Early City Ordinances and Fines

Well, 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….and 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 squirrels were living outside the mall doors.

A…..mazing. 

I’ve never actually seen an attack squirrel.  I have some that squeal their gibberish and peer over the gutters at me, but attack?   Hardly.   Perhaps it’s the mall variety of squirrel that’s the most dangerous.

 Another plaintiff who won a Stella award blamed Mazda Motors for her injuries in a car wreck claiming the company failed to provide instructions regarding the safe and proper use of a seatbelt.

Seriously?

Perhaps each vehicle should come with its own private stewardess so we can receive the seatbelt, exit and life vest tour every time we venture from our driveway.

I really shouldn’t be surprised.   There are and have been all sorts of crazy laws throughout history…..

Laws are necessary.  You simply can’t live with a group of humans and not have laws.   While laws certainly don’t prevent bad things from happening…..they can serve as a deterrent and the consequences for breaking laws can eventually protect us from those who can’t seem to follow laws.  

But, sometimes laws are passed because someone wants to promote something or someone did something stupid.  Also, 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….especially when they have become antiquated.   It’s interesting to see what still remains on the books in some jurisdictions.

I’ve been told when you visit the City of Gainesville, Georgia, you must eat your fried chicken with your hands.  Now, if you happen to know that Gainesville considers itself the chicken capital of the world then it makes sense they want to promote eating fried chicken with your hands…..but a law?   Any tried and true Southerner would know to eat fried chicken with your hands.

At one time in the city of Columbus, Georgia it was against the law to sit on your front porch in an indecent position.  First of all…..what I might consider indecent you might consider decent.

  
Second….I’d love to hear the story behind that little law. 

It is also rumored the state of Georgia still has at least 75 laws on the books dealing with rice paddies.

Yes, rice paddies.

This dates back to a time when rice was the number one crop before the Civil War along the Savannah, Altamaha and Ogeechee Rivers.   Later a hurricane damaged most of the coastal rice fields and they were never replaced, but the laws remain…..just in case, I guess.

The City of Douglasville is no different.   If you go back through the Douglasville city ordinances during the late 1800s some things stand out……

For example, citizens would be fined if they tied a mule, a horse, or a cow under a tree and left it there for any amount of time.

Since automobiles weren’t around then it makes sense that folks would travel to town using animals…..and if they had to go into the courthouse or one of the businesses along Broad Street the animals had to be hitched up somewhere, right?  

The downtown parking lot didn’t exist then…..and at the time I write this it doesn’t exist either due to construction…..but that’s another column for another day, so I would guess the appropriate place back then would have been the road outside the buildings, but apparently some folks wanted to tie their animals up underneath the trees around the courthouse or even James Grove.    I guess with the animal droppings and the animals grazing on the grass and flowers the ladies had planted in James Grove… it would have become an issue.

Docket’s for the Mayor’s Court indicate Tom McElreath’s horse, Julia Clayton’s cow and George Gamble’s mule were all found tethered beneath trees within the city limits.   All three were fined one dollar.

On the subject of animal droppings…….another early town ordinance called for all males between the ages 16 to 45 to work on the city streets for 15 days a year or pay $1.75 if they refused.  I would imagine since the roads were dirt back then the road work would have consisted of filling in the constant mud holes……there was a large one at the intersection of Campbellton and Broad.  Folks finally named the hole because it couldn’t be maintained due to the traffic.  They called it Hog Wallow if I remember correctly.   It would also take a regular crew of folks to keep the animal droppings off the streets.   I don’t guess folks were given baggies back then to keep the area around their horse or mule neat and tidy.

Some men were exempt from the road crews including men missing an arm or leg.  The Mayor was exempt along with the councilmen and licensed ministers.

During the late 1800s men who were missing an arm or a leg were very commonplace as they were more often than not Civil War veterans.  I can understand their exemption, but the other exemptions seem a little extreme to me.   What about those men who were “filled with the Spirit” and “called to preach the Gospel”, but were not licensed?  I guess they had to draw the line somewhere….

Also….why was the mayor and councilmen exempt?   It wouldn’t have been the first time a politician was known to shovel the……oh, never mind. 

 Traffic violations during the late 1800s were also recorded in the Mayor’s Court dockets, but they didn’t involve automobiles.   Early research indicates two men were fined one dollar each for riding their mules on Douglasville’s sidewalks.

