Douglasville - Bitterly Opposed to the Railroad

I recently ran across an article in "The Southern World, dated October 1, 1883 and titled "The Georgia Pacific Railway".

The sub-headings said, "Facts about the great highway - Atlanta looking for a boom that it would bring."

The article confirms many things I've written before regarding the railroad including how work was actually begun before the Civil War, but the war put the project on hold.

The article provides the year 1854 as the year the Georgia legislature chartered the Georgia Western Railroad Company, and mentions work was done including some grading in Fulton and Cobb Counties, but it was abandoned where it remained at a stand still until 1872-1873.

"Work resumed to meet the fate that compelled so many other enterprises to succumb in that period of panic and business prostration..."

Yes, war has a habit of doing that.

In June, 1881, the Richmond and Danville Extension Company organized in order to complete the rail "highway" construction.  General T.M. Logan was president, Major John W. Johnston was VP/General Manager, Major R.H. Temple as Chief Engineer, G.W. Perkins as Treasurer, and Thomas Seddon as Secretary.

One of the great things this article provides is a description of the land west of Atlanta including the land around early Douglasville before and after the railroad. 

The reporter states, "I shall never forget a trip I made across the country on the line of this road. The country was truly a howling wilderness. Without any means of communication with the outside world except the "pony post". The people seemed to belong to another generation; the few little towns along the line appeared to be falling to decay and a lethargy and indolence to have taken possession of everything and everybody."

But after the railroad?

"Towns have sprung up - little places wakened to new life."

The reporter states he can scarcely realize the places along the "road" are the same as two years before.

Heading out of Atlanta one can see the Chattahoochee Brick Yards eight miles of Atlanta making 100,000 bricks a day.

At Austell, the junction of the ET, Virginia & Georgia and the Georgia Pacific.....it was entirely built within the last eighteen months....now with several stores and is rapidly building up.

At Salt Springs - today's Lithia Springs - just a mere twenty-one miles from Atlanta, the depot was established there on June 14, 1883. The reporter states the little town "now has three stores, a printing press, and a population of about 100. The buildings are neat and the citizens are enterprising to push it ahead."

The information regarding Douglasville is most interesting.

"Douglasville - twenty-seven miles from Atlanta, the county seat of Douglas County, and when the "road" reached this town the population was barely 400."

"Many of the people were bitterly opposed to the road, as they feared on account of quick transportation the business of the adjoining country would seek another outlet. Since the advent of the road the population has doubled, the business has increased in proportion and the old fogy notions are fast dying out."

It's interesting to note the folks in town not only opposed the railroad.....they bitterly opposed it, and some folks here were accused of being old fogies.....In 1883!

"The place now boasts 22 stores, 3 hotels, Baptist, Lutheran, and Methodist Churches, 2 academies, and is indeed a prosperous and thriving place."

"Much of the success of this and other places along the line of the road is due to J.S. James who so ably represents this county in our legislature."

Rest assured, J.S. James was one politician who totally looked out for himself even though he was the linchpin to the city and county's early success.

And don't forget Villa Rica......

The depot there was established and lots sold on August 14, 1882. The depot was built within  a half mile of the old town and the place as grown if by magic. There is a "population of 400, 21 stores, livery stable, 2 hotels, a good school, and a great many buildings in the process of erection."

 

The Business of the Railroad

 

For many today, the railroad running through Douglasville might seem a little outdated and an inconvenience. The blast of the train's horn interrupt our conversations as we walk through O'Neal Plaza or while we have diner or lunch along Broad Street. The train no longer carries us to Atlanta or west into Alabama. It merely blocks traffic as folks attempt to head home to Hiram or Dallas. However, there was a time when the railroad was premier in our thoughts and had it not run through Douglasville our past, and therefore our future would have been very different.

By 1850, Atlanta already had several rail lines, but there was yet to be a line heading west, until the Georgia Western Railroad was chartered in 1854. The concern was incorporated by Richard Peters, Lemuel Grant, and other Atlanta businessmen.

