Incorporated vs. Unincorporated Map of Most of Metro Atlanta

[rcsteiner]

Originally Posted by tdatl

thanks for the link, interesting stuff.

a while back, I decided I wanted to drive thru and see the 'downtown' area of every incorporated city in the metro area, and we wondered why we couldn't find the Mableton city hall Saturday. Anyone know if it has a downtown area? On Saturday, we hit Austell, Powder Springs, Hiram, and Douglasville based on where the city hall was and/or signs pointed. I notice you mention Tucker is not incorporated, though I'm pretty sure I drove thru what is considered its downtown once.

"Downtown Mableton" is roughly the area on Floyd Road by the Mable House and the Mable Amphitheatre.

The Mable House - Home

You won't see a City Hall because Mableton was only an incorporated town between August 19, 1912 and August 17, 1916. Bad things happened, mostly flooding, and they decided to punt.

Source: Mableton, Georgia - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

However, the area isn't completely disorganized:

Mableton Improvement Coalition

[NYPeach]

You may be right about me reading too much into it re: CDP. Thanks

Originally Posted by rcsteiner

Some of them might be historic artifacts. For example. Mableton used to be an incorporated city back in the early 1900's, and has existed as a real entity for much longer than that (had a train station, has its own ZIP code, etc.). It just isn't incorporated, but it does have an identity all its own, and I get the impression that it's been a setlement surrounding by not much else for a long time ... until it started merging into Smyrna to the north and Austell to the west, anyway. You can't really tell where Smyrna ends and Mableton begins anymore. Same with Austell. It's all suburb ... they just pay more taxes.

Vinings is also an old description for the Vinings area. I think it was named after a railroad maintenance station or something, but the name has been around for a long time (well before it became a suburb of Atlanta).

I just read the Wikipedia article on CDPs, and I think it does a good job of explaining some of the reasons why a given area might be considered a CDP. See the section entitled Purpose of designation. I personally think you're reading too much into the designation.

[Saintmarks]

Originally Posted by aries4118

Thanks.

A few things...

The map does not show the newly-incorporated city of Chattahoochee Hills in extreme south/southwest Fulton County. Also, Lithia Springs--in northeast Douglas County near Austell (Cobb County) is shown as still incorporated. The city is actually not incorporated anymore (but will probably revert to a "CDP".).

Great stuff! Did you do this Wikipedia article?

Here are some other errors in the text portion.

Estimates are from 2008, not 2007. Atlanta was at 520,368 in 2007; 537,958 in 2008. I didn't check the statistics of others but assume they came of the same list.

Population Estimates (http://www.census.gov/popest/cities/SUB-EST2008-4.html - broken link)

There are two Mountain Parks in the metro area. The CDP is in Gwinnett and is labled correctly on the map yet with a wrong number. The population of the CDP is 11,753 as of the 2000 Cenus and would rank it 51st, just ahead of Lilburn.

The actual incorporated town of Mountain Park is in the far northwest corner of Fulton totally surrounded by Roswell. Its city limits do extend slightly into Cherokee. Its population is the 566 on the list at #80.

There is one other small incorporated town that does show on the map as a tiny gray speck in the original five county metro area that is not listed: Pine Lake in DeKalb, 2008 estimate 714. I lump this as a twin of Mountain Park in Fulton. Berkeley Lake in Gwinnett is similar but has annexed more traditional subdivisions as well.

I see a number of actual incorporated towns that are listed incorrectly as CDPs:

Doraville
Auburn
Tyrone
Flowery Branch

and finally:

Newnan's population would move it up to 17th place instead of 30th.

For anyone thinking I am being nitpicky or harsh, Aries understands. We are map/statistic geeks that enjoy this kind of stuff. To prove how geeky I am about this kind of stuff, I could name all the other incorporated towns on these maps and probably get you within 100 people of its current population estimates without looking anything up.

For example, the towns listed in Coweta besides Newnan: Senoia, just under Peachtree City had a pop of around 1700 in 2000, has close to doubled as of 2008. Grantville, the long rectangle in the southwest part had a similar if slightly smaller population than Senoia in 2000 and has also doubled in the 8 years since. The small circle directly south of Newnan is Moreland and a population in the 300s. Also in the 300s is Sharpsburg, the smaller of the two adjacent circles ESE of Newnan. The larger is Turin, a pop in the 100s at the census, has at least doubled since then. The small town on the southern border south of Senoia is Haralson, pop. around 150. The CDP adjacent to Newnan is East Newnan and the one I am fuzziest on with population but would guess it around 1200.

