10 October 1912: "Athens Is a Plenty Good"

On this day in 1912, a small item appeared between news about the upcoming Stewart County soil survey and an ad for the Atlanta Coal and Ice Company ("phone 117") in the Athens Banner:

Says Athens Is a Plenty Good

Mr. L. M. Leathers, who moved to Atlanta several months ago, has returned to Athens. He prefers Athens to Atlanta. He will be at his place of business at 1366 Foundry street. His family will return in a few days.

- Athens Banner, 10 October 1912, p. 8, col. 4.

According to a mid-century business directory for the city of Athens, the L. M. Leathers company started in 1907 and moved to Athens in 1909. They specialized in roofing and other metal work, including doing all the cornice, sheet metal and roof work on the new courthouse in 1913. Their phone number for decades was 264.

Mr. Leathers retired from the company in 1942, and his three sons, Fred, Claude, and Milton, took over the business. By the 1940s, their manufacturing building was located at 675 Pulaski Street, and the company had expanded their offerings to refurbishing Coca-Cola bottling equipment, and "orchestrated the mass production of two of America’s favorite snacks- the peanut butter cracker and the Moon Pie."

Their manufacturing building was refurbished by Athens firm D.O.C. Unlimited, with an emphasis on retaining much of the original structure, including skylights, the company name on the exterior of the building, and high ceilings with brick walls inside, while also making the space pedestrian-friendly with plant beds and platforms that act as porches for the businesses now in the space. In 2005, the renovation won an award from the Athens-Clarke Heritage Foundation. 

Some of the current occupants of 675 Pulaski Street include Rubber Soul Yoga, Koons Environmental Design, and Shiraz Fine Wine & Gourmet.


Learn More:

• Athens Banner, July 1912 - Dec. 1, 1912 on Microfilm in the Heritage collection.
• Athens Historic Newspaper Archive collection in the Digital Library of Georgia.
• The Leathers Building page on Facebook.
• Athens, Georgia: A Pictorial History by James K. Reap in the Heritage and general collections.
• Athens, Georgia Business Directory (n.d.) in the Heritage collection.
• Redefining Southern Culture: Mind and Identity in the Modern South by James C. Cobb in the general collection.
• Origins of the New South: 1877-1913 by C. Vann Woodward in the general collection.
• The Metalsmiths by Percy Knauth in the general collection.
• Redux: Designs that Reuse, Recycle, and Reveal by Jennifer Roberts in the general collection.

5 October 1906: Mrs. Williamson Kills 5-Foot Rattler

On this day in 1906, it was reported that Mrs. G. D. Williamson was not a delicate flower but an adept and potentially dangerous lady, if you were a snake.

There are three types of rattlesnakes in Georgia: the Pygmy, the Eastern Diamondback, and the Canebrake or Timber rattler. It was likely one of the latter two, as both can grow to be over five feet long. 

The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service is currently evaluating the Eastern Diamondback rattler for inclusion on the Endangered Species list. There are no limits on the hunting of this snake in the Southeast, and they are losing their habitat of long-leaf pine forests. 


Learn More:

• Weekly Banner, Jan. 1906 - Dec. 1908 on Microfilm in the Heritage collection.
• Athens Historic Newspaper Archive collection in the Digital Library of Georgia.
• Clarke County Militia Districts on the Clarke-Oconee Genealogical Society website.
• Forest Plants of the Southeast and Their Wildlife Uses by James H. Miller in the general collection.
• Snakes of the Southeast by J. Whitfield Gibbons in the Reference and general collections.
• Venomous Reptiles of the Western Hemisphere by Jonathan A. Campbell via PINES.
• Looking for Longleaf: The Rise and Fall of an American Forest by Lawrence S. Earley via PINES.
• Rattler! A Natural History of Rattlesnakes by Christopher Mattison in the general collection.
• The Art of Managing Longleaf by Leon Neel via PINES. 
  
