Lithia Springs - Bennett's Store

My personal photo I took in 2013 of the doors at the old D.W. Bennett Store in Lithia Springs. It was later demolished, but for many years was a Lithia Springs landmark.

A Shooting Scrape

1922 ended with a “Shooting Scrape” per the Douglas County Sentinel for December 1, 1922. 

The paper stated:

We have just received meager reports of a shooting scrape occurring in the Lithia Springs community Tuesday night in which Walter Causey is reported to have been shot by Chap Carroll, the difficulty or misunderstanding arising from livestock of the former trespassing on and being put up by the latter.
Mr. Causey we learn was taken to Atlanta hospital suffering from painful wounds and Mr. Carroll gave himself up to the officers pending further developments.

Today, the same sort of altercation would not arise from livestock ending up on someone’s property, but due to road rage or some sort of slight where one person feels they have been disrespected in some way.

I searched through the issues for the remainder of December and didn’t see an update regarding Causey’s condition or if Carroll was ever charged with anything.

Piedmont Chautauqua Sheriff's Sale

From "The New South" dated March 21, 1901

Sheriff's Sale Notice

To be sold on the courthouse steps first Tuesday, April, 1901 town lots 9, 10, 11, and 12 subdivision of Piedmont Chautauqua fronting ten and a half feet on east side of North Avenue in the town of Salt Springs levied on A.W. Williams for state and county taxes for 1899 and 1901.

The company that headed up the Chautauqua headed up by Henry W. Grady wanted to sell lots for "campers".....folks who would live in Salt Springs/Lithia Springs for a couple of months while the Chautauqua was underway.......camping spots or spots for cabins. 

This notice causes me to wonder.....Where was North Avenue? The map I present below of Chautauqua lots does not show a North Avenue at the time lots were sold. 

I do remember seeing something about additional land opened up for "campers" or other cottage space across the track, but have never seen a map that shows the lots.

A.W. Williams was someone who bought a lot and failed to pay taxes on it, more than likely. I'm doubting at this point he was connected to Chautauqua other than a participant in the programs, etc.

"Doing" History

Last night a group of people joined me for a talk about the Sweetwater Park Hotel and the Piedmont Chautauqua at the Douglas County library on Selman Drive.

I was amazed at the turnout. It’s great to know so many people are interested in Lithia Springs’ vibrant past. 

Many showed up with articles they have collected over the years – an actual fruit bowl from the hotel, dish fragments, spoons, Bowden Lithia Springs water bottles, post card images and stories of playing on the ruins and living on the historic property as children.

Afterwards I was invited to dinner with a group who attended the talk, and they all shared more memories of Lithia Springs.

Some say I “do” history through my research and writing.

I don't necessarily agree. 

While I believe what I do has some value, the real part of “doing” history has to do with the folks who showed up last night, as well as folks who participate with my Douglas County history page on Facebook - groups of people who gather to discuss, who share, and who attempt to remember and pass those memories along.

One of the things I shared in my presentation at the library was this image from the Atlanta Constitution during the Fall of 1884. It’s an advertisement placed by John C. Bowden to lease the springs.

 

The ad states:

I will receive proposals to lease my springs, formally known as Salt Springs, 18 miles from Atlanta, near the East Tennessee, et al. and the Georgia Pacific Rail Road for a term of ten years or more to include in said lease from 30-50 acres of land around the springs.

The spring yields 4,000 gallons of water every twelve hours and is situated in the midst of a prosperous and picturesque  country, and can be made one of the finest resorts in North Georgia, and is a short ride from Atlanta.

The water is the best lithia water in the United States, and has made many remarkable cures. I refer to Mr. Elias Holcombe, J.C. Harris and J.L. Richmond, of Atlanta, Georgia and to Dr. Moncrief of Greensboro, Georgia and can give the names of hundreds of others who have been cured by the use of the water.

The water has been carefully analyzed by Dr. Pratt, one of the best chemists in Georgia.

The ad continued with Dr. Pratt’s analysis. The main part that stood out to me was this section per Dr. Pratt:

Note the unusual quantities of valuable medical constituents, viz. Chromide and Iodine…Lithium and Magnesia deserve careful notice.

The rest of Bowden’s ad to lease the springs continued:

Propositions for lease must be made in writing  and submitted to me by the 15^th of October next.

Bowden advised propositions could be mailed to him, and that he would be available to show interested parties around the place.  He also indicated he reserved the right to select the bid that will pay him the best income for the springs, or to reject all the bids as he saw fit.

It was some time after that when the announcement was made in another article of the  paper advised that E.W. Marsh had leased the springs from Bowden with Bowden keeping the mineral rights……specifically E.W. Marsh & Son had leased the spring. 

