Everything about Brunswick Georgia totally explained
Brunswick is a city in the
U.S. state of
Georgia and the
county seat of
Glynn County. The municipality is located in southeastern Georgia on the eastern shore of Oglethorpe Bay, approximately 30
miles (50
km) north of the
Florida border. It was founded in 1771 by the
Province of Georgia and incorporated on
February 22,
1856.
Plans for the city's streets and squares were laid out in the grid style following
James Oglethorpe's
Savannah Plan. In 1789, just eighteen years after its founding, President
George Washington proclaimed Brunswick as one of the five original ports of entry for the
colonies.
In 2006, the city proper had an estimated population of 16,074 with an estimated metropolitan population of 100,613. It is the center of the
Brunswick metropolitan area, the twelfth largest metropolitan area in the state of Georgia, which also includes the
Golden Isles and
Darien.
The
Port of Brunswick is one of the nation's most productive ports on the Atlantic coast. The city's economy ecompasses manufacturing, agricultural processing, bulk cargoes, and tourism: the single largest industry in Brunswick and Glynn County. The metropolitan area also relies heavily on the
shrimping industry; the city was once called
The Shrimp Capital of the World due to the many wild shrimp harvested in its local waters.
The headquarters facility of the
Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC) is a vital part of Brunswick's economy as well; the facility brings in thousands of students monthly. Adjacent to FLETC is
Brunswick Golden Isles Airport, which provides air service to the region.
Brunswick has a poor record when it comes to environmental responsibility.
The county is home to seventeen identified hazardous waste sites, six actively polluting industries, and four
Superfund sites.
History
Early colonization
As early as 1738, the area's first English settler, Mark Carr, a captain in General
James Oglethorpe's Marine Boat Company, established his plantation along the Turtle River (at an area known as Plug Point). In 1771, the
Royal Province of Georgia purchased Carr's fields and laid out the town of Brunswick in the grid style following Oglethorpe's Savannah Plan. Brunswick obtained its name from the duchy of
Brunswick-Lüneburg in
Germany, the ancestral home of
King George II of
Great Britain.
In 1789,
George Washington proclaimed Brunswick one of the five original ports of entry for the
colonies. Because of this notion, the city began to prosper, and in 1797, the
Georgia General Assembly in
Louisville transferred the county seat of Glynn County from
Frederica on
St. Simons Island to Brunswick.
Commerce and expansion
Little development occurred in the town during the thirty years after its designation as the county seat. Records show that
Glynn Academy, the first public building, was built in 1819; it closed four years later due to lack of attendence. The school soon re-opened, however, and in 1840, a new building was erected on Hillsborough Square, the present location of Glynn Academy. In 1826, the Georgia General Assembly granted title to much of the undeveloped town to Urbanus Dart and William R. Davis. Soon after the title was granted, Brunswick had a courthouse, a jail, and about thirty houses and stores. Along with the founder of the
Brunswick and Florida Railroad, Thomas Butler King of St. Simons Island, Dart and Davis formed a company to construct a canal north to the
Altamaha River, connecting the natural port with interior plantations.
In 1836, the Oglethorpe House hotel was built; two years later, a newspaper was started and a new bank opened. But the panic of 1837 caused
cotton and
timber prices to plummet and languished the progress of the canal and railroad projects. The Cotton Crash of 1839 only put the city in further jeopardy.
Following a period of recession, the Altamaha-Brunswick Canal opened in 1854, followed by the railroad in 1856. Brunswick received its second charter that very year and was officially incorporated as a city on February 22, 1856. In 1860, the city had a population of 468, a weekly newspaper, a bank, and a sawmill.
American Civil War
During the
Civil War, the
Confederate States Army burned the
St. Simons Island Lighthouse as they left to keep it from falling into
Union hands. In Brunswick, wharves as well as the Oglethorpe House (which would have made an ideal headquarters or hospital for the Union Army) were burned. When the city was ordered to evacuate, most of the citizens fled to nearby
Waynesville. The canal and railroad ceased operation, and Brunswick was abandoned.
After suffering from post-war depression into the 1870s, in 1874, one of the nation's largest lumber mills began operation on St. Simons Island, leading to the return of economic prosperity. Canals and rivers gave way to rail traffic as the
Brunswick & Albany and Macon & Brunswick railroads connected Georgia to the
Port of Brunswick.
Late 19th century
In 1878, poet and native Georgian
Sidney Lanier wrote his world-famous poem "
The Marshes of Glynn" based on the salt
marshes that lie in Glynn County as he sought relief from
tuberculosis in Brunswick's climate. The
Sidney Lanier Bridge, which spans across the marshes, is named in his honor. There is a historical marker overlooking the marshes of Glynn commemorating Lanier and the poem, and a live oak tree near the marker is named the Sidney Lanier Oak.
