Crime Scene & Biohazard Cleanup Near Devonwood Perry, GA

Perry is a city in Houston County (with a small portion in Peach County) in Middle Georgia, and it is the county seat of Houston County — pronounced 'HOW-ston' locally, not like the Texas city.

Perry was founded in 1823 as Wattsville, placed near the geographic center of Houston County to serve as its courthouse town.

The town was soon renamed to honor Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry, a hero of the War of 1812, and the Georgia General Assembly incorporated it on December 9, 1824, making it the first official town in Houston County.

Perry's original city limits formed a circle one mile in diameter, bounded on the north by Big Indian Creek.

Perry is nicknamed the 'Crossroads of Georgia' because Interstate 75 and U.S. Highway 41 run north-south and U.S. Highway 341 runs northwest-southeast through the city.

The 2020 census counted 20,624 people in Perry, living in 6,242 households — nearly double the 13,839 residents counted in 2010, and Census Bureau estimates put the population near 25,700 by 2025.

Perry is home to the Georgia National Fairgrounds & Agricenter, a complex of more than 1,100 acres that hosts the annual Georgia National Fair each October; the city estimates Perry welcomes over one million visitors a year between the fairgrounds and its historic downtown.

Antebellum Perry's first industries were gristmills, sawmills, and cotton gins, and as county seat it drew lawyers, doctors, ministers, and teachers.

Perry's newspaper, the Houston Times-Journal, was established in 1870 as the Houston Home Journal and serves as the county's legal organ.

Perry got its first telephone in 1903 and electric lighting in 1912, and it adopted the council-manager form of government in 1986.