Newspaper Page Text
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J. D. Jones Publisher
(1908-1955
Doyle Jones Jr. Editor and Publisher
(1955-1975)
MRS. MARTHA G. JONES PUBLISHER
VINCENT JONES EDITOR
Published every Thursday at 129 South Mulberry Street, Jackson,
Georgia 30233 by The Progress-Argus Printing Cos., Inc. Second Class
Postage paid at Jackson, Georgia 30233.
Address notice of undeliverable copies and other correspondence
to The Jackson Progress-Argus, P.O. Box 249, Jackson, Georgia 30233.
NATIONAL NEWSPAPER telephone 775-3107
mum :. . m OFFICIAL ORGAN
•'•t’rM.cn NNA SUSTAINING
tf a MEMBER—I97S BUTTS COUNTY AND
CI TY OF JACKSON
Advance Subscription Rates, Tax Included:
One Year 16.24 six Months 13.91
School Year $5.20 single Copy 15<
It is difficult to properly
express the appreciation of a
newspaper’s staff for the many
contributions made to an issue such
as this, for fear that someone will
be omitted from the list.
The business houses of the
County have supported the project
with enthusiasm and generosity.
Without their overwhelming en
dorsement, the research, labor and
material costs of such an
undertaking would have been
prohibitive and the whole idea
would have died aborning. Not only
this newspaper, but the general
public as well, owes them a vote of
confidence for their support of this
project.
Credits for photographs used
have accompanied the pictures.
Without these pictures, the issue
would have been dull and lifeless
and we are grateful for every
The Best Is Still Ahead
The thrill of being an
eye-witness observer to a nation’s
Centennial or Bicentennial celebra
tion is not given to all of us. Those
of us fortunate enough to witness
such an event should relish the
occasion and be appreciative of the
opportunity.
As America enters its third
century of freedom, there are fears
and misgivings expressed on every
hand about the nation’s future. The
pessimists have the country going
to the dogs, whine for the good old
days, and complain about things
not being like they used to be.
Of course they aren’t. They’re
better. In the time it would take
grandad to drive his buggy from
Jackson to Marietta, we can send a
man from earth to the moon.
And grandma’s first, second
and third cousins who died of
typhoid, and diptheria and malaria
at tender ages would be alive and
kicking at 70 today.
Sure, we have crime today.
About two percent of our teenagers
get into serious trouble with the
law. Chances are the proportion
was even higher among the
teenagers of 100 years ago.
The temptations aren’t much
In Memoriam
This Bicentennial Issue is
dedicated to the memory of James
Doyle Jones, Sr., who for 48 years
edited and published weekly
newspapers in Butts County, and to
his wife and helpmate for 44 of
those years, Mrs. Tallie Virginia
Jolly Jones, and to their son, Doyle
Jones, Jr., who edited the Jackson
Progress-Argus for 30 years.
In Appreciation
contributor of photographic ma
terial.
Certain individuals made
special contributions of research
and materials and we would like to
publicly thank Mrs. R. C. Edwards,
Mrs. Kathleen Pinckney, J. R.
Carmichael, Mrs. Lee Roy O’Neal,
J. H. Rooks, Cecil McGough, Miss
Viola Slaughter and the Jackson
B&PW Club for their efforts in
making special features of the
edition possible.
This js your County and your
Newspaper. We hope this issue will
help you understand more of your
County’s history and help point us,
jointly, down the right pathways to
a better tomorrow.
The theme of the advertise
ments was Great American
Happenings. For the staff, putting
out a 48-page edition was the
Greatest American Happening of
them all.
worse, either. Beer, wine, booze
and pot are available for the ask
ing, and porno books, magazines
and movies, but Gramps probably
took a few snorts of moonshine
when he was 17, rolled some Bull
Durham cigarettes behind the barn
and sneaked a peak at the latest
issue of the Police Gazette with its
can-can girls.
