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 2½ 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° 31′ 39″ and 35° N., and between 81° and 85° 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.