Some sources state prior to the Civil War grading occurred from Atlanta to a point two miles west of Skint Chestnut/Douglasville, but I'm now a little skeptical of that since early railroad maps show the line passing through the southern portion of the county. There are stories that the right-of-way was used by farmers to move cattle from Birmingham to Atlanta for market. I haven't found any proof of this yet, but at any rate the Civil War interrupted the plans.

What I do know is that even after the war the western route for the railroad was still very much a point of discussion. Notice the map I have here courtesy of the University of Alabama Map Library.

You can clearly see a much different route out of Atlanta where the railroad would go through Carrollton and not Douglasville. Douglasville was not legally established until February of 1875 due to some legal entanglements, and an election that had to be held twice, but the town fathers continued to set up the town, so it's no surprise to me that Douglasville was on the 1873 map. Not only did the town fathers have to convince the folks of Douglas County that Douglasville should be the county seat, they also had to convince the railroad to lay tracks through town as well.

On July 12, 1873 a railroad meeting was held at Chapel Hill to discuss proposed routes and issues surrounding stock subscriptions. Three days later a larger group met in Douglasville to consider the prospect of the Georgia Western Railroad passing through the county with W.P. Strickland as the chair and A.S. Gorman as secretary.

A committee was set up to create resolutions for those at the meeting to consider. John F. Glover, Dr. Poole, Ezekiel Polk, Captain Whitley and G.W. McLarty were appointed to the committee. They went into another room to devise the resolutions, and while they did so John M. Edge entertained the crowd with what is described as his "fluent and impressive style describing the benefits to have the railroad pass through the county."

The committee came up with three resolutions which were read to the crowd and adopted. They were:

"Resolved - that the people of Douglas County want the Georgia Western Railroad; that the  right-of-way be given through the county; the road be the same width as allowed to other roads in this state.

Resolved -that we recommend the company to cross the Chattahoochee River below the mouth of Sweetwater Creek, thence coming out by the great water power known as the old Sweetwater Factory site and the Merchant Mills on that stream.

Resolved - that we are willing to subscribe stock under the form adopted at the railroad meeting at Chapel Hill on the 12th.

Railroad construction finally began eight years later in 1881. By that time the Georgia Western Railroad had become the Georgia Pacific, and fortunately, the final route included Douglasville.

The Weekly Star, Douglasville's paper at the time, advised on August 23, 1881, "On Tuesday, one hundred and twenty-five hands arrived here for the purpose of beginning work on the Georgia Pacific. Yesterday morning, they began preparing the graded portion of the railroad for the reception of crossties and iron. The men are from Virginia...This looks like business."

Business most certainly was the correct word!

This post first appeared in the Douglas County Sentinel, May 19, 2013.

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly Regarding Cracker

It often astounds me when I receive an e-mail from readers. While I do hope that people will find my efforts here worth the time to take a few minutes to read, I’m still amazed that people do read…let alone take the time to make a comment or send me message.

Any type of communication is dearly appreciated.

The other day I received an e-mail from a reader named Susan.   She wrote, “I’m from southern California and moved to Douglasville in 1998. Between Burnt Hickory and Fairburn Road on Highway 78 alongside the railroad tracks (on the south side) there used to be a little sign posted near the rail that said “CRACKER.” It was green and looked like it was a sign posted by either the railroad or the county. I always wondered what it meant. One day it was gone. Was it a racial thing?”

Great question, Susan!!!

 I knew the very sign she was referring to and had wondered myself. I instantly did a little research and asked around and was able to get back with Susan fairly quick. I decided to share the information here.

The word cracker has many meanings including a racial reference to rural poor Whites, but the sign along the railroad tracks was not racially motivated. The sign was placed there by the railroad to alert the engineer they were coming up on a particular area where railroad cars might need to be left or picked up.  The sign served as a marker and until just the last few years it was still there along the tracks.