The December 1888 issue of
Harper's Weekly predicted that "Brunswick by the Sea" was destined to become the winter Newport.
Jekyll Island had become a posh, exclusive getaway for some of the era's most influential people. Rockefellers, Vanderbilts, Pulitzers, and Goodyears escaped to Brunswick and the Golden Isles to hunt, fish, and mingle. People flocked to the breathtaking Oglethorpe Hotel once it opened its doors in 1888.
In 1893, a
yellow fever epidemic compounded the troubles brought by world-wide depression. Two
hurricanes, one in 1893 and one in 1898, and their resulting storm surge flooded the city. However, the city quickly recovered because of the ever-expanding port business for cotton, lumber, naval stores, and oysters.
The World Wars
Wooden and concrete ships designed to repel mines were built in Brunswick for
World War I. A large gunpowder and munitions plant was built to the northwest of town, but it wasn't completed before the war ended.
During
World War II, German U-boats threatened the coast of Georgia, Florida, and South Carolina.
Blimps became a common site as they patrolled the coastal areas. During the war, blimps from Brunswick's Glynco Naval Air Station, at the time the largest blimp base in the world, safely escorted almost 100,000 ships without a single vessel lost to enemy submarines.
Liberty ships
In the Second World War, Brunswick boomed as over 16,000 workers of the
J. A. Jones Construction Company produced ninety-nine
Liberty ships and "Knot" ships (
Type C1-M ships which were designed for short coastal runs, and most often named for
knots) for the
U.S. Maritime Commission to transport
war matériel to the
European and
Pacific Theatres.
The first ship was the
SS James M. Wayne (named after
James Moore Wayne), whose keel was laid on
July 6 1942 and was launched on
March 13 1943. The last ship was the
SS Coastal Ranger, whose keel was laid on
June 7 1945 and launched on
August 25 1945. The first six ships took 305 to 331 days each to complete, but soon production ramped up and most of the remaining ships were built in about two months, bringing the average down to 89 days each. By November 1943, about four ships were launched per month. The
SS William F. Jerman was completed in only 34 days in November and December 1944. Six ships could be under construction in
slipways at one time.
In December 1944, the
United States Navy requested six ships from each shipyard. The workers guaranteed the delivery of not six, but
seven ships. For the first eleven months of 1944, an average of 4.27 ships were launched per month. Up to this point the shipyard had never produced more than five ships in a calendar month, except for August 1944, in which six ships were launched. However, the first ship of August 1944 was launched on August 1 and the last one on August 31, and only three ships had been launched in July and only four ships were launched in September. So a ship that might well have been launched in July was actually launched on August 1. The workers fulfilled their promise of completing seven ships in December 1944 by working overtime, including working on
Christmas Day. Apart from the ships launched in December 1944, only one ship was completed in under 43 days. With the extra work, all of the ships launched this month were completed in 34 to 42 days (which included the SS
William F. Jerman mentioned above).
Furthermore, the workers asked that they not be paid for their extra work. Each worker endorsed their time-and-a-half paycheck over to the government. They never produced more than five ships in a calendar month again, although a full five ships had been launched in the previous month of November and five more were launched the next month, January 1945. By March 1945 production of ships started to decline. The last ship launched was the SS
Coastal Ranger, launched on
August 25,
1945, shortly after the war ended.
Most of the Liberty ships from Brunswick were assigned to U.S. shipping companies and most of them were named after famous Americans (starting with
U.S. Supreme Court Justices from the South). However, numbers 19, 29, and 31–40 went to
Great Britain (
Ministry of War Transport) under the Supplemental Defense Appropriations Act of 1941
(see Lend-Lease) and were given one-word names starting with "Sam" (for example
Samdee). Number 73 went to the
Norwegian government.
An iron cut-away scale model (approximately 1:20) of a Liberty ship had been built for employee training. Sometime after the end of World War II this was put on display in Brunswick at the end of F. J. Torras Causeway near the shipyards. It wasn't maintained, however, and after twenty years it rusted badly and was scrapped. In 1987, efforts began to build and display a new model. This scale model was unveiled on
August 23,
1991 in Mary Ross Park. It is very similar to the original scale model except that it isn't cut away to reveal the inner decks. A new park (called
Liberty Ship Park) is currently under construction near the site of the original Sidney Lanier Bridge and the model is to be moved there.
