Douglasville Social Column: March 21, 1901

My column that ran in the Douglas County Sentinel this past Sunday mentions that little dash that falls between someone's date of birth and the date they passed from this life.  I mention how I run across little social columns all the time regarding folks from Douglas County, but in the past I've not paid much attention to them.

However, I'm beginning to think that they could have real value to people doing family research. These little details might help someone fill in the "dash".....to see how an ancestor lived their daily life. 

Once you read through some of these I think you will see my point......

From "The New South" dated March 21, 1901 in a column headed with "Local and Person":

Mr. A.A. McLarty, a popular justice of Winston was seen in Douglasville Saturday.

Mr. E.R. Stewart has become somewhat changed in facial appearance y the hirsute attachment that has come forth to adorn his upper lip.    .....This might possibly be Eldorado "Rader" Stewart, brother to Dr. F.M. Stewart, but I have not verified this.

Mr. W.W Johnson was here Monday from Winston. Mr. Johnson is a successful farmer and citizen of worth to his community.

Marshal L.O. McElvey spent Saturday and Sunday seeing the sites of Atlanta. He returned Monday morning and his many pleasant things to relate concerning his stay in the capitol city.

Judge J.E. Phillips turned loose a good deal of money amongst the teachers of the county Saturday and sent them away feeling much better than they did when they came.

Mrs. D. P. Webb of Austell spent a few days this week as guest of friends here. We learn that Mr. Webb and family are contemplating moving back to Douglasville some time in May.

The machinery for the flour mill will be here sometime between the first and tenth of April, and it will be speedily arranged for service. The enterprise promises much to the town and county.

The courthouse janitor is giving his attention to the yard surrounding the temple of justice and is making it look decidedly better.  It will be an improvement that will add much to the town's appearance.

Work on the new residence of Colonel W.T. Roberts was begun Monday morning and a number of carpenters are busy getting the structure in shape for occupation. It will have nine rooms and will be a handsome building. The foreman in charge is Mr. Armstead of Atlanta.  The Roberts home, of course, is home today to the Cultural Arts Council of Douglasville and Douglas County.  This article gave me vital information regarding the exact date construction started, and named the foreman!

Mr. R.J. Darnell was attending business in Douglasville this week. Mr. Darnell says that he doesn't feel like he can begin farming until he has cashed up for his newspapers and guano. He is one of the county's most thrifty husbandman and always makes his harvest fields yield him a profit.

Miss Johnnie McLarty, daughter of Mr. Sam McLarty died at her home near Douglasville Saturday night. Pneumonia was her trouble, and she had been sick with it several days. Miss McLarty was about the middle of her teens and was a young lady much beloved. Some years ago she cast her lot with Christ and has since kept in close touch with the Master. She was buried here Monday. The funeral was preached at the Methodist Church by Rev. John Spier.

The canning factory project is still talked about. There are several men who are willing and ready to take stock when they meet up with a sufficient number of others inclined the same way. A canning factory outfit wouldn't cost much and properly conducted it would pay the investors and prove a great benefit to farmers and merchants.

The next little blurb was added from the "Villa Rica Hustler".....

Douglasville is to have a very costly roller flour mill. The money is all subscribed and the machinery will be shipped from some point in Pennsylvania in a few days. This is good for our sister city as Villa Rica has nothing of the kind....guess our farmers will have to take their wheat to Douglasville.

It has been a good long while since the farmers were so well up with their work on the 21st of March as they are this year. The soil has been pretty thoroughly stirred much of the guano to be used has been put to its place and there has been some planting done. The indications are that the yields this year will be large and if the production of cotton is not overdone, the prosperity of 1902 will be much in excess of the present

Little Miss Mattie Hunt came home with Miss Minnie Dorris Friday and remained here Monday. Miss Mattie is a daughter of Mr. J.C. Hunt who resides several miles from Douglasville and is a bright attractive little girl. She is a natural musician and entertains quite well with the guitar and voice. She has two junior sisters, Misses Nellie and Ludie , the youngest only three years  of age and both can pick the guitar to nice advantage. Indeed it seems that the entire family is a musical one for there is not a member of it but what can handle some instrument in an artistic way.

