[1] The "government" issued its own currency in tin and later in
aluminium, and "American" money could not be passed within the 48
acres of the Republic until 1906, when depreciation forced the
Republic's coinage out of use and "American" coin was made legal
tender.
GEORGETOWN, the capital of British Guiana (see GUIANA), and the seat of
the colonial government, situated on the left bank of the Demerara river
at its mouth, in 6 deg. 29' 24" N. and 58 deg. 11' 30" W. It was known
during the Dutch occupation as Stabroek, and was established as the seat
of government of the combined colonies of Essequibo and Demerara (now
with Berbice forming the three counties of British Guiana) in 1784, its
name being changed to Georgetown in 1812. It is one of the finest towns
in this part of the world, the streets being wide and straight,
intersecting each other at right angles, several having double roadways
with lily-covered canals in the centre, the grass banks on either side
carrying rows of handsome shade trees. In Main Street, the finest street
in Georgetown, the canal has been filled in to form a broad walk, an
obvious precedent for the treatment of the other canals, which (however
beautiful) are useless and merely act as breeding grounds for
mosquitoes. The principal residences, standing in their own gardens
surrounded by foliage and flowers, are scattered over the town, as are
also the slums, almost the worst of which abut on the best residential
quarters. Water Street, the business centre, runs parallel to the river
for about 2-1/2 m. and contains the stores of the wholesale and retail
merchants, their wharves running out into the river to allow steamers to
come alongside. Most of the houses and public buildings are constructed
of wood, the former generally raised on brick pillars some 4 ft. to 10
ft. from the ground, the bright colouring of the wooden walls, jalousies
and roofs adding to the beauty of the best streets. The large structure
known as the Public Buildings in the centre of the city, containing the
offices of the executive government and the hall of the court of policy,
was erected between 1829 and 1834. It is a handsome, E-shaped,
brick-plastered building of considerable size, with deep porticos and
marble-paved galleries carried on cast-iron columns. The law courts,
built in the 'eighties, have a ground floor of concrete and iron, the
upper storey being of hardwood. Among other public buildings are the
town hall, the Anglican and Roman Catholic cathedrals, several handsome
churches, the local banks and insurance offices, and the almshouse. The
public hospital consists of several large blocks. The Royal
Agricultural and Commercial Society has a large reading-room and
lending library. The assembly rooms, above and owned by the Georgetown
club, has a good stage and is admirably adapted to dramatic and musical
entertainments. A museum (free), belonging to the Royal Agricultural and
Commercial Society, is chiefly devoted to the fauna of British Guiana,
but also contains an instructive collection of local economic,
mineralogical and botanical exhibits, a miscellaneous collection of
foreign birds and mammals, and an interesting series of views of the
colony. The botanical gardens to the east of the city are of
considerable extent and admirably laid out. The nurseries cover a large
area and are devoted chiefly to the raising of plants of economic
importance which can be purchased at nominal rates. The collections of
ferns and orchids are very fine. In the gardens are also located the
fields of the board of agriculture, where experimental work in the
growth of sugar-cane, rice, cotton and all tropical plants of economic
importance is carried on. Other popular resorts are the sea wall and the
promenade gardens in the centre of the city.
The local government of Georgetown is vested in a mayor and town council
elected under a very restricted franchise. The city is divided into
fourteen wards each with one representative. A councillor must possess,
either personally or through his wife, premises within the city of the
appraised value of at least $1500. A voter must either own house
property of the appraised value of $250 or occupy premises of an annual
rental of $240. There are indeed only 297 municipal voters in a
population of nearly 50,000. The revenue, just over L50,000 annually, is
mainly derived from a direct rate on house property. The colonial
government pays rates on its property and also gives a grant-in-aid
towards the upkeep of the streets. The expenditure is principally on
sanitation, fire brigade, streets, water-supply, street lighting and
drainage. Street lighting is carried out under contract by the Demerara
Electric Company, which has a monopoly of private lighting and works an
excellent tram service. Water for public and domestic purposes is taken
from the conservancy of the east coast and is delivered by pumping
throughout the city, but drinking-water is collected in tanks attached
to the dwellings from the rain falling on the roofs. The fire brigade is
a branch of the police force, half the cost being borne by the rates and
half by the general revenue. There is an excellent service of
telephones, a branch of the post office, and halfpenny postage within
the city boundaries. There are in Georgetown two well-equipped
foundries, a dry dock, and factories for the manufacture of rice,
cigars, soap, boots, chocolate, candles, aerated waters and ice.
