28 October 1918: Athens Quarantine Partially Lifted

On this day in 1918, at 7 o'clock in the morning, the quarantine that had been imposed on the city of Athens and the county of Clarke for the previous three weeks, was partially lifted. County schools, the Lucy Cobb Institute, the University of Georgia and State Normal School, and church services would be allowed to meet, but "city schools, movie houses, theatre, pool rooms, shooting galleries, soda founts and ice cream parlors will remain closed." Sunday schools were also asked to refrain from meeting.

The quarantine had first gone into effect October 7th, when Athens had only a few cases of influenza reported, but wanted to avoid a larger outbreak. Mayor Andrew Erwin had the Chief of Police notify the management of a carnival scheduled to come to town that they would have to cancel their visit, and strict enforcement of the anti-spitting ordinance was put into effect. 

The Board of Health met and immediately closed gathering places such as movie theatres, pool halls, soda fountains, and other "amusements." Physicians or the head of a household where the flu struck had to report the case to the Board of Heath within 24 hours, and city schools were closed. The University of Georgia shut down, and all students who lived off the campus were told to stay at home. The Superior Court also delayed their October session. The only exceptions for meetings were for "necessary war work."

Despite the drastic procedures, the Athens Banner took a measured tone, telling its readers that "there is no need for fear, precaution and proper care from exposure will do more to wipe out the disease than anything else." People were generally asked to stay home, and most were willing to comply. In order for students to return to school, they had to present a letter from a physician stating they had not been exposed to the disease for the previous seven days.

Upon partial removal of quarantine, the chairman of Athens Board of Health, Dr. McKinney, did ask for everyone to "continue to exercise the greatest of care for we are not yet out of danger of a further spread of the contagion." Though only 5% of Athens was thought to have contracted the flu, the epidemic was harshest on those ages 15-34, and was so severe "that the average lifespan in the US was depressed by 10 years." 

By early November, it was news that the Colonial had booked entertainment for two weeks out,  but there is no article that notes the official date quarantine was fully lifted from the city. When Armistice to end World War I was declared on November 12, hundreds of citizens and students gathered in the streets to celebrate the event, with no thought of the flu.


Learn More:

• Athens Banner, Jan. 1918 - Nov. 1918 on Microfilm in the Heritage collection.
• Athens Daily Herald on Microfilm in the Heritage collection.
• Athens Historic Newspaper Archive collection in the Digital Library of Georgia.
• History of Athens and Clarke County by H. J. Rowe in the Heritage and general collections.
• The 1918 Influenza Pandemic page on Dr. Robert Siegel's Human Virology website.
• History of Public Health in Georgia, 1733-1950 by T. F. Abercrombie in the Heritage collection. 
• This Time of Dying by Reina James in the fiction collection.
• The Great Influenza: The Epic Story of the Deadliest Plague in History by John M. Barry in the general collection.
• Blessing's Bead by Debby Dahl Edwardson in the young adult collection.
• The Good Doctor's Guide to Colds and Flu by Neil Schachter in the general collection.

11 April 1876: "Fine Wines, Whiskies and Brandies, for Medicinal Purposes."

On this day in 1876, this ad ran at the top of the Southern Banner's back page:

 

The  business was owned and operated by Dr. Henry "Hal" Carlton Billups, Dr. H. R. J. Long, and Dr. Crawford W. Long, the discoverer of anesthesia.

The Longs were brothers who had established their first practice in Athens in 1851. After serving as surgeons for the Confederacy during the war, the three doctors returned to Athens and, once re-establishing their lines of credit with northern pharmaceutical companies, returned to practicing both medicine and pharmacy for the local population in 1866. In 1870, Dr. Crawford's son, Dr. Edward C. Crawford, joined the practice.

Dr. Crawford Long kept a medical office at the pharmacy, as well as being active managing the retail side of the business. He would typically stop at the store prior to his morning rounds, visiting his patients in their homes. As a retail manager, he expected the staff to exhibit "promptness, neatness, and systematic observances." In the 1870s, the partners added a soda fountain to the business to attract the patronage of college students.

Much like the modern drugstore, non-medical items were available at Longs & Billups: hygienic items such as brushes and soaps, some sweets, and household goods such as paint and varnishes that would now be found in home improvement stores. 

The alcohol sold as medicine was common at the time; often the processes for creating an alcoholic beverage would destroy any bacteria, and it became somewhat associated with health. Most patent medicines had approximately 20% alcohol content, but frequently would also contain opiates such as cocaine or heroin. Plain whiskey or brandy was, in such instances, a more gentle medicine.

