USA > Georgia > Colquitt County > History of Colquitt County > Part 13
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The first librarian was Mrs. W. C. Mckenzie, to whose executive ability much credit is due for the organization of the institution. Mrs. McKenzie held the position of librarian
206
HISTORY OF COLQUITT COUNTY
from 1908 to 1919, during a part of which time Miss Ola Mae Monk served as her assistant. Miss Lois Adams was librarian from 1919 to 1923. The period of 1924-25 was covered by Miss Annabel Conner (now Mrs. Hoyt Whelchel). After her, Miss Louise Aycock (now Mrs. Allen Furman), Miss Velma Goode, and Mrs. W. E. Young, have served in that capacity. Mrs. Young is the present efficient librarian.
The library has extended its service to citizens of the County as a whole, and is an institution of permanent value as an educational force to the entire community.
YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION
The project of the Y. M. C. A. for Moultrie was first sug- gested at the annual meeting of the Chamber of Commerce, on March 2, 1916, by Mr. F. R. Pidcock. Mr. H. Daugherty was the first General Secretary (December 1, 1916).
The building was completed October 1, 1917. In April, 1919, Mr. J. H. Kenny was elected Assistant Secretary.
In the summer of 1921, the regular work for men and boys was reinforced by the commencement of work for ladies and girls, and a residence building hard by the building of the Y. M. C. A. This activity has been continuous, since that time.
In 1923 Mr. Daugherty left the Association, so that he might take charge of Methodist Orphans' Home, at Macon; and J. H. Kenny succeeded him as General Secretary, a posi- tion which he has held continuously till the present.
During the whole of its history, the Moultrie Y. M. C. A. and Y. W. C. A. have functioned one hundred per cent.
NORMAN INSTITUTE
Norman Institute was founded in 1900, by Hon. J. B. Norman, Jr. It is located at Norman Park, Georgia, a village
207
COLQUITT'S EDUCATIONAL FACILITIES
of some 1,200 inhabitants, located on the A. B. and C. Rail- road, about ten miles from Moultrie, in the direction of Tif- ton, Georgia.
After Mr. Norman had procured buildings to be erected, and had provided for a substantial endowment fund, he died, in . His heirs have from time to time made other con- tributions, as have other Colquitt County friends. At this time, Norman Institute is a part of the Mercer system of edu- cational institutions, and is controlled by a board of trustees appointed by Norman Park Baptist Church, various Bap- tist Associations and the Georgia Baptist Convention.
Norman Institute has a Christian faculty, every member of which is college-trained; second, excellent equipment for science; third, an excellent department for the training of pupils in domestic science and household arts. And the am- bition of the present management is to make Norman Insti- tute second to none as a junior college, and a fashioner of character. Its work spreads far beyond the County of Col- quitt; but it is as a factor in the upbuilding of Colquitt that we are considering it, now.
COLQUITT'S PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM
In 1872, the Statewide movement for free public schools for the children of Georgia was launched. The credit for the establishment of the system and its incorporation in the Georgia Constitution of 1868, has already been placed in this History. In Colquitt, at least, the term was at first only sixty days, and lasted from "Laying-by time" till "Fodder- pulling time." The curriculum covered the "three R's"- Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic; the Constitution of 1868 providing for free education of all persons resident in the State between the ages of six and twenty-one years old, and "in the elementary branches of an English education."
208
HISTORY OF COLQUITT COUNTY
Dr. Baker E. Watkins, hereinbefore referred to, as a local Methodist preacher, and Colquitt's first resident physician, was elected Colquitt's first County School Commissioner. He held for four years; and his was the task of organization. Henry Gay came next, with twelve years of service. Then came N. M. Marchant, who served sixteen years, being him- self the first youth ever matriculated at the University of Georgia from Colquitt County, and who still remains with us, past eighty years of age, and still a man of taste and culture. Other commissioners have been: Hon. J. H. Smith- wick, Mr. John E. Howell, Prof. Lee S. Dismuke, Prof. O. A. Thaxton, Prof. Frank Clark, and Prof. L. O. Rogers- the last named being the present incumbent. All these men have been excellent workmen, and each has contributed his share to the upbuilding of Colquitt's splendid system of pub- lic schools. Miss Amanda McDonald taught the first free school term ever organized in the City of Moultrie. Daughter she was of James McDonald, of "down about Pavo," and a leading man of Thomas County, for more than a generation; wife she was to be of W. H. Gibson, popular citizen of Col- quitt for twenty years, and mother she was to be of sons Joe, Dan, Carl, Frank, and Eustace Gibson, and of daughters Mary Gibson Knapp, and Annie Gibson Green.