• How to Be Safe around Snakes by the Savannah River Ecology Laboratory's Herpetology Program.
• The Rattlesnake Who Went to School by Craig Strete in the children's collection.
• Animal Bytes: Rattlesnake on the San Diego Zoo web page.

 

17 April 1976: Boy Scouts Host Open House at Franklin Hotel

On this day in 1976, Boy Scout Troop 76 hosted an open house at the old Franklin Hotel on Broad Street. The building had been left empty since 1972 when the Athens Hardware Company, formerly the Childs-Nickerson Hardware Company, moved from the site after 107 years at the same location.


The Franklin Hotel was built in 1845 by William L. Mitchell*, a trustee of the University of Georgia who purchased the property from UGA in 1843. On the first floor were retail businesses while the upper levels, which were built later, were used as hotel space. For many years, one of the stores in the Franklin Hotel served as the local post office. In 1974, it was named to the National Register of Historic Places.


Two members of Troop 76, David Griffin, who was looking for an Eagle project, and Greg Curtis, who was looking for a Life project decided to team up to clean up the mess left behind in the building. At the time of the Open House, the Franklin Hotel was for sale by the Athens-Clarke Heritage Foundation, which had bought and stabilized the structure through fundraising from citizens and a grant from the National Park Service. There were no plans in place to renovate or restore the space, but the work of the Scouts had peaked the interest of residents. The Scouts felt the Open House would be an opportunity to tell people about the Franklin Hotel's significance to Athens, as well as show some of the old items found inside.


In 1977, the Franklin Hotel was sold to Hugh Fowler, then later to a business property company. The space was restored as office spaces, and won recognition for the work by the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation. Today, businesses such as general contractors and advertisers occupy the building, as well as SunO Desserts.


* CORRECTION: The William Letcher Mitchell who owned the Franklin Hotel was the less illustrious cousin of the William Letcher Mitchell who was a University of Georgia trustee. The two led very different lives, but are often confused in histories of the University and city of Athens. The blog apologizes for the mistake, as it is aware this confusion is often an issue, yet succumbed to the common error anyway.


Learn More:

• Athens Observer, Jan. 1976 - Jun. 1976 on Microfilm in the Heritage collection.
• Annals of Athens, 1801-1901 by Augustus Longstreet Hull in the Heritage collection.
• Antebellum Athens and Clarke County, Georgia by Ernest C. Hynds in the Heritage and general collections.
• A Postcard History of Athens, Georgia by Gary L. Doster in the Heritage and general collections.
• History of Athens and Clarke County, Georgia by H. J. Rowe in the Heritage and general collections.
• Franklin House page on the Vinson Institute of Government website.
• Athens-Clarke Heritage Foundation website.
• The Georgia Trust website.
• Historic American Buildings collection on the Library of Congress website.
• National Register of Historic Places website.

30 March 1909: Spring Cleaning the City

On this day, the following editorial ran in the Athens Banner:

In following years, with support from the Athens Women's Club and other civic organizations, an annual Clean Up Week was held in Athens. People were encouraged to clean around their homes and businesses, and the city would arrange to make sure all the trash was picked up the following week. 

Typically held in late March or early April, Clean Up Weeks were held around the nation, often in association with women's clubs, which were a growing force during the progressive era. A space that was visibly tidy and neat indicated that it was owned or occupied by people who were also tidy and neat, and therefore healthy, both physically and morally. 

Later Banner editorials advised not just straightening up any accumulated trash or unkempt bushes on one's property, but also clearing out closets, cleaning out cellars, adding fresh lime beneath houses, and painting or white washing fences, porches, or other outbuildings. 

Clean Up Weeks put "cleanliness is next to godliness" on a city-wide scale, with a great focus on insect eradication, especially flies, as part of a way to keep the city healthy and free of contagious disease as the city's population grew.

