Roberta is the largest municipality in Crawford County, a rural county in central Georgia's Piedmont. The city sits at the junction of U.S. Route 80 and U.S. Route 341, about twenty-six miles west of Macon, and counted 813 residents in the 2020 census. Knoxville, the county seat, lies about a mile to the east and remains an unincorporated community, so Roberta functions as the county's commercial center even though the courthouse stands in Knoxville. Crawford County is one of Georgia's smaller counties, and Roberta anchors its commerce. The town grew out of the railroad. In the late nineteenth century, residents of Knoxville migrated toward the new rail line, and the settlement that formed around the depot was called New Knoxville. Hiram David McCrary, who allowed the railroad to use part of his land, was given naming rights and chose Roberta, for his seven-year-old daughter. McCrary became the community's first elected mayor, opened its first general store, co-owned its first motel, and served as tax collector and railroad station agent. The town of Roberta was incorporated in 1890–91, and the city of Roberta was formally incorporated in 1910. Knoxville, founded in the 1820s along the stagecoach and telegraph route from Washington, D.C., to New Orleans, gradually lost its population to the railroad town a mile away and surrendered its municipal charter in 1995, leaving Roberta as Crawford County's principal incorporated community. Today Roberta serves as the hub of Crawford County, which had about 12,130 residents in 2020. The county remains rural and agricultural, and Roberta's position at a U.S. highway crossroads gives it a steady commercial role. Its single countywide school district, proximity to Macon, and quiet small-town rhythm define daily life, while the city's railroad-era origins remain visible in its layout and its name.