Tifton is a city in and the

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...

Tift County, Georgia Tift County is a County (United States), county located in the south central portion of the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 41,344. The county seat is Tifton, Geo ...

, United States. The population was 17,045 at the 2020 census. The area's public schools are administered by the Tift County School District.

Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College (ABAC) is a public college in Tifton, Georgia. It is part of the University System of Georgia and offers bachelor's degree, baccalaureate and associate degrees. The college is named after Abraham Baldwin, a ...

has its main campus in Tifton.

Southern Regional Technical College Southern Regional Technical College is a public community college with its main campus in Thomasville, Georgia. It is part of the Technical College System of Georgia and provides education services for a seven-county service area in southwest Ge ...

and the

University of Georgia The University of Georgia (UGA or Georgia) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university with its main campus in Athens, Georgia, United States. Chartered in 1785, it is the oldest public university in th ...

also have Tifton campuses. Sites in the area include the Coastal Plain Research Arboretum,

, and the

Georgia Museum of Agriculture & Historic Village The Georgia Museum of Agriculture & Historic Village, formerly known as Agrirama, is a 19th-century living museum located in Tifton, Georgia. It opened on July 4, 1976. The grounds consist of five areas: a traditional farm community of the 1870s ...

. The Tifton Commercial Historic District and the Tifton Residential Historic District are listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

History

Tifton was founded in 1872 in Berrien County at the junction of the Georgia Southern and Florida Railroad and the

Brunswick and Western Railroad The Brunswick and Western Railroad (known earlier as the Brunswick and Florida Railroad and the Brunswick and Albany Railroad) is a historic railroad in southern Georgia (U.S. State), Georgia that at its greatest extent ran from Brunswick, Georgi ...

by sawmill owner Henry H. Tift. Tifton was incorporated as a city in 1890. In 1905, it was designated county seat of the newly formed Tift County. Several Chicago-Florida and Cincinnati-Florida passenger trains made stops in Tifton: the Atlantic Coast Line's ''

Seminole The Seminole are a Native American people who developed in Florida in the 18th century. Today, they live in Oklahoma and Florida, and comprise three federally recognized tribes: the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma, the Seminole Tribe of Florida, ...

,'' ''

Flamingo Flamingos or flamingoes () are a type of wading bird in the family Phoenicopteridae, which is the only extant family in the order Phoenicopteriformes. There are four flamingo species distributed throughout the Americas (including the Caribbe ...

'' and ''

City of Miami Miami is a coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a population of 6.14 million, is the second-largest metropolitan ...

'' and the Southern Railway's ''

Ponce de Leon Ponce may refer to: *Ponce (surname) *Ponce (streamer) (born 1991), French streamer *Ponce, Puerto Rico, a city in Puerto Rico ** Ponce High School ** Ponce massacre, 1937 * USS ''Ponce'', several ships of the US Navy *Manuel Ponce, a Mexican comp ...

'' and ''

Royal Palm ''Roystonea regia'', commonly known as the royal palm, Cuban royal palm, or Florida royal palm, is a species of Arecaceae, palm native to Mexico, the Caribbean, Florida, and parts of Central America. A large and attractive palm, it has been plan ...

.'' With the discontinuance of the ''City of Miami'' in 1971, Tifton was left without passenger service.

Geography

Tifton is located in south central Georgia along Interstate 75, which runs north to south through the city, leading north to

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

and south to

Valdosta Valdosta is a city in and the county seat of Lowndes County in the U.S. state of Georgia. As the principal city of the Valdosta metropolitan statistical area, which in 2023 had a metropolitan population of 151,118, according to the US Census B ...

. Other highways that pass through the city include

U.S. Route 41 U.S. Route 41, also U.S. Highway 41 (US 41), is a major north–south United States Numbered Highway that runs from Miami, Florida, to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Until 1949, the part in southern Florida, from Naples to Miam ...

U.S. Route 82 U.S. Route 82 (US 82) is an east–west United States highway in the Southern United States. Created on July 1, 1931 across central Mississippi and southern Arkansas, US 82 eventually became a route extending from the White Sands of New ...

, U.S. Route 319, and

Georgia State Route 125 State Route 125 (SR 125) is a State highway (US), state highway that runs south-to-north in an S-shape through the southern part of the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It travels through Lowndes County, Georgia, Lowndes, Lani ...

Climate

Demographics

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 17,045 people, 5,906 households, and 3,779 families residing in the city.

Arts and culture

Libraries

Tifton has a

public library A public library is a library, most often a lending library, that is accessible by the general public and is usually funded from public sources, such as taxes. It is operated by librarians and library paraprofessionals, who are also Civil servic ...