The name “Cracker” referred to a company that stood along the tracks named Cracker Asphalt Company owned by Dr. Young, a chemist, who moved to Douglasville sometime in the mid-1950s. 

Cracker Asphalt was an asphalt and petroleum refining company.

Today we are taken a little aback regarding what was going on at the site, but we do need to remember from the 1950s through mid-1970s there were no regulations regarding businesses like Cracker Asphalt. The site covered over 40 acres and most of the waste was buried on the back part of the property. 

Everyone knew there were issues with the property. Several longtime residents have told me that if the weather was just right all of Douglasville smelled like roofing tar. It got into your house. The smoke stacks were too close to the ground. Later after citizen complaints the government told Dr. Young to raise the stacks and the problem did get better, but there were still issues.

Later the EPA did get involved and labeled the property as a hazardous area.

Let’s get back to the word “Cracker”. Why would Dr. Young use the word in the name of his company?

Was he making reference to Georgia Crackers?  “Cracker” can be a slur again rural white people as I stated above.  In fact, Georgians who lived in the extreme southern part of the state were often referred to as Georgia Crackers by their Florida neighbors.  The term came about as the Georgians would drive their cattle across the state line during the late 19^th century and early 20^th century looking for better grassland during the winter months.  They drove their cattle with bullwhips that made cracking sounds earning them the nickname “Crackers”.

I’ve heard Dr. Young was actually from Alabama, so I don’t think he named his business after cattlemen from South Georgia.

There were the Atlanta Crackers – a minor league baseball team that called Atlanta home from 1901 to 1965.  The team was very popular, but somehow I don’t thing Dr. Young was thinking baseball when he named his asphalt company.

Maybe we should focus on the business of Cracker Asphalt….refining petroleum. A report I found online prepared by the Environmental Protection Agency stated “it is believed Cracker Asphalt disposed of waste sludge by on-site land application.”   The report goes on to say that from 1955 to 1971 the site where Cracker Asphalt was located was used for various activities but most are undocumented mainly because prior to the 1970s the refining industry was largely unregulated across the United States.

If we connect the word “cracker” to petroleum geology and chemistry the choice of name makes perfect sense.  “Cracking” can occur during the refining process basically when long-chain hydrocarbons are converted to short chains. Yes, I know.  It sounds very involved scientifically, and it is.  Perhaps it might be best if we know that “cracking” is a process that occurs in refining, so it makes sense Dr. Young would use the word as a name for his business.

At some point during the early 1970s Dr. Young put his own name on the business changing it from Cracker Asphalt to Young Refining Company.  The EPA report I read stated that, “beginning in 1971, refining asphaltic crude; the facility also refined waste oil and produced JP-4 jet fuel.”

Around 1976, the EPA became involved when residents in the area made complaints.   The report advises they were concerned about possible leaking tanks, piles of scrap metal and debris all over the site, possible waste buried on or behind the site; including drums containing toxic and radiological wastes, and potential excess cancers and respiratory illness in the area.”

Since 2004 the business covering 40 acres along Huey Road and bordered the tracks along Bankhead has changed hands two or three times, but has always retained the Young name.

A Bridge to the Past

One of the commitments I made to myself when I began researching and writing about the history of Douglas County and the City of Douglasville was I wouldn’t publish anything until I was certain that I had done everything I could to verify my resources and not just publish what could possibly be family folklore as historical fact.

I would suspect part of that train of thought on my behalf has to do with the fact that early on in my online writing foray at History Is Elementary I tried to dispel as many myths and incorrect thought processes regarding historical events as I could. 

It’s so very easy for folklore to become fact…..

For example, one of my first attempts at dispelling historical myths had to do with George Washington in my article George, We Hardly Knew Ye,  and later I attempted to bust a few myths regarding Christopher Columbus, and I even tried to clear up the  July 4th or the July 2nd debate.

So….through the process of attempting to publish historical facts regarding local history I end up sitting on a wealth of information most of the time.  I hang on to bits and pieces of Douglas County history just hoping I’ll run across the right person, the right resource, and the right web link that will verify an event, the actions of certain people, or particular place.

