Vidalia ( vye-DAYL-yə , ) is a city located primarily in Toombs County, Georgia, United States. The city also extends very slightly into Montgomery County. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 10,785. Vidalia is the principal city of the Vidalia Micropolitan Statistical Area, a micropolitan area that covers Montgomery and Toombs counties, and had a combined population of 35,640 at the 2020 census. Description and history The town was incorporated on January 1, 1890. It is the largest city in Toombs County, but it is not the county seat. The original name for the town was "Jenkins Station", after a local landowner, Warren T. Jenkins. Although several origins for the town's modern name have been suggested, it was most likely given by a daughter of Samuel Hawkins, the president of the Savannah, Americus and Montgomery Railroad (later the S.A.M shortline), though which of his four daughters suggested the name, or how she came to it, is not known. Like many towns in the region, Vidalia grew up around a rail yard that served farmers in the area who grew such crops as pecans and tobacco. The area's famous onions were not an important crop until much later. From 1952 to 1956, Vidalia was home to the Vidalia Indians, a Class D minor league baseball affiliate of the Cleveland Indians. Vidalia played in the Georgia State League and won the 1953 League Championship. In the 1950s, Piggly Wiggly grocery stores opened a distribution center in Vidalia, bringing with it a large influx of jobs as well as railroad business. At that time, Vidalia served as an interchange junction between the Seaboard Air Line Railroad and the Georgia and Florida. For this, a large seven-track yard was constructed, as well as a sizable engine servicing facility and interchange yard. The latter, smaller interchange yard is still in use to some degree by the Georgia Central Railway, while the larger yard was removed sometime in the 1970s. Dot Foods currently occupies most of the old Piggly Wiggly distribution center, with smaller companies leasing space. Geography Vidalia is located in northwestern Toombs County at (32.215305, -82.410086). The westernmost part of the city is in northeastern Montgomery County. The city is located along U.S. Route 280, which runs east–west through the center of town. U.S. 280 leads east to Lyons, the Toombs county seat, and southwest to Mount Vernon, the Montgomery county