The article went on to say, arrangements have been made to place the water on sale wherever there may be demand for it…., and during the fall and winter the water [had] been subjected to a severe test by a number of citizens of Atlanta, and that test [had] two results: 1. That the water can be transported and kept in barrels for a considerable period with no sensible deterioration of its qualities, and 2. That its effects after transportation are as remarkable as they are when drank at the spring.

There is a story that circulates that the first time the water actually came to the attention of anyone in Atlanta was via James A. Watson. He had business concerns in Atlanta, but frequently visited Douglasville to see his mother and other relatives. On one trip he fell ill and had to stay over at Bowden’s plantation home. During his stay he was given the water and credited it with his recovery. He left Bowden’s home carrying a jug of the water which he promptly had tested and shared its properties with his friend who happened to be E.W. Marsh.

So, the question I have is the Watson story merely an embellishment regarding how the springs were eventually leased and sold?  If Watson introduced Bowden to Marsh then why would Bowden need to advertise his desire to lease the springs?

I’ve had people tell me the Watson story is just some sort of historical myth, but you can’t totally discount it as “just a story” since Watson’s friend Marsh did indeed lease the springs resulting in broadening the reach Salt Springs/Lithia Springs had with the rest of the world.

Could it be Bowden wanted to see if he could get a better deal?  

Was he trying to get Mr. Marsh to increase his offer?

Bowden was certainly clear in his ad that he wanted the "best" deal.

Yes, “doing” history always involves discussing, sharing, remembering and passing along what you know to others, but it also involves questions – questions that may or may not ever be answered.

Folks who "do" history, however, love to debate the possible answers.

Shooting Promiscuously

This week's installment of Douglas County history begins in Lithia Springs.

The time period we are visiting is Summer, 1891. The Sweetwater Park Hotel had been open for awhile bringing hundreds of visitors each season to rest, relax and drink the waters. The Piedmont Chautauqua was also in full swing promoting education and entertainment.

Lithia Springs, however, was riding the fine line between a village yearning to grow into a town with upstanding and hardworking citizens or a frontier rough and tumble collection of buildings and folks...some of them with fighting, drinking spirits and even murder on their agendas.

Dr. C.C. Garrett, pictured below, had been elected mayor of Lithia Springs in 1890 to serve the term of one year along....so most believed...with the town council and the town's marshal, James M. Caldwell.

They served their year, however, when November, 1890 rolled around the election folks were anticipating was postponed. For some reason the election didn't happen. It was surprising news to many including L.W. James who had planned to run for mayor.

James actually showed up on election day at Lithia Springs accompanied by 20-30 friends who intended to submit their ballot for their friend. The would be voters were advised by Mayor Garrett there would be no election until after Christmas.

At this point in my research I'm not privy why Mayor Garrett and the Lithia Springs City Council felt they could postpone an election. I don't know the language of the city charter at the time other than there was no time specified for the terms to expire. I am also not knowledgeable to how candidate James felt about the situation, but once Christmas came and went voters were put off again until January. Finally, the announcement was made there would be no election until November, 1891.

The announcement meant the mayor, the city council and the marshal received an extra year in office. They continued serving in their positions with the same authority.

But did they legitimately have the same authority? 

Could those holding office extend their terms at will?

The question was brought up the next year in a courtroom belonging to the Supreme Court of Georgia.

Did candidate James finally have enough of the postponements and file a lawsuit regarding the usurping of power by the city officials?

No.

The whole matter regarding the election only came up as an attempt by a man convicted of assault with the intent to murder to get his conviction overturned.

During the middle of June, 1891 a group of men including brothers Jim and Dock Bohannon, Aleck Garrett, and Jim Hollis had gathered to drink and have a few laughs as men sometimes tend to do.

Today, in 2013, it matters not that the Bohannons and Aleck Garrett were black, but in 1891 reports of the outcome of the group's drinking and "fun" repeated over and over again they were black.

News reports from June 15, 1891 state "a crowd of drunken negro toughs became so disorderly in Salt Springs along towards midnight that Marshal Caldwell attempted to arrest Jim Bohannon."

Jim Bohannon didn't take kindly to the good Marshal interrupting his fun time. He pulled a pistol and per reports began "shooting promiscuously."

Marshal Caldwell saw that he needed help and called on his friend Postmaster John C. Bowden, who I have written about before here. Bowden was 65 years old at the time, so I'm not so sure how much help he could have been, but he was a respected man in the community. Perhaps Caldwell though Bowden could calm the situation down.

Unfortunately, the group of rowdy men continued to be unhappy about being interrupted.

