21 December 1906: Heavy Sleet Takes Out Trolley

On this day in 1906, news of long delays in service for the Athens Electric Railway's trolley service was published in the Weekly Banner:

"Quite a while" in this case was until early January, 1907, when the company began installing new poles and stringing "heavier" and "much better" wire throughout the system. It was promised that "there would be no further delays caused by broken wire." (This promise was kept until a severe sleet storm in February, 1908.)

The first successful electric railway system was developed by Frank J. Sprague, who created the suspension and pulley system that became the standard for cities all over the world. It was installed over 12 miles of tracks in Richmond, Virginia, in 1887, and by 1895, 900 U.S. cities had electric railways, with 11,000 miles of rails. 

Most cities had privately run systems, such as Athens Railway & Electric company, which ran the trolley system until March, 1930, when they changed over to a short-lived city bus system.


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.
• A Postcard History of Athens, Georgia by Gary L. Doster in the Heritage and general collections.
• History of Athens and Clarke County by H.J. Rowe in the Heritage and general collections.
• Buses, Trolleys, and Trams by Charles S. Dunbar in the general collection.
• The Electricity Story: 2,500 Years of Experiments and Discoveries by George deLucenay Leon in the children's collection.
• Electricity: From Faraday to Solar Generators by Martin J. Gutnik in the general collection.
• Electric Universe: The Shocking True Story of Electricity by David Bodanis in the general collection.
• Frank J. Sprague article on the Inventor of the Week Archive on the Lemelson-MIT Program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology website.
• Richmond Union Passenger Railway, 1888 article in the Milestones section of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Global History Network website.

21 June 1901: Paving Milledge Avenue

On this day in 1901, the Athens Banner reported that paving of Milledge Avenue would happen that summer, after delays of wet weather and a city full of alumni, friends, and family of graduates from the many schools in the Athens area.

MILLEDGE PAVING BEGINS MONDAY.

The Work Will be Pushed Rapidly to an Early Completion.

     The city authorities were unable, after all, to begin the paving of Milledge avenue before the commencement season.     First, the continued rains some time before prevented the beginning of the work, and when it became dry enough to start work, it was decided that inasmuch as it was so close to the commencencements, that the work be postponed until the visitors had left Athens.     Work will be started on Milledge avenue by the city next Monday morning. There is not much time left to complete the work by next winter, but the paving will be rushed as much as possible. A large force of hands will go to work at that time.

--Athens Daily Banner, 21 June 1901, p. 3, col. 5.

The work was scheduled to begin on Monday, June 24th, during a heat wave of two days that the Banner reported "brought most forcibly to mind the tales that Rudyard Kipling relas of the heat in India." Both days reached into the 90s by noon, until a strong overnight thunderstorm calmed the heat. 


This was the initial paving of Milledge, and was not completed until November. Rather than the more industrial block paving used downtown, Milledge was macadamized,  which means layers of broken stone were spread across the leveled road surface, then sealed with a binder. It was much cheaper to pave with this system, and repairs were not as expensive, as well. 


The entire length of the street was not paved, but the paper still declared it "one of the prettiest streets in the South." It was repaved in 1906, with the Athens Electric & Railway Company paying for part of the work, as they laid rail to Lumpkin Street. The costs were split between the city, the railway company, and the property owners. 


By 1914, Milledge was paved from Hill Street to Henderson Avenue. Two years later, 75 property owners petitioned to have the street paved from Springdale to Lumpkin. It was only paved to Woodlawn Avenue, so the following year, after complaints from residents about a Milledge Avenue that was "ankle deep in mud for the past three or four weeks," the city finally paved the road two blocks past Lumpkin Street. The longer paving was likely due to the new residences that had started to develop in the Five Points area on University Drive.


By 1923, Athens had spent nearly $1 million to have 105 miles of paved streets, and spent approximately $100,000.00 per year in maintenance and improvements. More than 50 miles of these streets had sidewalks, such as the brick ones recently restored along Hancock Street.




Learn More: 

• Athens Daily Banner, Feb. 1901 - Oct. 1901 on Microfilm in the Heritage collection.
• Athens Historic Newspaper Archive collection in the Digital Library of Georgia.
• 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.
• Minutes of the Mayor and Council of the City of Athens, Georgia on Microfilm in the Heritage collection. 
• A Place to Remember: Using History to Build Community by Robert R. Archibald in the general collection.
• Asphalt Nation by Jane Holtz Kay in the general collection.
• The Big Roads: The Untold Story of the Engineers, Visionaries, and Trailblazers Who Created the American Superhighways by Earl Swift in the New Books collection.
• Plain Tales from the Hills by Rudyard Kipling in the fiction collection.
• The Jungle Books by Rudyard Kipling in the fiction collection.

