Waycross, Georgia

7 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1953 and the latest in 1988. It stands in the Waycross census division. It lies in ZIP code area 31501. It stands on Bailey Branch. The Survey maps it on the Waycross East quadrangle. 13,942 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 131 feet above sea level.

Research this city

Waycross within Ware County

On record in Waycross

Buildings and businesses the archive holds for this place. Each opens its own page, with the source record it came from.

On the National Register 7 records

Obediah Barber Homesteadlisted 1995
Downtown Waycross Historic Districtlisted 1992
First African Baptist Church and Parsonagelisted 2003
Lott Cemeterylisted 2008
Phoenix Hotellisted 1986
U.S. Post Office and Courthouselisted 1980
Waycross Historic Districtlisted 1976

Surveyed buildings and structures 6 records

808 Short Bewick Street (House), Waycrossfederal building survey, 7 photographs
815 Long Bewick Street (House), Waycrossfederal building survey, 7 photographs
830 Short Bewick Street (House), Waycrossfederal building survey, 7 photographs
912 Oak Street (House), Waycrossfederal building survey, 7 photographs
913 G Street (House), Waycrossfederal building survey, 9 photographs
930 Oak Street (House), Waycrossfederal building survey, 6 photographs

Population over time

2 figures

Waycross fell from 14,649 to 13,942 between 2010 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate, and an estimate published within five years of a census is left out. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.

Year	People	Change
2010	14,649
2020	13,942	-707 (-5%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

5 surveys from 7 printed sheets

Matched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.

1953 USGS Waycross quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
1958 USGS Waycross quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
1967 USGS Waycross East quadrangle1:24000
1978 USGS Waycross quadrangle1:100000
1988 USGS Waycross quadrangle1:250000

Photographs

8 of 42 photographs shown, 1936 to 2017

Taken for the Office of War Information and the Farm Security Administration, who photographed the country between 1935 and 1944. Works of United States government photographers, with no known restriction on use. Each opens its catalogue record.

Scene from the Okefenokee Swamp Park in Waycross, Georgia
Highsmith, Carol M, 2017. Library of Congress

Turpentine dipper near Waycross, Georgia
Lange, Dorothea, photographer, 1937. Library of Congress

Ivy-covered building in Waycross, Georgia
Highsmith, Carol M, 2017. Library of Congress

An alligator makes an appearance in the Okefenokee Swamp Park in Waycross, Georgia
Highsmith, Carol M, 2017. Library of Congress

Marsh area on edge of Okefenokee Swamp, part of purchase area of Coastal Flatwoods upland game conservation project. Near Waycross, Georgia
Mydans, Carl, photographer, 1936. Library of Congress

The First African Baptist Church in Waycross, Georgia was also known First Antioch Missionary Baptist Church
Highsmith, Carol M, 2017. Library of Congress

Somebody's having some fun at the "House of Rust" auto-parts store in Waycross, Georgia
Highsmith, Carol M, 2017. Library of Congress

Young pine timber (longleaf). Typical of better stands on area of Coastal Flatwoods agricultural demonstration project. Near Waycross, Georgia
Mydans, Carl, photographer, 1936. Library of Congress

Every photograph of Ware County

Fires near this place

766 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 766 fires within 5 miles of Waycross between 1992 and 2020, burning about 1,521 acres in total. 31 started naturally. 104 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause	Fires
Debris and open burning	438
Arson/incendiarism	104
Railroad operations and maintenance	66
Misuse of fire by a minor	44
Equipment and vehicle use	34
Natural	31
Missing data/not specified/undetermined	21
Recreation and ceremony	20
Smoking	8

