Here's O'Neal Plaza

In 1969, William H. Whyte was helping the City of New York with urban planning by studying human behavior in urban settings. Over a span of 16 years he conducted the Street Life Project to understand how people use city spaces. As unobtrusively as possible, he watched people and used time-lapse photography to chart the meanderings of pedestrians. What emerged through his intuitive analysis is an extremely human, view of what is staggeringly obvious about people’s behavior in public spaces, but seemingly invisible to the unobservant.

Who Is the Man Behind the Plaza?

Over the last few weeks as I have been researching this week’s topic I would throw the name W.S. O’Neal out to various Douglasville citizens.

Over and over again I was met with the same response. 

“Oh, what a nice man.”

“A great man.”

 "He was always nice to me when I was a kid.”

“He’s well thought of.”

The reactions were so positive from long time residents I am very sorry I never got the chance to meet him, however, we remember him even if we didn’t actually know Mr. O’Neal simply because his imprint is all over Douglasville in so many different areas.

O’Neal came to Douglasville from Haralson County and Standing Rock, Alabama where he was born.  In his youth he attended Bowden College and the Georgia School of Pharmacy in Atlanta.

I’ve written about the commercial space where the sits today. Originally Dr. Selman ran a pharmacy there and beginning in 1919 his son Paul took over before selling the business to Mr. O’Neal.  Eventually he struck a partnership with another pharmacist named Fred Morris and O’Neal Drug Company was a heavy presence on Broad Street until they both retired in 1962.

As a pharmacist, Mr. O’Neal made house calls and assisted local doctors with surgeries.  Fannie Mae Davis states in her history of Douglas County, “He mixed his medicines from bulk shipments of simple compounds:  sulphur, castor oil, turpentine.  In those days ingredients like that arrived at the drugstore in barrels and left in medicine bottles.”   

During those years he ran O’Neal Drug Company he also provided space for the Douglasville Telephone Exchange when operators were needed in order to place phone calls.   When dial phones hit Douglasville in 1948, Mr. O’Neal enlarged the space on the second floor to give the new system the room that was needed.

From 1948 to 1968 Mr. O’Neal was chairman of the Douglas County Hospital Authority and oversaw the establishment of the first hospital in Douglasville and its explosive growth over the years.

In the early 1950s O’Neal took on another role. He became the mayor of Douglasville and served two terms. Fannie Mae Davis states he guided the city during “a time of unprecedented growth in Douglasville and the county.” He was the mayor when public housing first reached Douglasville and in October, 1952 the Lithia Springs Drive-In was opened.

In July, 1953 Mayor O’Neal published a list of accomplishments for citizens to review.  It’s quite interesting to read since there are many hints in the list regarding what Douglasville citizens in the 1950s considered to be new and innovative...  


THANK YOU for visiting “Every Now and Then” and reading the first few paragraphs of “Who Is the Man Behind the Plaza?“ which is now one of the 140 chapters in my book “Every Now and Then: The Amazing Tales of Douglas County, Volume I”. 

Visit the Amazon link by clicking the book cover below where you can explore the table of contents and read a few pages of the book…plus make a purchase if you choose!

Welcome to Douglasville

During the middle of February when we began to have more sun than snow I ventured out one Sunday afternoon to walk around downtown Douglasville and to take a few pictures of this and that.

One of the locations where I spent a few minutes snapping away was along O'Neal Plaza at the old Douglasville Banking Company space. The Georgia General Assembly chartered the bank in 1886 (see the Act here), and they moved into the Broad Street location in in 1904. Many of the city's founders were instrumental in getting the bank opened including Joseph S. James, John P. Watson, Samuel N. Dorsett, as well as John T. Duncan who was the first president of the financial institution per the walking brochure the City of Douglasville published and has available at the Welcome Center.

The building itself is a lovely example of Beaux-Arts architecture!

Many buildings erected from 1880 to 1920 exhibit Beaux-Arts influence including flat roofs, arched windows, and as the old bank building exhibits - lots of sculptural decoration.  The building is constructed of Chattanooga pressed brick with marble trimming.  Inside, the large arched windows look out on the traffic along Broad Street and the water fountain in O'Neal Plaza.

Once inside the location I couldn't take my eyes from the stamped tin ceiling, moldings, and the classic light fixtures. The tin ceiling is original to the location and more than likely it was originally painted white as it is today because tin ceilings were used as a substitute for more expensive hand-carved or molded plaster. Painting the tin white helped to give it a rich appearance folks desired at the time.

Today the Douglasville Banking Company space is home to the City of Douglasville Welcome Center and Broad Street Gifts. At first thought I know many residents in Douglas County might be quick to question the need for a visitor's center, but I think those same citizens would be most surprised to realize how many out of town visitors stop by the center every year.

Pat Smith was on duty at the center when I arrived last Friday afternoon for a second visit, and she shared the center's guest book with me. I was amazed to see entries from folks from various states and countries including Germany.

All sorts of information can be found at the center regarding Douglasville as well as other travel destinations across the state. In fact, before my next Georgia road trip I'm going to stop in and pick up some travel brochures right here in Douglasville instead of waiting to reach a rest stop.

While the gift shop is a nice touch for visitors I plan to stop in again within the next few days because I eyed quite a few things I might want.  Broad Street Gifts is the only location that I know of where post cards can be purchased with present day scenes of Douglasville and some from the past.

Before I went on my way Smith asked me if I knew about the owl.

"Owl?  What owl? I inquired.

She walked outside with me and pointed up. There it was up on the edge of the building overlooking the traffic on Broad Street.  I'm pretty sure after doing a little research the owl is up there to scare away birds and keep them from "decorating" the side of the building, but it is an interesting addition.

The Candler Building in Atlanta also follows the Beaux-Arts style. I've written about and share some pictures at one of my weblogs, Georgia on my Mind.

This post first appeared at Douglasville Patch, March 28, 2011.