Some of the other teachers during the early days of the system were: A. D. Patterson, L. A. Hall, N. M. Marchant, Montgomery M. Folsom, H. R. Hutchinson, Thomas Breedon, John Gibson, John A. Wilkes, and Daniel Lawson.
At present, there are sixteen consolidated schools in Col- quitt County, as follows: Autreyville, Berlin, Center Hill, Cool Springs, Crossland, Culbertson, Ellenton, Funston, Hartsfield, Norman Park, Ocapilco, Reedy Creek, Rock Hill, Rose Hill, Sunset, and Ty-Ty.
209
COLQUITT'S EDUCATIONAL FACILITIES
The tenth and eleventh grades of all consolidated schools are sent for their work to Moultrie High School, Doerun High School, or to Norman Park Junior College.
By special contract, all pupils residing within a radius of five miles from Doerun, are sent to Doerun public schools for all their work. This, although Doerun schools exist under legislative enactment, operates in practice to render this system itself another consolidated school.
There are twenty-nine buses in use in connection with Col- quitt's school system, carrying 3,160 pupils to and from school.
The total enrollment of pupils in attendance at the public schools of Colquitt County at the beginning of the Fall Term 1936 is 7,074 whites, and 1,870 colored.
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One of the Moultrie High School Buildings
CHAPTER XXXIII
Women's Clubs
JOHN BENNING CHAPTER DAUGHTERS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION
UNDER PROPER authority, the John Benning Chapter, Daughters of the Revolution was organized on November 1, 1910, with twelve members, with Mrs. W. C. Vereen, Or- ganizing Regent, such authority being signed by Mrs. Julia G. Scott, President-General, and Mrs. John M. Graham, State Regent of Georgia.
Charter Members: Mrs. Jennie Vereen Bell, Mrs. Bonnell Strozier Bivins, Miss Jean Patton Cameron, Mrs. Virginia Carroll Cree, Mrs. Harriet Holtman Chase, Mrs. Stella Ray Howell, Mrs. Emily Kline Shipp, Mrs. Jessie Vereen Smith- wick, Miss Pearl Vereen, Mrs. Ellen Vereen, Mrs. Adelle N. Way, Mrs. Lottie Thompson Vereen.
MOULTRIE-McNEILL CHAPTER DAUGHTERS OF THE CONFEDERACY
The Moultrie-McNeill Chapter of the Daughters of the Confederacy was organized at the home of Mrs. J. R. Hall, in March, 1903. Mrs. W. S. Humphreys, now deceased, was organizer and first president.
The charter members of this Chapter were: Mrs. W. S. Humphreys, Mrs. W. C. Vereen, Mrs. J. D. Mckenzie, Mrs. D. A. Autrey, Mrs. Kate Crenshaw, Mrs. R. L. Shipp, Mrs. Everett Daniel, Mrs. J. R. Hall, Mrs. P. B. Allen, Mrs. H. C. Mckenzie, Miss Jennie Vereen, Mrs. W. J. Matthews, Mrs. S. F. Way, and Mrs. D. A. Fish.
211
WOMEN'S CLUBS
The local chapter of the U. D. C. has the distinction of being oldest and the largest women's organization in Moul- trie. It has at all times worked at the various undertakings looking to the preservation of the ideals of the general organ- ization. At all times, since its organization, it has sought out the comfort and welfare of the surviving soldiers of the Southern Confederacy. It has especially on Southern Me- morial Day served these survivors and theirs with a dinner, and put on a program of education for the young of the County. The beautiful monument that stands on the south- west corner of the public square is in memory of the Con- federate soldiers, and was erected through the efforts of the local chapter of the U. D. C. in 1909.
