six-person city council. The mayor is elected citywide (at-large). Three council members are elected to one post each from each of two council districts, designated as 1a, 1b, and 1c from the first district, with similar naming for posts in the second district.[14] Candidates must declare for a post in one of the districts at the time of their filing, and must win a majority to be elected. This system was established for the first municipal election in 2011.[15] (This was in compliance with a consent decree and court order settling litigation since 1982 under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.)

Previously a smaller number of city council members were elected at-large; as each candidate had to command a majority of electors, the minority seldom could elect a candidate of their choice. The Department of Justice recorded objections to the city of LaGrange changes to election methods in October 1993 and December 1994. The 1993 objection related to the use of two at-large seats in a mixed city council plan with four single-member districts; the 1994 objection related to the use of one at-large seat in a mixed city council plan with two "super-districts" and four single-member districts.[16] From 1997, more city council seats were established in LaGrange. Municipal elections are held in odd-numbered years.[14]

Dr. Willie T Edmondson was elected Mayor on March 21, 2023. He is the first African-American elected to this position for the city of LaGrange.[17] The mayor and all council members are elected for four-year terms on a nonpartisan basis. The city council hires a full-time city manager, who oversees daily operations of city departments.

In January 2017, Police Chief Louis M. Dekmar apologized publicly for his department's failure in 1940 to protect a 16-year-old black youth, who was lynched. Few law enforcement officials have ever apologized for such events. Mayor Jim Thornton also apologized and stressed the city's commitment to improving conditions.[18]

"I sincerely regret and denounce the role our Police Department played in Austin's lynching, both through our action and our inaction," Chief Dekmar told a crowd at a traditionally African-American church. "And for that, I'm profoundly sorry. It should never have happened."[18]

Descendants of the Callaway family, wealthy planters in the antebellum years, established a philanthropic foundation. They have invested in the city, and contributed to developing important cultural elements of the city. As a result, LaGrange has amenities not usually found in a city of its size. These include "two art galleries, a symphony orchestra, a ballet company, an opera company, an airport, a television station, an archives, two colleges (LaGrange College and West Georgia Technical College), and thirteen recreational centers with facilities for every sport."[6]

LaGrange-Callaway Airport is southwest of the city.

LaGrange has three sister cities, as designated by Sister Cities International, Inc. (SCI):[22]

• Craigavon, County Armagh, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom
• Poti, Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti, Georgia (country)
• Aso, Kumamoto, Japan

The city is in the process of developing a sister city relationship in South Korea.

• Hammett L. Bowen Jr. – recipient of Medal of Honor
• Mary G. Bryan – archivist
• Chris Burnette – NFL player
• Austin Callaway – 16-year-old African American youth lynched by whites on September 8, 1940
• Fuller Earle Callaway – textile magnate[23]
• Daz Cameron – Major League Baseball player
• Mike Cameron – former Major League Baseball player
• Wallace H. Clark Jr. – pathologist and cancer researcher; born (c.1924) and raised in LaGrange
• Joyce Grable – former professional wrestler; born (c. 1952) and raised in LaGrange
• Jimmy Haynes – Major League Baseball player
• Albert E. Jarrell – Vice Admiral, U.S. Navy; born in Rome, Georgia, but raised in LaGrange
• Tom Jarriel – ABC news correspondent; born in LaGrange in 1934
• John Johnson – National Football League (NFL) player
• Elijah Kelley – actor
• David Kelton – Major League Baseball player
• Mike Lazzo – network executive for Adult Swim
• Wynona Lipman (1923–1999) – first African-American woman elected to New Jersey Senate
• Randolph Mahaffey – professional basketball player, born in LaGrange
• Lincoln Wayne "Chips" Moman – record producer and songwriter
• Lewis Render Morgan – Georgia state representative and judge
• Fred Newman – actor
• Bubba Sparxxx – rapper[24]
• James M. Sprayberry – recipient of the Medal of Honor
• Dernell Stenson – Major League Baseball Player
• Horace Ward – first African-American federal judge in Georgia; also first person to attempt to integrate University of Georgia law school
• Carla Williams - Athletic Director at the University of Virginia
• Wesley Woodyard – NFL player
• Louis Tompkins Wright – physician, graduate of Harvard Medical School, first African-American physician to be appointed to staff of a New York City municipal hospital; notable for many scientific breakthroughs, including introduction of intradermal smallpox vaccination

• 
  LaGrange City Hall
• 
  Troup County Government Center in LaGrange
• 
  Built in 1939, the old Troup County Courthouse is still in use today as the Juvenile Courthouse. The jail behind it was torn down in 2001 when the Troup County Government Center was built. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on June 8, 1995.
• 
  LaGrange College is the oldest private college in Georgia. Affiliated with the United Methodist Church, it has an enrollment of about 1,000 students.
• 
  LaGrange Memorial Library[25]
• 
  Thomas W. Sheffield Terminal at LaGrange Callaway Airport
• 
  Senator Benjamin Harvey Hill's LaGrange home, Bellevue, was built in 1854–55 in the Greek Revival plantation style. The home was acquired by the Fuller E. Callaway Foundation and donated to the LaGrange Woman's Club in the 1950s. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on November 7, 1972 and designated as a National Historic Landmark on November 7, 1973.

• Georgia Radio Museum and Hall of Fame
• National Register of Historic Places listings in Troup County, Georgia

• Official website
• LaGrange - Troup County Chamber of Commerce
• Nancy Harts at Battle of West Point website
• "Legacy: The Secret History of Proto-Fascism in America's Greatest Little City"