Coweta County
County
Historic Coweta County Courthouse in Newnan
Flag
Location within the U.S. state of Georgia
Georgia's location within the U.S.
Coordinates: 33°21′N 84°46′W / 33.35°N 84.76°W / 33.35; -84.76
Country	United States
State	Georgia
Founded	1826; 198 years ago (1826)
Seat	Newnan
Largest city	Newnan
Area
• Total	446 sq mi (1,160 km2)
• Land	441 sq mi (1,140 km2)
• Water	4.9 sq mi (13 km2)  1.1%
Population  (2020)
• Total	146,158
• Density	327/sq mi (126/km2)
Time zone	UTC−5 (Eastern)
• Summer (DST)	UTC−4 (EDT)
Congressional district	3rd

Coweta County /kaʊˈiːtə/ is a county located in the west central portion of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is part of Metro Atlanta. As of the 2020 census, the population was 146,158.^[1] The county seat is Newnan.^[2]

Coweta County is included in the Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell metropolitan statistical area.

History

The land for Lee, Muscogee, Troup, Coweta and Carroll counties was ceded by the Creek people in the 1825 Treaty of Indian Springs. The counties' boundaries were created by the Georgia General Assembly on June 9, 1826, but they were not named until December 14, 1826. Coweta County was named for the Koweta Indians (a sub-group of the Creek people), who had several towns in and around the present-day county.^[3]

In the city of Newnan, on April 23, 1899, a notorious lynching occurred after an African-American man by the name of Sam Hose (born Tom Wilkes) was accused of killing his boss, Alfred Cranford. Hose was tortured and burned alive by a lynch mob of approximately 2,000 citizens of Coweta County.

On August 9, 1882, Aleck Brown was lynched.^[4]

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 446 square miles (1,160 km²), of which 441 square miles (1,140 km²) is land and 4.9 square miles (13 km²) (1.1%) is water.^[5] The county is located in the Piedmont region of the state.

The eastern half of Coweta County, from Palmetto southwest to Newnan, then south to Luthersville, is in the Upper Flint River sub-basin of the ACF River Basin (Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint River Basin). The western half is in the Middle Chattahoochee River-Lake Harding sub-basin of the same ACF River Basin.^[6]

Major highways

Adjacent counties

• Fulton County – northeast
• Fayette County – east
• Spalding County – East/southeast
• Meriwether County – south
• Troup County – southwest
• Heard County – west
• Carroll County – northwest

Communities

Cities

• Grantville
• Newnan
• Palmetto (partly in Fulton County)
• Senoia

Towns

• Haralson
• Moreland
• Sharpsburg
• Turin

Census-designated place

• East Newnan

Unincorporated communities

• Corinth (partly in Heard County)
• Raymond
• Roscoe
• Sargent
• Thomas Crossroads

Planned town

In the federal government's National Urban Policy and New Community Development Act of 1970, funding was provided for thirteen "new towns" or planned cities throughout the country. One 70,000-acre location was set to be developed in Coweta County and was known as Shenandoah.^[7] The project was launched in the early 1970s and was foreclosed on in 1981, when it included 170 families and 108 residential lots.^[8]

Demographics

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 146,158 people, 53,640 households, and 37,400 families residing in the county.

Education

The Coweta County School System holds pre-school to grade 12, and consists of nineteen elementary schools, six middle schools and three high schools.^[19] The system has 1,164 full-time teachers and more than 18,389 students.^[20] Private schools in the county include The Heritage School and Trinity Christian School.

Mercer University has a Regional Academic Center in Newnan. The center, opened in 2010, offers programs through the university's College of Continuing and Professional Studies. The University of West Georgia has a campus near downtown Newnan on the site of the old Newnan Hospital. This campus offers two undergraduate programs - Bachelor of Science in nursing and early childhood education.^[21]

Newnan is also home to a campus of West Georgia Technical College.^[22]

Government

The legislative body of Coweta is the Coweta County Commission, which consists of five members elected from numbered districts. The chairmanship rotates among the members. Coweta County is the only county in Georgia that operates with a rotating chairmanship.

In the General Assembly, it is currently divided between State House district 70, 71, 72 and 132, and is within State Senate district 28 (currently held by Matt Brass). In Congress, it is in the 3rd congressional district, currently represented by Drew Ferguson.

Politics

Coweta is a strongly Republican county, voting 68.4 percent for Donald Trump in 2016 and 69.9 percent for Brian Kemp in 2018.