1 January 1917: "A Great Deal of Excitement Was Caused"

On this day in 1917, news of an eclectic collision on Milledge Avenue was reported in the Athens Daily Herald:

Learn More:

• Athens Daily Herald, Jan. 1917 - Jun. 1917 on Microfilm in the Heritage collection.
• A Postcard History of Athens, Georgia by Gary L. Doster in the Heritage and general collections.
• Horsecars, Cable Cars, and Omnibuses by John H. White, Jr. in the general collection.
• Breaking Gridlock: Moving Toward Transportation That Works by Jim Motavalli via PINES.
• Getting There: The Epic Struggle Between Road and Rail in the American Century by Stephen B. Goddard in the general collection.
• Henry's Wonderful Model T, 1908-1927 by Floyd Clymer in the general collection.
• Saddlery and Horse Equipment by Sarah Muir in the general collection.
• Cable Car by Christopher C. Swan in the general collection.
• Harvest of the Cold Months: The Social History of Ice and Ices by Elizabeth David via PINES.
• Get Up and Go: The History of American Road Travel by Sylvia Whitman in the children's collection.
• Automobile Age Atlanta: The Making of a Southern Metropolis, 1900-1935 by Howard Preston in the Heritage collection.
• Buses, Trolleys, and Trams by Charles S. Dunbar in the general collection.
• The Athletic Horse: His Selection, Work, and Management by Carol Foster in the general collection.
• Wheels for the World: Henry Ford, His Company, and a Century of American Progress, 1903-2003 by Douglas Brinkley in the general collection.
• Divided Highways: Building the Interstate Highways, Transforming American Life by Tom Lewis in the general collection.
• Travels with Zenobia: Paris to Albania by Model T Ford, A Journal by Rose Wilder Lane in the biography collection.

25 June 1889: Paper Predicts Horses May Become One of "Our Rared Monsters"

On this day in 1889, the Weekly Banner published the following editorial:

The decline of the horse as transportation was not as rapid as it may have seemed in 1889. Though automobiles gained in popularity, liveries still did a good business in Athens into the 1910s, and the Athens police used mounted patrols for downtown for more than 100 years after this editorial was published.

Learn More:

• Southern Watchman, Aug. 1888 - Dec. 1889 on Microfilm in the Heritage collection.
• Georgia's Protected Wildlife by the Game & Fish Division of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources in the Heritage collection.
• The Optimist's Tour of the Future: One Curious Man Sets Out to Answer "What's Next?" by Mark Stevenson in the New Books collection. 
• Seabiscuit: An American Legend by Laura Hillenbrand in the general collection.
• Secretariat's Meadow: The Land, the Family, the Legend by Kate Chenery Tweedy in the New Books collection.
• The Rarest of the Rare: Vanishing Animals, Timeless Worlds by Diane Ackerman in the general collection.
• The Wonderful Future That Never Was by Gregory Benford in the New Books collection.
• The Ghost with Trembling Wings: Science, Wishful Thinking, and the Search for Lost Species by Scott Weidensaul in the general collection.
• Inevitable Surprises: Thinking Ahead in a Time of Turbulence by Peter Schwartz in the general collection.
• A Gap in Nature: Discovering the World's Extinct Animals by Tim Flannery and Peter Schouten in the general collection.
• Probable Tomorrows: How Science and Technology Will Transform Our Lives in the Next Twenty Years by Marvin J. Cetron and Owen Davies in the general collection.
• No Turning Back: The Life and Death of Animal Species by Richard Ellis in the general collection.
• I Live in the Future and Here's How It Works: Why Your World, Work, and Brain are Being Creatively Disrupted by Nick Bilton in the New Books collection.
• Extinct Species of the World by Jean-Christophe Balouet in the general and Reference collections. 
• Deep Future: The Next 100,000 Years of Life on Earth by Curt Stager in the New Books collection.
• The Way We Will Be 50 Years from Today: 60 of the World's Greatest Minds Share Their Visions of the Next Half Century, edited by Mike Wallace in the general collection.
• The Dilbert Future: Thriving on Stupidity in the 21st Century by Scott Adams in the general collection.
• MountedPolice.com website.

3 June 1917: An "Astonishing" 37.4 Miles per Gallon!

On this day in 1917, Talmage Hardware Company ran the following ad in the Athens Banner:

Talmage Hardware was located at 131 East Clayton Street downtown, where Lamar Lewis Shoe Store is today.

In 1917, the cost of a gallon of gasoline in the United States 20 cents per gallon, approximately $3.22 in today's dollars. The Fuel Administration established during World War I was primarily focused on the nation's coal supplies, and urged citizens to conserve electricity and order their coal early in the winter. Gasoline rationing came in the autumn of 1918, through a voluntary action of "gasolineless Sundays." The war ended before stricter constraints were deemed necessary.

According to a story run on the same page as the ad, demand for automobiles was high in Clarke County thanks to "premium prices" for food crops brought on by the war. All the dealers interviewed had sold out of their stock and had waiting lists for a variety of models. According to Mr. Griffeth, the local Ford agent, "Farmers are buying these handy little machines to haul their produce into town and carry their supplies out." 

The article noted that "with the products of the farm soaring there is no reason why the farmer for once in his life should not ride and ride comfortably," and asserted that such purchases were patriotic support of American industry during a time of war. 

The automobile was also touted as a modern way to improve well-being, with the author quoting famous New York Evening Journal editor Arthur Brisbane, who likened riding in a car to indoor plumbing: "you pay for running water as a matter of course. Just as important...to health is the running air that fills your lungs and clears your blood as your car rushes through it. To call a car a 'luxury' ...is trivial nonsense. As well call running water and a bathtub in your house luxury."

Learn More:

• Athens Banner, Apr. 1917 - Oct. 30, 1917 on Microfilm in the Heritage collection.
• Athens Historic Newspaper Archive collection in the Digital Library of Georgia.
• 1909 Athens City Directory in the Heritage collection.
• 1912-1913 Athens City Directory in the Heritage collection.
• The American Automobile: A Brief History by John Bell Rae in the general collection.
• Those Wonderful Old Automobiles by Floyd Clymer in the general collection.
• The Automobile Age by James J. Flink in the general collection.
• America on Wheels: The First 100 Years, 1896-1996 by Frank Coffey in the general collection.
• Wheels for the World: Henry Ford, His Company, and a Century of Progress, 1903-2003 by Douglas Brinkley in the general collection.
• Over Here: The First World War and American Society by David M. Kennedy in the general collection.
• The Great War and the Shaping of the 20th Century by Jay Winter and Blaine Baggett in the general collection.
• Out of Gas: The End of the Age of Oil by David Goodstein in the general collection.
• Fuel in the DVD collection.
• Measuring Worth website.
• U.S. Economy in World War I web page from the Economic History Association website.
• Automotive Industries, Volume 39, in Google Books.
• Stromberg Carburetors website.
• Model T Facts web page.