Lithonia, Georgia
Encyclopedia
Lithonia is a suburban town in eastern DeKalb County, Georgia
, incorporated as a city. Lithonia's population was 1,924 at the 2010 census.
, the city limits encompass a total area of 0.8 square miles (2.1 km²), all land.
"Lithonia" means "city/town of stone". Lithonia is in the heart of the Georgian granite
-quarrying and viewing region, hence the name of the town, from the Greek
λίθος lithos, for stone. The huge nearby granite dome
, Stone Mountain
, is composed largely of a rock called Lithonia gneiss
, a form of granite. Lithonia is in the Atlanta metropolitan area.
Lithonia is home to the Lithonia Lighting Company, a manufacturer of household light fixture
s, which was founded in the city in 1946.
It is also home to New Birth Missionary Baptist Church
, a megachurch
which is known for many high-profile funerals, including those of Coretta Scott King
, wife of civil rights
leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
, and of singer Lisa Lopes
(also known as "Lefteye"), member of the R&B group TLC
. She is buried in a small memorial cemetery two minutes away from the church. New Birth was recently in the national news when its pastor was accused of misconduct between himself and several young boys he has acquainted himself with. The case has since been settled under a money settlement in which all parties involved have agreed to drop the charges.
of 2000, there are 2,187 people, 799 households, and 560 families residing in the city. The population density
is 2,770.2 inhabitants per square mile (1,068.9/km²). There are 892 housing units at an average density of 1,129.9 per square mile (436.0/km²). The racial makeup of the city is, 79.61% Black,16.64% White, 0.09% Native American, 0.09% Asian, 0.05% Pacific Islander, 1.42% from other races, and 2.10% from two or more races. 2.88% of the population are Hispanic or Latino of any race.
There are 799 households out of which 40.8% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 23.3% are married couples
living together, 41.6% have a female householder with no husband present, and 29.9% are non-families. 25.7% of all households are made up of individuals and 10.8% have someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size is 2.70 and the average family size is 3.25.
In the city, the population is spread out with 34.4% under the age of 18, 9.0% from 18 to 24, 27.4% from 25 to 44, 17.4% from 45 to 64, and 11.8% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 30 years. For every 100 females there are 76.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there are 63.1 males.
The median income for a household in the city is $23,397, and the median income for a family is $24,792. Males have a median income of $27,500 versus $23,788 for females. The per capita income
for the city is $10,605. 25.9% of the population and 22.6% of families are below the poverty line. Out of the total population, 31.8% of those under the age of 18 and 25.7% of those 65 and older are living below the poverty line.
discovered that the Lithonia Police Department had been illegally driving uninsured police cruisers for a period of six months.
There has been much debate over the former mayor Darold Honore and his practices of managing government funds. Honore had the password
and locks changed to the city council
building without releasing the new password or keys to any council members.
In early 2008, a new mayoral election
was held. This election was not without controversy, when Joyce McKibben emerged as the winner by just one vote. The other candidate, Rhonda Peek, challenged these results and claimed that McKibben's main residence wasn't inside the city limits. Peek tried to have her case tried in the Dekalb County
courts, but they would not hear the case. Peek next took her case to neighboring Rockdale County
, where the court ruled against Peek, ruling that the results of the election were valid.
Mayor McKibben came under fire for her recent decision to discharge the village's chief of police
. She also stated that both he and council members had their "hands dirty in Honore's money". Less than a year after her election, McKibben was removed from office in a recall election
on September 30, 2008, after a recall petition
had been approved in August. The vote was 78% for and 22% against McKibbeb (166 to 47), with a voter turnout
of just 20%. Despite this significant defeat, Mayor McKibben, who still held office until the ballots had been certified by the Georgia Secretary of State
later that week, said that she would contest the results.
(also known as Stonecrest Mall).
Note: Lithonia Middle School is the only school located in the city limits of Lithonia.
operates the Lithonia-Davidson Library the main library source in Lithonia, which was once privately owned until being incorporated into the Dekalb County Public Library system in 1947.
Other libraries in the Lithonia community include:
Redan post office located directly outside the city limits of Lithonia provides an alternative to postal drop off and pickup service.
United Parcel Service
(UPS) and FedEx
also provide alternative postal service to Lithonia.
(Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority) provides connecting bus service to and from Lithonia, and GRTA Xpress (Georgia Rapid Transit Authority) provides commuter bus service to downtown Atlanta from a community park and ride
lot.
