Covington City Hall is located at 2194 Emory Street, Covington, GA 30014.
Phone: 770‑385‑2000.
Neighborhoods
Covington as described in 1940 [1]
Covington, seat of Newton County, was incorporated in 1822 and named for Leonard Covington, a general of the American Revolution. Originally it served as a trading center for large-scale planters, but with the development of the cotton mills it has become a prosperous and growing industrial center and a cotton market for the farmers of the section.
The founding of two schools arose from an early interest in education. In March, 1835, the Georgia Conference Manual Labor School was opened in Covington with thirty students. Stephen Olin was the president. The school resulted from a suggestion made by "Uncle Allen" Turner at the annual Methodist Conference held in Washington, Georgia, in 1834, that an industrial institution was needed in the state. When Emory College was opened in 1836 at nearby Oxford, the school was relocated there. In 1851 the Southern Masonic Female College was established as a finishing school. The old building served as a hospital during the War between the States and in 1887 was take over by the city school system which it served until replaced.
On State Route 12, here known as Floyd Street, are several well-preserved ante-bellum houses.
The McCormick Neal Home, 501 Floyd Street, is a pleasing white frame house of Mississippi planter design. It stands on a high basement of brick; a long flight of steps leads to a portico with small fluted Doric columns. The decorative doorway and long windows emphasized by green blinds are distinctive features.
The Usher Home, 300 block of Floyd Street, a white frame building with six Doric columns across the front, is a fine example of the Greek Revival style. The entrance ornamented with Doric pilasters, the small hanging balcony, and the long windows flanked by green blinds are characteristic details. Built about 1840, the house was occupied for many years by Jack Henderson, son of the Confederate general.
The house of General Robert J. Henderson is a large, frame, Greek Revival house with fluted Doric columns. The house was built by Carey Wood, an early settler and father-in-law of Henderson [1822-1894], who was made a brigadier general for bravery under Joseph E. Johnston in North Carolina.
Dixie Manor, 3 blocks from State Route 12 at the intersection of Monticello and Church streets, is a red brick house built in 1859 by Colonel Thomas Jones. The small recessed portico has four Ionic columns and a small balcony.