, in addition to an extensive college library located at nearby

Points of interest

* Coastal Plain Research Arboretum *

Until recently, Tifton was the home of the world's second largest

magnolia ''Magnolia'' is a large genus of about 210 to 340The number of species in the genus ''Magnolia'' depends on the taxonomic view that one takes up. Recent molecular and morphological research shows that former genera ''Talauma'', ''Dugandiodendr ...

tree, which was located in Magnolia Tree Park. In 2004, the tree was burned in a fire. The cause of the fire has never been given by local authorities. Currently, the tree and observation area are blocked from visitors by a gate. Although it no longer grows, the tree still stands. It is not known where the new second largest magnolia tree resides.

Georgia Museum of Agriculture and Historic Village

The Georgia Museum of Agriculture & Historic Village, formerly known as Agrirama, is located in Tifton, Georgia. It opened on July 4, 1976. The grounds consist of five areas: a traditional farm community of the 1870s, an 1890s progressive farmstead, an industrial sites complex, rural town, and national peanut complex; and the Museum of Agriculture Center. Over 35 structures have been relocated to the site and faithfully restored or preserved. Costumed interpreters explain and demonstrate the lifestyle and activities of this time in Georgia's history.

Historic districts

The Tifton Residential Historic District was listed on the

on April 30, 2008. It is bounded generally by 14th Street, Goff Street, 2nd Street and Forrest Avenue at coordinates . The Tifton Commercial Historic District and the Tift County Courthouse are also on the National Register.

Sports

In 2000, the boys 10u baseball team won the state championship with an undefeated season (24–0). In 2010, the indoor football team

Georgia Firebirds The Georgia Firebirds were a professional indoor football team based in Albany, Georgia, and played their home games at the Albany Civic Center. Previously, the Firebirds played as an outdoor football team in various semi-pro leagues before goin ...

relocated from Waycross, Georgia to Tifton.

Education

Tift County School District

The Tift County School District holds pre-school to grade twelve, and consists of, eight elementary schools, two middle schools, one high school, and an alternative school. The district has 467 full-time teachers and over 7,641 students.

Private schools

* Tiftarea Academy, located in Chula, Georgia (PK–12) * Grace Baptist Christian School

Higher education

- Main Campus *

- Tifton Campus *

- Tifton Agricultural Campus

Media

'' The Tifton Gazette'' is a weekly newspaper published Thursdays in Tifton, Georgia. It is operated by South Georgia Media Group, a division of Community Newspaper Holdings Inc. ''The Tifton Grapevine'' is a twice-weekly online newspaper with an email circulation of 5,800. It is operated by Sayles Unlimited Marketing.

Infrastructure

Transportation

Major highways

Interstate 75 Interstate 75 (I-75) is a major north–south Interstate Highway in the Great Lakes and Southeastern regions of the United States. As with most Interstates that end in 5, it is a major cross-country, north–south route, traveling from S ...

* U.S. Highway 41 *

* U.S. Route 319 * State Route 125

Airports

* Henry Tift Myers Airport is a public airport located southeast of Tifton, serving the general aviation community, with no scheduled commercial airline service.

Notable people

Nanci Bowen Nanci Bowen (born March 31, 1967, in Tifton, Georgia) is an American professional golfer. She attended the University of Georgia and her rookie season on the LPGA Tour was 1991. Her highlight victory on the Tour came at one of the women's majors ...

LPGA The Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) is an American organization for female golfers. The organization is headquartered at LPGA International in Daytona Beach, Florida, and is best known for running the LPGA Tour, a series of weekly ...

golfer *

Austin Brown Nathaniel Austin Brown (born November 22, 1985) is an American singer-songwriter and record producer. Early life Brown was born in Tarzana, California, on November 22, 1985, to Nathaniel Brown and Rebbie Jackson. He is a member of the Jackson fa ...

- member of a cappella group Home Free *

Justin Brownlee Justin Donta Brownlee (born April 23, 1988) is an American naturalized Filipino professional basketball player who last played for the Barangay Ginebra San Miguel of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA). He played college basketball for ...

- professional basketball player for the

Barangay Ginebra San Miguel The Barangay Ginebra San Miguel is a professional basketball team in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA). The most popular team in the league, it is owned by Ginebra San Miguel, Ginebra San Miguel, Inc. (formerly, La Tondeña Distiller ...

of the PBA *

Caitlin Carmichael Caitlin Carmichael (born 2004) is an American actress. Her credits include ''In the Motherhood'' (2008), ''Criminal Minds'' (2009), ''Shake It Up (U.S. TV series), Shake It Up'', ''iCarly'', ''Hot in Cleveland'', ''Law & Order: LA'', and ''Bag o ...

child actress The term child actor or child actress is generally applied to a child acting on stage, television, or in movies. An adult who began their acting career as a child may also be called a child actor, or a "former child actor". Closely associated te ...

