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laxksmt TrogrESS-^rgus 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)