Timeline of Macon, Georgia

The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Macon, Georgia, United States.

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• 1806 – U.S. Fort Hawkins built at the present-day site of Creek Indian Ocmulgee Old Fields (future site of Macon).^[1]
• 1821 – Fort Hawkins settlement renamed "Newtown".^[1]
• 1822 – Bibb County created.^[2]
• 1823 – Town of Macon incorporated; named after North Carolina statesman Nathaniel Macon.^[1]
• 1826
  • Macon Telegraph newspaper begins publication.^[3]
  • First Presbyterian Church founded.^[4]
• 1829 – Newtown becomes part of Macon.^[1]
• 1833 – Steamboat in operation.^[1]
• 1834 – City of Macon incorporated.^[5]
• 1835 – Robert Augustus Beall elected mayor.
• 1836 – Monroe Railroad Bank built.^[6]
• 1838 – Monroe Railroad (Forsyth-Macon) begins operating.^[5]
• 1839 – Georgia Female College opens.^[7]
• 1840
  • Rose Hill Cemetery established.
  • Population: 3,927.^[8]
• 1843 – The Central of Georgia Railway connects Savannah and Macon.^[6]
• 1846 – The Macon and Western Railroad connects Macon and Atlanta; the Small House (residence) built (approximate date).^[6]
• 1848 – Telegraph begins operating.^[9]
• 1851 – Georgia State Fair relocates to Macon.^[5][10]
• 1860
  • Belgian Fair and Cotton Planters' Exposition held.^[6]
  • Population: 8,247.^[8]
• 1862 – "Arsenal of the Confederate Government moved to Macon" during the American Civil War.^[9]
• 1864
  • July 30: Macon besieged by Union forces.^[5]
  • "City Hall made temporary State Capitol of Georgia."^[9]
• 1865 – April 20: Macon occupied by Union forces.^[1]
• 1866 – October 29: Equal Rights and Educational Association of Georgia meeting held in Macon.^[11]
• 1871
  • Mercer University relocates to Macon from Penfield.^[5]
  • Bibb Manufacturing Company in business.^[6]
• 1874 – Public Library (social library) established.^[12]
• 1876 – Mount de Sales Academy active.
• 1880
  • Telephone begins operating.^[9]
  • Population: 12,749.^[8]
• 1884
  • Macon Daily News begins publication.^[3]
  • Academy of Music built.
• 1887
  • April 6: Riverside Cemetery chartered^[13]
  • August 6: Woolfolk family murdered near Macon.^[14]
• 1900 – Price Library (public library) opens.^[15]
• 1906 – Ocmulgee River levee construction begins.^[6]
• 1910 – Population: 40,665.
• 1917 – Cox Capitol Theatre in business.
• 1918
  • National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Columbus branch organized (approximate date).^[16]
  • Macon Art Association formed.^[17]
  • Outbreak of Spanish flu.^[14]
• 1919
  • Washington Memorial Library (public library) established.^[6]
  • Paul Jones was lynched on November 2, 1919, after being accused of attacking a fifty-year-old white woman. He was burned alive.
• 1921 – Douglass Theatre and Rialto Theatre in business.^[18]
• 1922
  • WMAZ radio begins broadcasting.^[19]
  • Sherah Israel Synagogue built.^[20]
• 1925 – Macon City Auditorium built.^[6]
• 1929
  • Luther Williams Field (stadium) opens.
  • Walker Business College, an African American business and vocational school opens a second campus in Macon^[21]
• 1933 – Citizens & Southern National Bank building constructed.^[6]
• 1936
  • Ocmulgee National Monument established.
  • Farmer's Market built.^[6]
• 1938 – Bibb Theatre in business.^[18]
• 1948 – WIBB radio begins broadcasting.
• 1949 – Middle Georgia Regional Library headquartered in Macon.
• 1950 – Population: 70,252.
• 1952 – Georgia Journal newspaper begins publication.^[3]
• 1953 – WMAZ-TV begins broadcasting.^[22]
• 1955 – Singer James Brown records his first single "Please, Please, Please" at the studio of WIBB radio in Macon.^[9]
• 1960 – "Stratford Academy founded"
• 1964 – Middle Georgia Historical Society formed.^[23]
• 1965 – Macon Junior College established.^[5]
• 1966 – U.S. Supreme Court decides Evans v. Newton desegregation-related lawsuit.^[24]
• 1967
  • December 18: Funeral of musician Otis Redding.^[14]
  • Ronnie Thompson becomes mayor.
• 1970 – Population: 122,423.
• 1978 – Middle Georgia Archives organized.^[25]
• 1983
  • Cherry Blossom Festival begins.^[9]
  • Richard Ray becomes U.S. representative for Georgia's 3rd congressional district.^[26]
• 1993 – Sanford Bishop becomes U.S. representative for Georgia's 2nd congressional district.^[27]
• 1994
  • July: Flood.^[9]
  • Georgia Sports Hall of Fame relocates to Macon.^[14]
• 1999 – C. Jack Ellis becomes mayor.^[9]
• 2000 – Population: 97,255.
• 2001 – City website online (approximate date).^{[28][chronology citation needed]}
• 2003 – Historic Macon Foundation formed.^[29]
• 2007 – Robert Reichert becomes mayor.
• 2010 – Population: 91,351.^[30]
• 2012 – Governments of Macon city and Bibb County consolidated.
• 2015 – Middle Georgia State University active.