Editing Cornelia, Georgia

{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2023}}
{{Infobox settlement
<!-- Basic info  ---------------->
|official_name            = Cornelia, Georgia
|other_name               = 
|native_name              = <!-- for cities whose native name is not in English -->
|nickname                 = Home of the Big Red Apple
|settlement_type          = [[City]]
|motto                    = <!-- images and maps  ----------->
|image_skyline            = Downtown Cornelia, Georgia.JPG
|imagesize                = 
|image_caption            = Downtown Cornelia
|image_flag               = 
|flag_size                = 
|image_seal               = Cornelia Seal.jpg
|seal_size                = 151x156px
|image_shield             = 
|shield_size              = 
|image_blank_emblem       = 
|blank_emblem_type        = 
|blank_emblem_size        = 
|image_map                = Habersham_County_Georgia_Incorporated_and_Unincorporated_areas_Cornelia_Highlighted.svg
|mapsize                  = 250px
|map_caption              = Location in [[Habersham County, Georgia|Habersham County]] and the state of [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]]
|image_map1               = 
|mapsize1                 = 
|map_caption1             = 
|image_dot_map            = 
|dot_mapsize              = 
|dot_map_caption          = 
|dot_x                    = 
|dot_y                    = 
|pushpin_map              = <!-- the name of a location map as per http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Location_map -->
|pushpin_label_position   = <!-- the position of the pushpin label: left, right, top, bottom, none -->
|pushpin_map_caption      = 
|pushpin_mapsize          = <!-- Location ------------------>
|subdivision_type         = [[List of sovereign states|Country]]
|subdivision_name         = United States
|subdivision_type1        = [[U.S. state|State]]
|subdivision_name1        = [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]]
|subdivision_type2        = [[List of counties in Georgia (U.S. state)|County]]
|subdivision_name2        = [[Habersham County, Georgia|Habersham]]
|subdivision_type3        = 
|subdivision_name3        = 
|subdivision_type4        = 
|subdivision_name4        = <!-- Politics ----------------->
|government_footnotes     = 
|government_type          = [[Mayor]]al, elected [[Democracy|democratically]] by [[Direct election|popular vote]].
|leader_title             = Mayor
|leader_name              = John Borrow<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.corneliageorgia.org/directory.aspx?eid=30|title=Mayor and Commission|year=2020|work=City of Cornelia|access-date=2009-09-21|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090831055547/http://corneliageorgia.org/MayorAndCommission.aspx|archive-date=2009-08-31|url-status=dead}}</ref>
|leader_title1            = City Manager
|leader_name1             = Donald Anderson, Jr.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://corneliageorgia.org/CityManager.aspx|title=City Manager's Office|year=2009|work=City of Cornelia|access-date=2009-09-21|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110725200146/http://www.corneliageorgia.org/CityManager.aspx|archive-date=2011-07-25|url-status=dead}}</ref>
|leader_title2            = 
|leader_name2             = 
|leader_title3            = 
|leader_name3             = 
|leader_title4            = 
|leader_name4             = 
|established_title        = Blaine
|established_date         = 1860
|established_title2       = Cornelia
|established_date2        = October 22, 1887
|established_title3       = 
|established_date3        = <!-- Area    --------------------->
|area_magnitude           = 
|unit_pref                = Imperial
|area_footnotes           = <ref name="CenPopGazetteer2020">{{cite web|title=2020 U.S. Gazetteer Files|url=https://www2.census.gov/geo/docs/maps-data/data/gazetteer/2020_Gazetteer/2020_gaz_place_13.txt|publisher=United States Census Bureau|accessdate=December 18, 2021}}</ref>
|area_total_km2           = 10.87
|area_land_km2            = 10.75
|area_water_km2           = 0.12
|area_total_sq_mi         = 4.30
|area_land_sq_mi          = 4.25
|area_water_sq_mi         = 0.05
<!-- Population   ----------------------->
|population_as_of         = [[2020 United States census|2020]]
|population_footnotes     = 
|population_note          = 
|population_total         = 4503
|population_density_km2   = 418.95
|population_density_sq_mi = 1085.06
<!-- General information  --------------->
|timezone                 = [[North American Eastern Time Zone|Eastern (EST)]]
|utc_offset               = -5
|timezone_DST             = EDT
|utc_offset_DST           = -4
|coordinates              = {{coord|34|31|01|N|83|31|52|W|region:US_type:city|display=inline,title}}
|elevation_footnotes      = <ref name=gnis/>
|elevation_ft             = 1486
<!-- Area/postal codes & others -------->
|postal_code_type         = [[ZIP code]]
|postal_code              = 30531
|area_code                = [[Area code 706|706]]
|blank_name               = [[Federal Information Processing Standard|FIPS code]]
|blank_info               = 13-19728<ref name="GR2">{{cite web |url=https://www.census.gov |publisher=[[United States Census Bureau]] |access-date=2008-01-31 |title=U.S. Census website }}</ref>
|blank1_name              = [[Geographic Names Information System|GNIS]] feature ID
|blank1_info              = 2404133<ref name=gnis>{{GNIS|2404133}}</ref>
|website                  = {{URL|corneliageorgia.org}}
|footnotes                = 
|pop_est_as_of = 
|pop_est_footnotes = 
|population_est = 
}}
'''Cornelia''' is a city in [[Habersham County, Georgia|Habersham County]], [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]], United States. The population was 4,160 at the 2010 census,<ref name="Census 2010">{{cite web| url=http://factfinder2.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/DEC/10_DP/G001/1600000US1319728| title=Geographic Identifiers: 2010 Demographic Profile Data (G001): Cornelia city, Georgia| publisher=U.S. Census Bureau| work=American Factfinder| access-date=May 15, 2017}}{{dead link|bot=medic|date=April 2020}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> up from 3,674 at the 2000 census. It is home to one of the [[Cornelia, Georgia#The Big Red Apple|world's largest apple sculptures]], which is displayed on top of an obelisk-shaped monument. Cornelia was the retirement home of baseball legend [[Ty Cobb]] who was born nearby, and was a base of operation for production of the 1956 Disney film ''[[The Great Locomotive Chase]]'' that was filmed along the [[Tallulah Falls Railway]] that ran from Cornelia northward along the rim of [[Tallulah Gorge]] to [[Franklin, North Carolina]].