THE WORTH WHILE CLUB
The Worth While Club was organized in the early fall of 1907, for social and educational purposes, with thirty-five members. Its club room is over the Moultrie Carnegie Library, which is sufficiently large to accommodate the club meetings and social affairs, and a membership of fifty actives.
The club joined the National Federation in 1909, and is organized along the following lines: Home Economics, Library Extension, Community Service, Forestry, Fine Arts, Child Welfare, Industrial and Social Relations and Litera- ture.
CHAPTER XXXIV The Moultrie Banking Company
THE PRESENTMENTS returned at the November Term, 1835, by the Grand Jury of Thomas County show that that County had on hand $753.87 in notes and cash, deposited in various banks, three of which were in Florida, one in Alabama, and one in Macon, Georgia. There was no bank in Thomas County at that time, and the nearest bank to Thomasville was the "Magnolia Bank of Magnolia, Florida." Here the town of Thomasville opened its first bank account.
At the May term, 1836, of the Superior Court of Thomas County, the Grand Jury called attention to bad roads gen- erally, and especially the roads between Thomasville and Magnolia.
Magnolia was situated up the Saint Marks River, and across it, opposite the present site of Newport. It is gone now; but it was a flourishing town then.
There was no bank in Thomas County until 1861, when the "Cotton Planters' Bank" was established in Thomasville. There was very little business with banks on the part of the people of the Colquitt section of Thomas County, so long as it was in the "pastoral" stage. Even as late as the 1870's, when a Colquitt man wanted a little ready cash, he would go, either to Jack Johnson, Staten May, Ab Baker, or Jim Gay. At such times, the borrower would be asked to sit down in the house and wait a while. The lender would then absent himself a little while, and come back with the money. By 1890, the turpentine and lumber business was developing in Colquitt County, and better banking facilities were found to be necessary, and so, on the ... . day of
213
THE MOULTRIE BANKING COMPANY
1896, a charter was obtained for a bank to be known as the "Moultrie Banking Company." Associated in this under- taking were W. W. Ashburn, Z. H. Clark, W. C. Vereen, M. J. Pearsall, J. F. Spivey, John McK. McNeil, and J. B. Norman, Jr. W. W. Ashburn was the first president, and so remained until his death in 1906. W. C. Vereen was elected active vice-president, and so remained until president Ash- burn's death, when he was elected president. This position he has continuously held from the date of his election to the present day. Z. H. Clark was originally elected cashier of the bank, and so remained until the date of his death on May, 1916, when M. L. Lee became cashier, who has held this position continuously until the present. The original capitalization of the bank was $25,000.00, and the actual cash paid in was $15,000. The bank has continued to grow, as is shown by practically every one of its financial reports during the last forty years.
Until the last report, under date of September 30, 1936, shows it has passed into the class of "three million dollar banks." The financial condition of this bank, as of Septem- ber 30, 1936, is as follows:
MATTHEWS MOORF &
Moultrie Banking Co.
214
HISTORY OF COLQUITT COUNTY
CONDENSED FORM OF STATEMENT MOULTRIE BANKING COMPANY MOULTRIE, GEORGIA September 30, 1936 As Called for by State Superintendent of Banks
ASSETS
Loans and Discounts.
$ 718,327.29
Stocks
12,955.00
U. S. bonds owned-
Direct and Guaranteed $1,082,187.50
State, County and Municipal bonds 133,734.14
Other bonds owned.
29,087.50
Advances on cotton
83,475.69
Cash on hand and in banks 992,222.97
Total cash assets.
2,320,707.80
Banking house and fixtures.