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

Date	Cause	Size	Reported by	Name on the report
9 September 2006	Debris and open burning	under an acre	Georgia Forestry Commission	not named
9 September 2006	Debris and open burning	2.2 acres	Georgia Forestry Commission	not named
6 September 2005	Debris and open burning	3.0 acres	Georgia Forestry Commission	not named
4 September 2006	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	41 acres	Georgia Forestry Commission	not named
29 September 2016	Debris and open burning	1.0 acres	Georgia Forestry Commission	FY2017-PIERCE-015
27 September 2008	Debris and open burning	under an acre	Georgia Forestry Commission	not named
26 September 2008	Recreation and ceremony	4.5 acres	Georgia Forestry Commission	not named
25 September 1997	Equipment and vehicle use	under an acre	Georgia Forestry Commission	not named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Ware County

Mines and quarries near this place

6 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 6 workings within 5 miles of Waycross: 4 producers, 2 past producers. 4 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Site	Commodity	Status	Recorded
Mcneal Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer
Minchew Mine No. 3	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Producer
Minchew Sand Co Mine	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Producer
Pafford Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Producer
Pafford Pit No. 2	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Producer
Unnamed Sand Deposit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer	Alluvium

Every working recorded in Ware County

Storms near this place

60 of 110 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Waycross in 110 storm reports between 1994 and 2025: 72 thunderstorm wind, 18 hail, 6 heavy rain, 4 lightning. The reports record 2 injuries. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