OK, Aries is probably the only one impressed by this minutiae spinning around in my brain. Don't you think I ought to get a job with some planning commission or state mapping or Rand McNally or the Census instead of hawking cars?

[aries4118]

Originally Posted by Saintmarks

Great stuff! Did you do this Wikipedia article?

Here are some other errors in the text portion.

Estimates are from 2008, not 2007. Atlanta was at 520,368 in 2007; 537,958 in 2008. I didn't check the statistics of others but assume they came of the same list.

Population Estimates (http://www.census.gov/popest/cities/SUB-EST2008-4.html - broken link)

There are two Mountain Parks in the metro area. The CDP is in Gwinnett and is labled correctly on the map yet with a wrong number. The population of the CDP is 11,753 as of the 2000 Cenus and would rank it 51st, just ahead of Lilburn.

The actual incorporated town of Mountain Park is in the far northwest corner of Fulton totally surrounded by Roswell. Its city limits do extend slightly into Cherokee. Its population is the 566 on the list at #80.

There is one other small incorporated town that does show on the map as a tiny gray speck in the original five county metro area that is not listed: Pine Lake in DeKalb, 2008 estimate 714. I lump this as a twin of Mountain Park in Fulton. Berkeley Lake in Gwinnett is similar but has annexed more traditional subdivisions as well.

I see a number of actual incorporated towns that are listed incorrectly as CDPs:

Doraville
Auburn
Tyrone
Flowery Branch

and finally:

Newnan's population would move it up to 17th place instead of 30th.

For anyone thinking I am being nitpicky or harsh, Aries understands. We are map/statistic geeks that enjoy this kind of stuff. To prove how geeky I am about this kind of stuff, I could name all the other incorporated towns on these maps and probably get you within 100 people of its current population estimates without looking anything up.

For example, the towns listed in Coweta besides Newnan: Senoia, just under Peachtree City had a pop of around 1700 in 2000, has close to doubled as of 2008. Grantville, the long rectangle in the southwest part had a similar if slightly smaller population than Senoia in 2000 and has also doubled in the 8 years since. The small circle directly south of Newnan is Moreland and a population in the 300s. Also in the 300s is Sharpsburg, the smaller of the two adjacent circles ESE of Newnan. The larger is Turin, a pop in the 100s at the census, has at least doubled since then. The small town on the southern border south of Senoia is Haralson, pop. around 150. The CDP adjacent to Newnan is East Newnan and the one I am fuzziest on with population but would guess it around 1200.

OK, Aries is probably the only one impressed by this minutiae spinning around in my brain. Don't you think I ought to get a job with some planning commission or state mapping or Rand McNally or the Census instead of hawking cars?

No, I did not do the Wiki article--

I read most of the article, but did not focus on the pops of the incorporated cities and the CDPs.

Impressive analysis, Brother Marks!

[neil0311]

Originally Posted by blondandfun

i usually assume if there's a skyscraper it's atlanta. But dunwoody is a little confusing. It feels more like a business park than a city.. What a weird stale place that is. I wonder if all the people with no personality like that area? Oh well, they all gotta live somewhere

Sorry, but that's a pretty weird comment on your part. Dunwoody is one of the more established areas in the metro that just incorporated last year, with nice homes, good schools, and fairly affluent residents. Besides Perimeter Mall, Georgetown Shopping Center, and Dunwoody Village, most of the new business and MARTA have arrived in the last 15 years, and the business is now able to augment the residental tax base for the good of all city residents.

What exactly is "weird" or "stale" about the place? I just don't get some of you folks...honestly. I just don't get you.

[BobKovacs]

Originally Posted by neil0311

What exactly is "weird" or "stale" about the place? I just don't get some of you folks...honestly. I just don't get you.

It's OK Neil- it'd be more scary if you DID get him- then I'd be afraid.....

[Saintmarks]

Originally Posted by aries4118

No, I did not do the Wiki article--

I read most of the article, but did not focus on the pops of the incorporated cities and the CDPs.

Impressive analysis, Brother Marks!

I knew you would be impressed. I am sure most others fell asleep before the end

[citiboi27620]

I'm a student and new resident of the ATL metro area. It has been exciting getting to know the dynamic of the 'place' within the region, from Atlanta (city), to Atlanta (Region), to Cumberland, to Marietta, to Vinnings etc. There is a lot going on, and it can be confusing. Is it good or bad that there are so many unincorporated areas? Personally, I think its bad because everything tends to run together. That is probably also why I had friends I knew from 'Atlanta' before moving here, but never knew where they actually lived.