57,062.30
Other real estate 18,306.90
Other assets
229.81
Total $3,137,589.10
LIABILITIES
Capital Stock
$ 200,000.00
Surplus and profits
315,431.03
Reserve funds 12,381.20
DEPOSITS
$2,609,776.87
Total $3,137,589.10
DEPOSITS INSURED UNDER THE U. S. GOVERNMENT PLAN
OFFICERS
W. C. Vereen (elected 1906) President
F. R. Pidcock.
Vice-President
W. J. Vereen. Vice-President
E. M. Vereen Active Vice-President
M. L. Lee
Cashier
M. C. Farley Assistant Cashier
C. H. Lewis
Assistant Cashier
215
THE MOULTRIE BANKING COMPANY
DIRECTORS
G. J. Austin
F. R. Pidcock
J. Bennison
H. P. Plair
H. Jones
Elkin G. Taylor
M. L. Lee
E. M. Vereen
R. M. Morrison
W. C. Vereen
G. W. Newton
W. J. Vereen
R. L. Norman
C. G. Watson
J. R. Hall, Jr.
CLERICAL FORCE
Miss Sarah McPhaul, Savings Department
George O. Mobley, Teller
J. Ferrell Lockwood, Teller
W. H. McCoy, Jr., Bookkeeper
H. Carlton Lockwood, Bookkeeper
J. Floyd Monk, Bookkeeper.
A bank being a public institution; and in more ways than one belonging to the public, must, like Caesar's wife, be con- stantly "above suspicion." And this is exactly what could be truthfully said of the Moultrie Banking Company during every day of its more than forty years of active life. This has resulted from the fact that its founders were themselves men of highest personal probity; and its managers have at all times jealously maintained its high traditions. This fact is a ground of proper pride, not only for the stockholders, but for the whole of Colquitt County.
CHAPTER XXXV
Moultrie National Bank
THE BANK WAS ORGANIZED January 3, 1928. The applicants for a charter were R. J. Corbett, R. A. Cooper, John T. Nor- man, A. G. Whitehead, and Lewis Edwards.
The first official set-up was:
R. J. Corbett. President
John T. Norman Vice-President
Lewis Edwards Cashier
Charles F. Cook
Assistant Cashier
DIRECTORS
R. J. Corbett
John T. Norman
R. A. Cooper
A. G. Whitehead
Lewis Edwards
The present official set-up of this institution is:
Waldo DeLoache President
R. A. Cooper
Vice-President
J. S. Harris Vice-President
H. S. Cohen Vice-President and Cashier
Leroy Dubberly Assistant Cashier
Marian Mckay. Assistant Cashier
DIRECTORS
L. R. Barber
Louis Friedlander
Leo T. Barber
J. S. Harris
Chas. W. Cook
I. C. Johnson
R. A. Cooper
L. L. Moore
Waldo DeLoache
E. O. Sinclair
217
MOULTRIE NATIONAL BANK
LAST OFFICIAL FINANCIAL STATEMENT
Resources :
Loans and Discounts
$ 336,931.10
Bonds
277,286.14
Stock Federal Reserve Bank
3,900.00
Banking House
7,000.00
Furniture and Fixtures
5,600.00
Other Real Estate.
2,085.57
Cash on Hand and Due from Banks
548,138.14
Total $1,180,940.95
Liabilities :
Capital
$ 100,000.00
Surplus
30,000.00
Undivided Profits
32,581.16
Reserves
3,000.00
Deposits
1,015,359.79
Total $1,180,940.95
It will readily appear that the Moultrie National Bank has been keeping step with the prosperity that has been general in Colquitt County since the organization of the institution. Within less than nine years from the date of its organization it has become a "Million Dollar Bank;" and such is the energy and character of its officers we are warranted in pre- dicting that it is destined to be an increasingly prominent factor in the future development of our great county.
