Eastman, Georgia

Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox settlement

Eastman is a city in Dodge County, Georgia, United States. The population was 5,658 at the 2020 census, up from 4,962 at the 2010 census.<ref name="Census 2010">Template:Cite web Template:Dead link Template:Cbignore</ref> The city was named after William Pitt Eastman, a native of Massachusetts who purchased a large tract of land along the Macon and Brunswick Railroad, and settled a city on the site.

In the 19th century, this was a center of the timber and sawmill industry. During the Great Depression in 1937, the first Stuckey's Pecan Shoppe, once well-known along roadways throughout the United States, was founded in Eastman.

History

The first permanent settlement of the area took place in 1840.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The population continued to grow when, in 1869, a station was built for the newly constructed Macon and Brunswick Railroad which passed through the area, stimulating an economic boom. The settlement was originally named Levison and was renamed Eastman by December 1869. Eastman was designated as the seat of newly formed Dodge County in 1871. It was incorporated as a town in 1873 and as a city in 1905.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Eastman is named for W. P. Eastman, who, with W. E. Dodge, presented the county with a courthouse.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

During that same time period, Ira Roe Foster, former Quartermaster General of Georgia, operated a sawmill in Dodge County. In 1869, Foster built a residence in what would become Eastman. Foster was one of many who came to the area to participate in the timber and sawmill boom.

During the boom, it was estimated that, on average, there was one mill every two miles along the industrial corridor created by the Macon and Brunswick Railroad.<ref name="Wetherington2001">Template:Cite book</ref> Unlike earlier eras, when timber was transported downstream in large river rafts, sawmills along the industrial corridor shipped their timber by rail. In his book The New South Comes to Wiregrass Georgia 1860-1910, author Mark V. Wetherington states: "Ira R. Foster shipped lumber to Brunswick, where it was loaded onto timber schooners and transported to international markets like Liverpool, Rio de Janeiro, and Havana."<ref name="Wetherington2001" /> When Eastman was incorporated in 1872, Foster served as its first mayor.<ref name="Cobb">Template:Cite web</ref>

In the early years of the 20th century, racial tensions increased between the white and black communities in and about Eastman, resulting in a number of documented lynchings. In one instance, a man misidentified as the rapist Ed Claus was murdered before the real Claus was identified, apprehended, and lynched.<ref name="lynch">Template:Cite book</ref> In 1919, rumors that local blacks were intending to rise up and exterminate white residents, led to the murder of Eli Cooper and the burning of several black churches, which were believed to be the focal point of the uprising.<ref name="lynch2">Template:Cite book</ref>

Geography

Eastman is located in the center of Dodge County at Template:Coord (32.197760, -83.179271).<ref name="GR1">Template:Cite web</ref> U.S. Route 23 passes through the center of town, leading northwest Template:Convert to Cochran and southeast Template:Convert to McRae-Helena. U.S. Route 341 bypasses the city on the southwest, leading west Template:Convert to Hawkinsville and southeast with US 23 to McRae-Helena. Sugar Creek runs to the southwest of the city.

According to the United States Census Bureau, Eastman has a total area of Template:Convert, of which Template:Convert is land and Template:Convert, or 0.93%, is water.<ref name="Census 2010"/>

Climate

Template:Weather box

Demographics

Template:US Census population

Eastman racial composition as of 2020<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Race	Num.	Perc.
White (non-Hispanic)	2,778	49.1%
Black or African American (non-Hispanic)	2,399	42.4%
Native American	5	0.09%
Asian	54	0.95%
Pacific Islander	4	0.07%
Other/Mixed	182	3.22%
Hispanic or Latino	236	4.17%

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 5,658 people, 1,916 households, and 1,343 families residing in the city.

Recreation

Eastman has few recreational activities. The Dodge County Golf Club has a 9-hole golf course, a swimming pool and private golf cart selection. It is positioned next to the railroad tracks that run through the town. The Eastman-Dodge County Recreational Fields, located along the Eastman-Dublin Highway (Highway 117), offers the following public sports for kids: football, baseball, tee ball, cheerleading, soccer, and girl's flag football.

Education

Dodge County School District

Dodge County students in kindergarten to twelfth grades are in the Dodge County School District, which consists of a pre-K school, two elementary schools, a middle school, and a high school.<ref name=stats>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Georgia Board of Education Template:Dead link, Retrieved June 6, 2010.</ref> The district has 210 full-time teachers and over 3,500 students.<ref name=stats/>

Dodge County Achievement Center/Performance Learning Center (DAC/PLC)
Dodge County Primary School (Pre-K/2nd)
Dodge County Elementary School (3rd/5th)
Dodge County Middle School
Dodge County High School<ref>Dodge County High School Template:Webarchive, Retrieved July 27, 2010.</ref>

Higher education

File:Middle Georgia State College, Eastman Campus.JPG

Middle Georgia State University - Eastman Campus at the Heart of Georgia Regional Airport

Middle Georgia State University — Georgia Aviation Campus (previously known as Georgia Aviation Technical College before it merged with the Middle Georgia College).<ref>Middle Georgia College- Aviation Campus Template:Webarchive, Retrieved July 27, 2010.</ref>

Peabody School

Peabody School, also known as Peabody High School, is an historic school building located on Herman Avenue in Eastman, Georgia.<ref>Peabody High School Template:Webarchive, Retrieved July 27, 2010.</ref> Built in 1938, it was designed by Eastman-born American architect Edward Columbus Hosford, who is noted for the courthouses and other buildings that he designed in Florida, Georgia and Texas. In the days of segregation, it was an all-black public school. It was closed in 1970 and its students were integrated into Dodge County High School and other formerly all-white public schools in Dodge County.

On November 20, 2004, the building was added to the National Register of Historic Places. It was then vacant and in private ownership.

Transportation

Aviation

The Heart of Georgia Regional Airport Template:Airport codes serves as a general aviation airport in Eastman, on the city's eastern edge near SR 46. The airport was built in 1966 to accommodate the expanding business needs of Stuckey's. The airport is home to Middle Georgia State University's Georgia Aviation Center, the only state-supported aviation college in Georgia.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>