==Geography==
Cornelia is located in southern Habersham County and is bordered to the east by [[Mount Airy, Georgia|Mount Airy]] and to the southwest by [[Baldwin, Georgia|Baldwin]].

According to the [[United States Census Bureau]], the city has a total area of {{convert|10.3|km2|order=flip}}, of which {{convert|0.1|sqkm|order=flip|2}}, or 1.06%, are water.<ref name="Census 2010"/>

===Climate===
{{Weather box   <!-- Infobox begins -->
| single line = Y
| location    = Cornelia, Georgia, 1991–2020 normals, extremes 1919&ndash;present

|Jan record high F = 80
|Feb record high F = 79
|Mar record high F = 78
|Apr record high F = 91
|May record high F = 96
|Jun record high F = 102
|Jul record high F = 103
|Aug record high F = 100
|Sep record high F = 99
|Oct record high F = 93
|Nov record high F = 85
|Dec record high F = 77

|Jan avg record high F = 66.6
|Feb avg record high F = 69.5
|Mar avg record high F = 77.3
|Apr avg record high F = 82.6
|May avg record high F = 86.4
|Jun avg record high F = 91.0
|Jul avg record high F = 92.8
|Aug avg record high F = 92.1
|Sep avg record high F = 88.8
|Oct avg record high F = 82.4
|Nov avg record high F = 75.5
|Dec avg record high F = 67.4
|year avg record high F = 93.8

<!-- Average high temperatures -->
| Jan high F  =49.3
| Feb high F  =53.0
| Mar high F  =60.4
| Apr high F  =69.0
| May high F  =75.9
| Jun high F  =82.4
| Jul high F  =85.6
| Aug high F  =84.1
| Sep high F  =79.0
| Oct high F  =69.9
| Nov high F  =60.2
| Dec high F  =52.0
<!-- Mean daily temperature -->
| Jan mean F  =39.8
| Feb mean F  =43.1
| Mar mean F  =49.7
| Apr mean F  =57.9
| May mean F  =65.5
| Jun mean F  =72.7
| Jul mean F  =76.1
| Aug mean F  =74.8
| Sep mean F  =69.4
| Oct mean F  =59.3
| Nov mean F  =49.5
| Dec mean F  =42.8
<!-- Average low temperatures -->
| Jan low F  =30.4
| Feb low F  =33.1
| Mar low F  =39.0
| Apr low F  =46.8
| May low F  =55.1
| Jun low F  =62.9
| Jul low F  =66.5
| Aug low F  =65.5
| Sep low F  =59.7
| Oct low F  =48.8
| Nov low F  =38.8
| Dec low F  =33.6

|Jan avg record low F = 13.9
|Feb avg record low F = 18.9
|Mar avg record low F = 24.6
|Apr avg record low F = 33.2
|May avg record low F = 42.2
|Jun avg record low F = 54.5
|Jul avg record low F = 60.9
|Aug avg record low F = 59.9
|Sep avg record low F = 48.6
|Oct avg record low F = 34.9
|Nov avg record low F = 26.2
|Dec avg record low F = 20.7
|year avg record low F = 11.9

|Jan record low F = -10
|Feb record low F = -4
|Mar record low F = 5
|Apr record low F = 18
|May record low F = 29
|Jun record low F = 39
|Jul record low F = 50
|Aug record low F = 46
|Sep record low F = 30
|Oct record low F = 23
|Nov record low F = 7
|Dec record low F = -1