When	Event	Place named	Harm	What the report says
April 2019	Thunderstorm Wind	West Waycross	1 hurt	A mobile home was rolled over and destroyed by severe thunderstorm winds. Three vehicles were also overturned at the same location. One person was injured inside the mobile home.
May 1996	Lightning	Waycross	1 hurt	no account filed
January 1999	Thunderstorm Wind	Waycross	$2,200,000	In the Jamestown Community two residents with minor damage. In an Industrial Park a boat manufacturing company had one building destroyed and moderate damage to one end of their main building. A mobile home manufacturing plant had a 100,000 sq/ft building and shop destroyed, 5 new mobile homes were destroyed and 14 others were damaged, 5 semi-trailers were damaged and a pickup truck.
August 2000	Thunderstorm Wind	Waycross	$50,000	One large business with roof damage. Large trees and power lines were blown down.
June 1994	Thunderstorm Wind	Waycross	$50,000	Thunderstorm winds downed several large trees, power lines and knocked out telephone communications throughout Waycross including the 911 Emergency Operations Center.
June 2001	Lightning	Waycross	$20,000	Mobile home destroyed.
June 1998	Thunderstorm Wind	Waycross	$15,000	Large trees and power lines were blown down along HWY 122. Large tree fell on a truck.
January 2006	Thunderstorm Wind	Waycross	$10,000	Large billboard brought down and railroad crossing arm snapped by thunderstorm winds. Waycross Airport reported a gust to 41 mph as the storm moved over the area.
September 1998	Flash Flood	Waycross	$10,000	Underpasses with parts of some roads closed. Numerous stalled vehicles in standing water.
November 1995	Thunderstorm Wind	Waycross	$10,000	Numerous large trees were uprooted or blown down.
December 2018	Lightning	Waycross	$5,000	A lightning strike damaged a home along Carswell Avenue Tebeau Street in Waycross. The cost of damage was unknown, but it was estimated for the event to be included in Storm Data.
June 2014	Thunderstorm Wind	Waycross	$5,000	Trees and power lines were blown down. The time of damage was based on radar. The cost of damage was estimated for the event to be included in StormData.
April 1997	Thunderstorm Wind	Waycross	$5,000	Storage shed and destroyed, and numerous reports of large trees blown down.
June 1994	Thunderstorm Wind	Waycross	$5,000	Several large trees and power lines were downed by thunder- storm winds.
June 2000	Thunderstorm Wind	Waycross	$3,500	Large trees and power lines were blown down.
June 2000	Thunderstorm Wind	Waycross	$3,500	Large trees and power lines were blown down.
September 1999	Thunderstorm Wind	Waycross	$3,500	Large trees and power lines were blown down.
August 1999	Thunderstorm Wind	Waycross	$3,500	Large trees and power lines were blown down.
May 2015	Thunderstorm Wind	Waycross	$3,000	A tree fell onto a vehicle. The cost of damage was unknown but was estimated for the event to be included in Storm Data.
March 2012	Thunderstorm Wind	Waycross	$3,000	Trees were blown down near Plant Avenue and one large tree fell on a fence of a residence. The time of damage was based on radar imagery. The cost of damage was estimated.
November 2011	Thunderstorm Wind	Waycross	$3,000	The county 911 dispatch center reported that roofs were torn off of sheds and a trampoline was blown into the middle of the road. The cost of damage was estimated.
June 2001	Thunderstorm Wind	Waycross	$3,000	Storefront plate glass window was blown out.
March 2001	Thunderstorm Wind	Waycross	$2,500	Large trees and power lines were blown down.
June 2001	Thunderstorm Wind	Waycross	$2,500	Large trees and power lines were blown down.
June 2000	Thunderstorm Wind	Waycross	$2,500	Large trees and power lines were blown down.
July 1998	Thunderstorm Wind	Waycross	$2,500	Large trees and power lines were blown down.
July 1997	Thunderstorm Wind	Waycross	$2,500	Large trees and limbs were blown down.
August 2015	Thunderstorm Wind	Waycross	$2,000	Trees and power lines were blown down in and near Waycross. Locations included North McDonald Road and Frank Cowart Lane. A small tree fell on a vehicle. A tree fell on a home on Riley Road. The cost of damage was unknown but estimated.
April 1997	Thunderstorm Wind	Waycross	$2,000	Numerous large trees were blown down along RT 84.
June 2006	Thunderstorm Wind	Waycross	$2,000	no account filed
April 1998	Thunderstorm Wind	Waycross	$1,500	Large trees and power lines were blown down.
June 1998	Thunderstorm Wind	Waycross	$1,500	Large trees were blown down.
August 1998	Thunderstorm Wind	Waycross	$1,500	Large trees and power lines were blown down.
July 1998	Thunderstorm Wind	Waycross	$1,500	Large trees and power lines were blown down.
July 1998	Thunderstorm Wind	Waycross	$1,500	Large trees and power lines were blown down.
May 1997	Thunderstorm Wind	Waycross	$1,500	Large trees and power lines were blown down along SR-82.
November 1995	Thunderstorm Wind	Waycross	$1,000	Large limbs and power lines were blown down.
February 2000	Thunderstorm Wind	Waycross	$600	Large trees were blown down.
July 1997	Thunderstorm Wind	Waycross	$600	Large trees were blown down.
June 2018	Thunderstorm Wind	West Waycross	$500	A tree was blown down across Gibbs Street. The time of damage was based on radar data. The cost of damage was unknown, but it was estimated for inclusion of the event in Storm Data.
May 2001	Thunderstorm Wind	Waycross	$500	Large trees and power lines were blown down.
August 1998	Thunderstorm Wind	Waycross	$500	Large trees and power lines were blown down.
June 1994	Thunderstorm Wind	Waycross	$500	A few large trees were downed in Waycross from thunderstorm winds.,
June 2024	Thunderstorm Wind	Waycross	$100	Ware County EM shared a photo of tree branch down along road in Waycross, GA. Time based off nearby weather station wind gust observation of 44 mph at AWOS station KAYS Waycross Ware Co. The cost of damage was unknown, but it was estimated for inclusion of the event in Storm Data.
April 2025	Tornado (EF0)	Waycross	-	Around 7:03 PM EDT, an EF0 tornado touched down in Waycross, GA\|beginning near Magnolia St and Clifton Grove St. As the tornado\|trekked northeastward, it caused large softwood trees to either\|snap near the base of their trunk or snap large branches that\|ultimately fell on homes. The fallen tree branches damaged roofs,\|gutters and/or siding to homes along Holly St, Euclid Ave, and\|Camellia Dr. Multiple large hardwood trees were uprooted and some\|damaged nearby fences along Laurel St, Shadow Lawn, Baltimore Ave,\|and Jasmine Cir. Damaging winds caused the partial loss of\|shingles to homes along Camellia Dr and Jasmine Cir. The tornado\|dissipated just north of Jasmine Cir near Caney branch stream\|around 7:08 PM EDT.
November 2024	Flash Flood	Waycross	-	At 5:45 pm, the public shared a video shared via social media of minor flooding near Alice Street, including standing water and a vehicle partially submerged. Around the same time, the public shared images and video via social media of flooding in southeast Waycross, including parking lots with standing water and partially submerged vehicles.
June 2023	Thunderstorm Wind	Waycross	-	A Commercial building was damaged by thunderstorm wind in Waycross at the intersection of Brunswick Hwy and Hatcher Point Road. Damage included part of the roof blown off. The time of damage was based on radar.
April 2020	Funnel Cloud	Waycross	-	A funnel cloud was observed.
April 2020	Hail	Waycross	-	Quarter size hail was reported in Waycross.
April 2020	Hail	Waycross	-	The public posted a picture of quarter size hail on a porch swing in Waycross.
February 2020	Thunderstorm Wind	Waycross	-	Tree limbs were blown down and shingles were blown off of a roof.
February 2020	Tornado (EF0)	Waycross	-	A brief EF0 tornado damaged power lines and structures near the CSX Transportation Crossroads on the SSW side of Waycross.
August 2020	Funnel Cloud	West Waycross	-	A funnel cloud was observed near Huckleberry Road.
December 2020	Thunderstorm Wind	West Waycross	-	Multiple trees were blown down near Waycross.
April 2020	Thunderstorm Wind	West Waycross	-	A snapped large tree snapped and fell onto a mobile home along Swamp Road. Severe damage occurred to the roof and walls. The time of damage was based on radar.
December 2018	Flood	Waycross	-	Widespread flooding across the city of Waycross with road closures. Flood waters were at the door of many residences.
April 2016	Thunderstorm Wind	Waycross	-	Several trees and power lines were blown down across Waycross.
June 2016	Thunderstorm Wind	Waycross	-	Multiple trees were blown down across the county.
July 2016	Thunderstorm Wind	Waycross	-	A tree was blown down on Dean Drive.
May 2015	Hail	Waycross	-	Quarter to nickel size hail was reported.