I’ve had more than a few longtime Douglas County residents tell me about a wooden bridge that spanned the railroad track in downtown Douglasville providing a pedestrian walkway from Broad Street over to Strickland Street. 

I had been told the bridge crossed over the track at the highest point which would have been on the western edge of courthouse square. 

I had also been told the wooden walkway was torn down in the 1930s.

When I inquired with the City of Douglasville I was given this image:

Courtesy of the City of Douglasville:   A bridge that spanned the railroad  from Broad Street to Strickland

I held onto the picture and waited…..

I found it mentioned in  a couple of sources but the story involved still has to be verified, so I waited some more…….

And then I read an article published in the Atlanta Constitution on May 5, 1888 in an article titled “Douglasville’s Situation – Its People, Its Business, and Its Future Prospects.”

A section of the article states “…near the center of this town, a bridge arched like a rainbow, spans the railroad.  From the top of the bridge, one gets a good view of the city and the surrounding country.  The railroad passes through the town straight as an arrow.  Facing this road on one side the stores and shops are arranged, some twenty to thirty in number.  Scattered around in all directions are the dwellings, many of them are attractive homes, surrounded by extensive gardens, adorned with trees, shrubbery and flowers, indicating refinement and taste.”

This blurb in the newspaper verifies several things for me.   A bridge existed, and it crossed the over the track.   It existed as early as 1888, and the bridge in the above picture is more than likely the bridge that crossed the railroad tracks since it does indeed arch up like the article said.   The location of the bridge is fairly pinpointed since the article states it’s near the center of town.  It seems to me the center of town would be close to the spot where the old skint chestnut tree was located….which would have been just west of courthouse square.

I’d love to see a picture of the entire bridge….a different angle or viewpoint.   If I remember correctly this picture is also published in Earl Albertson’s Portraits of Douglas, and I believe the people are identified.   I’ll check on that in the next few days. 

If you have any information regarding the bridge please leave a comment or contact me via email.

A Post in Three Parts: A Reverse S-Curve, a Wayward Caboose, and Antiquated Blue Laws

Early yesterday morning – very faintly – I could hear the train moving through downtown Douglasville even though I live a few miles away from the track.   The sound wafts down from the ridge at Skint Chestnut and floats across the interstate.  It hangs over the Mt. Carmel district for a few seconds as it fades out.  It’s easy to miss if you are busy doing this and that, so I’m always a little surprised when I hear it, but it always makes me smile remembering my childhood growing up with a train track literally in my front yard.

 

The sound also got me to thinking about three separate bits of information regarding “our” train, and I decided it was time to share even though each piece of information could stand alone as a separate column, but why should they?    …..at least there is an underlying theme.  

Part 1:  The Reverse S-Curve….
 

I found some still photographs online of trains making their way through Douglas County as well as some videos, too.   Apparently there are folks that are real train fanatics – often referred to as railfans – people who actually follow trains and take pictures along the route at various locations. 

 

Many of the entries mentioned Douglasville’s “famous Reverse S-curve”.   

Seriously?   The rails passing through Douglas County curve at some point…..and form an “S”?    I began to look closely at the pictures and the videos and couldn’t deny the fact that we do have a reverse S-curve west of town at the N. Baggett Road crossing.    I even got in the car and headed west on 78 and yes…..there it was.  I have driven by the spot hundreds of times, and it just never registered with me.
 

You can see it at this picture I located here:

 

 

The picture above is Douglasville's famous Reverse S-Curve.  The link above serves as the picture credit.

You can really view how the track curves in this particular video here around the 1:08 mark….the first section of the video is a view of Temple, Georgia, but then you see the S-curve at N. Baggett Road.

So, I had more questions.  Why is this reverse S-curve so famous among the railfans and why was the “S” built into the track?   It just seems that straight lines would be safer.    Everything I’ve read about curves mentions the fact that friction and wear on the wheels and rails are problems.   The curves also reduce speed, but that wouldn’t be such a bad thing as trains approach town, right?