3 February 1922: Relics of a Love Story

On this day in 1922, the Athens Daily Banner ran the following announcement on their Society page:

 

Poet John Howard Payne, most famous for penning the lyrics to the song Home, Sweet Home,  was "an actor, a playwright, an editor, a cosmopolitan, a peripatetic man of the world," who came to Georgia in 1836 to meet with Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation, John Ross. Georgia authorities, who were suspicious of Payne's intentions, arrested him and put him in prison in Spring Place. Payne carried with him a letter of introduction to General Edward Harden of Athens, who had him released from prison and insisted Payne stay at his home rather than take a room in a local inn. 

The Harden family was known for their hospitality. Formerly of Savannah, they had entertained General Lafayette during his famous 1824 tour of the United States, and "brought from Savannah all the graces of that city's social life" when they moved to Athens the following year.

During Payne's time in the Harden home, he apparently became enamored with General Harden's daughter, Mary Eliza Greenhill Harden, who was in her mid-twenties at the time. Though some believed the story of their courtship "has been often told and oftener exaggerated," letters between them indicate that Payne did later ask Mary to marry him. Her reaction to the proposal is unknown, but the couple never married, and it was believed that General Harden "knew Payne was a rolling stone; and while he admired the poet's genius he may have doubted his ability to support a helpmate." 

Mary never spoke publicly about her relationship to John Howard Payne, though it was known he sent her a handwritten copy of his poem, Home Sweet Home, at her request. Neither Payne nor Mary ever married. Payne died while acting as American Consul to Tunis, North Africa, in 1852 at the age of 60; Mary lived another 35 years, spending her whole life in Athens, and was buried in Oconee Hill Cemetery, next to her mother, in 1887. 

Though Mary Harden kept her relationship to Payne private, her cousin's daughter, Evelyn Harden Jackson, eventually came to inherit the Harden home, and strongly promoted the legend. In 1918, she even published a small booklet, Souvenir of the Harden Home, with portraits, photographs, and short articles from newspapers and magazines about Payne, the Harden family, and the rumored love story. She also hosted events like the one above as fundraisers for charitable causes.

Learn More:

• Athens Banner, Nov. 1921 - Feb. 1922 on Microfilm in the Heritage collection.
• Annals of Athens, 1801-1901 by Augustus Longstreet Hull in the Heritage collection.
• Souvenir of the Harden Home, compiled by Evelyn Harden Jackson in the Heritage collection.
• Oconee Hill Cemetery, Athens, Georgia, Volume I by Charlotte Marshall Thomas in the Heritage and general collection.
• A Standard History of Georgia and Georgians, Volume III, by Lucian Lamar Knight in the Heritage collection.
• A Postcard History of Athens, Georgia by Gary L. Doster in the Heritage and general collections.
• John Howard Payne to His Countrymen by John Howard Payne in the Heritage collection.
• Cherokee Nation and the Trail of Tears by Theda Perdue in the general collection.
• Cherokee Tragedy: The Ridge Family and the Decimation of a People by Thurman Wilkins in the Heritage collection.
• Cherokee Removal: The Journal of Rev. Daniel S. Butrick, May 1, 1838 - April 1, 1839 by Daniel Butrick in the Heritage collection.
• Driven West: Andrew Jackson and the Trail of Tears to the Civil War by A. J. Langguth in the general collection.
• The Return of Lafayette, 1824-1825 by Marian Klamkin in the biography collection.
• China As I See It by Pearl S. Buck in the general collection.
• China, 1890-1938: From the Warlords to the World War by Suyin Han in the general collection.
• Listen to Home Sweet Home.

7 June 1906: City Council Votes for Sidewalks on Hancock Avenue

On this day in 1907, the Athens City Council met at 8:00 p.m. and passed the following Ordinance:

Section I.

Be it Ordained by the Mayor and Council of the City of Athens, and it is hereby Ordained by the authority of the same, that a portion of the sidewalk on Hancock Ave. to wit:

All that portion of the sidewalk lying on the North side of Hancock Ave. between the intersection of said Hancock Ave. and Church St. on the East and said Hancock Ave. and Harris St. on the West, all of which is without the fire limits of the City of Athens, but is a continuation of the sidewalk on the North side of said Hancock Ave., which is paved and which leads as so paved from within the fire limits of the city of Athens, be and the same, is hereby Ordained to be paved, curbed, and otherwise improved in the following manner to wit:

Section II.

The paving and other improvements of that portion of the sidewalk on Hancock Ave. hereby ordained to be made shall commence at the intersection of Church and Hancock Ave. streets, at the termination of the paved sidewalk on the North side of said Hancock Ave. and continue thence along Hancock Ave, and on the North side thereof, to the intersection of said Hancock Avenue with Harris St.

Section III.

That the portion of the sidewalk on the North side of Hancock Ave. as heretofore designated in this Ordinance, shall be paved to a distance of five feet in width between the curb line with first class hard brick, which brick shall be laid flat on a sand surface or bed of not less than two inches in depth; that the brick shall be of uniform thickness and shall be laid smooth and in a substantial manner, and shall have all cracks and crevices between them thoroughly closed and filled with sand filling.

Section IV.