The good old days are good
only to look back on, not to live
through. The grinding poverty,
malnutrition, poor medical care
and the mental depression of the
times were exacting and, although
character might have been built for
some, it was lost for many more.
This is the golden age of
America. This is the time when the
nation is so busily concerned with
tending its garden, that it doesn’t
take time to smell the roses.
Look up, America. Look past
the petty concerns of the day into
the vast greatness of the future that
is guaranteed only to the brave and
the true and the believers.
Two hundred years is not old.
Ten times 200 years from now,
America will still stand strong and
proud, the grandest work of both
God and man.
THE JACKSON PROGRESS-ARGUS, JACKSON, GEORGIA
Remember When? by j. h. Rooks
Remember when Jackson had a street
carnival around the court house square
and on second street to McDonough St.,
special attraction was a tight rope from
the court house steeple to an old wooden
building located where the FINA gas
station is now located. Each day an
aerialist would leave the steeple hanging
by his teeth to a pully and ride the rope to
the wooden building, landing in a net. At
that time there was an iron picket fence
around the court house square, also there
were elm trees around the square, also
there was an iron drinking trough on the
south and north sides of the square, also
there were hitching posts. At that time
Jackson had no electricity.
Remember when Jackson had no public
water system and a few of the new homes,
the J. R. Carmichael, the Tom Buttrill, the
Lee Smith and maybe others were
furnished water from the Joe Wagner
elevated tank on McDonough Road. A few
of the larger homes had acetylene gas
lights, the gas was generated from lump
carbide and water, each home owning its
own generator.
Remember in- the early nineteen
hundreds, the city of Jackson decided to
vote on a bond issue for the purpose of
building a water and light system. After a
hard fight the bond issue passed and the
power house and water filter system was
built on Yellow Water creek at the rail
road trestle. The primary voltage was 2000
volts, house current was 100 volts, street
lighting was carbon arc lights, about one to
the city block. There were no day time
lights and when the moon was shining
bright the street lights were cut off. Only
about half of the homes had electricity, the
electric rate was 50 k.w.h. at 12 cents per
k.w.h. second 50 at 11 cents, all over 100
was 10 cents per k.w.h. The water rate
started at 6000 gal. for SI.OO. They had only
100 water meters and they cost $6.50 each
with connections. Connecting charge was
$5.00.
Remember when Automobile races were
run on third street in Jackson. It was a
statewide affair with only one local
entrant, Harold Mallet, with a small Buick
with body removed. The race was divided
into four different classes according to
weight, the distance was one mile starting
at Henry Gilmores and ending at
McDonough Road, one car at a time, Mr.
Mallet won in his class, one mile in one
minute. The dirt street was plowed up and
scraped several days before the race. This
being a state wide affair, the town was
crowded with people.
Remember when back in the 1920’s on
the civil war memorial day, there would be
a barbecue dinner for the veterans, also a
patriotic speech by some good orator,
maybe J. Threet Moore, or Charlie
Redman, or Henry Fletcher, or sometimes
a visiting speaker. There would always be
a brass band and when the band would
play DIXIE you could hear the old soldiers
giving the Rebel Yell. Their pictures can
be seen now in the office of Clerk of Court
in the court house.
Remember when cotton was King, every
body was working, Butts County had eight
Banks, two in Jenkinsburg, two in Flovilla,
four in Jackson. Jackson also had two
large buggy factories, Butts County had at
least ten Doctors, all making house calls.
Almost every family had a milch cow.
Butts County had one sheriff and one
active deputy, Jackson had two policemen.
Butts County had about eight cotton gins,
several wheat and corn mills, six
blacksmith shops, two photo studios. Back
then a dollar was worth a dollar.
Remember when Indian Springs, the
oldest state park in the U.S.A. had four
large hotels, three stores, a railroad from
Flovilla. It also has a famous mineral
spring which hundreds of people are still
using for their health.