Georgetown is connected by rail and ferry with New Amsterdam, by ferry
and rail with the west coast of Demerara, and by steamer with all the
country districts along the coast and up the navigable reaches of the
principal rivers. (A. G. B.*)
GEORGETOWN, formerly a city of the District of Columbia, U.S.A., and now
part (sometimes called West Washington) of the city of Washington,
U.S.A., at the confluence of the Potomac river and Rock Creek, and on
the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, about 2-1/2 m. W.N.W. of the National
Capitol. Pop. (1890) 14,046; (1900) 14,549. The streets are
old-fashioned, narrow and well shaded. On the "Heights" are many fine
residences with beautiful gardens; the Monastery and Academy (for girls)
of Visitation, founded in 1799 by Leonard Neale, second archbishop of
Baltimore; and the college and the astronomical observatory (1842) of
Georgetown University. The university was founded as a Roman Catholic
Academy in 1789, was opened in 1791, transferred to the Society of Jesus
in 1805, authorized in 1815 by Congress to confer college or university
degrees, and by the Holy See in 1833 to confer degrees in philosophy and
theology, incorporated as Georgetown College by Act of Congress in 1844,
and began graduate work about 1856. The college library includes the
historical collection of James Gilmary Shea. A school of medicine was
opened in 1851, a dental school in 1901 and a school of law in 1870. In
1909-1910 the university had an enrolment of 859 students. Rising in
terraces from Rock Creek is Oak Hill Cemetery, a beautiful
burying-ground containing the graves of John Howard Payne, the author
of "Home, Sweet Home," Edwin McMasters Stanton and Joseph Henry. On the
bank of the Potomac is a brick house which was for several years the
home of Francis Scott Key, author of "The Star-Spangled Banner"; on
Analostan Island in the river was a home of James Murray Mason;
Georgetown Heights was the home of the popular novelist, Mrs Emma
Dorothy Eliza Nevitte Southworth (1819-1899). Before the advent of
railways Georgetown had an important commerce by way of the Chesapeake
and Ohio Canal, by which considerable coal as well as some grain is
still brought hither, and of which Georgetown is now a terminus; the
canal formerly crossed the Potomac at this point on an aqueduct bridge
(1446 ft. long), but in 1887 the crossing was abandoned and the old
bridge was purchased by the United States government, which in 1889
constructed a new steel bridge upon the old masonry piers. Chief among
the manufactories are several large flour mills--Georgetown flour was
long noted for its excellence. There is a very large fish-market here.
Georgetown was settled late in the 17th century, was laid out as a town
in 1751, chartered as a city in 1789, merged in the District of Columbia
in 1871, and annexed to the city of Washington in 1878. In the early
days of Washington it was a social centre of some importance, where many
members of Congress as well as some cabinet officers and representatives
of foreign countries lived and the President gave state dinners; and
here were the studio, for two years, of Gilbert Stuart, and "Kalorama,"
the residence of Joel Barlow.
GEORGETOWN, a city and the county-seat of Scott county, Kentucky,
U.S.A., about 11 miles N. of Lexington. Pop. (1900) 3823 (1677 negroes);
(1910) 4533. Georgetown is served by the Cincinnati Southern (Queen &
Crescent Route), the Frankfort & Cincinnati, and the Southern railways,
and is connected with Lexington by an electric line. It is the seat of
Georgetown College (Baptist, co-educational), chartered in 1829 as the
successor of Rittenhouse Academy, which was founded in 1798. Georgetown
is situated in the Blue Grass region of Kentucky, and the surrounding
country is devoted to agriculture and stock-raising. One of the largest
independent oil refineries in the country (that of the Indian Refining
Co.) is in Georgetown, and among manufactures are bricks, flour, ice,
bagging and hemp. The remarkable "Royal Spring," which rises near the
centre of the city, furnishes about 200,000 gallons of water an hour for
the city's water supply, and for power for the street railway and for
various industries. The first settlement was made in 1775, and was named
McClellan's, that name being changed to Lebanon a few years afterwards.
