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.

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.

4 September 1903: "Several Nice 'Cues"

On this day in 1903, the Athens Banner ran this story on their front page:

SEVERAL NICE 'CUES GIVEN YESTERDAY 

The people of Clarke county reveled in barbecues yesterday.

In several of the precincts elegant barbecues were gotten up by those interested in the bond election, and they were enjoyed by quite a number of people. 

One of the largest was that at Princeton, where the managers of the two cotton mills gave the barbecue to their operatives.

Athens Banner, 4 September 1903, p. 1, col. 7.

The bond issue was to pay for paving of public roads in Athens, and passed with 979 votes for the bonds and only 2 votes against it.  The day after election results were published in the paper, the Athens Banner noted that

The eyes of the people of Georgia are upon Clarke county. The results of the bond election put her in the very front rank among progressive counties of the state....

The county of Clarke recently led the way in Georgia for a nine months session of her public schools, now she leads the way for the extensive improvement of her public roads. She is a leader and the people of the county have every reason to feel proud of the stand she is taking among the counties of the state in everything that looks to the progress and improvement of the people.

Athens Banner, 5 September 1903, p. 1, cols. 1-2. 

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.
• Chicopee Mill: A History by Olivia Bloomfield Carlisle in the Heritage collection.
• The Peach State Glove Box Guide to Bar-b-que: The Complete Statewide Guide to Bar-b-que in Georgia by Steve Storey in the general collection.
• How to Win a Local Election: A Complete Step-by-Step Guide by Grey Lawrence in the general collection.
• Smoke and Spice: Cooking with Smoke, the Real Way to Barbecue by Cheryl and Bill Jamison in the general collection.
• Side Orders: Small Helpings of Southern Cookery and Culture by John Egerton in the general collection.
• Beans, Greens, and Sweet Georgia Peaches: the Southern Way of Cooking Fruits and Vegetables by Damon Lee Fowler in the general collection.
• The Ultimate Barbecue Sauce Book by Jim Auchmutey in the general collection.
• A Gracious Plenty: Recipes and Recollections from the American South by John T. Edge in the general collection.
• Secrets of the South's Best Barbecue by Jane E. Gentry and Rebecca Brennan in the general collection.
• Blue Willow Inn Cookbook by Louis and Billie Van Dyke in the general collection.
• Down Home with the Neely's: A Southern Family Cookbook by Patrick and Gina Neely in the general collection.
• Georgia Entertains by Margaret Wayt DeBolt in the general collection.

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.

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 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.

21 January 1890: "Shaking off the yoke of fogyism"

On this day in 1890, the following editorial ran in the Weekly Banner:

Learn More:

• Athens Weekly Banner, Jan. 1890 - Dec. 1890 on Microfilm in the Heritage collection.
• 1889 Athens City Directory in the Heritage collection.
• History of Athens and Clarke County by H. J. Rowe in the Heritage and general collections.
• A Postcard History of Athens, Georgia by Gary L. Doster in the Heritage and general collections.
• Empires of Light: Edison, Tesla, Westinghouse, and the Race to Electrify the World by Jill Jonnes in the general collection.
• America Enters the World: A People's History of the Progressive Era and World War I by Page Smith in the general collection.
• A Very Different Age: Americans of the Progressive Era by Steven J. Diner in the general collection.
• The Modern Mind: An Intellectual History of the 20th Century by Peter Watson in the general collection.
• Atlanta in 1890: The Gate City by the Atlanta Historical Society in the Heritage collection.
• The Big Necessity: The Unmentionable World of Human Waste and Why It Matters by Rose George in the general collection.
• It's Your Community! A Guide to Civic Development and Beautification by Henry Bond Raymore in the general collection.
  

25 October 1916: Ideal Wholesale Location for Rent

On this day in 1916, J.J. Fowler ran the following ad in the Athens Daily Herald, page 5, cols. 4-7:

Most advertisements and news stories from this time period relied on illustrations, but the location of the store along the tracks was a selling point worth seeing in a photograph.

Learn More:

• Athens Daily Herald, Jun. 1916 - Dec. 1916 on Microfilm in the Heritage collection.
• America Enters the World: A People's History of the Progressive Era and World War I by Page Smith in the general collection.
• The Routes of Man: How Roads Are Changing the World and Way Live Today by Ted Conover in the general collection.
• Roads Through the Ages by Philip Steele in the children's collection.
• Getting There: The Epic Struggle Between Road and Rail in the American Century by Stephen B. Goddard in the general collection.
• The Iron Horse: How Railroads Changed America by Richard Wormser in the children's collection.
• Station to Station by Steven Parissien in the general collection.
• Seaboard Air Line Railway: Steam Boats, Locomotives, and History by Richard E. Prince in the Heritage collection.
• From a Railway Carriage by Robert Louis Stevenson in the children's collection.