Learn More:

• Athens Banner, January - December 1909 on Microfilm in the Heritage collection.
• The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs by J. A. Simpson in the Reference collection.
• A History of Public Health in Georgia, 1733-1950 by T. F. Abercrombie in the Heritage collection.
• Everyday Life Through the Ages by Michael Worth Davison in the general collection.
• Clean It Fast, Clean It Right by Jeff Bredenberg in the general collection.
• The Big Necessity: The Unmentionable World of Human Waste and Why It Matters by Rose George in the general collection. 
• The Natural History of Flies by Harold Oldroyd via PINES.
• Cleaning Nature Naturally by Kathlyn Gay in the general collection. 
• The Blue Death: Disease, Disaster, and the Water We Drink by Robert D. Morris in the general collection.
• How to Clean Practically Anything by Marjorie Florman and Monte Florman in the Reference collection.
• Plague: A Story of Science, Rivalry, and the Scourge That Won't Go Away by Edward Marriott in the general collection.
• Typhoid Mary: An Urban Historical by Anthony Bourdain via PINES.
• Rats: Observations on the History and Habitat of the City's Most Unwanted Inhabitants by Robert Sullivan in the general collection.
• Complete Trash: The Best Way to Get Rid of Practically Everything Around the House by Norm Crampton in the general collection.

11 November 1934: Report from the Athens CCC Camp

On this day, the Athens Banner-Herald published updates from the Civilian Conservation Corp Camp Company 485,  located in Athens at Sandy Creek.  Included was a list of the young men stationed at the camp and their nicknames. 


Alas, the microfilm cut off the last several letters of their nicknames, but this is the list as it appears, with the partial nicknames, some of which are easy guesses, some are lost to time:

Crawford ... Pun-

Linton ... Smokey J-

Patterson ... Uncle B-

Love ... Ju-

Lowry ... Wild C-

Nalley ... To-

Parker ... Possu-

Reynolds ... Preach-

Barton ... Bro-

Benton ... Diz-

Boswell ... Thirty-Fi-

Buggs ... D-

Champion ... Cha-

Cole ... Monkey Ma-

Culbertson ... Salty D-

Free ... Bal-

Foster ... Handso-

Gilbert ... Sli-

Harrison ... Chick-

Head ... Knock O-

Hunt ... Sha-

Jarrrard ... Fess-

Jones, Evans ... Pecker Fa-

Jones, J. C. ... Big-

Jones, R. B. ... Ninety-S-

Jordan ... Flat Fo-

Mann ... Pu-

Motes ... Whistle Britch-

McFails ... Speed-

McKeehan ... Wi-

Padgett ... P-

Potts ... R-

Queen ... Ridge Runn-

Rainey ... Hard Ro-

Ray, S. F. ... Ba-

Reagin ... Pe-

Rider ... Bu-

Sumake, Sam ... Shor-

Spruill ... Evoluti-

Strickland, Hoyt ... Crick-

Tipton ... Pie Fa-

Washington ... Georg-

Wiley, Hamp ... Pecker Ne-

Wiley, J. T. ... Fa-

Williams, R. B. ... Soldi-

In 1933, it was estimated that 25% of American men aged 15-24 were unemployed, and another 29% of men in that age range had only part-time employment.  At the same time, the United States had lost 700,000,000 acres of virgin timberlands, causing massive soil erosion, causing 3,000,000,000 tons of soil to be washed away every year. President Franklin Roosevelt believed he could remedy both problems with the Emergency Conservation Work Act that created the CCC. It passed within President Roosevelt's first month in office.

Most men who enlisted were between the ages of 17 and 28, single, and could enlist for up to four six-month terms. They were paid a maximum of $30 per month, with $25 of that check sent home to their dependents. They were given physicals and health care upon their arrival at the camp, and also received work clothes, room, board, and education opportunities. 

Each camp had an Education Advisor to assist those who wanted to take lessons in everything from basic literacy to college-level work, and vocational education was offered through the camp work itself or from businesses in the neighboring towns. The program was successful not just in putting money back into the local economies of the men's hometowns and the towns around the camps, but an estimated 40,000 men also learned to read and write while enlisted.