<!-- Total precipitation, this should include rain and snow. -->
| precipitation colour    =  green
| Jan precipitation inch  =5.46
| Feb precipitation inch  =5.05
| Mar precipitation inch  =5.61
| Apr precipitation inch  =4.39
| May precipitation inch  =3.92
| Jun precipitation inch  =5.12
| Jul precipitation inch  =4.70
| Aug precipitation inch  =5.60
| Sep precipitation inch  =4.39
| Oct precipitation inch  =4.76
| Nov precipitation inch  =4.45
| Dec precipitation inch  =5.49

|unit precipitation days = 0.01 in
|Jan precipitation days = 9.8
|Feb precipitation days = 10.4
|Mar precipitation days = 10.5
|Apr precipitation days = 9.4
|May precipitation days = 9.4
|Jun precipitation days = 10.8
|Jul precipitation days = 10.9
|Aug precipitation days = 10.9
|Sep precipitation days = 7.7
|Oct precipitation days = 7.0
|Nov precipitation days = 8.1
|Dec precipitation days = 10.2

<!-- Snowfall -->
| Jan snow inch  =0.1
| Feb snow inch  =0.2
| Mar snow inch  =0.0
| Apr snow inch  =0.0
| May snow inch  =0.0
| Jun snow inch  =0.0
| Jul snow inch  =0.0
| Aug snow inch  =0.0
| Sep snow inch  =0.0
| Oct snow inch  =0.0
| Nov snow inch  =0.0
| Dec snow inch  =0.3

|unit snow days = 0.1 in
|Jan snow days = 0.1
|Feb snow days = 0.0
|Mar snow days = 0.0
|Apr snow days = 0.0
|May snow days = 0.0
|Jun snow days = 0.0
|Jul snow days = 0.0
|Aug snow days = 0.0
|Sep snow days = 0.0
|Oct snow days = 0.0
|Nov snow days = 0.0
|Dec snow days = 0.1

|source 1 = NOAA<ref name = NOAA>
{{cite web
|url = https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/services/data/v1?dataset=normals-monthly-1991-2020&stations=USC00092283&format=pdf&dataTypes=MLY-TMAX-NORMAL,MLY-TMIN-NORMAL,MLY-TAVG-NORMAL,MLY-PRCP-NORMAL,MLY-SNOW-NORMAL
|publisher = National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
|title = U.S. Climate Normals Quick Access – Station: Cornelia, GA
|access-date = March 4, 2023
}}
</ref>
|source 2 = National Weather Service<ref name = NOWData>
{{cite web
|url = https://www.weather.gov/wrh/climate?wfo=gsp
|publisher = National Weather Service
|title = NOAA Online Weather Data – NWS Greenville
|access-date = March 4, 2023
}}
</ref>
}}

==History==
Cornelia was originally called "Blaine", and under the latter name had its start in the early 1870s when the Charlotte Airline Railroad was extended to that point.<ref>{{cite book | url=http://www.kenkrakow.com/gpn/c.pdf | title=Georgia Place-Names: Their History and Origins | publisher=Winship Press | author=Krakow, Kenneth K. | year=1975 | location=Macon, GA | pages=52 | isbn=0-915430-00-2}}</ref> The [[Georgia General Assembly]] incorporated the place in 1887 as the "Town of Cornelia".<ref>{{cite book|title=Bulletin of the New York Public Library|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Z0M8AQAAIAAJ&pg=PA697|year=1912|publisher=New York Public Library.|page=697}}</ref>

