Monday, May 13, 2013
With the exception of the Cultural Arts Center our older Douglas County homes are all privately owned and have no historic designation. The homes that remain are treasures.
Mr. Geer and the Granite I know it’s easy to fuss about the downtown business district in Douglasville. Some of the buildings are crumbling away and many remain empty, but the buildings are protected. The buildings aren’t going to disappear from one day to the next unless some act of nature occurs or without many people knowing about it first. It’s a different story regarding our late 19th century to turn-of-the-century homes. With the exception of the Cultural Arts Center our older homes are all privately owned and have no historic designation. It’s a personal choice regarding National Register status, and many owners don’t want to follow the criteria to keep it. I certainly understand this, but so many our earliest homes are gone. They …
Monday, April 29, 2013
One thing is clear – interesting Douglasville political seasons are nothing new – no matter the office involved.
I’ve been looking through several old newspaper clippings this week concerning Douglasville and one thing is clear – interesting political seasons are nothing new – no matter the office involved. The newspaper article I’m presenting below for you is titled “Gartrell” at Douglasville and has the sub-heading “The doughty general refuses to divide time with a political opponent”. It appeared in The Atlanta Constitution on September 21, 1882. This article or one similar to it would have appeared in Douglasville’s local paper at the time – The Weekly Star, and would then be submitted to the Atlanta paper similar to the way news stories are handed off via the Associated Press today. The Atlanta Constitution regularly carried items involving …
Monday, April 22, 2013
Was there really a wooden bridge that spanned the railroad track in downtown Douglasville, providing a pedestrian walkway from Broad Street over to Strickland Street?
One of the commitments I made to myself when I began researching and writing about the history of Douglas County and the City of Douglasville was I wouldn’t publish anything until I was certain that I had done everything I could to verify my resources and not just publish what could possibly be family folklore as historical fact. If I did use family folklore I would identify it as such when I could. Of course, I’m human, and I make mistakes. I’ve tried to go back and correct things when I can. I would suspect part of that train of thought on my behalf has to do with the fact that early on in my online writing foray at History Is Elementary I tried to dispel as many myths and incorrect thought processes regarding historical events as I …
Monday, April 15, 2013
It still bothers me a bit that part of our (Douglasville) historic downtown area was gathered up and thrown into a dumpster, but it couldn't be saved.
Last year about this time I kept hearing discussion and kept reading about how the Douglasville City Council had decided to demolish the Smith Dabbs building – one of the many downtown locations the city seems to own. The building had sustained significant damage due to heavy rains. The plan was to make the building a walk-through connecting Broad Street with the Plaza East project. The project is finished now. You can’t even tell the Smith Dabbs building was ever part of the landscape. It still bothers me a bit that part of our historic downtown area was gathered up and thrown into a dumpster, but it couldn't be saved. While the city was in the process of dismantling the building and cleaning the space, I decided to investigate some of …
Monday, April 8, 2013
The death sentence for the town of Campbellton came about per most sources when the Atlanta & West Point Railroad failed to be built through Campbellton.
Last year around this time we had been to family gathering all day and were on our way home. Our way home was lit by huge full moon. Big, bright and beautiful! I swear we could have turned off the headlights and still could have made our way home. We headed back into Douglas County along State Route 92, and as we approached the four way crossing at Charlie’s Market I couldn’t help but notice how bright the remaining features of the town of Campbellton were…the Methodist Church on my left with its old graves, the old Baptist Church cemetery up on the hill on my right along with Campbellton Lodge No. 76 F & AM which dates to 1848. I made a silent wish I could look up on that hill and see the old Campbell County Courthouse with the moonlight …
Monday, April 1, 2013
One of the first settlers of what would one day be Douglas County was a man by the name of Moses Wilson. Like so many others he packed up his wagon and made the trek from North Carolina to Georgia in 1829 after the Indian removal.
