Rome, Georgia

Rome, Georgia
City
City of Rome
View of Rome from Myrtle Hill Cemetery
Flag Logo
Location in Floyd County and the state of Georgia
Rome Location within Georgia Show map of Georgia Rome Location within the United States Show map of the United States
Coordinates: 34°15′36″N 85°11′6″W / 34.26000°N 85.18500°W / 34.26000; -85.18500
Country	United States
State	Georgia
County	Floyd
Incorporated	December 20, 1834; 189 years ago (1834-12-20)
Named for	Rome, Italy
Government [1][2]
• Type	Commission–manager
• Commission	Members Sundai Stevenson – Mayor Mark Cochran – Mayor Pro Tem Bonny Askew Elaina Beeman Jim Bojo William "Bill" Collins Jamie Doss Craig McDaniel Randy Quick
• Manager	Sammy Rich
Area [3]
• City	32.45 sq mi (84.05 km2)
• Land	31.68 sq mi (82.05 km2)
• Water	0.77 sq mi (1.99 km2)
Elevation	614 ft (187 m)
Population  (2020)
• City	37,713
• Density	1,190.40/sq mi (459.61/km2)
• Metro	96,317
• Demonym	Roman
Time zone	UTC−5 (EST)
• Summer (DST)	UTC−4 (EDT)
ZIP code	30149, 30161, 30165
Area code(s)	706 and 762
FIPS code	13-66668[4]
GNIS feature ID	0356504[5]
Major airport	CHA
Website	romega.gov

Rome is the largest city in and the county seat of Floyd County, Georgia, United States. Located in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, it is the principal city of the Rome, Georgia, metropolitan statistical area, which encompasses all of Floyd County. At the 2020 census, the city had a population of 37,713. It is the largest city in Northwest Georgia and the 26th-largest city in the state.

Rome was founded in 1834, after Congress passed the Indian Removal Act, and the federal government committed to removing the Cherokee and other Native Americans from the Southeast. It developed on former indigenous territory at the confluence of the Etowah and the Oostanaula rivers, which together form the Coosa River. Because of its strategic advantages, this area was long occupied by the historic Creek. Later the Cherokee people expanded into this area from their traditional homelands to the east and northeast. National leaders such as Major Ridge and John Ross resided here before Indian Removal in 1838.

The city has developed on seven hills with the rivers running between them, a feature that inspired the early European-American settlers to name it for Rome, the longtime capital of Italy that was also built on seven hills. The American Rome developed in the antebellum period as a market and trading city due to its advantageous location on the rivers. It shipped the rich regional cotton commodity crop downriver to markets on the Gulf Coast and export overseas.

In the late 1920s, a United States company built a rayon plant in a joint project with an Italian company. This project and the American city of Rome were honored by Italy in 1929, when its duce Benito Mussolini sent a replica of the statue of Romulus and Remus nursing from a mother wolf, a symbol of the founding myth of the original Rome.^[6]

It is the largest city near the center of the triangular area defined by the Interstate highways between Atlanta, Birmingham, and Chattanooga. It has developed as a regional center for the fields of medical care and education. In addition to its public-school system, it has several private schools. Higher-level institutions include private Berry College and Shorter University, and the public Georgia Northwestern Technical College and Georgia Highlands College.