MACON  , a

city and the county-seat of Bibb county, Georgia, U.S.A., in the central part of the state, on both sides of the Ocmulgee river (at the head of navigation), about 90 m . S.S.E. of Atlanta . Pop . (1900), 23,272, of whom 11,550 were negroes; (1910 census) 40,665 . Macon is, next to Atlanta, the most important railway centre in the state, being served by the Southern, the Central of Georgia, the Georgia, the Georgia Southern & Florida, the Macon Dublin & Savannah, and the Macon & Birmingham railways . It was formerly an important river port, especially for the shipment of cotton, but lost this commercial advantage when railway bridges made the river impassable . It is, however, partially regaining the river trade in consequence of the compulsory substitution of drawbridges for the stationary rail-way bridges . The city is the seat of the Wesleyan female college (1836), which claims to be the first college in the world chartered to grant academic degrees to women; Mercer University (Baptist), which was established in 1833 as Mercer Institute at Penfield, became a university in 1837, was removed to Macon in 1871, and controls Hearn Academy (1839) at Cave Spring and Gibson Mercer Academy (1903) at Bowman; the state academy for the blind (1852), St Stanislaus' College (Jesuit), and Mt de Sales Academy (Roman Catholic) for women . There are four orphan asylums for whites and two for negroes, supported chiefly by the Protestant Episcopal and Methodist Churches, and a public hospital . Immediately east of Macon are two large Indian mounds, and there is a third mound 9 m. south of the city . Situated in the heart of the " Cotton Belt," Macon has a large and lucrative trade; it is one of the most important inland cotton markets of the United States, its annual receipts averaging about 250,000 bales . The city's factory products in 1905 were valued at $7,297,347 (33'8% more than in 'goo) .

In the vicinity are large beds of

kaolin, 30 M. wide, reaching nearly across the state, and frequently 35 to 70 ft. in depth . Macon is near the fruit-growing region of Georgia, and large quantities of peaches and of garden products are annually shipped from the city . Macon (named in honour of Nathaniel Macon) was surveyed in 1823 by order of the Georgia legislature for the county-seat of Bibb county, and received its first charter in 1824 . It soon became the centre of trade for Middle Georgia; in 1833 a steam-boat line to Darien was opened, and in the following year 69,000 bales of cotton were shipped by this route . During the Civil War the city was a centre for Confederate commissary supplies and the seat of a Treasury depository . In July 1864 General George Stoneman (1822–1894) with 500 men was captured near the city by the Confederate general, Howell Cobb . Macon was finally occupied by Federal troops under General James H . Wilson (b . 1837) on the loth of April 1865 . In 1900–1910 the area of the city was increased by the annexation of several suburbs .