I sent the railfan who shot the video a message and Nikos answered me.  You have to love the ease of contact with the Internet!   Nikos stated:

It's not famous really, it's just well known within the Atlanta railroad photography circle, since its a very nice place to photograph trains. As for why it's built like that, I don't know a specific answer, but I imagine it has to do with the topography of the land and a way to gain elevation, if you ever see a train coming through the S curves it often will not be moving that fast and the locomotive prime movers will be working hard. The stretch of railroad between Atlanta and Birmingham is known for its curves and hills.

A friend of mine and long time Douglasville resident advised:

One thing to keep in mind is the period in which they cleared the land and took into consideration the topography of the land. You know once you get west of Douglasville, the Appalachian [imprint] of the land rolls and ebbs. I would imagine back then that the railroad surveyors took the least construction impact path to lay a rail bed. They didn't have equipment back then like we do today.

I'd like to get my hands on some of the information regarding the route of the track and how it was decided. I'm thinking a trip to the Norfolk Southern archives is in order. It's on my list of things to do at any rate.

Part 2: The Missing Caboose....

 

Back in December I visited the Douglas County Public Library on Selman Drive and took a few photographs of their art collection.   This picture is part of the collection:

 

The title of this piece is “The End of the Line” by Jim Perkins.   The title makes perfect sense because Mr. Perkins captured the caboose that sat along the railroad tracks between Broad Street and Strickland Street where Campbellton crosses Broad and the tracks.   The library’s guidebook to the art collection advised me “the caboose was acquired by the City of Douglasville.”

 

I remember seeing the caboose there.   Several people I’ve asked remember seeing the caboose there, so at least I know I wasn’t seeing things, but it has disappeared.  You can actually see the caboose in this next picture on the right:

I thought it might have been moved to Hunter Park…..a caboose is on display there, but was told by someone who used to work at the park it is a different one.

Hunter Park, Douglasville

What on earth happened to it?

 

I have inquired with various people to no avail.   I’m still waiting on some answers, but so far…..nothing.

Part 3:  Antiquated Blue Laws….      

                     

Hearing the train whistle yesterday morning also got me thinking about another tidbit of train related history I’ve been hanging onto, and it connects to antiquated laws we still have today.   The situation involves a piece of litigation originally filed in the Superior Court here in Douglas County before reaching  the Georgia Court of Appeals in 1908.   The case involved one of Georgia’s blue laws.

 

In case you are unaware a blue law refers to a law that is passed based on religious standards.  The origin of the term “blue law” is unknown, but the concept dates back to the Puritans in the 17^th Century when they passed laws requiring church attendance on Sunday.
  

Blue laws abounded back when I was a little girl.   Whether you went to a Christian church or not there were certain things you simply did not do on a Sunday including shopping and apparently at the turn of the century it was against the law for a train to blow its horn on Sundays and disturb the Sabbath.

 

Yes, not only were stores closed across the state in 1908 it was also against the law for trains to disturb the Sunday quiet.  The Defendant in the matter was A.H. Westfall, the superintendent of transportation for the Southern Railway Company.    The complaint advised:

 

….on the 14^th day of April, 1907, said day being the Sabbath day, [the Defendant] unlawfully run and cause to be run in and through Douglas County, over said railroad six freight trains of the Southern Railway Company, all going east pulling a train of freight cars, all of said freight trains arriving and departing from the city of Douglasville during the afternoon of said date.

….The six freight trains in question ran through Douglas County after eight o’clock a.m. on the Sunday charged in the indictment, arriving at their destination, Atlanta, at different hours in the afternoon and evening of that Sunday.

 

…These trains were all prevented from making their trips in schedule time, and were delayed at Waco, by the fact that there was no water in the tank at that place to supply the engines; and the tank was not supplied with water at Waco until about noon on Sunday.