In 1790 the place was incorporated as a town under its present name
(adopted in honour of George Washington), and Georgetown was chartered
as a city of the fourth class in 1894. Bacon College, which developed
into Kentucky (now Transylvania) University (see Lexington, Ky.), was
established here by the Disciples of Christ in 1836, but in 1839 was
removed to Harrodsburg.
GEORGETOWN, a city, a port of entry and the county-seat of Georgetown
county, South Carolina, U.S.A., at the head of Winyah Bay, and at the
mouth of the Pedee river, about 15 m. from the Atlantic Ocean, and about
55 m. N.E. of Charleston. Pop. (1890) 2895; (1900) 4138 (2718 negroes);
(1910) 5530. Georgetown is served by the Georgetown & Western railway,
has steamship communication with Charleston, Wilmington, New York City
and other Atlantic ports, and, by the Pedee river and its tributaries
(about 1000 m. of navigable streams), has trade connexions with a large
area of South Carolina and part of North Carolina. The principal public
buildings are the post office and custom house. Among the city's
manufactures are lumber, foundry and machine-shop products, naval stores
and oars; and there are shad and sturgeon fisheries. The growing of
cotton and truck-gardening are important industries in the neighbouring
region, and there is considerable trade in such products. The first
settlement here was made about 1700; and the town was laid out a short
time before 1734. The Winyah Indigo Society grew out of a social club
organized about 1740, and was founded in 1757 by a group of planters
interested in raising indigo; It long conducted a school (discontinued
during the Civil War) which eventually became part of the city's public
school system. In 1780 Georgetown was occupied by a body of Loyalist
troops, with whom the American troops had several skirmishes, but on the
10th of August 1781 General Francis Marion forced the evacuation of the
town and took possession of it. A few days later, an American named
Manson, who had joined the British forces, attacked the town from an
armed vessel, and burned about forty houses, the small body of militia
being unable to make an effective resistance. General Lafayette first
landed on American soil at Georgetown on the 24th of April 1777.
Georgetown was incorporated as a town in 1805, and was chartered as a
city in 1895.
GEORGETOWN, a city and the county-seat of Williamson county, Texas,
U.S.A., on the San Gabriel river, about 25 m. N. by E. of Austin. Pop.
(1890) 2447; (1900) 2790 (608 negroes); (1910) 3096. The city is served
by the International & Great Northern, and the Missouri, Kansas & Texas
railways. Georgetown is the seat of the Southwestern University
(Methodist Episcopal, South, co-educational), formed in 1873 (chartered
1875) by the combination of Ruterville College (Methodist Episcopal, at
Ruterville, Texas, chartered in 1840, and closed in 1850), McKenzie
College (at Clarksville, Texas, founded in 1841 and closed in 1872),
Wesleyan College at San Augustine (chartered in 1844, burned a few years
later, and not rebuilt), and Soule University at Chapel Hill (chartered
in 1856, but closed in 1870). The university includes a fitting school
at Georgetown, and a medical department at Dallas, Texas; in 1909 it had
an enrolment of 1037 students. The principal manufactures of Georgetown
are cotton and cotton-seed oil, and planing-mill products. In Page Park
are mineral springs, whose waters have medicinal qualities similar to
the famous Karlsbad waters. The first settlement was made here in 1848;
and Georgetown was incorporated as a town in 1866, and was chartered as
a city in 1890.
GEORGIA, a southern state of the United States of America, one of the
thirteen original states, situated between 30 deg. 31' 39" and 35 deg.
N., and between 81 deg. and 85 deg. 53' 38" W. It is bounded N. by
Tennessee and North Carolina, E. by South Carolina and the Atlantic
Ocean, S. by Florida, and W. by Alabama. The total area of the state is
59,265 sq. m., of which 540 sq. m. are water surface.
