Jasper, Georgia

Jasper is a city in Pickens County, Georgia, United States. The population was 4,084 in 2020. The city is the county seat of Pickens County.<ref name="GR6">Template:Cite web</ref>

History

Jasper was founded in 1853 as seat of the newly formed Pickens County. It was incorporated in 1857 as a town and in 1957 as a city.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The community is named for William Jasper, a hero of the American Revolutionary War.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Jasper is situated at an elevation of 1,463 feet (446 m).

Geography

Jasper is located at Template:Coord (34.469127, -84.434039).<ref name="GR1">Template:Cite web</ref>

Georgia State Route 53 passes through the center of Jasper, while Georgia State Routes 5 and 515 bypass the city to its west. GA-5/515 lead north Template:Convert to Ellijay and south Template:Convert to Atlanta, via its connection with Interstate 575, which ends just south of the city. GA-53 runs through the downtown area as an east–west highway, leading east Template:Convert on a winding and mountainous route to Dawsonville, and west Template:Convert to Calhoun along Interstate 75.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of Template:Convert, all of it land.

Demographics

Jasper racial composition as of 2020<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Race	Num.	Perc.
White (non-Hispanic)	3,487	85.38%
Black or African American (non-Hispanic)	104	2.55%
Native American	15	0.37%
Asian	39	0.95%
Other/mixed	182	4.46%
Hispanic or Latino	257	6.29%

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 4,084 people, 1,560 households, and 889 families residing in the city.

Education

Pickens County School District

The Pickens County School District holds pre-school to grade 12, and consists of four elementary schools, two middle schools, and a high school.<ref>Georgia Board of EducationTemplate:Dead link, Retrieved June 25, 2010.</ref> The district has 248 full-time teachers and roughly 4,400 students.<ref>School Stats, Retrieved June 25, 2010.</ref>

• Harmony Elementary School
• Hill City Elementary School
• Tate Elementary School
• Jasper Middle School
• Pickens Jr High School
• Pickens High School

Higher education

• Chattahoochee Technical College - Appalachian Campus<ref>Chattahoochee Technical College- Appalachian Campus Template:Webarchive, Retrieved June 25, 2010.</ref>

Points of interest

File:Jasper Georgia City Hall.JPG

Jasper City Hall

Nicknamed "The First Mountain City," Jasper is located 50 miles north of Atlanta.

The Tate House was built by local marble baron Sam Tate in the 1920s and now sits adjacent to Tate Elementary and is on the National Register of Historic Places. Standing on an old Cherokee place of worship, the historic Woodbridge Inn is a restaurant and inn.

Jasper is located near several large acreage mountain neighborhoods such as Big Canoe, Bent Tree, and the Preserve at Sharp Mountain.

Events

The Georgia Marble Festival is held on the first weekend in October every year. It is sponsored by the Pickens County Chamber of Commerce,<ref>Official marble festival web site Template:Webarchive</ref> and held at Lee Newton Park.

The festivities start with the Marble Festival Road Race. There are booths with local vendors selling handmade crafts, among other things. Another highlight is the art show, with exhibits of carved marble, as well as paintings, photographs, and pottery.

The Apple Festival is held the following two weekends in nearby Ellijay, Gilmer County.

Notable people

• Jeremiah Boswell - basketball player
• James Larry Edmondson - judge
• Weldon Henley (1880–1960) - MLB pitcher
• Chandler Smith - NASCAR driver