Remember when Jackson had a railroad
track that ran from the Southern railway
depot up Third street to one block of the
court house square. Also grading was
being done to extend tracks to the Camp
Ground and to Griffin. On the track in
Jackson a small gasoline driven street car
was operated at least one trip daily to hold
city franchise. The whole thing was
abandoned when people began to buy
automobiles and have their own
transportaton.
Remember when the town of Jackson
had very few homes with sanitary sewers,
privately owned, most of the homes and
businesses had out side ‘johnnies’ or
outhouses. In the business section there
were rows of them in some of the back
allies, merchants would rent them from
the owner and get a key to the door. Each
door was numbered, the town council hired
a man to drive mules and wagon and
empty tubs in wagon and haul to the
country and unload. Some of the young
‘FunCrowd’ called it Will Hammond and
his ‘Sugar Wagon’; that was the mans
Thursday, july 1, 1976
name who drove the wagon until 1914 when
Jackson installed a sewer system.
Remember when Jackson had a nice
park called Rose Park donated by the Rose
Carmichael estate, location was back of
Forrest Ave., on the branch. Chilly Rock
spring was in this park, it is now covered
with mud. It is about in line with Hill
Street, only a few feet from the branch,
which is flowing from a crack in a large
rock, about one half gallon per minute.
Remember when among the first owners
of automobiles in Butts County were Dr.
Jim Wood at Woods Town and Dr. B. F.
Aiken of Jenkinsburg. A Mr. McKibben of
Jackson, Joe and Jimmie Lane Edwards
and others of Jackson. These were
Gasoline Driven Cars. There was a steam
driven automobile at Indian Springs, don’t
know the owner. Among the automobile
mechanics in Butts County at that time
were Andy Kimbell, Harvey Maddox, and
Willie Wagner.
Remember when you heard about
Radio. One of the first wireless systems
operating in Butts County was owned ahd
operated by Don Woods on Dempsey Ave.
Using the Morse code he was able to
communicate great distances. Then
Georgia Tech built a system that would
broadcast audio sound and they broadcast
a dance band at the college and received it
atop the Ansley Hotel good enough to
dance by, the news papers gave it a long
write up but people didn’t believe it. At
that time there were no radios available,
call letters were W.S.B. and Lambdin Kay
call letters were W.S.B. and Lamddin Kay
was the announcer, soon after that a young
man from Flovilla one of the Lynch boys,
was a visitor at Kiwanis while a student at
Ga. Tech. He invited some of the club
members to come to his home in Flovilla
and hear music on a radio he had built. It
had a wire from the set out to the top of a
pine tree, the head phones was bringing in
voice and music, most who saw and heard
it were skeptic, to them it seemed
impossible. The first radio in Jackson was
built by A. B. Lindsey.
Remember when you could go on
Excursion by passenger train to Grant
Park, round trip 40 cents, or round trip to
Jacksonville for $4.00. Jenkinsburg,
Jackson, and Flovilla had four local trains
daily and the Royal Palm and the Kansas
City Special that could be flagged for
passenger service. All passenger trains
had U.S. Mail service, a mail car with mail
clerk making up mail between each town.
Jenkinsburg had two rural routes, Jackson
had eight with two star routes, Flovilla had
two routes, the mail was delivered every
day except Sunday and New Years Day.
They were using buggys or motorcycles.
Oh, yes, it would cost you one cent for a
postal card on which you could write your
girl and tell her that you would swim the
widest ocean to get to see her, and by
saying P.S. if it doesn’t rain I will be over
to see you tonight.
Remember when your telephone system
was owned and operated by Kinard and
Duke. Early in the nineteen hundreds they
sold the system to Southern Bell. The
Jackson Light Dept, is the proud owner of
two red cedar poles that were installed by
kinard and Duke Telephone System. Back
then a man known as Telephone Johnson
was the maintenance man; he serviced the
system from Stockbridge to Cork. There
were a few rural party lines which were
kept up by the owners.
Remember when Jackson’s largest
sub-division was sold, free barbecue, brass
band, balloon ascension with man coming
down by parachute. It is called Parkland,
Forest Ave., Brookwood Ave. and Hill St.