The surface of Georgia is divided into five physiographic zones. From
the sea coast, which is skirted by fertile, semi-tropical islands, a
plain of 35,000 sq. m., known as South Georgia, extends northward to
the "fall-line" passing from Augusta, through Milledgeville and Macon,
to Columbus. This is a part of the great Atlantic Coastal Plain. For
20 m. from the coast its elevation is 10 ft., then it rises abruptly
70 ft. higher, and 20 m. farther N. another elevation begins, which
reaches 575 ft. at Milledgeville, the average elevation of the entire
region being 250 ft. North of the line mentioned, and collectively
known as North Georgia, are the four other regions, each with
well-defined characteristics. The largest and southernmost, a broad
belt extending from the "fall-line" to a line passing through
Clarkesville, Habersham county, Cartersville, Bartow county and
Buchanan, Haralson county (approximately), is known as the Piedmont
Belt or Plateau, being a region of faint relief eroded on highly
complicated crystalline rocks. The Blue Ridge escarpment, a striking
topographic feature in Virginia and the Carolinas, extends into
Georgia along the north-eastern border of this belt, but is less
strongly developed here than elsewhere, dying out entirely towards the
south-west. North of the Piedmont Belt lie the Appalachian Mountains
Region and the Great Valley Region, the former to the east, the latter
to the west of a dividing line from Cartersville northward. The former
region consists of detached mountain masses of crystalline rocks, not
yet eroded down to the level of the Piedmont Belt. In Towns county, in
the Appalachian Region, is the highest point in the state, Brasstown
Bald, also called Enota Mountain (4768 ft.). The Great Valley Region
consists of folded sedimentary rocks, extensive erosion having removed
the soft layers to form valleys, leaving the hard layers as ridges,
both layers running in a N.E.-S.W. direction. In the extreme
north-west corner of the state is a small part of the Cumberland
Plateau, represented by Lookout and Sand Mts.
On the Blue Ridge escarpment near the N.E. corner of the state is a
water-parting separating the waters which find their way respectively
N.W. to the Tennessee river, S.W. to the Gulf of Mexico and S.E. to
the Atlantic Ocean; indeed, according to B.M. and M.R. Hall (_Water
Resources of Georgia_, p. 2), "there are three springs in north-east
Georgia within a stone's throw of each other that send out their
waters to Savannah, Ga., to Apalachicola, Fla., and to New Orleans,
La." The water-parting between the waters flowing into the Atlantic
and those flowing into the Gulf extends from this point first S.E. for
a few miles, then turns S.W. to Atlanta, and from there extends S.S.E.
to the Florida line. West of where the escarpment dies out, the Great
Valley Region and a considerable portion of the Appalachian Mountains
Region are drained by the Coosa, the Tallapoosa and their tributaries,
into Mobile Bay, but the Cumberland Plateau, like that part of the
Appalachian Mountains Region which lies directly N. of the Blue Ridge
escarpment, constitutes a part of the Tennessee Basin. The principal
rivers of the state are the Chattahoochee and the Flint, which unite
in the S.W. corner to form the Apalachicola; the Ocmulgee (whose
western tributary, the Towaliga, falls 96 ft. in less than a quarter
of a mile), and the Oconee, which unite in the S.E. to form the
Altamaha; and the Savannah, which forms the boundary between Georgia
and South Carolina. All of these rise in the upper part of the
Piedmont Plateau, through which they pursue a rapid course over rocky
beds, and are navigable only south of the "fall-line," at which and
north of which they furnish an abundance of water-power. The upper
Savannah river first flows S.W., then turns abruptly S.E., while the
Chattahoochee river rises near this point and continues S.W. This is
because the upper Savannah[1] was formerly part of the Chattahoochee,
but was captured and turned S.E. by headward growth of the Savannah.
As a result of the capture there is a deep gorge along the upper
Savannah, especially along the branch called the Tallulah river; and
the upper Tallulah, in a series of cascades, 2-2/3 m. long, falls 525
ft. from the former higher level down to the main bed of the upper
Savannah, at Tallulah Falls, a summer resort.