===Lore===

Cornelia abounds in historical lore. Near the city is the Wofford Trail, on which many stagecoach robberies occurred. The last railroad holdup in Georgia took place at Cagle's Crossing, which is a few miles south of Cornelia.<ref>[http://www.gabartow.org/News/CN/newsCN.1909.0701.shtml "The Wofford Trail"]. ''The Cartersville News.'' July 1, 1909</ref> The whole of Habersham County was extremely loyal to the [[Confederate States of America|Confederacy]] and was known, along with the [[Shenandoah Valley]] of Virginia and countless other fertile, out-of-the-way places as the "breadbasket of the Confederacy", as thousands of bushels of wheat and corn were supplied to the troops from this area alone. After the [[Battle of Atlanta|Fall of Atlanta]], a detachment of William Tecumseh Sherman's cavalry was sent to raid the county; but the [[Confederate Home Guard]], made up of men too old for military duty, left the mountains on which Cornelia is situated and met the Union soldiers at a narrow pass about four miles east of the town. By making considerable noise and stirring up clouds of smoke, they scared off the Union soldiers and saved the area from complete devastation. Today this skirmish is remembered as "The [[Battle of the Narrows]]".<ref>[http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~gasteph2/historical%20information%20the%20battle%20of%20the%20narrows.html "The Battle of the Narrows"]. ''The GAGenWeb Project''</ref>

==Education==

Cornelia has been helped in its growth by its good schools. {{citation needed|date=May 2021}} In the early days, the school system was owned and operated by the town of Cornelia. Each student provided their books and paid a tuition fee, half payable before Christmas, with the balance due after Christmas. The school principal would determine what books would be needed and would then send someone to Atlanta to order books and supplies personally from the publishers (Maxwell, p.&nbsp;4).{{citation needed|date=March 2023}} Among the first schools was the Kimsey Institute, located on land given by T.J. Kimsey. The First Baptist Church was organized there; for many years it was used for both school and church. Willie Grant and J.T. Wise were two of the early teachers. After attendance outgrew the early frame building in 1897, another school was built with Professor A.E. Booth elected as principal. According to the document published by the Habersham County Department of Education in 1937, Professor Booth added a training course for teachers, and students were attracted to this school from all sections of northeast Georgia ''(p.&nbsp;21).'' Cornelia Normal Institute was chartered on May 27, 1901. In 1952, the schools in Habersham were consolidated. The elementary schools had been kept in each town but two high schools were built, one to serve each end of the county. Prior to 1952, Cornelia Public School served all the students residing in Cornelia. The high school curriculum included college preparatory and business classes, athletics for both males and females, music, and ''"expression" (speech classes).'' The school's first graduates were in the Class of 1899 and included Martin L. York, Charles Crunkleton, Calvania T. York, Albert N. McConnell, Wylie G. Light, and Ida K. Baugh.{{citation needed|date=March 2023}}

German and Swiss immigrants used their wine-making skills to create an industry in the 1880s that flourished until a [[prohibition]] law stopped it. [[Cotton]], [[timber]] and [[lumber]] products, and the [[apple]] and [[peach]] industries were also important to the success of the area. Riegel Textile built one of the region's first major industrial facilities in 1966 with what was then an ultra-modern, cutting edge [[textile]] mill designed by Bill Pittendreigh in the neighboring community of [[Alto, Georgia|Alto]].  As with any city, there were a number of businesses, but hotels contributed greatly to the growth and development of the city in its early history.{{citation needed|date=March 2023}}

==The Big Red Apple==
[[File:Cornelia, Georgia Big Red Apple.JPG|thumb|Big Red Apple]]
Cornelia's Big Red Apple, located at the old train depot in downtown, pays homage to the apple and apple growers of the county. Built of steel and concrete in 1925, the statue, according to Habersham County, weighs {{convert|5200|lb|t}} and is {{convert|7|ft|m}} high.

Towards the end of [[World War I]], "extension agents" began to play a very important role in northeast Georgia. These people, as a group, supported the end of the one-crop ''(cotton)'' economy. Throughout the state they began to educate farmers in crop diversification so that if one crop failed income from other crops could support the family. In Gwinnett, Cherokee and Hall counties, farmers increased production of dairy products. The peach crop in Bartow County was expanded. In Habersham and Gilmer counties farmers increased production of apples and peaches.

The extension agents' push for this diversity seemed almost prescient, for in 1922 the [[boll weevil]] began the systematic destruction of cotton crops in the state of Georgia. By 1924 cotton output had dropped to 50% of earlier levels. In 1925 the people of Cornelia realized that the apple had been a key in preventing the scourge that destroyed other counties and drove rural families to cities like Atlanta and [[Macon, Georgia|Macon]]. The concept for the statue was born, thanks in part to the newly formed [[Kiwanis Club]].