DeKalb County, Georgia
DeKalb County is a county located in the U.S. state of Georgia. The population of the county was 691,893 at the 2010 census. Its county seat is the city of Decatur. It is bordered to the west by Fulton County and contains roughly 10% of the city of Atlanta...
, incorporated as a city. Lithonia's population was 1,924 at the 2010 census.
Geography
Lithonia is located at 33°42′46"N 84°6′21"W (33.712658, -84.105897). According to the United States Census BureauUnited States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau is the government agency that is responsible for the United States Census. It also gathers other national demographic and economic data...
, the city limits encompass a total area of 0.8 square miles (2.1 km²), all land.
"Lithonia" means "city/town of stone". Lithonia is in the heart of the Georgian granite
Granite
Granite is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock. Granite usually has a medium- to coarse-grained texture. Occasionally some individual crystals are larger than the groundmass, in which case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a porphyritic...
-quarrying and viewing region, hence the name of the town, from the Greek
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
λίθος lithos, for stone. The huge nearby granite dome
Granite dome
A granite dome is a dome of granite, formed by exfoliation.-Formation:Granite forms plutons of igneous rock several kilometers below the surface as magma slowly cools and crystallizes. The granite is under great overhead pressure....
, Stone Mountain
Stone Mountain
Stone Mountain is a quartz monzonite dome monadnock in Stone Mountain, Georgia, United States. At its summit, the elevation is 1,686 feet amsl and 825 feet above the surrounding area. Stone Mountain granite extends underground at its longest point into Gwinnett County...
, is composed largely of a rock called Lithonia gneiss
Gneiss
Gneiss is a common and widely distributed type of rock formed by high-grade regional metamorphic processes from pre-existing formations that were originally either igneous or sedimentary rocks.-Etymology:...
, a form of granite. Lithonia is in the Atlanta metropolitan area.
Lithonia is home to the Lithonia Lighting Company, a manufacturer of household light fixture
Light fixture
A light fixture, light fitting, or luminaire is an electrical device used to create artificial light and/or illumination, by use of an electric lamp...
s, which was founded in the city in 1946.
It is also home to New Birth Missionary Baptist Church
New Birth Missionary Baptist Church
New Birth Missionary Baptist Church is a megachurch run by senior pastor Bishop Eddie Long in unincorporated DeKalb County, Georgia, near Lithonia. When Long started as pastor for New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in 1987, there were just 300 church members...
, a megachurch
Megachurch
A megachurch is a church having 2,000 or more in average weekend attendance. The Hartford Institute's database lists more than 1,300 such Protestant churches in the United States. According to that data, approximately 50 churches on the list have attendance ranging from 10,000 to 47,000...
which is known for many high-profile funerals, including those of Coretta Scott King
Coretta Scott King
Coretta Scott King was an American author, activist, and civil rights leader. The widow of Martin Luther King, Jr., Coretta Scott King helped lead the African-American Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s.Mrs...
, wife of civil rights
Civil rights movement
The civil rights movement was a worldwide political movement for equality before the law occurring between approximately 1950 and 1980. In many situations it took the form of campaigns of civil resistance aimed at achieving change by nonviolent forms of resistance. In some situations it was...
leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Martin Luther King, Jr. was an American clergyman, activist, and prominent leader in the African-American Civil Rights Movement. He is best known for being an iconic figure in the advancement of civil rights in the United States and around the world, using nonviolent methods following the...
, and of singer Lisa Lopes
Lisa Lopes
Lisa Nicole Lopes better known by her stage name Left Eye, was an American rapper, singer, dancer, actress, television host, and songwriter...
(also known as "Lefteye"), member of the R&B group TLC
TLC (band)
TLC is an American musical trio whose repertoire spanned R&B, hip-hop, soul, funk, and new jack swing. Originally consisting of singer Tionne "T-Boz" Watkins, rapper-singer Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes and singer Rozonda "Chilli" Thomas it found success in the 1990s while also enduring a series of spats...
. She is buried in a small memorial cemetery two minutes away from the church. New Birth was recently in the national news when its pastor was accused of misconduct between himself and several young boys he has acquainted himself with. The case has since been settled under a money settlement in which all parties involved have agreed to drop the charges.