Modern-day
Today Brunswick is home to a thriving port, the deepest natural port in the area. As the western-most harbor on the eastern seaboard, as well as the proclaimed "Shrimp Capital of the World," Brunswick bustles with activity. The city is also home to
Hercules, one of the oldest and most important yellow-pine chemical plants in the world. Rich-SeaPak Corporation and King and Prince Seafood are also based in the area. The
Georgia Ports Authority Mayor's Point and Marine Point Terminals, as well as the Colonel's Island Bulk Facility attract business from around the world.
Brunswick's Old Town residential and commercial district is the largest small town, urban National Register of Historic Places district in Georgia. Downtown is undergoing a revitalization through the National Main Street Program, preserving and showcasing its distinctive historic structures. Annual events such as the Old Town Tour of Homes, Concerts in the Square, the Brunswick Stewbilee, and HarborFest encourage visitors to discover the charms of Brunswick's parks and gracious homes.
Geography and climate
Geography
Brunswick is located at (31.158777, -81.489252). According to the
United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 25.2 square miles (65.2
km²), of which, 17.2 square miles (44.6 km²) of it's land and 8.0 square miles (20.7 km²) of it (31.68%) is water. The
Intracoastal Waterway passes between Brunswick and
St. Simons Island, utilizing the South Brunswick River and the Mackay River. Brunswick is the lowest city in the state of Georgia, with an elevation of only above sea level.
Climate
Brunswick has a
humid subtropical climate with mild weather during winters and hot weather during summers. High temperatures average 62 to 90 °F (17-32 °C) throughout the year. High
heat indices are not uncommon for the summer months in the Brunswick area. The highest temperature ever recorded in Brunswick was 103 °F (39 °C). The warmest months are July and August, with an average
temperature range of to . The coolest month is January, averaging to . Average annual
precipitation is 50.9
in, with December on average the driest month. Rainfall averages around a year, with the wettest month being September.
The coldest temperature ever recorded in Brunswick was 13 °F (-10.6 °C). Snow is very rare in Brunswick. When snow does fall, it usually melts before touching the ground, or upon making contact with the ground. Most denizens of the city can remember accumulated snow on only one occasion—a thin ground cover that occurred a few days before Christmas of 1989, resulting in the unusual sight of palm trees and palmetto bushes covered in snow.
Demographics
As of the
census of 2000, there were 15,600 people, 6,085 households, and 3,681 families residing in the city. The
population density was 906 people per square mile (349.8/km²). There were 6,952 housing units at an average density of 403.8/sq mi (155.9/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 59.81%
African American, 36.41%
White, 0.27%
Native American, 0.35%
Asian, 0.03%
Pacific Islander, 1.73% from
other races, and 1.40% from two or more races.
Hispanic or
Latino of any race were 1.82% of the population.
There were 6,085 households out of which 29.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 31.4% were
married couples living together, 24.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 39.5% were non-families. 33.6% of all households were made up of individuals and 13.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.46 and the average family size was 3.13.
In the city the population was spread out with 27.3% under the age of 18, 10.1% from 18 to 24, 27.1% from 25 to 44, 20.2% from 45 to 64, and 15.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 35 years. For every 100 females there were 88.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 82.8 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $22,272, and the median income for a family was $28,564. Males had a median income of $26,172 versus $18,602 for females. The
per capita income for the city was $13,062. About 25.2% of families and 30.4% of the population were below the
poverty line, including 43.9% of those under age 18 and 21.7% of those age 65 or over.
Economy
The Port of Brunswick is one of the nation's most productive ports on the Atlantic Coast. Besides handling such products as wood pulp, paper products, wheat, soybeans, and heavy machinery, it's the primary U.S. port of import and/or export of numerous automobile manufacturers including Jaguar, Land Rover, Porsche, Mitsubishi, Volvo, Ford, GM, and Mercedes. Other exports out of the Port of Brunswick include agricultural products (barley malt, corn, and oats) and other bulk cargoes, including cement, gypsum, limestone, perlite, salt, and sand. The port is operated by the
Georgia Ports Authority, which operates all four ports in the state.
Another landmark of the city is the
Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC), which brings in thousands of students monthly. It provides training for eighty-one federal agencies, in addition to providing services to state and local governments as well as several international organizations.
Wood pulp is produced by the
Georgia-Pacific plant, which is the largest single-site fluff production facility in the world. The Hercules plant on the northern side of the city manufactures products extracted from pine stumps; Rich-SeaPak and King and Prince Seafood process fish and shellfish.