"Knives and pistols were drawn", and per the Supreme Court records "Jim Bohannon fired his pistol at Bowden and then the other Bohannon stabbed Caldwell in the neck and body. Aleck Garrett threw Bowden to the ground and held him while Hollis struck him behind the ear."

Marshal Caldwell received three deep cuts in what the Atlanta Constitution reported was a riot. It was said that Caldwell's injuries were so serious they should have produced instant death.

Mr. Bowden's injuries were seen as "only in the flesh and his recovery would be rapid."

The group of drunken men scattered sending a posse of white men out to scour the countryside for the ruffians. Naturally, given the mentality of the times the white posse was out for blood.

Eventually, those involved were rounded up and taken to jail at Douglasville for safekeeping.

Joseph S. James acted as prosecutor. He understood the volatile climate between the races and instantly sent for John Slaughter Candler to make haste to Douglasville to oversee the commitment trial as the Superior Court judge.

You have to admit that having the middle name "Slaughter" an being a judge is interesting. Candler was the brother to Asa Griggs Candler, founder of Coca-Cola.

The commitment trial was held the next day while "Marshal Caldwell lay at the point of death and Postmaster Bowden was also in bed, badly injured but not dangerously hurt."

"The trial was largely attended, hundreds of people living in Douglasville [stopped] work and [went] to town. Marshal Caldwell was personally known to nearly all and a more popular  man [did] not live in that section. All were his friends, and had his death occurred humanity would have made a trial of the case unnecessary."

By the end of July, 1891 the trial was over with the men convicted and sentenced from eight to ten years in the penitentiary. The appeals process began the next year with the sentences upheld, so it would seem the Georgia Supreme Court felt Caldwell was indeed the authorized and legal law enforcement authority to keep the peace.

I'll keep looking to see when the citizens of Lithia Springs were able to exercise their right to vote again. Stay tuned.....

A Sweetwater Park Hotel Advertisement

I was honored Friday to have the opportunity to speak at the weekly Kiwanis lunch about Douglas County history.  I met so many new friends and was amazed how busy the Kiwanis are here in Douglasville. The Sentinel was kind enough to post about my “little talk” here.

This week I’m posting the contents of an ad that appeared in the June 14, 1888 edition of Atlanta’s Constitution newspaper along with some pictures of what some termed “the Saratoga of the South”.   I’m posting some pictures I’ve received from various sources regarding the hotel and springs.

It was an amazing place.

Sweetwater Park Hotel is now open for summer guests and has been since June 1st. Undoubtedly this is one of the finest hotels in the southern states. Everything the heart can desire can be found there. E.W. Marsh & Company, the proprietors, have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars fixing up this grand hotel and chautauqua grounds at Lithia Springs and have made it the summum bonum of summer resorts.

The Chautauqua grounds covered a few acres adjoining the Sweetwater Park Hotel property. I've written about the Piedmont Chautauqua here and here.

Three or four years ago there was nothing at Lithia Springs except the springs. The ground was rugged, the fields barren: today the springs have been beautified, lakes have been built, avenues opened, parks made, making it one of the most beautiful pictures imaginable. The trees have grown to give a heavy deep shade. One is delighted with the cool breezes which invariably come from the southwest.

Hmmm....well, there WAS something at Lithia Springs before the hotel and water company...and the Piedmont Chautauqua. The land was owned by Judge Bowden, and it was all part of his plantation. It was heavily farmed until he leased the springs and sold the land where the hotel was located to E.W. Marsh. I've written about Judge Bowden here. 

The Constitution ad continues....

"The Sweetwater Park, as a hotel," said a gentleman yesterday, "has no equal in Georgia. The fare to be obtained there is all that money and time can produce. Every vegetable grown, every luxury obtained may be found upon the tables. There is nothing too good for the proprietors to serve their guests with. This fact has done a great deal to advertise the hotel and hundreds of people are coming from New Orleans, Montgomery, Mobile, Galveston, Birmingham, and other southern cities to spend the season at this famous hotel. I have been boarding at Sweetwater Park for over a month, and know that it is the most delightful summer resort I have ever visited. My wife is greatly improved in health, and I feel like a young man again."

It was at the bath house (pictured above) where folks could bathe in the medicinal waters at any temperature they desired.

The ad continues:

This is the expression of everyone who has been a guest of this famous hostelry. Major Rider, of the Georgia Pacific railroad has arranged four schedules a day from Atlanta to Lithia Springs. The train runs as follows:

Leave Atlanta at 9:00 a.m., 2:30 p.m., 5:40 p.m. and 10:10 p.m.

Returning to Atlanta, leaving Lithia Springs at 5:29 a.m., 7:40 a.m., 11:25 a.m. and 4:30 p.m.