ه الباه رجه
الروب خميس مع
جا الجبلبيم
جديربـ
-حسب
٠ ٠ ٠٠٠
Moultrie National Bank
CHAPTER XXXVI
Moultrie Cotton Mills
1. Date of organization: April 4, 1900.
2. Personnel of first official set-up:
W. C. Vereen. President
W. W. Ashburn
First Vice-President
M. D. Norman Second Vice-President
Z. H. Clark Secretary-Treasurer
DIRECTORS
W. W. Ashburn
D. N. Horne
W. C. Vereen
Miles Monk
T. I. McNeill
D. Sinclair
D. S. Smith
M. J. Pearsall
C. E. Holmes
3. Present official set-up :
W. C. Vereen President
W. J. Vereen
Vice-President and Treasurer
L. L. Dickerson Secretary
DIRECTORS
W. C. Vereen
F. R. Pidcock
W. J. Vereen M. L. Lee
L. R. Barber
4. The Moultrie Cotton Mills was organized with a sub- scribed capital stock of $100,000.00, with authority to increase to $500,000.00. The original capital has been in- creased from time to time and a large part of surplus earn- ings have been carried to undivided profits and used in purchasing new machinery and enlarging buildings.
Work on the buildings of the mill began in June, 1900. The mill was completed and active operations commenced
220
HISTORY OF COLQUITT COUNTY
April 7, 1901, with 5,000 spindles and 160 looms, together with all other preparatory machinery and power plant of sufficient size to double the capacity of the mill when needed. The equipment of the mill at this time is 12,000 spindles and 300 looms, the capacity having been increased three times since operations first began.
The mill has run almost continuously since it started in April, 1901, until the present time except for a period of about three weeks in 1935 together with about four or five weeks previously in order to install a new engine and power plant.
E
=
Moultrie Cotton Mills
During the first year of the mill's operations about 1,500 bales of cotton were used. In 1936 the amount of cotton consumed was about 6,500 bales, and during the year 1937, with new machinery added, it is expected that about 8,000 bales will be used.
Since 1933 the mill has been using two shifts of hands, running night and day. The mill employs at present about three hundred and twenty-five persons, most of whom have been with the company for many years.
221
MOULTRIE COTTON MILLS
The goods manufactured are, for the most part, sheetings, drills, and osnaburgs. In the early years after the organiza- tion of the mill, a considerable portion of the goods was sold in China. For many years past, however, the entire product has been sold in the United States.
During the first few years of the operations of the mill the production was about 2,600,000 yards per annum for cloth of various kinds. In 1936 the production of cloth is approximately 10,400,000 yards with new equipment which is being installed. In 1937 the production of goods should amount to about 15,000,000 yards of cloth.
Salaries, wages, cash paid for wood for fuel, for the year 1936 amounted to $189,000.00. Amount paid for cotton during the year 1936 is $390,000.00.
CHAPTER XXXVII The Moultrie Packing Company
AS HAS BEEN SEEN hereinbefore, the Pastoral Era in Colquitt County commenced gradually to give place to the Industrial and Manufacturing Era in 1890, with the coming of the railroads from the Coast Line and from the Georgia, South- ern and Florida, on the East. By 1898, the turpentine and sawmill industries were in full flower through practically the whole county. In other words, the magnificent yellow pine timber had been leased up in generally what would be considered short term leases. Anyhow, by 1910, the end of the timber industry was in sight; and people began to dis- cuss what was to follow the exhaustion of the timber. As a matter of fact, nothing could be foreseen except the bringing of the cut-over lands under the plow for purely agricultural purposes and there was only one crop that promised any cash returns of any magnitude. At any rate, citizens who were unable or indisposed to move away commenced the process of opening up the lands to cultivation.
And then a very serious thing happened. Rumors were spreading that coming out of Mexico and advancing toward the East by great annual leaps, was an insect pest which swept growing cotton off the face of the earth, and threatened the whole future of this section.