In Georgia, the camps offered employment to 78,630 men. They also built parks still enjoyed by Georgians today, including Indian Springs State Park in Flovilla, F.D.Roosevelt State Park in Pine Mountain, Fort Mountain State Park in Chatsworth, A. H. Stevens Historic Park in Crawfordville, Little Ocmulgee State Park and Lodge in Helena, and Vogel State Park in Blairsville.


Until the program was absorbed into the War Department in 1942, 3.5 million unmarried men and 225,000 World War I veterans served the corps. They built fire roads, installed telephone lines, built parks, and planted over 3,000,000,000 trees across the country. 


The National Association of Civilian Conservation Corps Alumni is currently raising funds to put a statue honoring the work of CCC in every state. In Georgia, the statue is located at FDR State Park in Pine Mountain, where they are offering hayrides the evenings of November 18th and 19th.

Learn More:

• Athens Banner-Herald, Oct. 1934 - Feb. 1935 on Microfilm in the Heritage collection.
• State Parks & Historic Sites website of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources.
• Nature's New Deal: The Civilian Conservation Corps and the Roots of the American Environmental Movement by Neil M. Maher via PINES.
• The Coming of the New Deal by Arthur M. Schlesinger in the general collection.
• The Tree Army: A Pictorial History of the Civilian Conservation Corps, 1933-1942 by Stan Cohen via PINES.
• Civilian Conservation Corps section of the National New Deal Preservation Association website.
• The New Deal in Georgia: An Administrative History by Michael Holmes in the Heritage collection.
• Georgia's Civilian Conservation Corps by Connie M. Huddleston via PINES.
• The Hungry Years: A Narrative History of the Great Depression in America by T. H. Watkins in the general collection.
• The Defining Moment: FDR's Hundred Days and the Triumph of Hope by Jonathan Alter in the general collection.
• Roosevelt's Forest Army: A History of the Civilian Conservation Corps, 1933-1942 by Perry H. Merrill via PINES.
• Nothing to Fear: FDR's Inner Circle and the Hundred Days that Created Modern America by Adam Cohen in the general collection.
• The Woman Behind the New Deal: The Life of Frances Perkins, FDR's Secretary of Labor and His Moral Conscience by Kirstin Downey in the biography collection.
• FDR by Jean Edward Smith in the biography collection.
• Hitch by Jeanette Ingold in the fiction collection.
• Civilian Conservation Corps History section of the National Park Service website.
• Georgia Camps page of the CCC Legacy website.

1 September 1885: "Everybody Will Be Happy"

On this day in 1885, the Weekly Banner-Watchman published this happy assessment of the future of Athens:

Learn More:

• Weekly Banner-Watchman, July 7, 1885 - April 17, 1888 on Microfilm in the Heritage collection.
• U. S. Census Bureau Reference Shelf web page.
• American: Beyond Our Grandest Notions by Chris Matthews in the general collection. 
• Redefining Southern Culture: Mind and Identity in the Modern South by James C. Cobb in the general collection.
• Athens, Georgia: The Classic City--Tradition with Progress by Donald A. Smith in the Heritage collection.
• Cities in Our Future: Growth and Form, Environmental Health and Social Equity, edited by Robert Geddes in the general collection.
• Occurrence and Availability of Groundwater in the Athens Region by Dean B. Radtke in the Heritage collection.
• A Postcard History of Athens, Georgia by Gary L. Doster in the Reference, Heritage, and general collections.
• Athens, Georgia: In the Heart of Expansion, A Very Pleasant Place to Live by the Athens Area Chamber of Commerce in the Heritage collection.
• A Modern Southern Reader, edited by Ben Forkner and Patrick Samway in the general collection.
• Athens: A Pictorial History by James K. Reap in the Heritage and general collections.
• Cathedrals of Kudzu: A Personal Landscape of the American South by Hal Crowther in the general collection. 
• Athens for All/Athens para Todos: A Bilingual Guide to Spending an Hour or a Lifetime in Georgia's Classic City by Paul Matthews in the Heritage, Reference, and general collections.