There may be one column from this article that my scanner missed........

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A History Quilt for Douglas County

When my Nanny Blanton passed away in 1962 she had been working on a rather large quilt. It was several years before my mother could look at it long enough to hand it over to an aunt to finish it up – mainly because she missed her mother so, and it held so many memories.

The quilt was made from scrap pieces of fabric, but each held meaning for our family. Everyone could look at the quilt and point out fabric that had been used to make a shirt, a dress, a skirt, a jacket, or even a tablecloth.
 

 

 The quilt held all sorts of memories such as memories for the first day of school, a honeymoon outfit, a flannel shirt that my kept my father warm and even a baby dress for me.

Even though it was just scraps of fabric the whole quilt is a touchstone that provides the spark that triggers memories for my family.
In 2002, the Douglas County Art Guild did something similar for you, for me and all of the other citizens of Douglas County.

 The Douglas County Art Guild was founded in 1973. It is a satellite of the Cultural Arts Council of Douglasville & Douglas County and exists to allow local artists to share common art interests and goals.
 

 

 Using money received from a grant awarded by the Georgia Council for the Arts along with money raised from local sponsors, members of the Art Guild created a very unusual quilt fashioned entirely out of paper. The grant money was used to pay Mona Waterhouse to “facilitate, teach and direct the creation of the quilt. “

The quilt tells the history of Douglas County one square at a time in a very lovely and unique way.

The hope was that the quilt would “revive a community spirit in the midst of a county experiencing tremendous growth. Its purpose [would] be to teach people and demonstrate that Douglas County is a great place to live.”

 

The quilt is on permanent display at the Douglas County Courthouse on Hospital Drive. You can find it on the second floor. You will find a book on the table below the quilt that provides more information.
 

 

The Man Who Designed Courthouses

I have  been in love with small town courthouses since I was a little girl.   I love the similarities and differences in architecture, I love the stories regarding the folks who worked in the building, the records the building holds and the life and death decisions made in them, and I love the attention the building garners just because it’s in the middle of town.  

Simply put,,.. in my opinion …courthouses make a town

Wilbur W. Caldwell states it best in his book The Courthouse and the Depot:  The Architecture of Hope in an Age of Despair when he states, “Courthouses, more than any other building of the era [between 1870 and 1910] symbolize the aspirations and the collective self-image of the people of these towns.”

Caldwell continues, “Architecture supplies us with a direct conduit to the spirit  of the past….These structures sing to us in rhythms of hope and pride and sweat, dirges of ruin and failure and dashed dreams, anthems of triumph, broken waltzes of irony.  In short they sing for us the music of history.”

The music of history? 

Yes!   I certainly believe they do, and while we have a wonderful Douglas County Courthouse on Hospital Drive and the 1956 Courthouse was preserved as a museum for county history I still mourn for the loss of our 1896 Courthouse.  

Douglas County Courthouse, 1896.   Burned 1956.

Yes, I never walked through its hallways, never had any county business to conduct there, I was never even able to drive by the building since it burned in 1956, but I mourn for it.   I wish the grand old building still graced our courthouse square in the downtown commercial district, and I often wonder how different things might be.

Earlier this week when I was perusing through my pages and pages of notes I have regarding Douglas County history my eyes lingered on one paragraph.   I had written, “The arrival of the Georgia Pacific Railroad in 1882 brought the usual clamor regarding a new courthouse.  In 1884, the Grand Jury suggested that the old courthouse, which was only a few years old, ‘was in bad shape and perhaps dangerous’ and recommended that the building be ‘bolted and banded without delay.’   Local legend holds that the bricks for the building had been improperly fire, some say owing to alcohol induced negligence on the park of the local brick maker…It would be twelve years before Andrew Bryan’s new courthouse finally rose.”