In 1877, Dr. Billups left the practice, and the business changed its name to C. W. & E. C. Long. Dr. Crawford Long died in June, 1878.  The firm name then changed to E. C. Long & Co., and by 1880, was doing most of its business in retail and wholesale building supplies for a booming economy.

Learn More:

• Southern Banner, Jun. 1875 - Oct. 1877 on Microfilm in the Heritage collection.
• Athens Banner, 28 September 1880, p. 3, col. 1, in the Athens Historic Newspaper collection in the Digital Library of Georgia.
• Dr. Crawford W. Long: The Distinguished Physician-Pharmacist by Jos. Jacobs in the Heritage collection.
• Prelude to Fame: Crawford Long's Discovery of Anaesthesia by Ruby L. Radford in the Heritage and juvenile biography collections.
• Oconee Hill Cemetery, Athens, Georgia, Volume I by Charlotte Thomas Marshall in the Heritage and general collections.
• Annals of Athens, 1801-1901 by Augustus Longstreet Hull in the Heritage collection.
• Athens: A Pictorial History, 1801-2001 by James K. Reap in the Heritage and general collections.
• Crawford W. Long: Proceedings in Statuary Hall of the United States Capital Upon the Unveiling and Presentation of the Statue of Crawford W. Long in the Heritage and general collections.
• "We Have Conquered Pain:" The Discovery of Anesthesia by Dennis G. Fradin the Heritage and general collections.
• The First Anesthetic: The Story of Crawford Long by Frank Kells Boland in the Heritage and biography collections.
• Frontier Medicine: From the Atlantic to the Pacific, 1492-1941 by David Dary in the general collection.
• Timetables of Medicine by Gill Davies in the general collection.
• Western Medicine: An Illustrated History by Irvine Loudon in the general collection.

30 March 1909: Bludwine Flows to the Pacific

On this day in 1909, the Athens Banner ran the following story:

 

Bludwine was the 1894 creation of Henry Claude Anderson of Oconee County and "a chemist friend" who developed the formula for a cherry-flavored drink that would be considered a healthy "food drink." Anderson originally wanted to call the product "G.D." for "good digestion," but settled on "Bludwine" and focused advertising on the drink's use as a blood tonic and digestive. The drink was "made principally from wheat, oats, lemons, oranges, ginger, peppermint, and grapes," and used the slogan "For Your Health's Sake." 

Anderson was active in the temperance and prohibition movements at the time, and wanted to produce "a non-alcoholic food drink with enough 'ginger' to make it invigorating, and with a pungency and flavor that would tempt the tippler and the toper to leave their toddy in perference for a drink that was more delicious and more wholesome." However, after prohibition was enacted in Georgia in 1908, finding whiskey-laced Bludwine in the glasses of public drunks was not an unusual circumstance.

At the time of this story about contracts in Hawaii, the company was still privately held. The following year, Anderson would incorporate with capital stock of $100,000, equal to $2,330,000 in today's dollars. By 1917, Anderson had 100 bottling plants in 26 states. After the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906 was passed, health claims could not be made without proof on labels. The company had to change its name to "Budwine" to remove reference to "blood." Its slogan changed to "Makes You Glad You're Thirsty," to remove health claims.

In 1929, the Anderson family sold the company to Joseph Costa, a member of the family behind Costa's ice cream parlor, an Athens institution since 1908. Business continued to dwindle, and by 1969, Budwine was only available locally in Athens. The company officially closed in the 1980s.

Learn More:

• Athens Banner, January - December 1909 on Microfilm in the Heritage collection.
• Athens: A Pictorial History, 1801-2001 by James K. Reap in the Heritage and general collections.
• A Standard History of Georgia and Georgians by Lucian Lamar Knight in the Heritage collection. 
• 1909 Athens City Directory in the Heritage collection.
• Alcohol and the Southern Church: A Survey of Propaganda by Judy Alves Bisplinghoff in the Heritage collection.
• Battling Demon Rum: The Struggle for a Dry America, 1800-1933 by Thomas R. Pegram in the general collection.
• Prohibition: Thirteen Years that Changed America by Edward Behr in the general collection.
• Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition by Daniel Okrent in the general collection.
• Soda Science: Designing and Testing Soft Drinks by Bernie Zubrowski in the children's collection.
• The Big Book of Juices and Smoothies: 365 National Blends for Health and Vitality Every Day by Natalie Savona in the general collection.
• In Great Taste: Fresh, Simple Recipes for Eating and Living Well by Evelyn H. Lauder in the general collection.
• Measuring Worth website. 
• A Standard History of Georgia and Georgians by Lucian Lamar Knight in Google Books.