This is a perfect schedule and suits the people of Atlanta and those passing through Mr. Rider says he will see that these schedules are run to the minute. No road running Atlanta is better managed and has a more perfect system of schedules than the Georgia Pacific. For months its trains have been arriving and departing on the minute and no complaint can be made whatever as to schedules. The road furnished reduced fare for round trip. The trip is made in exactly forty minutes.

Having the cooperation of the Georgia Pacific was very important to the Sweetwater Park Hotel. They depended on folks who came to stay at the hotel, but much of their business came from folks who came out to Lithia Springs for the day on the weekends or for the businessman who could work in the city and join his vacationing family each night and get to the office the next morning.

Folks visiting the hotel or the Chautauqua grounds would reach the depot at Lithia Springs and then get on the dummy line which was a spur railroad that took visitors to the hotel. The dummy line train was dubbed "The Anna" and was named for the wife of James Watson.

The ad continued:

If you were to ask what were the attractions at Lithia Springs for summer guests it could be stated that there were many. In the first place, it is a quiet cool place. It is beautiful with lovely shade trees, placid lakes and flower gardens.

The picture below is the rose mound on the chautauqua grounds where band concerts were often presented.

 

The picture below is the lake on the chautauqua grounds.

The ad continues:

The hotel is as perfect as money can make it. The fare is all that can be described.

 

 
The ad continues:

The drives are wild and beautiful. The conveniences to Atlanta are many. The rates for accommodation are extremely low when compared with what hotels of this character usually charge. It will be remembered that the guests at Sweetwater Park Hotel have free access to the Lithia Springs mineral water.

I've been conducting lots of research regarding the hotel and the Piedmont Chautauqua and have a few more tidbits of history to bring you in the near future regarding the goings on at the Springs....

Thanks for staying tuned.

If you haven't already "LIKED" Every Now and Then on Facebook I try to post at least one picture a day....old and new....on the Facebook page.   

The Log Cabin Library at Lithia Springs

I've written concerning how the library in Douglasville came to be here, but the efforts at Lithia Springs were entirely separate....in the beginning, and predated the folks in Douglasville by thirty-seven years.

The Lithia Springs project was spearheaded by the women in the community. The library would be housed in a log cabin that sat north of the railroad tracks. They decided to fund the library by holding a box supper and invited the general public. A Sentinel article from the time reported the event was well attended...especially by the men in the area. They enthusiastically bid on the dinners and bought chances to win quilts the ladies displayed.

The Sentinel article goes on to say, "The ladies of Lithia Springs are eternally grateful to the boosters 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 a might poor. Some of these days they will return the favor when Douglasville and her boosters turn their full attention to such institutions in their town."

The boosters the Sentinel spoke of were a group of businessmen in Douglasville who were headed, at the time, by Dr. Tom Whitley.

The Lithia Springs Log Cabin library was governed by the Lithia Springs Library Association with Miss Lily Reynolds, a school teacher and outspoken promoter of the library project, at the helm.

Volunteers made up the library staff, and in those early days the library was open to the public from two to four o'clock on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday afternoons.

The book collection was described as "marvelous" and circulation and membership seemed quite good. A fine of one cent per day was charged for books kept over 14 days.

In 1917, Mrs. George Bass and Captain J.C. Joyner laid a brick walk from the porch to the sidewalk. The library was used at this time for various women's meetings and also served as the town hall for town council meetings.

At some point around 1918, Miss Reynolds left the area and interest in the library began to decline. Sadly, the building burned down in the late 1940s. However, one book, a Bible, survived the fire, and is a treasured relic at the Lithia Springs Library today.

I've looked through several collections of old photos taken in and around Douglas County. I've yet to see a picture of the old log cabin, but would be greatly interested in seeing and sharing one.

The efforts to maintain a public library at Lithia Springs took off again when Mrs. Annette Winn, principal of what was then Lithia Springs Elementary School wanted her students to have more access to reference materials than what the school board could afford for the school. Fannie Mae Davis advises in her book Douglas County: From Indian Trail to I-20 that Mrs. Winn was never one to leave a stone unturned, if it concerned a benefit for her beloved adopted Douglas County and her own community of Lithia Springs.

At last there was a reason for hope with the founding of West Georgia Regional Library in Carrollton. After the library's bookmobile service was inaugurated, Mrs. Winn contacted the director, Miss Edith Foster, the State Department of Library Services, and Douglas County officials, whereby permission was granted for the bookmobile to visit Lithia Springs Elementary/Annette Winn Elementary once a month. The children knew the schedule and eagerly awaited the monthly visits. A library was needed. Mrs. Winn and Miss Foster talked with parents, civic groups and clubs to get their interest.