Andrew Bryan.   I’d never really paid much attention to the name.   I wondered to myself who he was.

Hmmm…..it’s always the little things that grab my attention and send me down the rabbit hole most folks refer to as research.    I spent about twelve hours trying to find everything I could about Mr. Bryan.

I’ve actually found quite a bit about the man who designed Douglas County’s 1896 courthouse….sometimes referred to as Andrew J. Bryan & Co. or Andrew J. Bryan, or even Andrew Jackson Bryan.  I’ve found courthouse records that state he was from Atlanta, Missouri, New Orleans, Jackson, Mississippi and then I finally tracked him to Chico, California……I think.

Let’s just say that Mr. Bryan was a busy architect and got around after he was born in 1848 in Monroe, Missouri. 

    

Besides designing our 1896 courthouse here in Douglas County he designed several others around the state as well as buildings all across the South.   Unfortunately, like our own 1896 Courthouse many of the examples of Mr. Bryan’s designs succumbed to fire, but thankfully I found some old photos.

One of the earliest mentions of A.J. Bryan was found in the History of Butte County by George Campbell Mansfield regarding the history of Chico, California.   Mansfield states  A.J. Bryan was on the city council for Chico February 3, 1886 through 1890 when he resigned.   Perhaps he resigned because he knew he would be out of town often checking on the construction of his designs.

While serving on the Chico City Council Bryan designed and served as the supervising contractor for the Normal School on the campus of Chico University in September, 1887. Per this website the building was a large brick building, consisting of three stories and full basement.  It was of Romanesque design with Elizabethan gables and artificial stone trimmings…On August 12, 1927 fire destroyed the building leaving only a skeleton of brick walls. 

Debra Moon in Chico:  Life and Times of a City of Fortune advises “The location of the Normal School Teachers College in Chico was a consolation prize for the citizenry who had worked so hard on the county seat issue.   A group of 15 prominent citizens from Chico went to work to convince the legislators to choose Chico including [Mr. Bryan].”  Today, Chico University is California State University.

Chico University's Normal School, 1887

Caldwell advises A.J. Bryan designed at least eight courthouses in Georgia proving himself to be a versatile innovator on varied projects. The Douglas County Courthouse was one of his earliest projects in Georgia along with the Stewart County Courthouse in 1895 located in Lumpkin, Georgia.   It was destroyed by fire in 1922.

Stewart County Courthouse, 1895

A.J. Bryan also designed the Muscogee County Courthouse in 1895.   Per Caldwell, “The up-to-date styling of Bryan’s design at Columbus points directly to a remarkably progressive spirit in that city.    The architectural style of court buildings of this period were driven more by local hopes and attitudes than it was by the artistic tastes and convictions of the architects who designed them.”  The building survived until 1972 when the building was demolished.

Apparently Mr. Bryan was applying to design courthouses all over Georgia.  American Architect and Architecture for October 3, 1896 advised Bryan’s company had plans to build a new courthouse in McDonough, Georgia.  A month later The Henry County Weekly advised Bryan had been employed to inspect the old courthouse, but apparently his designs didn’t meet their expectations since another architect by the name of James Golucke got the Henry County nod.

Engineering News-Record in January, 1897 advised Bryan had designed the new courthouse in Randolph County, Alabama located in Wedowee.    Sadly that building was destroyed by fire in 1940.   It had so much more character that the Randolph County Courthouse does today.

A.J. Bryan was creating a name for himself.  He was mentioned in the Atlanta paper, The Constitution, in 1897.   The paper advised Bryan’s work was confined almost exclusively to courthouses and other public buildings throughout the southern states, and that the firm had plans for a number of county courthouses throughout Georgia in hand and would deliverer them within the next few weeks…as soon as the weather will permit. 

The year 1900 saw the courthouse in Coffee County completed, but like the others it no longer survives.  It was destroyed by fire in 1938.