9 May 1902: "No Contagious Diseases."

On this day in 1902, among other tidbits of brief news covering everything from the weather to church picnics, the following item was included in the Athens Banner:

 

The city of Athens had a full-time Sanitary Inspector since at least 1890, far ahead of its time in the rest of the state. He earned $600 per year in 1890, the same as a "regular policeman" and the city attorney. Georgia did not establish a Board of Health with quarantine authority and the ability to enforce other public health laws until 1903. 

In Athens, the Sanitary Inspector in charge of enforcing regulations that were intended to control any communicable diseases (such as smallpox or tuberculosis), and tested and regulated the milk supply. The Sanitary Inspector also worked with the University of Georgia to provide bacteriological services to the county, such as testing the water supply for contaminants. 

In later years, child health became a focus of local health authorities, with much support from local organizations like the Athens Woman's Club, who focused on early childhood education, proper nutrition, and establishing Athens' first Farmer's Market to bring fresh food to a wider population.

Learn More:

• Athens Daily Banner, May 1902 - Oct. 1903 on Microfilm in the Heritage collection.
• Athens Historic Newspaper Archive collection in the Digital Library of Georgia.
• History of Public Health in Georgia, 1733-1950 by T. F. Abercrombie in the Heritage collection.
• A Chapter of Child Health, 1924-1928 by the Commonwealth Fund in the Heritage collection.
• Memorabilia of the Athens Woman's Club: Its Projects and Interests by Marguerite B. Sheffer in the Heritage collection.
• The Healthiest Kid in the Neighborhood: Ten Ways to Get Your Family on the Right Nutritional Track by William Sears in the general collection.
• The Healthy Household: A Complete Guide for Creating a Healthy Indoor Environment by Lynn Marie Bower in the general collection.
• Toxic Exposures: Contested Illnesses and the environmental  Health Movement by Phil Brown in the general collection.
• Is Our Food Safe? A Consumer's Guide to Protecting Your Health and the Environment by Warren Leon and Caroline Smith DeWaal in the general collection.
• The Infectious Disease Sourcebook by Karen Bellenir in the Reference collection.
• Pandemics and Global Health by Barry Youngerman in the general collection.
• Vaccine: The Controversial Story of Medicine's Greatest Lifesaver by Arthur Allen in the general collection.
• Goldberger's War: The Life and Work of a Public Health Crusader by Alan M. Kraut in the biography collection.
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website.
• Georgia Department of Community Health website.
• Northeast Georgia Health District website.
• Athens-Clarke County Board of Health website.

3 May 1907: Athenians Asked to "Train Themselves" to Use New Trash Cans

On this day, and for many other days during the week, the following notice ran in the Athens newspapers:

Though such a request may seem odd, 102 years later, a similar campaign to control trash and waste around Athens and the University of Georgia campus on football game days was initiated by the UGA Athletic Association after the campus was left covered in trash by tailgaters during the 2009 season.

Learn More:

• Weekly Banner, Jan. 1906 - Dec. 1908 on Microfilm in the Heritage collection.
• Keep Athens-Clarke County Beautiful non-profit organization website.
• UGA's Gameday Gameplan website.
• UGA Office of Sustainability website.
• Great Streets by Allan B. Jacobs in the general collection.
• Garbage and Other Pollution by Cornelia Blair in the Reference collection.
• Cartons, Cans, and Orange Peels: Where Does Your Garbage Go? by Joanna Foster in the children's collection.
• Garbage Land: On the Secret Trail of Trash by Elizabeth Royte in the general collection.
• Trashy Town by Andrea Zimmerman and David Clemesha in the children's picture book collection. 
• Gone Tomorrow: The Hidden Life of Garbage by Heather Rogers in the general collection.
• Complete Trash: The Best Way to Get Rid of Practically Everything Around the House by Norman Crampton in the general collection.
• The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland in the DVD collection. 
• Rubbish! The Archeology of Garbage by William Rathje and Cullen Murphy in the general collection.
• WALL-E in the DVD collection.
• Crafts from Recyclables: Great Ideas from Throwaways by Colleen Van Blaricom in the children's collection.
• Beyond Recycling: A Re-User's Guide by Kathy Stein in the general collection.
• Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things by William McDonough and Michael Braungart in the general collection.
• Use Less Stuff by Robert M. Lillienfeld and William L. Rathje in the general collection.