Finally, it was decided that the little courthouse located in Lithia Springs near the fire department would be the perfect location. I've written about the little courthouses here.

The front room of the little building was made available and volunteers from the local Ruritan Club built bookshelves. Mrs. Betty Hagler took over as the librarian on a volunteer basis.

Fannie Mae Davis continues, in May, 1963, East Douglas County Library opened. The first library board was comprised of Mrs. Annette Winn, chairman; Mrs. A.B. Craven, Mr. George P. Argo; Mrs. Agnes Green, Mrs. Ethelyn Cooper, Mr. Louie Wood, and Mrs. Edith Foster the West Georgia Regional director served as an advisor. Mrs. Hagler continued as librarian, but on a salary. The library was now open for longer hours.

They registered 200 people in the first week alone. Of course, it didn't take long for the small front room of the Lithia Springs little courthouse to overflow with books and library patrons. A larger space was needed and the library that you and I know as the Lithia Springs Library was opened in the late 1970s.

First Baptist, Lithia Springs - A Dream Come True

The political season is wearing on me, and judging by the comments I hear and read I think it's wearing on most people.  

The spin.

The attacks.

The gotchas.

The convoluted issues.

The negativity in what is already a time where serious problems exist, and we are in need of real solutions if not bona fide action-plans.

It shouldn't be about who got us into the mess or who might want the credit for getting us out of the morass.   It should be about fixing things...that's it.   Just give me your plan with no static or spin.  Don't tell me about the other guy.   Give me your plan, and I'll decide which one I like.

Simple, right?

You'd think so...but politicians get sidetracked with ego and power and just wanting to be "the one."

I would like to think that most people want to do something worthy with their life.  They want to have purpose and leave behind something meaningful....and if they get the chance to leave behind something tangible....something that can be seen, used, and enjoyed by others that it would be even better.

I don't usually find those types of people deep in the confines of politics.  People who want to have real purpose and meaning hang out in everyday life quietly going about their work...their plans....living life.  

They tend to dream. 

They tend to work on projects of their own and with others.

They have goals.

Those people....the everyday normal you - and - me types of people amaze me because more often than not they don't see their dream the first time around....projects go awry and goals have to be restructured.

Yet....they keep going even when everything they work for is suddenly taken away from them.

It's easy to give up, but the human spirit can be a remarkable thing when it meets up with adversity.  Sometimes the right group of people come together and make something happen not once...but twice.

Take a group of citizens from Lithia Springs in the year 1946.   A committee was appointed by Union Grove Baptist Church to look into the possibility of moving the church to the business area of LIthia Springs.  Members of the committee included Tom Gore, Ed Ralls, Loy T. Chandler, and I.C. Williams.   

The committee discovered the John James family had given the land for the church only on condition that it be used as a church.   If the church was moved or disbanded, the land would revert back to the James family.  The committee's report was presented to the church and the suggestion to move to downtown Lithia Springs was not approved.

However, a small group of twelve people still believed God  was leading them to establish a church at Lithia Springs.  One member of the group in particular....Loy T. Chandler (pictured below)....had a dream one Sunday afternoon after church where he later advised God had given him a vision of a church in downtown Lithia Springs. 

At one time Glen Florence (pictured below) owned several lots of land along Bankhead Highway in Lithia Springs.   He was also involved in various business concerns and later was a member of the Georgia General Assembly for the 39th District.  Ed Ralls contacted Mr. Florence on behalf of the group.

Mr. Florence responded to Mr. Ralls by letter on March 1, 1946 and a copy is stored within the historical archives of First Baptist Church, Lithia Springs.   Mr. Florence wrote, "I will be glad to donate a church site....Have you looked at the place next to the school house, as you could utilize part of the school grounds for large Sunday crowds? ...You might want to get Mr. Watt Mozeley to show you the places and write me the amount of frontage needed and the depth of the place, and I am sure we can get together.  Thank you for the chance to do something."

The church was organized on April 7, 1946 in the auditorium of the present Annette Winn Elementary School then known as Lithia Elementary School.   Finances were discussed and a budget plan approved.  The group pledged  to tithe their income, and it was unanimously voted to have services every Sunday.

Ground was broken soon thereafter to begin construction (see image below).   From left to right:  Mary Gore, Ethel Hodges, Vassie Williams, John and Estelle Rice, Pat Chandler, Jewell Patterson, Amy Copeland, G.W. Southard, Pastor Arnold Patterson, John Cauble, Pastor Pat Johnson and John Brown.

The group continued to meet in the school building until the basement of the church was complete.  At the conclusion of the first year the basement was completed and services were held there. 