 In the early days Sundays in Douglasville were spent resting, visiting, and going to church, however, some early Douglasville citizens had a choice….and used  the day to pursue other activities such as shooting craps, playing cards or making a little wager on a game of pool at one of the local saloons.

 Bars in Douglasville dated back to 1877 when the first license to sell liquor was issued to G.R.Turner, Douglasville’s City Treasurer.  Four years later Mr. Turner would obtain a license that allowed him to offer a pool table for his customers to use.  

Other saloons followed including one owned by G. G. Stewart.   Licenses to serve liquor were $37.50 per year.   I’ve written about Douglasville’s Saloon Era here for a more complete picture of that time.

There were other entertainments….

In June, 1880 G.B. Stewart obtained a license to operate the first ten pin bowling alley.

During this time if city ordinances were broken citizens would appear in Mayor’s Court.  Most of the court cases involved fighting and failure to pay taxes.  Back then taxes ranged from twenty cents to one dollar.   Failure to remit your tax meant you might be sentenced to work on the city streets and/or pay a three dollar fine plus court costs…..or a week in jail.   Fines for fighting were around one dollar.

Hmmm….I know some people I’d be willing to smack for a dollar fine.  How about you?

Fines were also issued within the city limits for cussing (two dollars), for discharging a firearm within the city limits (two dollars or five days), for disturbing a meeting of the medical society (three dollars) and for getting on or off a moving train (one dollar).  

Just like today laws were usually passed to solve a problem, so I have to wonder about the story regarding the disturbance at the medical society meeting.   I wonder what went on there…..

The more information  I find through my research….the more questions I have.

Have a great week!!!

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Some of this information regarding city ordinances first appeared in a 1960s column Robert Griggs had in the Sentinel.

Who the Heck Was Bill Arp?

The Bill Arp community can be found five miles south of Douglasville along State Route 5 or Bill Arp Road per the street signs. Fannie Mae Davis' history of Douglas County states, "No one is sure how the community came to be known as Bill Arp. The best guess is that many of the residents there in the 1880s and 1890s were subscribers to the weekly papers and The Atlanta Constitution, which published [pieces written by Bill Arp] for about 25 years, and in some manner the name came to be associated with the place."

So the question has to be asked - who the heck is Bill Arp?

Do a little digging and the name Charles Henry Smith keeps popping up.

During the Civil War and in the following years until 1903 he was one of the most famous writers in the South. He wrote popular pieces from the battlefields. He had a popular column for more than 40 years, wrote books and lectured. He also served as the mayor and alderman of Rome, Georgia and in the Georgia Senate.

Charles Henry Smith was born in Lawrenceville, and eventually attended the University of Georgia back in the day when it was known as Franklin College. He returned home to help his ailing father and later studied law with his father-in-law. He practiced in Lawrenceville for a time before moving to Rome, Georgia where he continued his law career and added politics to his activities.

During the 1850s while he lived in Rome, Smith inhabited the home we remember as Oak Hill. Today the estate is part of the campus of Berry College. When the Smith family lived there the home was a smaller Victorian-style farmhouse.

The Greek-revival mansion located on the grounds today was built following a fire in 1884 by Thomas Berry.

Smith was a Confederate and served on the committee in Rome that passed a resolution of non-intercourse with the North which was basically a call for a trade embargo. He served with the Eighth Georgia Voluntary Infantry also known as the Rome Light Guards with the rank of major. The soldiers from Rome saw action at battles such as First and Second Manassas, Gettysburg and Chickamauga as well as several others. It's no surprise that Smith volunteered for the army considering his own father was from Massachusetts and had seen action at Lexington during the American Revolution.

Smith wrote his first piece as the Rome Light Guards were assembling and preparing to depart for Virginia following the surrender of Ft. Sumter in April, 1861. Literary critics agree there were many writers during Smith's time who were far superior writers, but Smith gained popularity because he spoke to the average person, and his Civil War pieces utilized the Cracker dialect mixed with humor. His first piece was a satire addressed to President Lincoln titled "Mr. Lincoln, Sir" responding to the President Lincoln's pleas to southerners they should just stand down and go home following the events at Ft. Sumter. Smith wrote, "I tried my damd'st yesterday to disperse and retire, but it was a no go."

Smith read the piece aloud to a crowd who had assembled. When he finished he asked them how he should sign the response to Lincoln. A man in the crowd, an everyday simple man, told Smith he agreed completely with everything he had written. He directed Charles Henry Smith, "Sign my name!"

What was the common citizen of Rome's name?

