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fame As Good Tourists’ Town Means Half-Million Annual Income
Modern, Clean
Service Pays
Tourists leave more than half
a million dollars in the clean
little city of Perry every year.
Perry is known from cost to
coast and border to border as the
little town with better accommo
dations for the travelers into and
from the vacationland of Florida.
Georgia Power Co., a builder of
Georgia, surveyed Perry in 1950
and found that half a million
dollars stay in Perry every year,
plus probably thousands more
that could not be traced directly, i
Perry’s tourist story is the en- i
vy of many a town in Georgia I
and the answer Perry gives is
always the same: “Modern, rea
sonable tourist accommodations, 1
good food and courteous service."
National Publicity
Coronet Magazine gave Perry
national prominence in 1947 with
a story about the phenomenal
tourist business in a small city.
The writer noted that Perry’s
streets were clean, the service at
tourist facilities prompt and cour
teous, the people hospitable.
From "all over the U. S. have
come inquiries; “How can Perry
get so many tourists?” Again the
same answer: Perry business men
built better places than others
and tourists find out these things
quickly.
The New Perry Hotel, built in
1924 by the late Mrs. Albert
Skellie with her money and a
supplement raised by Perry bus
iness men, was Perry’s opening
wedge in the field of tourist at
tractions. J. J. Rooney, who
succeeded her as owner, contin
ued the service and good food,
and the national reputation of
Perry continued to grow.
Mr. and Mrs. Yates Green took
over the hotel in 1945 and provid
ed the same excellent service,
expanded the hotel and its good
reputation at the same time.
Perry Court First
The first big tourist court built
here was erected by J. M. Tolle
son soon after the depression. He
built cottages of several kinds of
lumber, one of cypress, one of
PENN-DIXIE CEMENT CORPORATION
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Congratulates the HOUSTON HOME JOURNAL
On Its 80th ANNIVERSARY
poplar, one of pine, etc. Perry
Court has a natianal reputation,
too, for its modern, clean, com
fortable facilities.
Other tourist courts which have
been built here include the New
Mecca Court, property of E. F.
Bellflower; Colonial Court, the
property of W. C. Lyles, Gordon’s
Court, property of J. G. Gordon;
Moss Oaks Lodge, belonging to
Floyd and Ted Smith; Travelers
Court, belonging to the Bridges
brothers.
All of these courts offer the
tourist a comfortable spot and
good food is to be found in sev
eral places in town.
There is no way of tracing the
j amount of money the tourists
i spend at the drug stores, grocery
| stores, dry good stores, jewelry
* stores and other establishments
but the merchants will tell you
that they can feel the impact of
the tourist seasons.
Heavy Winter Traffic
The heaviest tourist traffic is in
the winter when the wellrheeled f
travelers head for the S3O-a-day
hotels in Miami and the more ex
pensive resorts in other Florida
locations. They leave home with
the idea that they are going to
spend a bunch of money and
there is no one here who tries to
discourage this inclination.
Things get slow in the tourist
business about two or fhree
months a year—May, September
and October. These months fall }
in “between seasons” and receipts
during these periods make a
tourist man wonder whether he
really is in the right line of work.
But the wanderers always return
another season and spirits bright
en again.
Take away Perry’s two federal
highways and the town would be
suffering for business in 30 days.
Perish the thought.
CHURCH and race track
The first Methodist church in
Perry was built about 1827 near
the center of what is now Ever
green cemetery. Near the church
was the starting point of a race
track over which many horse rac
es were run.
OLD PERKY HOTEL—The forerunner of the nationally famous
New Perry Hotel is shown here in ,a rare old photograph given
to Owner Yates Green by Mrs. Aubrey Anderson. It stood right
on the Main street and the dining room was at the left. The old
elm tree shown here survived until this year, when a heavy
wind pulled it down. This building was torn down when the
new hotel was built.
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PERRY COURT, INDIVIDUA LISTIC COTTAGE PLAN
VOTE FOR FIRST PERRY
WATERWORKS 89 TO 11
The people of Perry voted 89 to
11 on Nov. 15, 1895, in favor of
issuing bonds to finance installa
tion of the city’s first waterworks
system. This was far more than
the two-thirds majority required
to carry the issue.
Officials were G. W. Killen,
mayor; John H. Hodges, clerk;
Alderman R. N. Holtzclaw, J. J.
Mashburn, J. H. King and E. Ra
gin. Election managers were
J. P. Duncan and A. C. Riley.
NEW PERKY HOTEL, BUILT IN 1924, ONE OF PERRY’S BIGGEST ATTRACTIONS
PENN-DiXIE HAS
TOP RECORD
FOR SAFETY
More than six full years
without a loss-time accident!
That is one of the top nation
al industrial safety records
credited to employees and man
agement of Plant No. 2, Penn-
Dixie Cement Corp. at Clinch- i
field in Houston county.
The plant has won the Port- I
j land Cement Association’s safe
ty trophy lor accident-free
years 13 times, M. L. Silcox,
plant superintendent, pointed
j out at the recent re-awarding
| of the safety trophy, at a bar
becue for 700 people at the
plant.
The plant nears its 2,300 th
accident-free day, as it extends
one of the longest safety rec
ords in the history of American
industry.
D, M. Ryle, shop foreman,
accepted the trophy on behalf
of the plant’s employees, and
Walter Riley, personnel direc
tor who is credited with a large
share of leadership in the cam-
paign, was in charge of the
barbecue.
OLD SWIMMING HOLL
AND A DIP EVERY DAY!
“What has Florida got that Big
Indian Creek doesn’t have?” two
old-time Perry citizens used to
ask.
The late Judge Edgar Brunson
and Hugh Lawson used to tell—
with a grin—how during one
year in their younger days they
went in swimming in Big Indian
Creek every day of the year.
It made the story more inter
esting to young listeners for
somebody to prompt: “Tell them
about how you had to break the
ice to get into the water one
day!”
The old Swimming hole—a
wide and deep bend in Big In
dian just north of Route 41 bridge
—is seldom used any more, even
in Summer—certainly not like it
used to be when youngsters and
grown-ups too gathered there for
a dip almost every day in hot
weather.
Perry is the Camellia City.
HOME JOURNAL, PERRY, GA., THURSDAY, JULY 19, 1951
ANDREW HDWE.
AMONG OLDEST
BUSINESSES
: Andrew Hardware Company ap
i pears to be the oldest business in
i Perry under the same name and
in the same family,
i The late B. H. Andrew started
in the blacksmith business here
■ about 1894. Upon moving to Per
ry he was employed by the late
i C. F. Cooper as a blacksmith
where the present city jail is lo
cated. He later moved into his
' own shop in the vacant lot be
i tween the present Andrew Hard
' ware Co. and the Home Journal
i buildings.
The business still belongs to
• Mrs. B. H. Andrew Sr., his widow,
and five children, C. E. Andrew,
i Mrs. A. R. Talton Sr., C. B. An
i drew, Mrs. C. E. McLendon and
; B. H. Andrew Jr.
The acreage of late spring to
: matoes for harvest in Georgia in
1951 is estimated at 18 percent
above that of 1950.