The church members completed much of the building themselves.  Men would head to the church site after work and complete another shift until late at night.  Every Saturday was spent seeing to the construction at the church as well with the women providing picnic lunches when necessary.  

On October 23, 1949 the LIthia Springs First Baptist building was dedicated to the glory of God.  The dedication theme was "A Dream Come True", and it was.  It is said the building was just as Mr. Chandler had envisioned.

A regular Sunday schedule was held using all of the new equipment and all of the spaces that were available.  Following the morning service a basket lunch was enjoyed and during the afternoon a congregational singing was held and a message of dedication was given by Pastor Pat Johnson from the Douglasville First Baptist Church.

The dedication was followed by a week long revival, but on that Friday night...October 28, 1949 to be exact....tragedy struck.

As the congregation gathered for the evening services the building caught fire.  Instead of gathering to sing hymns and listen to the pastor's message the congregation watched their many hours of  labor and the result of many months of financial sacrifice burn to the ground.  Later the cause was determined to be a faulty gas heating system.

The above newspaper clipping is from the Atlanta Constitution and is dated Saturday, October 29, 1949.   If you click on the image you can see a larger version and isolate it on the screen by itself.  

The caption underneath the image states, "FIRE DESTROYS LITHIA SPRINGS CHURCH...the new $62,000 First Baptist Church in Lithia Springs was destroyed by fire last night.  The structure  was dedicated only last Sunday.   The fire was discovered shortly before a scheduled meeting."

In those days Lithia Springs didn't have regular fire service.  In fact, it would be the 1960s before Douglas County would have regular fire service.  Fire fighting equipment was called from Austell and Douglasville, and a bucket brigade was formed to no avail due to the town's lack of a water system.  

All equipment including a new grand piano, new white pine pews, carpeting, four pianos in the Sunday School departments, all chairs, heaters, and much more were destroyed.  Written histories filed within the church archives state, "It was well the church had a firm foundation because it went from a mountain-top experience of exaltation to the valley of despair in five short days.  it was in the testing time that the real church emerged to build again an even larger, stronger organization, with more facilities to proclaim God's love in the community."

Three days after the fire a meeting was held where the congregation met to discuss plans for the future.  A plan was put in place to raise the funds and go forward with building another "new" church.  Surrounding churches offered their buildings, plus a store building, the Scout Hut, and private homes were used on a temporary basis.   Later meetings were held in the school until a new sanctuary was completed in August, 1951.   The building still stands on the church campus today as a testament to faith, dreams, and sticking to a goal.

Revisiting Camp Hobson

Clara Barton

Earlier this week Douglasville Patch was so kind to re-run my column from 2011 regarding

Camp Hobson in Lithia Springs….a military camp used during the Spanish-American War.

While I strive to get the whole story with each and every column I write I often stumble across additional sources or bits and pieces of information after I’ve published something.   In this case I recently came across a mention of Lithia Springs in Clara Barton’s book The Red Cross in Peace and War.

Yes!   Clara Barton.   THAT Clara Barton you remember from your history classes!

Clara Barton was the founder of the American Red Cross in 1881.   The website for the Atlanta chapter of the American Red Cross advises…..Miss Barton’s most significant act during her closing years as head of the American Red Cross was to take Red Cross supplies and services to Cuba during the Spanish-American War. Miss Barton….went to Cuba with her nursing corps, medical supplies, and food.  Aid was given to the American forces, to prisoners of war, and to Cuban refugees. This effort was the first step toward the broad programs of service to the armed forces and to civilians during wartime that have become traditional in the American Red Cross.

The Atlanta chapter of the Red Cross per Ms. Barton’s book was also involved with providing meals at an emergency camp that was set up in Lithia Springs, Georgia.

Camp Hobson was set up to provide a place for patients to basically escape after Typhoid broke out at Fort McPherson early in August, 1898.  Camp Hobson was short-lived, but because it existed it may have saved the lives of the men who were sent there.

In her book Ms. Barton mentions a report that was sent to her regarding the camp.  Ms. Barton states:

At Camp Hobson, Lithia Springs, Georgia, a diet kitchen was also maintained under the direction of Miss Julia McKinley, assisted by the Atlanta Committee of the Red Cross, of which the following account is received:   The diet kitchen was opened here on Monday, August 9, and remained in operation three weeks; at the expiration of which time the camp broke up.  During the first week after the kitchen was established, when detachments from the Sixth, Seventh, Eighth, and Twenty-Fifth regiments were in camp, 1,176 meals were served.

The next week orders were received for the removal of the Eighth and part of the other regiments to Montauk Point, consequently the number of convalescents was reduced, but during the second and third week 2,066 meals were served, making a total of 3,242 meals served at the table and in the hospital during the time the kitchen was in operation.  The meals were furnished to convalescents in the hospital, men relieved from duty but not sick enough to be in the hospital, and to the hospital corps.  