Coffee County Courthouse, 1900

The Colquitt County Courthouse at Moultrie followed in 1903 and he also designed the Troup County Courthouse in 1904.   Over 600,000 bricks from Trimble Brick Company of Hogansville were used to build Bryan’s design in LaGrange.

In 1936, the building caught fire.   Two women died.   Few records were destroyed in the fire, however, because citizens formed a line and passed the documents and docket books from one to the other until most of the papers were removed from the building.

Colquitt County Courthouse, 1903

Troup County Courthouse, 1904

A.J. Bryan also designed the Monroe County Courthouse in Alabama.  Many experts state the design is very similar to the Troup County Courthouse.     Per the Encyclopedia of Alabama:  The courthouse’s most significant claim to fame is its inspiration for the fictional courthouse in Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird…None of the film was shot in the courthouse, but the film set constructed for the courtroom scenes was patterned after the building’s unique oval courtroom.  Although the cost of the building nearly bankrupted the county, the structure was finished and in use in 1904. 

In 1906, Mr. Bryan also designed a Carnegie Library near Chico, California.   This website states the Biggs Public Library located in Butte County, California was designed by Mr. Bryan and opened in 1908.   The site further states, “When the Carnegie grant of $5,000 was offered in 1906, Biggs may have been the smallest city to undertake the responsibility of a library grant.  

It wasn’t an easy road.  The library site advises construction was delayed by the high cost of labor following the ‘San Francisco fire and railroad congestion’ after the 1906 earthquake.

Summerville, Georgia welcomed Mr. Bryan in 1909 as he designed the Chattooga County courthouse.  It’s one of my favorites.  

Chattooga County Courthouse, 1909

Back closer to him home in Chico Bryan designed the Chico City Hall in 1911, and a historical inventory of buildings I found online here and   here states he designed at least four homes which are all similar.  There is no question one of the homes was designed by Bryan as his signature was found on one of the boards.

I’m sure you have already noted the similarity in the homes.  They all use segmented intersecting gambrels, columned enclosed porches, and accent shingles that makes them immediately identifiable. Sadly, Mr. Bryan’s home was mentioned in the inventory, but not photographed.   Apparently the home had been altered to such an extent it was not included.

A.J. Bryan passed away in 1921.  Western Architect and Engineer mentions Bryan’s death saying…..”in the death of Mr. A.J. Bryan of Chico, Butte County, on October 10, the Architect and Engineer lost one of its oldest readers, Mr. Bryan having been a continuous subscriber to this magazine since its first number in 1905.   Mr. Bryan’s death was due to paralysis following an illness that extended over a period of nearly a year.   He was 73 years old.”

Bryan’s grave can be seen here.

If you want to learn more about Georgia’s various courthouses this site is invaluable.    A tour of the various courthouses that can be found along Georgia 27 can be found here.   Georgia’s Historic Preservation Division can be found here along with an online manual regarding courthouses.

Douglas County's Little Courthouses

Though the phrase "government by the people" was included in the Constitution in 1787 it took many years, numerous stuggles and a few amendments to ring true. 

It still doesn't ring clear, unfortunately.

Citizens of the United States have many rights, but we have responsibilities as well, and some overlap. For example, we have the right to vote, but we also have the responsibility to vote.

Yes, if you choose to stay home and you fail to vote you are part of the problem.  You keep us from having "government by the people," and it might just be my little old opinion, but I think it's one of the major problems we experience as a nation. Imagine how our national, state, and local elections would be impacted if every citizen chose to be responsible and exercised their right to vote.

History: Old Courthouse Museum Is Full of It

Before you travel outside of Douglas County to soak in a little history try stopping by Douglasville's own museum housed in the old courthouse located at 6754 West Broad Street in downtown Douglasville.