That said brick paving when so laid shall be curbed on each side and end with brick of the same class and character as that used in laying the pavement, which shall be placed on end along both the outer edges of said paved surface and across the ends thereof, thereby holding in place and securing the said pavement and forming a substantial curb for the same.

The rest of the sections of the ordinance discussed how the brick sidewalk would be paid for, in part by the city, but also in part by the residents along Hancock Avenue whose property abutted the new sidewalk. The home and business owners were also responsible for some maintenance of the sidewalks, including pulling weeds and keeping the path clear for pedestrians.

The residents who lived on Hancock Avenue apparently took care of their sidewalks, because they are still in use today, thanks to a restoration project by the Athens-Clarke County Public Works Department. Almost exactly 103 years after the City Council passed the ordinance to create them, on June 8, 2009, the Athens-Clarke Heritage Foundation gave an Outstanding Restoration Award (pdf) to the Public Works Department for their on-going work to restore these brick sidewalks along Hancock Avenue and Reese Street.

Learn More:

• Minutes of the Mayor and Council of the City of Athens, Georgia. Reel #852, Book 9: 1902-1907. on Microfilm in the Heritage collection.
• A Postcard History of Athens by Gary L. Doster in the Heritage and general collections.
  
• Athens: A Pictorial History by James K. Reap in the Heritage, Reference, and general collections.
  
• History of Athens & Clarke County, Georgia by H. J. Rowe in the Heritage and general collections.
  
• A Portrait of Historic Athens and Clarke County, 2nd Ed. by Frances Taliaferro Thomas in the Heritage and general collections.
  
• Maintaining a Sense of Place by John C. Waters in the Heritage and general collections.
  
• Saving America's Treasures by the National Trust for Historic Preservation in the United States in the general collection.
• Preserving America's Past by the National Geographic Society in the general collection.
  
• Athens-Clarke Heritage Foundation website.
  

2 May 1935: Dog and Pony Show at UGA!

On this day in 1935, as part of UGA's College of Agriculture Livestock-Legume Day, the Sirloin and Saddle Club sponsored "a Dog and Pony show at 3:30 this afternoon and the 15th Little International Livestock show at 7:30 tonight."

Organizers expected at least 2,000 people to attend the day's activities, starting at 10 in the morning with terracing demonstrations and inspections of dairy cattle, alfalfa, winter legumes and haying machinery. The afternoon dog show would include approximately 150 dogs, competing by breed and sex, with a overall champion being chosen as well. Though usually done together, past high turnouts made it necessary for the Livestock Show and the Dog and Pony Show to be separated.

The events were held at Hardman Hall, built in 1922 for the animal husbandry and veterinary schools. Part of the structure was an outdoor amphitheater for judging events such as these shows and Dairy Day. In 1967 the amphitheater was filled in as part of the construction of the Boyd Graduate Studies Building. Hardman Hall is now "Home of the Flying Bulldogs," UGA's Air Force ROTC.

The Saddle and Sirloin Club was founded in 1920, and is now the Block and Bridle Club at UGA. They sponsor multiple livestock judging events every year, including the Little International Livestock Show in the fall and the Great Southland Stampede Rodeo each spring.

Approximately 500 people attended the 1935 Dog and Pony Show. Winner of the Dog division was N. T. Polk's "Walker Fox Hound," and for the Pony division, the winner was ridden by Wilson Hayes. No name or breed for the victorious pony was provided in media reports, though owners of winners of each dog breed, including one for "Miscellaneous," were reported in the Athens Daily Times the next day.

Among the breeds competing was the "July Fox Hound," a line of foxhound originating in Hancock County, Georgia in 1858, bred for increased speed and agility to catch red foxes. The July hounds are descended from a male named "July" who was bred with Georgia Birdsong hounds and Virginia and Maryland Henry hounds to create the new strain. In 2007, the Georgia House passed Resolution 724, honoring the original July Foxhound and recognizing the historical marker placed in Sparta where the dogs were originally bred.

Learn More:

• Athens Daily Times, Apr. 1935 - Aug. 1935 on Microfilm in the Heritage collection.
• History of the College of Agriculture of the University of Georgia by Calvin Clyde Murray in the Heritage collection.
• A Pictorial History of the University of Georgia by F. N. Boney in the Heritage and general collections.
• A Walking Tour of the University of Georgia by F. N. Boney in the Heritage and general collections.
  
• The Joy of Keeping Farm Animals: Raising Chickens, Goats, Pigs, Sheep, and Cows by Laura Childs in the general collection.
  
• Encyclopedia of Dog Breeds by D. Caroline Coile in the general collection.
• Little Lions, Bull Baiters, and Hunting Hounds: A History of Dog Breeds by Jeff Crosby in the children's collection.
• Horses and Ponies by Sandy Ransford in the children's collection.
• The Land Between: A History of Hancock County, Georgia, to 1940 by Forrest Shivers in the Heritage and general collections.
• The Houses of Hancock, 1785-1865 by John Rozier in the Heritage and general collections.
• History of the American Foxhound page on the American Foxhound Club website.