The report then went on to describe the various foods served including many of the same things any hospital kitchen serves – breakfast cereals, milk, eggs, toast, bouillons, rice, etc. – before continuing:

The only paid help were two men and one woman, the latter lived near the camp and reported for duty at the first meal call and remained until dining tent and kitchen were in order. 

This last sentence confirms something I had wondered when I first researched the subject regarding the citizens of Douglas County…..if they helped or volunteered in some way.   I certainly would like to know the names of the individuals, but sometimes points of history are lost for all time. 

While the Douglas County workers are not named members of the Atlanta Red Cross Society were mentioned in the next portion of the report.

The other work in the kitchen was graciously done by Atlanta members of the Red Cross Society assisted by Mrs. Edward H. Barnes, Mrs. Loulie Gordon Roper (niece of General J.B. Gordon), Miss Emmie McDonnell, Miss Estelle Whelen, Mrs. George Boykin Saunders, all of Atlanta, and the ladies from the Sweetwater Park Hotel, who came over daily from the hotel, about half a mile distant from the camp, and assisted in serving table meals, also in carrying delicacies to hospitals and distributed flowers among the patients.

It affords us pleasure to acknowledge the uniform courtesy of the army officials, especially the commandant Major Thomas Wilhelm, Chief Surgeon Major E.L. Swift, Assistant Surgeons Street, Baker, and Johnson and Lieutenant Norman, Quartermaster.

Major Wilhelm had our kitchen built and fly ten for dining hall put up in a few hours after our arrival; detailed men to help wherever needed in kitchen and with finest courtesy assured us of his appreciation of what was done to add to the comfort of his sick and convalescent men.

Besides regular kitchen work at Camp Hobson, the Red Cross furnished for a short time to the hospitals one special nurse….Miss McKinley….and one trained nurse….Miss McLain, who remained until our last patients were sent to Fort McPherson General Hospital and went with them in the hospital train, ministering to their wants until they were transferred to their respective wards there.

In this connection we think proper to state that many of our Camp Hobson patients now in Fort McPherson Hospital, one of the best equipped and best managed hospitals in the country, assure us that they can never forget the unfailing kindness of Chief Surgeon Swift and assistants the faithful care of their Red Cross nurses, nor the delicacies furnished by the diet kitchen at Camp Hobson.

Even though I have looked at the pictures and visited with all of the historical documents and accounts through my research it is still difficult to realize that not only was Lithia Springs home to a magnificent hotel during 1898 but also played host to a military camp with a thousands of soldiers.

But...the hotel WAS there and so were the soldiers.  

Garrett's Views of the Piedmont Chautauqua

Students and friends alike have often asked me how I became interested in history.   Was it a special teacher?   A family friend?   Perhaps a grandparent was a history buff and ignited this flame that basically rules my life these days…….

Actually….it’s a combination of many things including…..family members sharing stories, old buildings on a family farm, books on the Civil War given to me as a child and hearing this man on local television discuss Atlanta’s rich history:
 

 

 

The man to the left is Franklin Garrett...the only official historian the city of Atlanta has known. Garrett spent 28 years as the historian of the Coca Cola Company and researched various aspects of Atlanta's history as well during that time.

His book….Atlanta and Its Environs is one of my most favorite go-to resources regarding the history of the metro area and Douglas County and Douglasville does have a mention here and there.

 

During the 1880s one of the largest events held in Douglas County and perhaps never equaled since  happened to be the Piedmont Chautauqua.   I’ve written about it before here.

 

Franklin Garrett included a section about the Chautauqua in his book mainly centering on Henry W. Grady, editor of the Constitituion and cheerleader for the New South and Marion C. Kiser, Grady’s partner in the Chautauqua.    Grady is pictured below....

 

 Mr. Garrett provides an interesting view of the Chautauqua as well as a humorous remembrance from the opening remarks of Mr. Kiser. Here's what he had to say:

During the summer of 1888,…..[Henry W. Grady…] was engrossed is plans for the Piedmont Chautauqua….

The institution of the Chautauqua had attained great popularity in the United States since 1874, when the first Chautauqua Institution was founded on the shores of Lake Chautauqua, New York, to promote the training of Sunday school teachers.  Since then some 42 other Chautauquas had been organized in various parts of the country.

 

The Piedmont Chautauqua patterned after the original, was largely the inspiration of Grady.   In March, 1888, he called a meeting to explain the movement to a group of Atlantans.