The old courthouse building is only fifty-five years old which in the whole scheme of history makes it a fairly young building, but once the Douglas County Courthouse moved to Hospital Drive some notation in the location had to be made so people  wouldn't arrive at the wrong place to file a deed, pay a fine, or get a copy of a birth certificate.

Since 2002, the old courthouse building has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The building passed muster to be added to the prestigious list because it was built in the International Style of architecture, a style that actually emerged in the 1920s and 30s and matured during World War II. Books regarding architecture advise the style characteristics include square or rectangle footprints and all facades have 90 degree angles.Building elements are made up of cubes. Even the windows tend to run in broken horizontal rows and forms grids.

The International Style is not without critics. Many call the structures ugly or sterile. Our 1956 courthouse certainly stands out among the older style buildings in downtown historic district, but I tend to like the clean lines the building possesses. From the Broad Street entrance the structure appears to have only one level, but it actually is a two-story structure with 52 rooms and over 36,000 square feet.

The spot where the Old Courthouse Museum sits today is the location of three previous Douglas County courthouses including the 1896 courthouse that burned. The Georgia Info website provides more information regarding the old courthouse and the move to today's Hospital Drive location.

Whether you like the International Style of architecture or not, our community owes a great deal of gratitude to the local Tourism and History Commission for convincing county government to save the old courthouse from demolition and to use the structure as a museum space. We have allowed too many structures to disappear from our past, and it's refreshing to know there are groups who will fight to save it.

From the museum's webpage:

The Douglas County Tourism and History Commission persuaded the Board of Commissioners to  save the building because of its unique architectural style and for use by the community. The old courthouse now houses the Douglas County Museum of History and Art which contain rotating exhibits of mid-20th century items from private collections to reflect the 1956 date of the courthouse.

Not too long ago I stopped by just to see what the building and museum had to offer, and for close to three hours I was enthralled as I went from room to room. I was amazed at the wealth of artifacts and information the museum contains. Steve Lawler stepped in as my guide, and I was more than impressed with his wealth of knowledge regarding the museum collections and Douglas County history in general.'

The Douglas County Museum of History and Art is open on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 1 to 5 p.m., but special arrangements can be made for groups who wish to tour at other times. School groups from the local area tour the museum as well as various club groups.

In the lobby you will find an exhibit regarding past time capsules that were stored in prior courthouse buildings.

Many of the collections the museum houses are on loan from area residents who are generous enough to allow the public to view their items. Some of the exhibits are quite extensive such as the Coca-Cola exhibit which contains several hundred pieces of memorabilia. Some of the items I recognized from my childhood while other advertisements, bottles, and promotional items were from the earliest days of the company.

I really connected with the lunch box collection and quickly picked out the designs I carried to school as a young girl. I was amazed to see older forms of lunch pails that were used in the 19th century by mill workers and other laborers.

The children's record player collection also elicited a squeal of delight from me as I recognized many designs my friends owned including the round plastic containers we used to store our 45 rpm records. You didn't attend a slumber party without taking along your own 45 collection so the tunes could be played all night long!

One exhibit that taught me a thing or two was the TV lamp exhibit. These lamps were very popular in the 1950s and 1960s. During the early days of television it was generally felt having a lamp on while watching television would help the viewer from damaging his or her eyes. The light from the lamp would diffuse the light from the television. TV lamps don't have shades like regular lamps. A bulb is located behind it, so it actually casts a light on the wall behind the TV. The lamps came in all sorts of designs and apparently are very collectible.

While the museum collection mainly contains items that are contemporary to the building's time period, there is an exhibit dedicated specifically to Douglasville history where one of the first traffic signals in the downtown area can be seen along with many other artifacts dating back to our earliest settlers. One area contains many articles from R.L. Cousins High School which existed in the county during the struggle for civil rights and before integration.

Other exhibits include medical items and the desk of Dr. Claude Vansant, one of the county's first medical doctors, and an extensive collection from the Clinton farm including many household items and furnishings. Today the Clinton farm is owned by Douglas County and is part of Clinton Nature Preserve. If you are into music you will want to see the piano once used by Alabama's Jeff Cook and Jerry Lee Lewis.