* Harold Cohen - US Army colonel during World War II and recipient of the

Distinguished Service Medal Distinguished Service Medal (DSM) is a high award of a nation, state or country. Examples include: *Distinguished Service Medal (Australia) (established 1991), awarded to personnel of the Australian Defence Force for distinguished leadership in act ...

* Larry Dean - football

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and typically line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and so back up the defensive linemen. They play closer to the line ...

for the

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. The Vikings compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. Founded in 1960 as ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

* Dennis Dove - former

MLB Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

pitcher * Harold Bascom Durham Jr.,

US Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of the United Stat ...

2d Lieutenant awarded the

Medal of Honor The Medal of Honor (MOH) is the United States Armed Forces' highest Awards and decorations of the United States Armed Forces, military decoration and is awarded to recognize American United States Army, soldiers, United States Navy, sailors, Un ...

* Todd Fordham - former

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The N ...

offensive lineman * Bob Hoffman - sports promoter *

Kip Moore Kip Christian Moore (born April 1, 1980) is an American country music singer and songwriter signed to Virgin Music Group. Moore previously recorded for Universal Music Group Nashville, MCA Nashville, where he released five studio albums for th ...

, country music singer * Matt Moore - former chairman of the

South Carolina Republican Party The South Carolina Republican Party (SCGOP) is the state affiliate of the national Republican Party in South Carolina. It is one of two major political parties in the state, along with the South Carolina Democratic Party, and is the dominant par ...

* Wyc Orr - politician and lawyer * Ralph Puckett -

Colonel, Distinguished Graduate of the

United States Military Academy The United States Military Academy (USMA), commonly known as West Point, is a United States service academies, United States service academy in West Point, New York that educates cadets for service as Officer_(armed_forces)#United_States, comm ...

, awarded

, Distinguished Service Cross (with

oak leaf cluster An oak leaf cluster is a ribbon device to denote preceding decorations and awards consisting of a miniature bronze or silver twig of four oak leaves with three acorns on the stem. It is authorized by the United States Armed Forces for a spec ...

Silver Star The Silver Star Medal (SSM) is the United States Armed Forces' third-highest military decoration for valor in combat. The Silver Star Medal is awarded primarily to members of the United States Armed Forces for gallantry in action against a ...

(with oak leaf cluster),

Legion of Merit The Legion of Merit (LOM) is a Awards and decorations of the United States military, military award of the United States Armed Forces that is given for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services and achievemen ...

(with 2 oak leaf clusters), etc. *

Austin Scott James Austin Scott (born December 10, 1969) is an American politician who has been the U.S. representative for . Scott served as a Republican member of the Georgia House of Representatives before being elected to the U.S. House. He is the longe ...

- U. S. Congressman representing

Georgia's 8th congressional district Georgia's 8th congressional district is a congressional district in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. The district is currently represented by Republican Party (United States), Republican Austin Scott (politician), Austin Scott. T ...

* Members of

alternative rock Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...

band September Hase * Clay Shiver -former

offensive lineman * James "Chick" Stripling - Fiddler, comedian, and buck dancer *

Tyson Summers Tyson Summers (born April 11, 1980) is an American college football coach. He is the defensive coordinator for Colorado State University since 2025. He previously served as the defensive coordinator at Western Kentucky University and as an anal ...

- American college football coach * Cyndi Thomson - country music singer *

Dina Titus Alice Constandina "Dina" Titus ( ; born May 23, 1950) is an American politician who has been the United States representative for since 2013. She served as the U.S. representative for from 2009 to 2011, when she was defeated by Joe Heck. Titus i ...

- U.S. Congresswoman representing

Nevada's 1st congressional district Nevada's 1st congressional district is a congressional district for the United States House of Representatives in the U.S. state of Nevada. The district covers a portion of Clark County, Nevada, Clark County east of Interstate 15 in Nevada, Int ...

* Neil Norman - Associate Professor College of William & Mary * Rashod Bateman - football

wide receiver A wide receiver (WR), also referred to as a wideout, and historically known as a split end (SE) or flanker (FL), is an eligible receiver in gridiron football. A key skill position of the offense (American football), offense, WR gets its name ...

for the

Baltimore Ravens The Baltimore Ravens are a professional American football team based in Baltimore. The Ravens compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The team plays its home g ...

of the

Sister city

* Linyi, China (2010)Tifton becomes sister city to Linyi, China » Local News
. Tifton Gazette. Retrieved on 2013-08-09.

References

External links

Tifton, Georgia website

South Georgia Historic Newspapers Archive
Digital Library of Georgia
Tifton, Georgia family in 1909
{{authority control Cities in Georgia (U.S. state) Micropolitan areas of Georgia (U.S. state) Cities in Tift County, Georgia County seats in Georgia (U.S. state)