Possibly on account of this distressing foreboding of dis- aster, the propaganda began to trickle in for a readjustment of the land industries, looking to the substitution of stock and hog raising for cotton, as a money crop. As a con- sequence of this propaganda, and as a part of it, the people of Southwest Georgia began to discuss the location of "pack- ing plants" for the processing of meats in this section. Grad-
223
THE MOULTRIE PACKING COMPANY
ually this propaganda assumed respectable proportions in Colquitt County-due to the fact that some of its citizens had been in the northwest and had given some study to the meat packing industry in that section. It was a condition of necessity that compelled consideration of this matter by the industrial leaders of Colquitt County, and so finally a mass meeting was called at Moultrie, and after some discussion, W. C. Vereen, W. H. Barber, and R. M. Morrison, citizens of the County at the time, were named as a committee to investigate the whole matter, going for that purpose to the northwest, and carefully studying the situation. These gentle- men had for a long while been citizens of Colquitt County, and had established pretty fair reputations for ultra-con- servatism; but their report made to the citizens' meeting, upon their return, established the fact that they were capable of taking pretty liberal chances, on occasion. In other words, they reported favorably as to the enterprise; and backed their judgment by leading the subscription list to the stock.
There is not space here to set forth the importance of this action and its consequences. It is sufficient to say that twenty- four years after the Moultrie Packing Company was organ- ized, it has revolutionized agriculture and industry in the whole of Southwest Georgia. Swift and Company, of course, operate it now, but it is extremely unlikely that this fact would have happened but for the courageous action of the organizers of the Moultrie Packing Company.
The present owners are not disposed to talk much about their business, which is their right; but our investigation has developed the fact that the operation of this plant gives em- ployment to some 600 people at weekly wages of not less than $12 per week. The pay-roll during at least four months of the year amounts to $18,000 per week. The banner week was one of the weeks of the present season, in which the farmers of this section brought livestock to Moultrie, and
224
HISTORY OF COLQUITT COUNTY
went home with $240,000.00 in their pockets. This is enough to ruminate on, while we submit the first official set-up of the Moultrie Packing Company, so that the generations to come may at least know the names of these pioneers in the packing industry in Southwest Georgia:
OFFICERS
W. C. Vereen
President
W. H. Barber
Vice-President
Z. H. Clark.
Secretary and Treasurer
DIRECTORS
W. C. Vereen
C. W. Pidcock, Sr.
W. H. Barber
R. J. Corbett
J. R. Hall
H. A. Ashburn
John A. Carlton
R. M. Morrison
W. J. Matthews
We are glad to present them to you, ladies and gentlemen of the ages to come, as men who served their day and genera- tion in the widest most comprehensive way. At a most criti- cal period in the history of the County and the Section-when even the stoutest hearts were worried to distraction by dangers that beset the future, they pooled their resources in a move- ment in which was involved not only their investments but their credits; and all this they did, as this historian knows, not so much as a personal investment but as a prop and support to the very existence of the community in which they lived, and where their dead are buried.
After the establishment and equipment of a plant for the processing of meats, they operated it for two and one- half years, and sold it to Swift & Company; and, what is remarkable about that transaction, they were operating at the time of the sale at a profit and sold the stock after two and one-half years of operation at $125.00, the par value of the same being $100.00.
MOULTRIE PACKING CO.
MOULTRIE PACKING CO
-
The Original Packing Plant at Moultrie
SWIFT & COMPANY MOULTRIE, GEORGIA
The original Meat Packing Plant at Moultrie was financed by local capital and operated from September 1914 until June 1917 under the name of Moultrie Packing Company with Mr. W. C. Vereen as President.
Swift & Company purchased the plant in June 1917 and have operated it since that time under the name of Swift & Company.
The first Manager for Swift & Company was F. A. Luchsinger, who remained until February 1919, when he was succeeded by the present Manager, Horace McDowell.
The capacity of the packing plant in 1917 was about 25,000 cattle and hogs annually. The plant now has an annual capacity of 100,000 cattle and 600,000 hogs.
The Moultrie Packing Plant pays out to live stock producers approximately six million dollars annually and while they purchase live stock from points all over Florida, Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina, 75% of their purchases are made from territory within 150 miles of Moultrie.
Moultrie has been the center of the development of the live stock industry of the Southeast due not only to the Swift plant being kept in continuous operation since 1917, but particularly due to the inspirational leadership of Moultrie citizens in encouraging production, not only in Colquitt County, but all over the South- east.
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