In addition to being the second largest concentration of historic structures in Georgia, Brunswick and the surrounding area is also a year-round resort community. In fact, tourism is the single largest industry in Brunswick and Glynn County. Located in Glynn County across from mainland Brunswick and the area's famous
marshes are the
Golden Isles of Georgia, which include
St. Simons Island,
Sea Island,
Jekyll Island and
Little St. Simons Island. The islands' beaches, resorts, shops, and historic sites attract visitors from around the world annually. In 2004, Sea Island was the site of the
G8 summit of world leaders hosted by U.S. President
George W. Bush.
Brunswick has four large shopping centers. The oldest, Cypress Mill Square, is located on Cypress Mill Road and contains many small, locally owned stores as well as a
Big Lots. With 67 stores, the area's largest indoor mall is Colonial Mall Glynn Place which is anchored by
Belk,
Sears,
J.C. Penney,
Steve & Barry's, and includes a large movie theater operated by Georgia Theatre Company. An outdoor shopping center located near the mall contains
Books-A-Million,
T.J. Maxx,
Staples, and
Pier 1 Imports among many others. Glynn Isles, the newest major shopping center in the city, features
Target,
Circuit City,
Lowe's,
ROSS,
PetSmart,
Old Navy,
Office Depot, and several smaller stores.
Government
City government:>
| Mayor |
Bryan Thompson |
| Mayor Pro Tem |
Cornell Harvey |
| Commissioner |
James H. Brooks |
| Commissioner |
Mark Spaulding |
| Commissioner |
Jonathan Williams |
Brunswick uses the
mayor-council form of government. The city commission consists of five individuals, four commissioners, and a mayor. The mayor's position on the commission is to serve as the chairperson. The mayor and commissioners are elected at-large by all the electors voting in a
municipal election and are elected on a part-time basis. The mayor of Brunswick is Bryan Thompson. He was elected in 2005.
The city is divided into two wards, north and south, with two residents from each ward elected, with the mayor's seat being at large. The commission meetings are held twice each month at Old City Hall on Newcastle Street and are open to the public.
Education
Higher education
Brunswick is home to
Coastal Georgia Community College. CGCC has nearly 2,000 undergraduates. It offers courses in programs designed to provide opportunities in three areas: two-year associate degree programs that prepare students to transfer to senior colleges and universities, one- and two-year career programs that prepare students for immediate employment; and developmental, and remedial courses for students who need to refresh or strengthen their academic background.
Primary and secondary schools
12,000 students attend schools in the Glynn County School System. There are nine
elementary schools, four
middle schools, and two
high schools: Brunswick High and
Glynn Academy. The latter is Georgia's second oldest public high school, founded in 1788 under the public education provisions of the Northwest Ordinances. Brunswick High School is located outside the city limits. Also, there are four private schools located throughout the county.
Infrastructure
Transportation
Brunswick Golden Isles Airport (
BQK,
KBQK) is served by
Delta Air Lines with several daily round trips to the
Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. Two Class I railway lines run through the city -
CSX and
Norfolk Southern.
The
Golden Isles Terminal Railroad is a short line operating of mainline trackage between Anguilla Junction and the Georgia Port Authority's
Port of Brunswick. This line connects with a line that originates in downtown Brunswick at Anguilla Junction.
Amtrak passenger service is available in nearby
Jesup.
The original Sidney Lanier Bridge was a
vertical lift bridge on
U.S. Highway 17 crossing over the South Brunswick River and was opened June 22, 1956. On November 7, 1972 the ship
African Neptune struck the bridge, causing parts of the bridge to collapse, taking cars with it. Ten deaths were caused by the accident. On May 3, 1987 the bridge was again struck by a ship, this time by the
Polish freighter
Ziemia Bialostocka (ziemia Białostocka). In 2003 a new
cable-stayed bridge with the same name was opened to allow larger ships to enter the port and to eliminate the need for the drawbridge on U.S. highway 17. It is the longest-spanning bridge in Georgia. The elevation at the top of the support towers is .
Five federal highways pass through Brunswick:
U.S. Highway 17,
Interstate 95,
U.S. Highway 82,
U.S. Highway 341, and
U.S. Highway 25. U.S. Highway 17 runs north to south through the eastern part of town and is a four lane highway. Interstate 95 runs north to south along the western part of the city. U.S. Highway 341 is multiplexed with U.S. Highway 25 for almost the entire route, and originates in downtown Brunswick off of U.S. 17; U.S. Highway 82 originates at the junction of U.S. 17 and
State Route 303.
In 2006, Glynn County applied for approximately $930,000 for first-year funding for a
transit service. The County and City match was for over $100,000 combined. The first year project would fund the purchase of up to four buses, two vans, signage, equipment, and facility improvements. The first-year application is still pending with the
Georgia DOT and the
Federal Transit Administration.