Why, Bill Arp, of course!

From that moment, Smith used the name Bill Arp as his non de plume, or pen name for all of his writing. As a politician Smith had to weigh his words carefully. As Bill Arp he could use harsher language an be more free with his personal opinions.

The people loved it!

The Lincoln piece became very popular, and Bill Arp became a well known Southern voice during the war. Smith's wartime writing numbered at least 30 pieces where he attacked the Union for their policies and served to inspire the Confederates. He brought the war to the people in a way they could understand, feel, and respond to......


THANK YOU for visiting “Every Now and Then” and reading the first few paragraphs of “Who the Heck was Bill Arp?“ 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!


 

Streets and Places - Hows and Whys

When I first moved to Douglas County more than two decades ago, I was lost. I had only been in the area a couple of times and was very unfamiliar with the streets. One thing I did notice is Douglas County and Douglasville are like any other American locale regarding street and place names.

Names are often determined to honor certain people, landmarks, or types of businesses or organizations like Church Street. Sometimes old Native American names are used or even geographic locations are referred to like Mason Creek Road.

Our community is no different!

Today we tend to refer to areas of our community in terms of subdivision names. I might tell a friend, "Oh, you know ---out there by Bear Creek Estates" or "Just down the road from Sweetwater Bluffs" or "close to Midway Estates", but if we had been living in Douglas County in her earliest days we would have made far different references to communities that existed at that time ---places like Red Hill, Morristown, Yeager, Maroney and Dark Corner would be landmarks.

Yeageer and Maroney are somewhat familiar to me in that there are roads named for both, but Dark Corner? It sounds very ominous, doesn't it? When I located that name in some old records I instantly thought of a shady dark spot in the road perhaps where thieves might overtake an uninformed traveler.

I was wrong.

Dark Corner was located between Winston and Douglasville. Historical sources state the area was named for a Cherokee leader known simply as The Dark. His claim to fame included developing the first toll road into Cherokee lands. That's all I know ----so far.  I'll keep digging.

Salt Springs still exists as a community but is no longer known by that name. The name Salt Springs was given by Native Americans who regularly witnessed deer at the site licking the salt from rocks along the creek. Later the place became known as Bowden Springs where a hotel flourished, and the waters were advertised as having curative powers. In 1918, the name of this place was changed formally to Lithia Springs. Sound familiar?

Names of communities aren't the only identifiers on the maps that have changed over time. Various roads have morphed as well for many reasons...


THANK YOU for visiting “Every Now and Then” and reading the first few paragraphs of “Streets and Places – Hows and Whys“ 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!


  

Bankhead Highway - The Military Road

Even with the convenience and ease of using Interstate 20 as a shortcut to travel about Douglasville, at some point in time you will find yourself on US 78/Bankhead Highway -- that stretch of road running parallel to the railway line through the downtown historic district of Douglasville where the road is also known as Broad Street.

Originally, the road was known as the Military Road since it served primarily as a route for soldiers to move back and forth between Fort McPherson and the rifle range at Waco, Georgia, approximately 30 miles west of Douglasville.

A common sight most weekends for Douglasville residents were columns of soldiers marching up the road in formation. They would set out from Fort McPherson early on a Saturday morning and march to Camp Hobson, a sub-post near Lithia Springs, where the soldiers would bivouac. The next morning the soldiers would be on the march again trekking the remaining twenty miles that Bankhead Highway cuts across Douglas County. Later, as the road continued on into Alabama the soldiers would march on to Anniston. 

An actual road was proposed by a Congressional bill in 1905 and was finished in 1915, but the Military Road remained a dirt road until 1931 when it was finally paved. The road brought Atlanta closer to Douglasville. There was limited bus and taxi service in the beginning but eventually the service widened and as more an more people were able to own cars the road began to be traveled extensively. Many Douglasville citizens were able to travel to Atlanta for work and area farmers could reach new markets.

Once the road was connected to Birmingham it received the name Bankhead in honor of Senator John H. Bankhead of Alabama, the sponsor of the Congressional bill known as the Federal Aid Road Act of 1916, the first federal highway funding legislation.

Senator Bankhead was instrumental in the funding legislation. Two of his sons also served in Congress and his granddaughter was Tallulah Bankhead, a famous actress who had a scandalous reputation from the 1920s through the 1950s.

Today Bankhead Highway criss-crosses the lower half of the United States, and it can take you from Washington D.C. to San Diego, California via Douglasville!