AUGUSTA, a city of Georgia, U.S.A., 171m. E. by S. of Atlanta, at the head of navigation on the Savannah river; the county-seat of Richmond county. It is on federal highways I, 25, and 78; is a pivoted point for other south-eastern roads; and is served by the Southern, the Atlantic Coast Line, the Central of Georgia, the Georgia, the Charleston and Western Carolina, and the Georgia and Florida railways, and by steamboats to Savannah at the mouth of the river. It has an airport, the Raleigh H. Daniel Air Field. The area is 9.68 sq.m. The population was in 1920; and was 60,342 in 1930 by the Federal census. About 4o% are negroes.
Augusta has a delightful climate, with an average monthly temperature ranging from 47° F. in January to 81° in July, and an average of 8 hrs. of sunshine daily throughout the year. This, combined with its accessibility, and with the natural beauties of pine forests, dogwood, jasmine, azaleas, and other characteristic flora, has given it an established reputation as a winter resort. There are hotels of charm and distinction, and many beautiful private winter homes. Horseback riding is popular, as well as tennis and golf, and the annual winter horse show is a brilliant event.
The city extends along the river, from Lake Olmstead on the north, for more than 3m. On its outskirts are the residential suburbs of Lakemont and Forest Hills; the Country Club with two 18-hole golf courses; the aviation field; the U.S. Veterans' Psychiatric hospital No. 62 ; and Pendleton camp, a private bene faction for disabled veterans of the World War (Iooac. of virgin woodland, with cottages built as required), given and endowed (1919) by his parents as a memorial to Lieut. John Pendleton King. Across the river in South Carolina are the residential suburbs of North Augusta. Three miles down the river is the new Sand Bar Ferry bridge. The giant oaks which shade its approach mark the site of the most famous duelling ground of South Carolina and Georgia, where the last duel on record was fought in 1875.
The main business thoroughfare of the city (Broad street) is I 7of t. wide, and in it stands the Confederate monument, a shaft of marble surmounted by the figure of a private soldier. On beautiful Greene street are the city hall and the county court house, and several monuments of interest : to the poets of Georgia, who include Sidney Lanier ; to Samuel Hammond, a revolutionary soldier and statesman; to the men of Richmond county who fell in the war between the States; and to the three Georgia signers of the Declaration of Independence. Over the canal is a bridge erected as a memorial to Archie Butt, who went down with the "Titanic." The city is famous for its beautiful private gardens.
There are many buildings of historic interest : e.g., St. Paul's Episcopal church (founded ; the First Presbyterian church (1804) and the manse where Woodrow Wilson passed his boy hood ; the United States arsenal, the only one in the south-east of the Mississippi, which was established in 1816, and has oc cupied its present site since 1826; the chimney of the Confederate powder mill, which was the principal source of supply for the Confederate army; and many homes of men who were prominent in the history of state and nation. A Celtic cross in St. Paul's churchyard marks the site of Fort Augusta, built by Oglethorpe in 2735. It was near Augusta that Eli Whitney set up and oper ated his first cotton-gin.
The medical department of the University of Georgia (see ATHENS), founded in 1829 as the Georgia Medical college, oc cupies a campus of 45ac., on which are located also the University hospital (built and maintained by the city) and the Wilhenford hospital for children, both of which are under the medical and surgical control of the university medical department. The State school for mentally defective children is I om. from the city. The boys' high school occupies a building erected for the Academy of Richmond county (founded 1783). Paine college (incorporated as Paine institute, 1883) is an institution for negroes supported by the Methodist Episcopal Church South.
Augusta has a large wholesale and retail trade. It is one of the largest inland cotton markets in the country, handling over 400,00o bales yearly. Bank clearings in 1925 amounted to $345,121,000. The city owns a canal which furnishes water-power to six cotton mills and other industries, and additional power is available from the hydro-electric development at the Stevens Creek dam, several miles above the city. The leading manufactures are cotton goods, cotton waste, brick, automobile tires, fertilizers, and lumber. The aggregate output of the 75 manufacturing establishments within the city limits in 1927 was valued at $27,799,755, The assessed valuation of property in 1926 was $51,688,891.
Augusta was founded in 1735 by James Edward Oglethorpe, and was named after the contemporary princess of Wales. The Carolina colonists had a trading post in the vicinity before Ogle thorpe, and earlier still it had been the chief trading centre of the seven Cherokee nations. During the colonial period it was the scene of several parleys and treaties with the Indians. At the most important of these, in 1763, the Choctaws, Creeks, Chica saws, Cherokees, and Catawbas, meeting with the governors of North and South Carolina, Virginia, and Georgia, agreed to the terms of the Treaty of Paris. At the opening of the Revolution the prevailing temper of Augusta was loyalist. The town was held by the British for a month in 1779, and again from May 178o, to June 1781. Except for these periods it was the seat of the state government in 1779-80 and again from 1783-95. Here met the Land court which confiscated the property of the loyalists of Georgia ; and also the convention which ratified the constitution of the United States.
The town was incorporated in 1798 and secured a city charter in 1817. A steam packet to Savannah was established in 1817, and this stimulated the commercial development. By 186o the popu lation had grown to 12,493. Throughout the Civil War the city was an important centre for the manufacture of military supplies.