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About the counties
CLAYTON HENRY MAP OF BOTH COUNTIES
ABOUT CLAYTON COUNTY
Formed: In 1858 from parts of Fayette and Henry counties.
Named for: Judge Augustin S. Clayton, who served in both the Georgia House of Representatives and Senate.
Population: 252,733, fifth of 159 counties in Georgia (2002 Census Bureau estimate).
Area: 144 square miles.
Top employers: (nongovernment; listed alphabetically)
• AirTran Airways Inc.• Delta Air Lines Inc.
• Delta Technology Inc.
• Fresh Express
• JToto USA Inc.
• Southern Regional Medical Center
Sales tax: 6 percent.
County millage: 28.255.
Municipalities: College Park (partially); Forest Park; Jonesboro; Lake City; Lovejoy; Morrow; Riverdale
Did you know?
• The Battle of Jonesboro marked the end of the Atlanta Campaign during the Civil War. When Union troops gained control of the railroad in Jonesboro, all supplies to Atlanta were cut off.
• Clayton is less than half the size of neighboring Henry County in land area but is almost twice as big in population. Clayton hit a growth spurt in the 1940s and outnumbered Henry for the first time in the 1950 census.
• Clayton was home to author Margaret Mitchell's great-grandfather, Philip Fitzgerald, an Irish immigrant whose stories of his experiences before and after the Civil War were the basis for "Gone With the Wind."
For more about the county:
• Clayton County Chamber of Commerce, P.O. Box 774, 8712 Tara Blvd., Jonesboro 30237. 770-478-6549; fax: 770-478-0226, www.claytonchamber.org.
ABOUT HENRY COUNTY
Formed: In 1821 from Creek Indian lands.
Named for: Patrick Henry, whose rhetoric ("Give me liberty or give me death!") helped push the colonies into the Revolutionary War.
Population: 139,699, 12th of 159 counties in Georgia (2002 Census Bureau estimate).
Area: 325 square miles (93rd of 159 counties in Georgia).
Top employers: (nongovernment; listed alphabetically)
• Georgia Power Inc.
• Henry Medical Center Inc.
• Royal Staffing Inc.
• Snapper Inc.
• Wal-Mart Assoc. Inc.
Sales tax: 6 percent.
County millage: 35.20.
Municipalities: Hampton, Locust Grove, McDonough, Stockbridge.
Did you know?
• The Rev. Martin Luther King Sr. was born and raised on a farm near Stockbridge. James Weldon Johnson, a founder of the NAACP, lived in Henry.
• The late Dale Earnhardt won nine Winston Cup races at Atlanta Motor Speedway in Hampton.
• Portions of the original Henry County were used to create Newton, DeKalb, Butts, Spalding, Clayton and Rockdale counties.
For more about the county:
• Henry County Chamber of Commerce, P.O. Box 1378, 1310 Ga. 20 West, McDonough 30253. 770-957-5786; fax: 770-957-8030, www.henrycounty.com.
Sources: Georgia Department of Community Affairs, Carl Vinson Institute of Government at the University of Georgia, Census Bureau, Georgia Department of Labor, staff research.