Demographics
As of the censusCensus
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...
of 2000, there are 2,187 people, 799 households, and 560 families residing in the city. The population density
Population density
Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans...
is 2,770.2 inhabitants per square mile (1,068.9/km²). There are 892 housing units at an average density of 1,129.9 per square mile (436.0/km²). The racial makeup of the city is, 79.61% Black,16.64% White, 0.09% Native American, 0.09% Asian, 0.05% Pacific Islander, 1.42% from other races, and 2.10% from two or more races. 2.88% of the population are Hispanic or Latino of any race.
There are 799 households out of which 40.8% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 23.3% are married couples
Marriage
Marriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found...
living together, 41.6% have a female householder with no husband present, and 29.9% are non-families. 25.7% of all households are made up of individuals and 10.8% have someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size is 2.70 and the average family size is 3.25.
In the city, the population is spread out with 34.4% under the age of 18, 9.0% from 18 to 24, 27.4% from 25 to 44, 17.4% from 45 to 64, and 11.8% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 30 years. For every 100 females there are 76.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there are 63.1 males.
The median income for a household in the city is $23,397, and the median income for a family is $24,792. Males have a median income of $27,500 versus $23,788 for females. The per capita income
Per capita income
Per capita income or income per person is a measure of mean income within an economic aggregate, such as a country or city. It is calculated by taking a measure of all sources of income in the aggregate and dividing it by the total population...
for the city is $10,605. 25.9% of the population and 22.6% of families are below the poverty line. Out of the total population, 31.8% of those under the age of 18 and 25.7% of those 65 and older are living below the poverty line.
Controversy
In 2006, WSB-TVWSB-TV
WSB-TV, virtual channel 2.1 , is the ABC affiliate in Atlanta, Georgia. It is the flagship television station of Cox Enterprises and its Cox Media Group subsidiary...
discovered that the Lithonia Police Department had been illegally driving uninsured police cruisers for a period of six months.
There has been much debate over the former mayor Darold Honore and his practices of managing government funds. Honore had the password
Password
A password is a secret word or string of characters that is used for authentication, to prove identity or gain access to a resource . The password should be kept secret from those not allowed access....
and locks changed to the city council
City council
A city council or town council is the legislative body that governs a city, town, municipality or local government area.-Australia & NZ:Because of the differences in legislation between the States, the exact definition of a City Council varies...
building without releasing the new password or keys to any council members.
In early 2008, a new mayoral election
Election
An election is a formal decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy operates since the 17th century. Elections may fill offices in the legislature, sometimes in the...
was held. This election was not without controversy, when Joyce McKibben emerged as the winner by just one vote. The other candidate, Rhonda Peek, challenged these results and claimed that McKibben's main residence wasn't inside the city limits. Peek tried to have her case tried in the Dekalb County
DeKalb County
-Counties in the United States of America:* DeKalb County, Alabama* DeKalb County, Georgia* DeKalb County, Illinois* DeKalb County, Indiana* DeKalb County, Missouri* DeKalb County, Tennessee-Other:...
courts, but they would not hear the case. Peek next took her case to neighboring Rockdale County
Rockdale County, Georgia
Rockdale County is a county located in the U.S. state of Georgia. As of 2000, the population was 70,111. The 2007 Census Estimate shows a population of 82,052. Two years later, the population was 84,569. The county seat is Conyers.-Geography:...
, where the court ruled against Peek, ruling that the results of the election were valid.
Mayor McKibben came under fire for her recent decision to discharge the village's chief of police
Chief of police
A Chief of Police is the title typically given to the top official in the chain of command of a police department, particularly in North America. Alternate titles for this position include Commissioner, Superintendent, and Chief constable...
. She also stated that both he and council members had their "hands dirty in Honore's money". Less than a year after her election, McKibben was removed from office in a recall election
Recall election
A recall election is a procedure by which voters can remove an elected official from office through a direct vote before his or her term has ended...
on September 30, 2008, after a recall petition
Petition
A petition is a request to do something, most commonly addressed to a government official or public entity. Petitions to a deity are a form of prayer....
had been approved in August. The vote was 78% for and 22% against McKibbeb (166 to 47), with a voter turnout
Voter turnout
Voter turnout is the percentage of eligible voters who cast a ballot in an election . After increasing for many decades, there has been a trend of decreasing voter turnout in most established democracies since the 1960s...
of just 20%. Despite this significant defeat, Mayor McKibben, who still held office until the ballots had been certified by the Georgia Secretary of State
Secretary of State (U.S. state government)
Secretary of State is an official in the state governments of 47 of the 50 states of the United States, as well as Puerto Rico and other U.S. possessions. In Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, this official is called the Secretary of the Commonwealth...
later that week, said that she would contest the results.