1 April 1964: Autographing Party for Athens Book

On this day in 1964, The McGregor Company bookstore on East Clayton Street hosted an autographing party for the authors and contributors to the newly published book, Athens: Georgia's Columned City by Kenneth and Blanche Marsh. McGregor Company, located where The Firehouse bar is today, sold each hard-backed, 84-page volume for $3.25.

The Marshes were not Athens natives, but from Greenville, South Carolina. Kenneth Marsh took the photographs of the buildings and his wife Blanche Marsh wrote the commentary for each published image. In their Acknowledgments page, they thank the  many locals who assisted them with the book, including Mary Claire Warren, who was also present at the signing and appeared on the front page photograph of the party in the Athens Banner-Herald the following day.

Several of the homes featured in the book have since been acquired, restored, and put to practical use by the University of Georgia, such as the Cobb-Treanor House on Lumpkin Street, the Joseph Henry Lumpkin House on Prince Avenue, and the Wray-Nicholson House on Hull Street. Interior shots of antique furniture and chandeliers in the Stevens Thomas House on the corner of Hancock and Pulaski Streets provide a glimpse into the building's past as home to the Young Women's Christian Association, before it was converted into the office space it is today.

Other buildings in the book are now gone, including the Thurmond-Cofer House on Dearing Street, which was torn down to build Dearing Garden Apartments in 1965; the Mell House on the corner of Rutherford Street and Milledge Avenue, which was torn down in the 1960s and is now the location of the Zeta Tau Alpha sorority house; and the Hull-Morton-Snelling House on Hull Street, which was torn down in 1990 to build an extra parking lot for the Holiday Inn. 

The Marshes published similar books together about Greenville, South Carolina; Charlotte, Bath, and Flat Rock, North Carolina throughout the 1960s. Their Athens book was the only one written about a Georgia location.

Learn More:

• Athens: Georgia's Columned City by Kenneth and Blanche Marsh in the Heritage and general collections.
• Historic Houses of Athens by Charlotte Thomas Marshall in the Heritage and general collections.
• Athens: A Pictorial History, 1801-2001 by James K. Reap in the Heritage and general collections.
• A Postcard History of Athens, Georgia by Gary L. Doster in the Heritage and general collections.
• A Guide to Architectural Styles in Athens, Georgia by the John C. Waters in the Heritage collection.
• Athens, Georgia: A Treasury of Historic Architecture by Mari L. Berry and Lisa Vogel in the Heritage and general collections.
• Souvenir of Athens, Ga. by Albin Hajos in the Heritage and general collections.
• The Columns of Athens: Georgia's Classic City by William Columbus Davis in the Heritage collection.
• Athens Banner-Herald, Apr. 1964 - Jun. 16, 1964 on Microfilm in the Heritage collection.
• Athens-Clarke Heritage Foundation website.
• Athens Historical Society website.

26 January 1890: "Athens Beats Atlanta."

On this day in 1890, the Athens Daily Banner ran this retort to those in Atlanta who claimed they had the best gentleman gardener in Georgia:

ATHENS BEATS ATLANTA.
And Mr. E.K. Lumpkin Leads the State with Fine Vegetables.

The Atlanta papers have been crowing quite considerably lately about an Atlanta garden that has contrary to the laws of great nature, brought forth in midwinter luxuriant turnip, lettuce and onions.

Athens, however, has shown up far ahead of the Gate City in this line, and Mr. E.K. Lumpkin walks off with the palm and championship of the State. From his private garden he has sent yesterday to the BANNER office an immense waiter fraught with fine vegetables of a most superior quality and almost endless variety. The waiter contained cabbage, carrots, parsnips, salsify, turnips, kale, endive, fresh Irish potatoes, celery, onions, leeks and beets, all of which are fresh from the soil, and which has attained a most luxurant [sic] maturity. Such vegetables are rarely seen even in early summer when nature is at her best.