At the dedication on June 4, 1926, many notables attended, including Senator [[Walter F. George]]. Because apple sales were off dramatically, in 1932 local farmers decided to put them in cold storage until the following spring, but the sales did not materialize, so the farmers were not only out the cost of raising the crop, they were also out the cost of storing the crop. By the summer of 1933, the apples that had saved the county less than 10 years earlier nearly destroyed it.

Through the years downtown Cornelia changed dramatically. As the railroad era passed the old depot was closed and boarded up, and the once central location was only a side street. A recent renovation has brought the depot back to life, and the quiet Big Red Apple is the focal point of a yearly festival<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.corneliageorgia.org/149/Big-Red-Apple |title=Big Red Apple |publisher=City of Cornellia |access-date=19 January 2017}}</ref> held the first week in October and a 5K road race held at the end of October.

==Demographics==
{{US Census population
|1890= 175
|1900= 467
|1910= 1114
|1920= 1274
|1930= 1542
|1940= 1808
|1950= 2424
|1960= 2936
|1970= 3014
|1980= 3203
|1990= 3219
|2000= 3674
|2010= 4160
|2020= 4503
|footnote=U.S. Decennial Census<ref name="DecennialCensus">{{cite web|url=https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/decennial-census.html|title=Census of Population and Housing|publisher=Census.gov|access-date=June 4, 2015}}</ref>
}}

===2020 census===
{| class="wikitable"
|+Cornelia Racial Composition<ref>{{Cite web|title=Explore Census Data|url=https://data.census.gov/cedsci/table?g=1600000US1319728&tid=DECENNIALPL2020.P2|access-date=2021-12-07|website=data.census.gov}}</ref>
!Race
!Num.
!Perc.
|-
|[[White (U.S. Census)|White]]
|2,047
|45.46%
|-
|[[African American (U.S. Census)|Black or African American]]
|295
|6.55%
|-
|[[Native American (U.S. Census)|Native American]]
|8
|0.18%
|-
|[[Asian (U.S. Census)|Asian]]
|206
|4.57%
|-
|[[Pacific Islander (U.S. Census)|Pacific Islander]]
|1
|0.02%
|-
|[[Race (United States Census)|Other/Mixed]]
|147
|3.26%
|-
|[[Hispanic (U.S. Census)|Hispanic]] or [[Latino (U.S. Census)|Latino]]
|1,799
|39.95%
|}
As of the [[2020 United States census]], there were 4,503 people, 1,365 households, and 871 families residing in the city.

===2010 census===
As of the [[census]]<ref name="GR2" /> of 2010, there were 4,160 people, 1,495 households, and 1,495 families residing in the city.  The population density was {{convert|1,071.3|PD/sqmi|PD/km2|sp=us|adj=off}}.  There were 1,728 housing units at an average density of {{convert|469.7|/sqmi|/km2|sp=us|adj=off}}.  The racial makeup of the city was 67.7% [[White (U.S. Census)|White]], 5.7% [[African American (U.S. Census)|African American]], 0.9% [[Native American (U.S. Census)|Native American]], 4.2% [[Asian (U.S. Census)|Asian]] (3.0% Laotian), 0.6% [[Pacific Islander (U.S. Census)|Pacific Islander]], 16.5% from [[Race (United States Census)|other races]], and 4.4% from two or more races. [[Hispanic (U.S. Census)|Hispanic]] or [[Latino (U.S. Census)|Latino]] of any race were 34.8% of the population (26.7% Mexican).

There were 1,016 households, out of which 24.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 47.4% were [[Marriage|married couples]] living together, 12.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 35.6% were non-families. 32.1% of all households were made up of individuals, and 17.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.  The average household size was 2.47 and the average family size was 3.09.

In the city, the population was spread out, with 23.4% under the age of 18, 11.0% from 18 to 24, 26.4% from 25 to 44, 21.7% from 45 to 64, and 17.5% who were 65 years of age or older.  The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females, there were 93.8 males.  For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 89.2 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $31,111, and the median income for a family was $42,041. Males had a median income of $25,505 versus $20,404 for females. The [[per capita income]] for the city was $21,701.  About 8.8% of families and 13.3% of the population were below the [[poverty line]], including 15.1% of those under age 18 and 20.2% of those age 65 or over.

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{commons category|Cornelia, Georgia}}
*[http://corneliageorgia.org City website]

{{Habersham County, Georgia}}

{{authority control}}

[[Category:Cities in Georgia (U.S. state)]]
[[Category:Cities in Habersham County, Georgia]]
[[Category:Micropolitan areas of Georgia (U.S. state)]]
[[Category:Populated places established in 1860]]
[[Category:1860 establishments in Georgia (U.S. state)]]