Every storm recorded in Ware County

Newspapers printed here

4 digitised pages

1 paper published in this town, digitised by the Library of Congress and free to read: 1 issue, 4 pages. Every page is searchable, so a name or a street can be looked for directly in what the town printed about itself at the time.

Newspaper	Published
The Gazette and Land Bulletin	1896 to 19??

What the paper printed

2,763 words

Front pages of the local paper, read from the Library of Congress scans: 1 issue from 1900, 2,763 words in total. Each is reproduced on its own page, exactly as the recogniser returned it.

These pages read less well than anything else here, and the number is worth stating: about three words in four come through cleanly, against nine in ten for the building records. An 1896 broadsheet sets eight-point type in seven columns on microfilm, which is the hardest thing in this archive to read by machine. We tested our own recognisers against the Library's and they were not better, so the Library's text is what appears, with the wholly unreadable columns removed. Read it as a guide to what the paper covered, and follow the link to the scan before quoting anything.

Issue	Paper	Length
1900-01-27	The Gazette and Land Bulletin	2,763 words

Nearest settlements

The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.

Place	Distance	Sheets
Garlington Heights Housing Project	1.2 miles	8
Deenwood	1.8 miles	8
Sunnyside	1.9 miles	7
Hebardville	2.0 miles	7
Winona Park	2.1 miles	8
Emerson Park	2.9 miles	8
Jamestown	4.2 miles	8
Wahoma	5.3 miles	8

Elsewhere

Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.

Wikipedia article on Waycross	An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q615027	The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0).

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 356622. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.

Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.