….The failure to keep water at Waco prevented the freight train from complying with their regular schedule, and caused them to be delayed more than 12 hours; and when they left Waco on Sunday about noon, they were ordered to make the run to Atlanta on what was known as an “extra schedule.”

Eventually the Court of Appeals did not uphold the original verdict against Mr. Westfall for several complex legal reasons I won’t bore you with here, but the case was dismissed.

Today this case seems a little silly, doesn’t it?   How could we have a law preventing a train from blowing its horn?    Even without the sort of automobile traffic we have today it would seem folks would need to know when a train was bearing down on them, but the blue laws prevailed.

Over the years one by one the blue laws have been repealed.   I can remember finally having the ease and convenience of entering a store…..almost any store…..on a Sunday to shop.   Today, the thought of not being able to is just ludicrous, and far be it from me to judge anyone, but I would imagine the same folks who attend church venture into those stores for a little shopping, order their favorite dish at a restaurant, or even buy a movie ticket on the once stark and quiet Sabbath.

 

However, one blue law remains…..

 

In November, 2011 The New York Times advised:

Religiously motivated blue laws were once common across the Bible Belt. But over the decades, they have been struck down as anachronistic or unfriendly to business. Georgia was the last Southern bastion of a statewide all-day ban on Sunday alcohol sales in package or grocery stories.

After years of debating whether to do away with a century-old law that banned selling alcohol on Sundays, Georgia politicians decided to let the people vote, city by city and county by county, on what they preferred in their communities. The results were resounding: 105 of the 127 communities that voted chose to end the Sunday restriction, often by huge margins…..

That is a compromise that both sides agree is probably best for an issue where views differ so starkly. “It’s hard to argue with people who just want to vote, even when you disagree with what they want to vote for,” said Jerry Luquire, president of the Georgia Christian Coalition.

  

So, I can hear the train in Douglasville now…..I can go to a movie, a restaurant and do some shopping, but can I buy that same bottle of wine on a Sunday that I can pick up the day before or the day after?

 

No.   I can’t, and unlike so many Georgia communities that have held elections, I haven’t been given the right to exercise my right to vote concerning the issue.

 

Richard Segal, the administrator of the Facebook page called “Douglasville & Douglas County for Sunday alcohol sales,” advises:

 

“What could be the last of the blue laws in Georgia fell last year when the Georgia General Assembly passed, and Governor Deal signed, SB-10 which permits cities and counties to place a question on the ballot to allow the retail sale of alcohol beverages.  The Douglasville and Douglas County governments have not acted on this, but the two cities that are partially in Douglas County have.  Villa Rica voters approved Sunday retail sales in November, and Austell voters get to decide on March 6.  Even with these changes, alcohol sales on Sunday are still treated differently than on other days of the week – no sales before 12:30 p.m. are allowed.”

It really doesn’t matter to me how the vote turns out.  What matters to me is that our citizens here in Douglas County and the City of Douglasville should be able to speak out on the matter by getting to exercise one of the most important rights and responsibilities we have – the right to vote.

 

I certainly hope our elected officials wouldn’t have the audacity to deny citizens their right to vote since so many communities in our state have already had their say.

Perhaps it’s time they heard from you.

 

You can visit the Facebook page for “Douglasville & Douglas County for Sunday alcohol sales” here.

You can find the contact information for the Board of Commissioners for Douglas County here and contact information regarding the City of Douglasville officials here.

 

Rail Was the Route to Atlanta

Last week I began to examine how the railroad running parallel to Douglasville’s central business district came to be. The railroad was an important ingredient used by town leaders to create a successful business district per the New South creed. The espousal of the New South creed reshaped villages into railroad towns, revitalized local economies and resurrected the cotton mill industry per Stephanie Aylworth, Douglasville’s Main Street Manager.

In his book, The Promise of the New South: Life After Reconstruction, Edward L. Ayers states,The New South era began in the 1880s after the biracial and reformist experiment of Reconstruction had ended and the conservative white Democrats had taken power throughout the Southern states.