Mr. Lumpkin, besides being one of Georgia's ablest and most gifted lawyers is among the most successful gardeners and is thoroughly posted on all phases of this pursuit. Moreover, there is not a more genial gentleman to be found than Mr. Lumpkin.

Athens Daily Banner, p. 8, col. 4.

Edwin King Lumpkin and his wife, Mary Bryan Thomas Lumpkin were both avid gardeners. The weather was unseasonably warm in Georgia in January, 1890, which likely explains the luck gardeners in both cities had that month.

The following January, Mrs. Lumpkin would start the nation's first Ladies' Garden Club, meeting at her home on Prince Avenue, where Mr. Lumpkin's vegetables "of a most superior quality and almost endless variety" were grown.

Learn More:

• Athens Weekly Banner, Jan. 1890 - Dec. 1890 on Microfilm in the Heritage collection.
• Athens Daily Banner, 26 January 1890, in the Athens Historic Newspaper Archive collection of the Digital Library of Georgia.
• Oconee Hill Cemetery, Athens, Georgia, Volume I by Charlotte Thomas Marshall in the Heritage and general collections.
• Historic Houses of Athens by Charlotte Thomas Marshall in the Heritage and general collections.
• Ladies' Garden Club, Athens, Georgia, Organized 1891: America's First Garden Club prepared by Mrs. Madison G. Nicholson in the Heritage collection.
• Atlanta in 1890: The Gate City by the Atlanta Historical Society in the Heritage collection.
• Gardening for the South, or How to Grow Vegetables and Fruits by William N. White in the Heritage collection.
• Herbs, Fruits, and Vegetables for Georgia by James A. Fizzell in the general collection.
• The Winter Garden: Planning and Planting for the Southeast by H. Peter Loewer in the general collection.
• The New Organic Grower's Four-Season Harvest: How to Harvest Fresh Organic Vegetables From Your Home Garden All Year Long by Eliot Coleman in the general collection.
• The Harvest Gardener: Growing for Maximum Yield, Prime Flavor, and Garden-Fresh Storage by Susan McClure in the general collection.
• The Cook's Garden: Growing and Using the Best-Tasting Vegetable Varieties by Shepherd Ogden in the general collection.
• Homegrown Vegetables, Fruits, and Herbs: A Bountiful, Healthful Garden for Lean Times by James W. Wilson in the general collection.
  

4 December 1867: Charles Holmes Herty Is Born

On this day in 1867 in Milledgeville, Georgia, Charles Holmes Herty was born to Bernard and Louise Herty. He was raised in Athens by an aunt. As a chemist, he would revolutionize the turpentine and paper industry in Georgia, and in Athens, he would establish college football at the University of Georgia.

Dr. Herty graduated with a philosophy degree from UGA in 1886, then earned a doctorate in Chemistry from Johns Hopkins University in 1890. In 1891, he took a faculty position teaching chemistry with UGA, but also focused on the role of athletics at the college level. He was the University's first Faculty Director of Athletics, and started the first football squad in 1892. He coached the team that year, then went on to help create the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association in 1894, a forerunner to the modern Southeastern Conference.

In 1902, Dr. Herty left UGA after a dispute with department head, Dr. H. C. White, and took a position with the Bureau of Forestry at the United States Department of Agriculture.While there, he created and patented the "cut and gutter system" for collecting turpentine. His system revolutionized the industry by extending the life of the tapped trees, collecting more and higher quality gum for turpentine creation, and preserving the tree so it could be used for lumber once it was tapped out.

In 1916, Dr. Herty took another research and teaching position at the University of North Carolina, and later became an industrial consultant in the late 1920s. In 1932, he established a pulp and paper laboratory in Savannah, where he proved that pine was a viable source for pulp that could be made into newsprint. Using pine for paper helped revitalize the Southern agriculture industry, still suffering from the devestating effects of the boll weevil and the Great Depression.