Jackson had a building boom and many
houses were built all over town. A
standard built, five room house was $650. A
six room house was $750. No plumbing, nor
wiring, only the outsides were painted. The
lumber was a good grade yellow pine, with
oak sills, solid lite windows, one chimney
with three fireplaces, brick pillows. Rent
was $6 to $lO per month. People rented by
the year and moving time was Sept, first.
Remember when the beef peddler would
come by your house with dish pans full of
nice cuts of steaks at 20 cents per lb. At the
store pink salmon was 10 cents, cheese 20
cents lb. Arbuckles parched coffee 18 cents
lb., eggs in the summer as low as 10 cents
per doz. At your neighbors house whole
milk was 40cents per gal., butter milk was
free. Fryers were 30 cents each and hens
were 60 cents each. Field rabbits were 20
cents each. Mullet fish was Bcents per lb.,
canned tomatoes 10 cents, peanut butter in
bulk was 10 cents per lb., a peck of meal
was 40 cents. Mens suits were about sl2
and up, shoes about $3. Buttrill Bros,
would sell you a T Model car for under
S4OO. Vanie Kimbell would sell you a
Chevrolet car for about $490. McKibben
Cos. would sell you a Overland car for
under SBOO. Gasoline was 19 cents per gal.
Oil was 60 cents per gal. Car wash and
shine the brass was 50 cents.
Echoes From
The Echo
(Editor’s Note: A copy of
The Indian Spring Echo, of
March 11, 1875, is in our
possession but is in such
tattered condition that it can
not be reproduced either in
part or in whole. The
following excerpts were
taken from it in the hope they
might prove of interest.)
Harmon M. Edge was
listed as editor and proprie
tor and the Echo’s motto
was: The Present —Where Is
It? Echo Answers Where!
The following essay on
Cows was included:
“Cows are very strange
animals different in many
respects to horses and dogs.
A cow has as many legs, eyes
and ears, as a dog, or a
horse, but they have two
more horns, except the
“Muley” cow, and she has no
horns. Cows can low, beilow,
and there is a dun cow at
Indian Spring, that can bark.
I don’t know much about
cows, only the town cows.
Our cows are all town cows,
and they are very useful.
Almost all our citizens own
cows, some have four, five
and some twenty, or thirty. I
suppose there are one
hundred cows at Indian
Spring, and it is supposed
that all of them give eight, or
eight and a half quarts of
milk twice per day, that
would be about a common
table spoonfull for each
cow. If a man owns as
many as four cows, he can
have milk in his coffee every
morning if his family is not
too large. Our cows are all
bony, and not very strong,
but they can fall over a fence,
or lean up against a newly
planted tree, and push it
over. They are all able to eat
after they fall over the fence,
or into a garden.
If a man will put up one
cow, and give away all the
rest, feed her at home, and
not depend on her falling
over into other folk’s fields,
she will give more milk, than
ten of these old bones that are
always falling into some
body’s field or garden.
Outside cows will eat
almost anything, away from
home. They will eat shade
trees, fence rails, or almost
anything they fall up against.
At home they eat hay, fodder,
meal, bread, preserves or
anything that you wish
to make slop of. It is best,
however, to flavor your slop
with good wine, it makes the
milk taste better, and good
templars can drink it too and
not break their pledge. Seven
or eight cows, with nothing to
feed them on, in March are
great satisfaction to a
family. We ought to have
more cows here. The number
we have now can’t destroy all
the shade trees, before the
last of next June and will not
eat up over two-thirds of the
corn, cotton, wheat, potatoes,
and other vegetables before
the latter part of the
summer.
Memo
N.B. If you wish your cow,
to give butter milk you must
flavor your fine slop with
vinegar instead of wine.”
Some of the editorial quips
were as follows:
“If a man wants to get
happy, let him try to get up
locals (news) around Indian
Spring."
(Continued on next page)