I enjoyed my time at the museum very much.. In fact, the only reason why I left was because they were turning the lights off and locking the doors!

I highly recommend every citizen of Douglas County stop by and soak in a little history.

You can reach the Douglas County Museum of History and Art by email or phone:  info@douglascountymuseum.com, 770-949-4090

This post first appeared at Douglasville Patch on April 4, 2011.

Courthouse Is a Crash Course in History

Okay, I'll admit the weather over the weekend was not the best, but haven't we had some lovely days over the past couple of weeks? It has been nice to get out in the car and ride around town with the sunroof open and meet various friends for lunch. The weather has made running my weekly errands a little more enjoyable as well.

Thursday was especially bright and sunny as I headed down Hospital Drive. Suddenly, I found myself turning into the parking lot of the Douglas County Courthouse. Most people only visit their local courthouse when they have some sort of business to conduct - a deed to record, taxes to pay or jury duty.

I'm a little different. Courthouses are a real draw for me for many different reasons. During my college years I spent a few months working as a junior clerk for the Superior Court of Cherokee County recording deeds and other documents. I followed that with an eighteen year career as a paralegal and eventually owned my own legal research business. Let's just say I'm one of those people who get excited over a record room piled high with old docket books, and I've been in many of the Atlanta area's courthouses.

There are other reasons why courthouses attract me. The architecture of the buildings old and new draw me in. I love walking through the building and knowing the business of government is taking place within the courthouse walls. I love the history behind the buildings, and a great courthouse will provide a little history for visitors to see as well.

My personal opinion may not mean much, but Douglas County has a great courthouse.

Take a few minutes the next time you are driving by and stop at the courthouse. There are all sorts of things to see beginning with the marvelous entrance with the grand columns. Notice the years carved into the front of the building - 1870, 1896, 1956 and 1998. The first three years represent the years past courthouse were built to serve citizens in the downtown business district. The 1998 date represents the current courthouse along Hospital Drive.

The side entrances on each side of the building are magnificent.

These doors lead to the lower floors and have creative designs in the terrazzo floor. The most magnificent feature of the building is the interior dome area. It towers over the main staircase and fills the area with light.

Make sure you stroll along the bottom floor corridor beginning at one door, cross the under the dome and then continue down the other corridor to the opposite exit. Along the way you will see several panels depicting Douglas County history - our history.

There are nine panels in all, and I'm told by Wes Tallon, director, Douglas County Department of Communications and Community Relations, they were developed under the direction of former Commissioner Claudee Abercrombie during the design phase of the courthouse.

There are panels that detail important people over the years regarding county politics and history as well as panels covering the area's natural resources and early industry. The history of the courthouse covering each of the buildings is the focus of one panel while another explains how important the railroad was to Douglasville from the very beginning.

 Mr. and Mrs. Black, their trading post, and the significance of a certain skint chestnut tree I've mentioned before are discussed as well. In fact, you can see an image of the very tree on one of the panels. There are other panels discussing the importance of cotton to the economy of early Douglas County and the factory ruins at New Manchester. The cornerstone to the original 1896 courthouse can also be found at one of the lower exits.

Don't forget to take a walk around the outside of the building where three important memorials can be found. Along the front you will see the Eternal Flame - saluting all of our veterans from various wars. The Douglas County Pathway of Service is the highest accolade Douglas County citizens can bestow on a citizen who has spent his/her life in service to others and the Walk of Honor recognizing acts of heroism and great service such as Christopher Queen, a 9-year old who rescued his 3-year old cousin who had fallen into a swimming pool are both located along the front drive.

Out on the north corner of the property you will see the Confederate memorial given to the county by the Douglas County Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy in 1914.

Yes, Douglas County's current courthouse does an excellent job showing off our history.

Take some time to stop by the next time you are in the area.