Health care
Southeast Georgia Health System is the main provider of health care in Brunswick and the surrounding area. The system's Brunswick Campus is a 316-bed full service (excluding open heart surgery) nonprofit hospital. Approximately 10,800 patients are admitted annually, and more than 40,000 are treated in the Emergency Care Center.
The Brunswick Campus employs approximately 1,320 individuals, making it the third largest non-manufacturing employer in Glynn County, with an annual payroll in excess of forty million dollars. The Medical Staff consists of more than 200 physicians with practices in nearly every major medical specialty. Several Brunswick Campus physicians participate in a multitude of managed health care networks in the Glynn County marketplace. Southeast Georgia Health System's facility managed care contracting is 90 percent complete for the area's commercial and self insured businesses. In October 2005, the Brunswick Campus was one of only 10 Georgia hospitals selected to participate in the Johns Hopkins Atlantic C-PORT trial.
Southeast Georgia Health System recently opened the Outpatient Care Center on the Brunswick Campus. This six-story, building includes
outpatient surgery and
imaging services, the Cancer Care Center, a retail area, the Dick Mitchell Health Information Center, as well as physician offices and suites.
In 2004, the Brunswick Campus was named Best Large Hospital in the State of Georgia by the Georgia Alliance of Community Hospitals.
Media
The Brunswick News is one of two major newspapers serving Brunswick, the other being
The Georgia Times-Union. Brunswick also has one free weekly newspaper delivered to most homes in Glynn County,
The Harbor Sound.
The major AM radio stations in Brunswick are
WSFN 790, an
ESPN affiliate and primarily a sports station;
WCGA 1100;
WGIG 1440; and
WMOG 1490, which are all news and talk stations. The city's
FM stations include
NPR affiliate
WWIO 88.9,
public radio WWEZ at 94.7 (St. Simons) and 97.5 (Brunswick), and
commercial stations
WAYR 90.7,
WBGA 92.7,
WMUV 100.7,
WSOL 101.5,
WYNR 102.5,
WWSN 103.3,
WRJY 104.1,
WXMK 105.9, and
WHFX 107.7.
WPXC-TV channel 21, an
ION affiliate, is the only
broadcast television station in Brunswick. All other television channels are represented from Jacksonville- and Savannah-based television stations.
Superfund sites
The
Hanlin Group, Inc. maintained a facility named "LCP Chemicals" in Glynn County, just outside the corporate limits of Brunswick, which was convicted of dumping 150 tons of
mercury into
Purvis Creek, a tributary of the
Turtle River and surrounding tidal marshes between the mid-1980s and its closure in 1994. Two executives were sentenced to prison time over the incident.
The LCP facility had been declared a
Superfund site when it closed in 1994 and was already under scrutiny by the
EPA when Service
biologists discovered
mercury poisoning in endangered
wood storks on St. Simons Island. Fish, shellfish, crabs, and shrimp taken in coastal waters as well as other bird species also contained the toxic metal. The Service traced the source of the contamination to the LCP plant and documented the extent of the damage to wildlife resources–an effort that resulted in the addition of
Endangered Species Act charges to those that would be brought against Hanlin and its officers.
Other Superfund sites in the area are the Brunswick Wood Preserving, Hercules 009 Landfill and Terry Creek Dredge Spoil Areas/Hercules Outfall.
Miscellanea
The Brunswick area is rich in live oak trees, particularly the Southern live oak. Such is the quality of the live oak trees in the Brunswick and the Golden Isles area that Revolutionary warships such as the USS Constitution (nicknamed Old Ironsides) were clad in St. Simons Island oak planks. Brunswick has a famous live oak named Lover's Oak (located on Albany Street). As of 2005, it's approximately 900 years old. Local legends and American Indian folklore say that Indian lovers would meet under the majestic tree.
On March 13, 2006, Brunswick's mayor Bryan Thompson appeared on the game show Deal or No Deal on NBC. Thompson turned down an offer for $198,000 in the game, and afterward received lower offers. Later though, he was offered a deal of $202,000, which he took. Thompson decided that he'd split the money between himself and his town. During the show, Thompson's constituents were on a monitor via satellite, and he looked to them for guidance.
There are two independent record labels based in Brunswick. Still Movement Records, founded in 2005, and Enslave Music, founded in 2006.
Author Mary Hood was born here in 1946. Books include How Far She Went, And Venus is Blue, and Familiar Heat.Further Information
Get more info on 'Brunswick Georgia'.
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