Editing McRae, Georgia (section)

==History==
[[File:Water works, McRae, GA, US.jpg|thumb|Old Water Works building]]

McRae was founded in 1870 as station number eleven on the [[Macon and Brunswick Railroad]]. In 1871, the seat of Telfair County was transferred to McRae from [[Jacksonville, Georgia|Jacksonville]]. McRae was incorporated on March 3, 1874, and was named for a pioneering Scottish family. The community was named after Daniel M. McRae, the original owner of the town site.<ref>{{cite book | url=http://www.kenkrakow.com/gpn/m.pdf| title=Georgia Place-Names: Their History and Origins | publisher=Winship Press | author=Krakow, Kenneth K. | year=1975 | location=Macon, GA | pages=142 | isbn=0-915430-00-2}}</ref> During the antebellum years and after the Civil War, the county had an economy largely based on cotton plantations, and McRae was a trading center. McRae was incorporated as a city in 1902.<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=REtEXQNWq6MC&pg=PA239 | title=Historical Gazetteer of the United States | publisher=Routledge | date=May 13, 2013 | access-date=30 November 2013 | author=Hellmann, Paul T. | pages=239| isbn=978-1135948597 }}</ref> During the racial violence of the [[Red Summer|Red Summer of 1919]] one Berry Washington, an elderly black man, was arrested and put in the McRae jail after defending two girls from assault. On May 25 a large mob led by a [[Baptists|Baptist]] minister{{sfn|Cayton's Weekly|1919|p=3}} {{sfn|Phoenix Tribune|1919|p=1}} conspired with a McRae deputy to [[Berry Washington|seize Berry Washington from jail and lynch him over in Milan]].{{sfn|Phoenix Tribune|1919|p=1}}

McRae and Telfair County approved construction of a private prison in the early 21st century to hold federal prisoners, in the belief that it would provide jobs to local residents. McRae Correctional Facility, a low-security prison for adult males, has been owned and operated by [[Corrections Corporation of America|CCA]], the largest prison company in the United States in 2015, since it opened in 2003.