Construction in Douglasville

This find within the "Atlanta Georgian and News" for April 14, 1908 was very welcomed by me because it gives some exact dates regarding certain town buildings.

A contract was made here Saturday with Baggett & Sebert of this place to erect four stone mercantile buildings on Broad Street to replace the frame structures that now occupy this place.

This will make eight new brick and stone mercantile buildings erected her in the past six months.

Stewart Brothers, I & J Goodinski and W.J. Stringfellow will occupy these buildings.

The location for the Stewart Brothers was still standing until just recently.  It was the Smith-Dabbs location that was torn down making a cut-through to the Plaza East walkway. During the Stewart brother's day (Dr. FM and Rader Stewart) the store took up the Smith-Dabbs location as well as the present-day Gold-N-Goodies store.  The Stringfellow location is next to the Irish Bred Pub (Selman/O'Neal Drugs), I think. W.J. Stingfellow had a barbershop in the earliest days of Douglasville, and Sanborn maps show a barbershop in that location. If it was a stone building like the Stewart Brothers' location the building was great altered at some point since it's brick today. 

The Douglasville Banking Company moved into its new marble and brick building on Broad Street and Price Avenue yesterday. The building has been completed at a cost of $7,000.

We have an exact move-in date and cost!

The Lois Cotton Mills are installing machinery in a few months this $500,000 mill will be in operation. It will be one of the largest and most modern mills in the state.

I'm thinking the $500,000 may be a typo in the paper....one too many zeroes.

Fourteen new residences have been built here in the last three months and eight or ten are in the course of  construction.

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........

a

Careful What You Look For: The Millstone

I love to visit the Irish Bred Pub & Restaurant in downtown Douglasville. I like the exposed old brick inside the dining room, the tall windows at the front, and the old photographs of Douglasville as it used to be handing along the walls. The food and the fellowship are great ingredients, too!

Earlier this month I had lunch at the pub with a friend to discuss local history. It was the perfect location since the pub building itself has a long history as does the entire commercial district along Broad Street.

The day was cold and rainy, and since Broad Street was closed due to the train accident and subsequent clean up I hurried through O'Neal Plaza and into the pub without much notice of my surroundings. Had my visit to the pub been during the early 1970s or much earlier during the 1940s or even back to the 1920s, I would have seen a round item encased in the cement resembling a wheel of some sort in front of the storefront.

I would have seen a millstone, items long associated with harvest and hospitality. This particular millstone has quite a history and according to a past county historian it symbolizes the gratitude of a people for their time of great need.

The stone is actually from a mill that was located along the banks of Anneewakee Creek. 

Arnold Mill was built by pioneer Alston Arnold after he came to Georgia via South Carolina in the 1830s. He situated the mill at the mouth of Anneewakee Creek, and it later provided to be a most advantageous spot for him and for the people of Douglas County.

The mill was quite an enterprise for its day. Local historians advise the mill was three stories high and also had the capability of sawing wood as well. A small community even sprang up around the water-powered business.

During the 1880s a terrible drought lasting six months hit north Georgia including Douglas County. Many of the mills could no longer grind grain and corn because the water powering the millstones had dried up.

However, due to its position at the mouth of the creek Arnold Mill was able to put precious corn meal into the hands of hungry settlers...



THANK YOU for visiting “Every Now and Then” and reading the first few paragraphs of “Careful What You Look For: The Millstone“ 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!