MACON, the capital of Saône-et-Loire, France, occupies a gently eloping site on the right bank of the Saυne, 41 miles north of Lyons. It is connected by a bridge of twelve arches with the suburb of St Laurent on the opposite bank of the river. The site is sheltered and the climate mild, but the locality is subject to sudden changes of temperature. Of the public buildings of Macon the most prominent is the old church of St Pierre, reconstructed in 1866,—a three-naved basilica, 328 feet in length, with two fine spires. Of the old cathedral, destroyed at the Revolution, nothing remains but the façade, portions of the two towers, and a narthex of the 12th century, now used as a chapeh The old episcopal palace, which has been rebuilt, is now used as the prefecture. The hospital is from designs by Soufflot; the lyceum bears the name of Lamartine (a native of Macon, to whom there is a statue). The town house contains a library of 7000 volumes, and a museum. Macon is a railway centre of considerable importance, being the point at which the line from Paris to Marseilles is joined by that from Mont Cenis and Geneva, as well as by a branch from Digoin. The industries of the place include brass-founding, the manufacture of agricultural implements, weighing-machines, and the like, printing, dyeing, and the production of faience. The principal articles of commerce are wine, barrels and hoops, and grain. The population in 1876 was 17,570....
Macon (Matisco) was an important town of the Aedui, but under the Romans it was supplanted by Autun and Lyons. It suffered a succession of disasters at the hands of Germans, Burgundians, Vandals, Huns, Hungarians, and even of the Carlovingian kings. In 1228 it was sold to the king of France, but more than once afterwards passed into the possession of the dukes of Burgundy, until the ownership of the French crown was fixed in the time of Louis XI. In the 16th century Macon became a stronghold of the Huguenots, sided with the League, and did not yield to Henry IV. until 1594. The bishopric, created by King Childebert, was suppressed in 1790.
MACON, a city of the United States, the chief town of Bibb county, Georgia, is situated on rising ground in the midst of a beautifully wooded country on both sides of the Ocτnulgee river, a navigable headwater of the Altamaha, about 80 miles south-east of Atlanta. It is well laid out with tree-bordered streets, often 180 feet wide, and possesses since 1870 a fine central park, on the formation of which $125,000 were expended. The principal institutions in the town are the State academy for the blind (1852), the Mercer university (a Baptist foundation, 1838), the Wesleyan Female College (1839), the Pio Nono (Roman Catholic) College, and the Southern Botanico-Medical Institute. As an important junction for the Georgia, the Georgia Central, and the South-Western Railways, and communicating with the coast by the direct line to Brunswick«, Macon enjoys great facilities for trade; and, besides its extensive railway machine-shops, it has cotton factories, iron foundries, flour-mills, and sash and blind factories. The annual fair held in the Central Park is the great meetingplace of the Georgian planters. From 5720 in 1850 the population has steadily advanced to 8247 in 1860, 10,810 in 1870, and 12,748 in 1880. The foundation of the town dates only from 1823.
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