I’m posting three maps with this article labeled Map 1, Map 2, and Map 3. Take a look at Map1. It dates from 1883. Focus in on the words “Campbell County” and then let your eyes move to the left a bit. Within the words “Douglas County” you clearly see the word “Wilsonville”. Wilsonville? Why is it on the 1883 map, but isn’t so widely known today? Places just don’t disappear, right? One of the first settlers in the southern part of what would one day be Douglas County was a man by the name of Moses Wilson. Like so many others he packed up his wagon and along with his wife and young boys he made the trek from North Carolina to Georgia in 1829 after the Indian removal. When Moses first reached Georgia the land he settled on was actually in …
Monday, March 25, 2013
From what I can see it’s much more fun for our lawmaking bodies to pass laws than it is for them to repeal them. It’s interesting to see what still remains on the books in some jurisdictions.
Television has the Emmys and the world of cinema has the Academy Awards, but one of my favorite awards is the Stellas. Not familiar? The Stellas are given to people who file frivolous lawsuits. They are named after Stella Liebeck – the woman behind the words “Caution- Hot!” on each and every cup of McDonald’s coffee. While I realize Ms. Liebeck – an elderly woman – was burned terribly, and McDonalds had been warned for years via customer complaints their coffee was too hot, there are other Stella award winners that are beyond reasonable and reach the bizarre and brazen category. One Stella award winner was attacked by a squirrel outside a shopping mall and claimed her injuries could have been prevented if the mall had warned her that …
Monday, March 18, 2013
The crash of Flight 242 at New Hope was the first crash in Georgia involving a scheduled airline flight since 1941, and had the most fatalities regarding a crash within the state boundaries.
I grew up about three miles from the runways of Hartsfield, so it’s rather an understatement for me to say that the airplanes flew low over my childhood home. We lived under a major landing pattern. The planes flew so low that the engine noise would drown out my favorite cartoons. The planes were so low my mother would joke the pilots could get a glimpse of her through the window in her “gown-tail” washing the breakfast dishes at the sink. Yes, the planes flew close – and they were loud – and from time to time I played the “what if” game. What if a plane got into some trouble and crashed into our house? If could happen – it was a possibility, and after the events of Monday, April 4, 1977 it was even more of a real possibility. During the …
Monday, March 11, 2013
Twelve people perished in the Dec. 5, 1957 natural gas blast in downtown Villa Rica.
When I was a teacher at Villa Rica Elementary I always wanted to begin the school year by showing my fourth and fifth graders that history is everywhere around them if they would take the time to examine, to wonder, and to question what they see. A pile of rocks could be just that, but if you know a little history you might guess the pile of rocks might be a burial spot, if you just happen to know Native Americans in my area were doing that hundreds of years ago. If I knew a little history I might realize a pile of rocks could be part of a much larger design that could be seen from the air like Georgia’s Rock Eagle. Part of my lessons during that first week of school always involved a walk down to the recess field where I would gather …
Monday, March 4, 2013
From 1888 on people in Douglasville had access to the library at Douglasville College, but once the school closed in 1914 the city was without a lending library for many years.
A little blurb in an issue of The Sentinel dated 1913 states, “The ladies of Lithia Springs are eternally grateful to the Douglasville Boosters [a group of Douglasville businessmen] for the nice donation of $25 to build a chimney to their beloved Log Cabin Library which was in danger of being left in the cold, as Lithia Springs is building a new school house and now feeling mighty poor. Some of these days they will return the favor when Douglasville and her boosters turn their attention to such institutions in their town.” Unfortunately, the ladies of Lithia Springs had to wait a long time to pay their debt because the public library in Douglasville didn’t open its doors until 1950. From 1888 on people in Douglasville had access to the …
anonymous
2:55 pm on Tuesday, May 14, 2013
There is at least one home on Price Ave that has a historic property designation and possible one on Bowden as well. The one on Price was owned by the long-time librarian and her attorney husband. Fannie Mae Davis wrote a book of Douglas County history to which you occasionally refer, and the home was purchased after her death by the twin brother of Dot Padgett, another local historian. He … more ›