 

A plan was evolved for asking 200 citizens to subscribe $100 each toward the undertaking, after which the Piedmont Chautauqua was incorporated, with Marion C. Kiser, wealthy wholesale shoe and dry goods merchant as president, and Grady as vice president.

The site selected for the new enterprise was the little resort town on the Georgia Pacific Railroad, then known as Salt Springs, though now and for many years past it has been called Lithia Springs.   A spring-fed stream offered possibilities for an artificial lake and other attractions. 

 

Salt Springs already had one resort hotel, advertised as “the most sumptuous summer hotel in the South,” and the promoters of the Chautauqua proposed to erect two smaller hotels.  In addition, plans called for a classroom building, a restaurant accommodating one thousand persons, and a tabernacle seating seven thousand.

 

Yes….you read that right.   Seven thousand people.

 

Lots for summer cottages were staked out and offered for sale, space was provided for various outdoor sports, and the stream was dammed to provide  boating and swimming facilities.  

The Chautauqua grounds are seen in the picture below......

The Georgia Pacific promised to run special trains, making the 21-mile run from Atlanta to the grounds, three miles west of Austell, in 35 minutes.

The Chautauqua announced that it would have instructors in Bible, English, foreign languages, the natural sciences, the fine arts, physical education, and ‘every chair of a first-class university’.   The entire curriculum cost $10.  Any single department was open for a $5 fee.

 

Grady realized that the success of the Chautauqua hinged, not upon the relatively small number expected to register for classes, but upon the size of the crowds  coming out for the special attractions at night and for Sunday sermons.

 

A number of celebrities were signed up for the program.  Congressman William McKinley and Roger Q. Mills came down from Washington to give Georgians contrasting views on the tariff, then a particularly warm issue.  Dr. Talmadge delivered his lecture on “The Bright Side of Things”; and Thomas Nelson Page gave a reading of his “Unc’ Edinburg’s Drowndin’”.

There were sermons, chalk talks and scientific demonstrations by lesser personalities.   A “Hungarian orchestra” gave daily concerts, and several large bands appeared from time to time.   Four leading manufacturers of fireworks produced striking displays in competition for the “Chautauqua championship” and a $1,000 prize.

Marion C. Kiser is pictured below.....
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

July 4, 1888, was selected as the appropriate day upon which to open the Chautauqua grounds.  The featured event being a barbeque.   President  Kiser was slated for an address of welcome.   Successful businessman, sterling citizen and civic leader though he was, [Kiser] was no public speaker nor did he profess to be.  Born and reared on a Fulton County (old Campbell) farm, he had had limited educational advantages.   As a young man he had lived at Powder Springs, not far from Salt Springs, and had, in fact, begun his mercantile career there in a store owned by two older brothers, W.J. and M.P. Kiser [His Atlanta store was located at the corner of Pryor and Wall Streets].

Henry W. Grady, Jr., and his young friend and future [son-in-law], Eugene R. black, were ticket-takers upon the occasion of the Chautauqua opening.   Both recalled an incident in connection with President Kiser’s address of welcome.

The speech had been written out in advance by Grady, but when Kiser rose he fumbled around in his pocket without being able to find the manuscript.  Finally, he looked out upon the crowd and began hesitatingly by saying, “Right down thar is whar I used to hunt foxes.”

Not being able to think of any further extemporaneous remarks he turned to those closest to him and asked, “Whar’s Grady?”

 

The ‘Constitution’ of the next morning reported that “President Kiser’s speech was a model of good sense and good humor, well and briefly expressed.  It was just such a sensible talk as was to be expected from so sensible a man.”

 

The Chuatauqua’s largest crowd assembled on August 28 to hear the closing address by its impresario, Grady, on the subject of ‘Cranks, Croakers, and Creditors’.   The “cranks” were identified as those who started the enterprise, the “croakers” , the fault-finders who predicted failure, and the “creditors” those whose patience and cooperation enabled the Chautauqua to weather a successful season.

  The primary purpose of the Chautauqua was the diffusion of knowledge.  Grady believed so firmly in this objective he personally advanced $5,000 to complete the buildings and $2,500 towards making up a deficit on the teacher’s salaries.
 

This is the front gate of the Piedmont Chatauqua

 

Certainly the idea for the Chautauqua in Atlanta was sound, though the directors erred in locating it so far from the city - because some of the backers happened to own land there. In spite of this handicap, however, the Piedmont Chautauqua continued for many years to carry on the work Grady had started.

Garrett’s main source regarding his Piedmont Chautauqua section was Raymond Nixon’s biography of Grady titled Henry W. Grady:  Spokesman of the New South.  Garrett refers to Eugene R. Black as Grady’s brother-in-law, but other sources including an obituary state Black married Grady’s daughter.