Situated near the fall line of the Ocmulgee River, it is 85 miles (137 km) southeast of Atlanta and near the state's geographic center—hence its nickname "The Heart of Georgia".

Residents traveling to and from the area mainly use the large commercial airport in Atlanta, roughly 80 miles to the northwest.

[7] Macon was developed at the site of Fort Benjamin Hawkins, built in 1809 at President Thomas Jefferson's direction after he forced the Creek to cede their lands east of the Ocmulgee River.

Fort Hawkins guarded the Lower Creek Pathway, an extensive and well-traveled American Indian network that the U.S. government later improved as the Federal Road, linking Washington, DC, to the ports of Mobile, Alabama, and New Orleans, Louisiana.

Over 250 acres (1.0 km2) were dedicated for Central City Park, and ordinances required residents to plant shade trees in their front yards.

Because of the beneficial local Black Belt geology and the availability of slave labor, cotton became the mainstay of Macon's early economy.

[10] The city's location on the Ocmulgee River aided initial economic expansion, providing shipping access to new markets.

Cotton steamboats, stagecoaches, and the 1843 arrival of the railroad increased marketing opportunities and contributed to Macon's economic prosperity.

[12] During the American Civil War, Macon served as the official arsenal of the Confederacy[10] manufacturing percussion caps, friction primers, and pressed bullets.

[14] Macon City Hall served as the temporary state capitol in 1864 and was converted to a hospital for wounded Confederate soldiers.

The Macon Telegraph reported the city had furnished 23 companies of men for the Confederacy, but casualties were high.

In 1895, The New York Times dubbed Macon "The Central City" because of its emergence as a railroad transportation and textile factory hub.

Touching down in nearby Lizella, the tornado moved along the southern shore of Lake Tobesofkee, continued into Macon, and lifted in Twiggs County.

The tornado also impacted Macon State College, where almost 50% of the campus's trees were snapped or uprooted and several buildings were damaged, with the gymnasium.

The tornado's intensity varied from EF0 to EF2, with the EF2 damage and winds up to 130 miles per hour (210 km/h) occurring near the intersection of Eisenhower Parkway and Pio Nono Avenue.

The vote came after the Georgia General Assembly passed House Bill 1171, authorizing the referendum earlier in the year;[6][21] Four previous consolidation attempts (in 1933, 1960, 1972, and 1976) failed.

As such, Macon has a varied landscape of rolling hills on the north side and flat plains on the south.

The fall line, where the elevation drops noticeably, causes rivers and creeks in the area to flow rapidly toward the ocean.

[29] According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 56.3 square miles (146 km2), of which 0.5 sq mi (1.3 km2) (0.82%) is covered by water.

[56][57] The aerospace, advanced manufacturing, food processing, healthcare, professional services, and warehouse and distribution industries drive the economy in Macon-Bibb County.

Long-standing, large, private employers include Mercer University, GEICO's Southeast Corporate Headquarters, YKK USA, and Norfolk Southern Railway's Brosnan Yard.

In recent years, the city has successfully landed numerous new employers to diversify the economy, such as Irving Consumer Products and Kuhmo Tire manufacturing plants, as well as multiple aerospace employers at the Middle Georgia Regional Airport, including an Embraer aircraft maintenance facility.

[61] Macon is the headquarters of the 48th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, Georgia Army National Guard.

Macon has been home for numerous musicians and composers, including Emmett Miller, The Allman Brothers Band, Randy Crawford, Mark Heard, Lucille Hegamin, Ben Johnston, Otis Redding, Little Richard, Mike Mills,[63] and Bill Berry of R.E.M., as well as more recent artists like violinist Robert McDuffie and country artist Jason Aldean.

Wesleyan College, a women's school, has basketball, soccer, cross country, tennis, softball, and volleyball teams.

Senator Augustus Bacon, of Georgia, in his 1911 will, devised land in Macon in trust, to be used as a public park for the exclusive benefit of white people.

[84] In Evans v. Newton,[85] the Supreme Court of the United States held that the park could not continue to be operated on a racially discriminatory basis.

The Supreme Court of Georgia thereupon declared "that the sole purpose for which the trust was created has become impossible of accomplishment" and remanded the case to the trial court, which held cy-près doctrine to be inapplicable, since the park's segregated character was an essential and inseparable part of Bacon's plan.

In Margaret Mitchell's novel Gone with the Wind, Aunt Pittypat's coachman, Uncle Peter, protected her when she fled to Macon during Sherman's assault on Atlanta.

After one of the survivors dies, the group heads to a motel on the outskirts of Macon where they set up camp for two more episodes, before eventually deciding to leave the city for Savannah.