Dr. Herty received many honorary degrees over the course of his career, served as president of multiple scientific associations, and directed research divisions of the Georgia Department of Forestry. In 1933, the Georgia section of the American Chemical Society created the Charles H. Herty Medal, awarded to a researcher in the Southeast "to give public recognition to the work and service of outstanding chemists." In 2000, Dr. Herty was inducted into the Paper Industry International Hall of Fame, and in 2001, the American Chemistry Society designated his Savannah laboratory a National Historic Chemical Landmark. He even has a Facebook fan page in Chinese.

Charles Herty died in Savannah in 1938, at the age of 70. He is buried in Memory Hill Cemetery in Milledgeville.


Learn More: 

• The University of Georgia under Sixteen Administrations, 1785-1955 by Robert Preston Brooks in the Heritage collection.
• Chemistry at the University of Georgia by W. H. Waggoner in the Heritage and general collections.
• The Ghosts of Herty Field: Early Days on a Southern Gridiron by John F. Stegeman in the Heritage and general collections.
• The Turpentine Industry in the United States by Charles H. Herty in Volume 181 of the Journal of the Franklin Institute, via GoogleBooks.
• A Chemist's Discovery Breathes New Life into the Old South on the ACS website.
• Paper from Pine. Chemistry: A New Chapter in Papermaking on the ACS website.
• History of Baldwin County, Georgia by Anna Maria Green Cook in the Heritage collection.
• The Charles H. Herty collection at the Georgia Historical Society.
• The Centennial History of Forestry in Georgia: A Pictorial History by Robert Lee Izlar in the Heritage and general collections.
•  From Seed to Pine Tree: Following a Life Cycle by Suzanne Slade in the children's collection.
• Looking for Longleaf: The Rise and Fall of an American Forest by Lawrence S. Earley in the general collection.
• Herty Foundation Advanced Materials Development Center website.

27 August 1889: "Athens A Health Resort."

A Wonderful Health Record of Our City during the Present Summer.

Athens is the most healthful city in Georgia.

That's what the resident physicians say, and the statement is verified by the health record of the pass year. [sic]

One physician tells us that he has never, during his twenty years of practice in Athens, seen such a healthful year as this has been, and has never heard of its equal in any city the size of Athens.

Another physician syays he has known of but three cases of fever in Athens during the past year and they were induced by natural causes rather than by any defect in the city's sanitary condition.

The fact is, that no city in the South has a better climate, a better natural dranage [sic], a more healthful environment every way [sic] than has Athens and there is no reason in the world why it should not be a wholesome city.

We congratulate the city on its thorough sanitary inspection and watchfulness, and rejoice in the splendid advantages of health with which nature has blessed out [sic] city.

Southern Watchman, 27 August 1889, p. 1.

Learn More:

• Southern Watchman, Aug. 1888 - Dec. 1889 on Microfilm in the Heritage collection.
• A History of Public Health in Georgia by Thomas Franklin Abercrombie in the Heritage collection.
• Under the Weather: How Weather and Climate Affect Our Health by Pat Thomas in the general collection.
• Sustaining Life: How Human Health Depends on Biodiversity by Eric Chivian in the general collection.
• Water by Sally Hewitt in the children's collection.
• The Water We Drink: Water Quality and Its Effects on Health by Joshua I. Barzilay in the general collection.
• Toxic Exposures: Contested Illnesses and the Environmental Health Movement by Phil Brown in the general collection.
• The Infectious Disease Sourcebook by Karen Bellenir in the Reference collection.
• Washing My Hands by Elizabeth Vogel in the children's collection.
• The Spa Encyclopedia: A Guide to Treatments and Their Benefits for Healing and Health by Hannelore R. Levy in the general collection.
• Fodor's Healthy Escapes by Bernard Burt in the general collection.
• The Road to Wellville by T. Coraghessen Boyle in the fiction collection.