2 July 1919: Two "Prancing" Mules for Athens

On this day in 1919, the Athens Banner included this bit of good news for the city:

 

Though mechanical street sweepers had been invented in 1911, the horse or mule-drawn sweepers were a more economical option in the South, where mules were still a primary part of the area's agricultural life.  Not only were mules part of everyday life in Athens, but the city's first street cars in 1885 had been pulled by mules.

Mules continue to be popular today. The Georgia Old Time Plow Club is a non-profit organization that exhibits mules, horses, and oxen pulling loaded wagons, plowing fields, and even baling hay to show how farm work used to be accomplished in Georgia. Their animals are often featured at area Mule Days: the third Saturday each May at Shields-Ethridge Heritage Farm in Jefferson, Georgia; and the second Saturday each October at Callaway Plantation in Washington, Georgia.

Learn More:

•  Athens Banner, Dec. 1918 - Jul. 1919 on Microfilm in the Heritage collection.
• Athens Historic Newspaper Archive collection in the Digital Library of Georgia.
• A Perfect Harmony: The Intertwining Lives of Animals and Humans Throughout History by Roger A. Caras in the general collection.
• With Their Ears Pricked Forward: Tales of Mules I've Known by Joshua A. Lee via PINES.
• The Book of Mules: Selecting, Breeding, and Caring for Equine Hybrids by Donna Campbell Smith via PINES.
• Horses, Mules, & Ponies, and How to Keep Them by Henry W. Herbert via PINES.
• Training Mules and Donkeys: A Logical Approach to Longears by Meredith Hodges via PINES.
• The Mule Train: A Journey of Hope Remembered by Roland L. Freeman via PINES.
• Tommy and the Cool Mule by Ice T in the DVD collection.
• Favorite Fairy Tales Told in Spain (featuring "The Enchanted Mule") by Virginia Haviland in the children's collection.
• The Misunderstood Mule by Walter L. Rickell in PINES.
• Mules and Men by Zora Neale Hurston in the general collection.
• Mule Fact Page website.
• American Mammoth Jackstock Registry website.
• American Mule Association 2011 Calendar web page and Facebook page.
• American Donkey and Mule Society website.
• History of the Street Sweeper website.