Founded August 7, 1849, by George Phipps and party, Georgetown was nicknamed "Growlersburg" due to the heavy, gold-laden quartz rocks that "growled" in the miners' pants as they walked around town. Georgetown is named for George Phipps.[8] The first post office was established in 1851.[4] After a disastrous fire in 1852, the old town was moved from the canyon in lower Main Street to its present site, and, unique in early-day planning, Main Street was laid out 100 feet (30 m) wide, with side streets 60 feet (18 m). After this new reconstruction, the residents of the city proclaimed their town as the "Pride of the Mountains". The hub of an immensely rich gold mining area, Georgetown had a population of about three thousand from 1854 to 1856. As a gold rush camp, the community outlasted many other towns, because the gold found nearby was solid primary deposits, as opposed to placer deposits. Gold production continued until after the turn of the 20th century.[5]
Armory building constructed in Georgetown in 1862, during the American Civil War
Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of 15.1 square miles (39 km2), of which over 99% is land.
For the 2000 census, the CDP's area was smaller. It had a total area of 4.1 square miles (11 km2), of which 4.1 square miles (11 km2) was land and 0.24% was water.
Climate
According to the Köppen climate classification system, Georgetown has a warm-summer Mediterranean climate, abbreviated "Csa" on climate maps.[9] Due to orographic lifting, Georgetown gets about 4 times the amount of precipitation as the western valley locations. A small amount of it falls as snow that melts quickly due to the above freezing temperatures, but for no more than 4 inches a year. The high precipitation allows for vegetation to flourish, but when a lot of it becomes dry during the hot and dry summers, wildfires become a prominent risk.
Climate data for Georgetown, California, 1981–2010 normals
The Census reported that 2,239 people (94.6% of the population) lived in households, 14 (0.6%) lived in non-institutionalized group quarters, and 114 (4.8%) were institutionalized.
There were 913 households, out of which 242 (26.5%) had children under the age of 18 living in them, 521 (57.1%) were opposite-sex married couples living together, 66 (7.2%) had a female householder with no husband present, 64 (7.0%) had a male householder with no wife present. There were 46 (5.0%) unmarried opposite-sex partnerships, and 7 (0.8%) same-sex married couples or partnerships. 218 households (23.9%) were made up of individuals, and 97 (10.6%) had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.45. There were 651 families (71.3% of all households); the average family size was 2.82.
The population was spread out, with 441 people (18.6%) under the age of 18, 181 people (7.6%) aged 18 to 24, 513 people (21.7%) aged 25 to 44, 809 people (34.2%) aged 45 to 64, and 423 people (17.9%) who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 46.4 years. For every 100 females, there were 111.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 114.7 males.
There were 1,069 housing units at an average density of 70.6 per square mile (27.3/km2), of which 913 were occupied, of which 709 (77.7%) were owner-occupied, and 204 (22.3%) were occupied by renters. The homeowner vacancy rate was 3.5%; the rental vacancy rate was 8.1%. 1,689 people (71.4% of the population) lived in owner-occupied housing units and 550 people (23.2%) lived in rental housing units.
^ abDurham, David L. (1998). California's Geographic Names: A Gazetteer of Historic and Modern Names of the State. Clovis, Calif.: Word Dancer Press. p. 490. ISBN1-884995-14-4.
^ abVarney, Philip (2001). Ghost Towns of Northern California. St. Paul, MN: Voyageur Press. p. 22. ISBN978-0-89658-442-6.