Shopping
Lithonia is home to the major regional shopping center in the southeast Metro, the Mall at StonecrestMall at Stonecrest
The Mall at Stonecrest is an indoor shopping mall in Lithonia, Georgia, along Interstate 20 in eastern metro Atlanta...
(also known as Stonecrest Mall).
Hospitals
The three main health facilities in Lithonia are:- Hillandale Dekalb Medical Center is the newest addition to the Dekalb Medical family of hospitals.
- Kaiser PermanenteKaiser PermanenteKaiser Permanente is an integrated managed care consortium, based in Oakland, California, United States, founded in 1945 by industrialist Henry J. Kaiser and physician Sidney Garfield...
runs two community health clinics in Lithonia: Panola Road Clinic, and the Stonecrest Clinic. - East Dekalb Health Center
Elementary schools
- Edward L. Bouie Sr. Elementary
- Marbut Elementary
- Shadow Rock Elementary
- Rock Chapel Elementary
- Princeton Elementary
- Redan Elementary
- Flat Rock Elementary
- Fairington Elementary
- Stoneview Elementary
- Panola Way Elementary
- Murphy Candler Elementary
- Brownsmill Elemenetary
High school
- Lithonia High School (Primary Zoned High School)
- Martin Luther King Jr. High School (Secondary Zoned High School)
- Miller Grove High School (Relief High School)
- Arabia Mountain High School (Magnet High School)
Universities
- Luther Rice UniversityLuther Rice UniversityLuther Rice Seminary & University is a private Christian college and seminary in Lithonia, Georgia, part of Metro Atlanta. The school was founded in 1962 by Robert Gee Witty in Jacksonville, Florida. It has an enrollment of about 1,600 students...
of Theological Studies - Strayer UniversityStrayer UniversityStrayer University, formerly Strayer College of Baltimore, Maryland, is a private, for-profit educational institution. The Strayer University campuses are owned by Strayer Education, Inc. , headquartered in Herndon, Virginia....
Note: Lithonia Middle School is the only school located in the city limits of Lithonia.
Public libraries
DeKalb County Public LibraryDeKalb County Public Library
The DeKalb County Public Library is the public library system of DeKalb County, Georgia in the Atlanta metropolitan area. Its collection includes over 800,000 books; collections of over 400 magazines, academic and scientific journals, and newspapers; and audiovisual materials including videotapes,...
operates the Lithonia-Davidson Library the main library source in Lithonia, which was once privately owned until being incorporated into the Dekalb County Public Library system in 1947.
Other libraries in the Lithonia community include:
- Salem- Panola Branch
- Redan- Trotti Branch
- Stonecrest- Klondike Branch
Parks
- Browns Mill/Recreation Center
- Davidson-Arabia Mountain/Preserve
- Lithonia Park
- Mystery Valley Golf Course
- Redan Park
- Southeast Athletic Complex
- Rock Chapel Park
- Salem Park
Postal service
Lithonia's main post office is located on Stone Mountain Street in the heart of Lithonia. Many drop boxes and postal services storefronts are located throughout the communities of Lithonia.Redan post office located directly outside the city limits of Lithonia provides an alternative to postal drop off and pickup service.
United Parcel Service
United Parcel Service
United Parcel Service, Inc. , typically referred to by the acronym UPS, is a package delivery company. Headquartered in Sandy Springs, Georgia, United States, UPS delivers more than 15 million packages a day to 6.1 million customers in more than 220 countries and territories around the...
(UPS) and FedEx
FedEx
FedEx Corporation , originally known as FDX Corporation, is a logistics services company, based in the United States with headquarters in Memphis, Tennessee...
also provide alternative postal service to Lithonia.
Transportation
MARTAMarta
Marta may refer to:* Marta or Marta Vieira da Silva , a Brazilian women's football forward* Marta Estrella, a recurring fictional character from Arrested Development...
(Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority) provides connecting bus service to and from Lithonia, and GRTA Xpress (Georgia Rapid Transit Authority) provides commuter bus service to downtown Atlanta from a community park and ride
Park and ride
Park and ride facilities are car parks with connections to public transport that allow commuters and other people wishing to travel into city centres to leave their vehicles and transfer to a bus, rail system , or carpool for the rest of their trip...
lot.