USA > Georgia > Tift County > History of Tift County > Part 11
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In July 1924 "the House Committee on the University of Georgia and its branches reported out a recommendation for passage by substitute the bill of Representative R. C. Ellis, of Tift County, to establish a college of agriculture and mechanical arts and normal school as a branch of the University of Georgia, in Tifton, to be known as the South Georgia Agri- cultural and Mechanical College.
"The bill provides that the new institution be located on a tract of land on which the Second District Agricultural and Mechanical School is located. The measure also provides that tuition shall be free to all residents of Georgia."
Further discussions about education are given in another chapter of the history of Tift County.
The March wind that comes in like a lion goes out like a lamb. Financially speaking, the nineteen-twenties came in with a roar and went out with a slump. Nineteen-twenty-nine is a memorable year, for it marks the beginning of a different era. The entire world changed drastically be- tween the twenties and thirties. The step from the former to the latter was like crossing the line between two states; the step also resembled the few minutes at the altar between the titles, Miss and Mrs.
Few things have been the same since 1929. Instances will support the theory. There was a drastic fall in salaries after that year: people who in the twenties worked for two hundred dollars a month worked in the thirties for seventy-five dollars a month. Jobs were difficult to secure in the latter period, and there were more demands on the applicant : a woman who in 1922 secured an excellent college position without a personal inter-
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view could not in 1930 get a minor high school position without a per- sonal interview. Age was stressed more in the latter period than in the former ; forty years, for instance, were marked old.
From the files of the Tifton Gazette
1920
"Honor arch to C. W. Fulwood is to be erected by Twentieth Century Library Club ... The Gazette office has just completed the installation of an Intertype, one of the latest models of typesetting machines .. . Organi- zation of the Georgia Division of the Old Indian Trails Highway Asso- ciation was perfected at a meeting held in Tifton Friday, at which every county in Georgia traversed by the highway was represented with one exception."
1921
"Eleventh District Press Association for second and third districts met in Tifton . .. Twentieth Century Library Club pays tribute to Mrs. N. Peterson."
1922
"M. A. McMillan was in Tifton Tuesday and called at the Gazette office. He says he taught what was Tifton's first school in 1874. He taught in a log house on east side of New River, between where the present church is located and the river. He had about twenty pupils, four or five from Tifton."
1923
"Thirty thousand dollars will be spent on city improvements."
1924
"On February the fourth Woodrow Wilson died . .. Churchwell will put on a sale in celebration of Churchwell's store anniversary twenty-eight years in Tifton."
1925
"City commissioners and city manager have turned over the park to C. W. Fulwood for beautifying. March 20, plans were laid for a real park in Tifton . . . The State Highway passed a resolution to appropriate $50,000 to start work in Tift County on paving highway, provided Tift would put up $100,000 . . . John Temple Graves was buried Monday, August 10 . .. Tifton Trade Territory Day, Tifton. Georgia. $1,000 in gold free. Shower of gold took place in Tifton on Tifton Trade Territory 'Get-Together-day'."
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HISTORY OF TIFT COUNTY
1926
"Tifton put over a bond election as the result of which $90,000 is made available for paving and other municipal improvements. Plans for $25,000 three-story Sunday School plant at Methodist Church agreed on . . . Susquecentennial Exposition was opened at Philadelphia and will continue until December 1. Celebration of the 150th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence in observance of 100th anniversary of death of Thomas Jefferson."
1927
"Record breaking receipts at the Tifton post office . . . During Decem- ber fifty new families moved on rural routes, and population on routes increased 300 . . . Honorable Chase S. Osborn will lecture for the Her- ring Memorial scholarship fund at A. and M. Twentieth Century Library Club is sponsoring the lecture ... Tift County was forced to turn away over a hundred prospective settlers because we did not have the farms. We've placed 50 families, among them people from Illinois, Maine, Massa- chusetts, Carolina, and Florida. These people are our best advertisers . . . The paving of National Highway in Tift and the overpass were finished in 1927."
1928
"There was encouragement of a house building program, ready-to-go- farms, and efforts toward the promotion of the cow-hog-hen-plan . . . In May the Georgia Association, termed the Georgia Board of Trade was guest of the local Board of Trade. As a result, Tifton and Tift County re- ceived nation-wide advertising ... In June we (Board of Trade) spon- sored Air-Mail Day. Tifton is one of only 7 points in Georgia to which air mail is accessible ... In November the Board of Trade sponsored Hos- pitalization Day. On the highway north of town we entertained out-of- state visitors, who came by, and the form of entertainment was lunches consisting of Tift County products."
1929
"Board of Trade ordered 1,000 plants for highway beautification . . Postal receipts increased from $36,230.74 to $40,292.31 . . . Red Cross had free courses in life saving and first aid ... Population of Tifton in 1929, 4,508 . . . Seventeen new residences. W. P. Bryant, of Tift County chosen as master farmer. Twelve general farms selected from a list of ninety-eight nominees will receive the award of the Progressive Farmer and Farm Magazine. . .. Chase Salmon Osborne lectured recently to the Board of Trade about the possibilities of Tifton's becoming a great city."
CHAPTER XIII
THE DEPRESSION
The thirties were the dark spots on the financial maps of every county in our land. Everyone was depression conscious; guests at parties and other social gatherings did not hesitate to discuss finances. Depression plants, depression entertainments, Hoover's depression carts, and depression money, script, were introduced.
The depression plants in shop windows and homes were beautiful and inexpensive; the plants grew from a combination of salt, soda, water, coal, and mercurochrome; the chemical reaction produced the flower. Simplic- ity characterized the entertainments ; refreshments, decorations, and guests' gowns were inexpensive. Some homes had depression shrubbery in the yards; gall berry bushes and other wild plants were effective substitutes. Times were so strenuous that Democrats put automobile wheels on carts. signifying that people had no use for cars. Tifton and other towns issued script to employees.
Jobs were difficult to secure; in fact they were so scarce that even Ph.D. graduates in some of our cities roamed the streets looking for employment, and it was not unusual at all to find taxi drivers with degrees.
In 1931 small hats, small dollar bills, and small high school diplomas were introduced. Probably some of these changes were the results of the depression.
The depression topic, however, dropped for a while in 1936 for the romance of the Prince of Wales, who upon the death of his father had became King Edward VIII of the British Empire, and Mrs. Wallie War- field Simpson, of America. Since England opposed the marriage, the king had to choose between the throne and Mrs. Simpson. On December II. 1936 Edward abdicated the crown, and his younger brother, George VI, ascended the throne. Everyone who had a radio in Tifton tuned in for the famous farewell speech of Edward. By some Tifton citizens his words were received with disapproval; by some, with admiration; by others, with tears. His closing words, "I cannot carry on without the woman I love," have become a classic in the list of famous romances. His voice, strong and clear in the beginning, broke on the farewell sentence. This romance may have a place with that of Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning.
To return strictly to Tift County, in 1934 Tifton High School began a new type of commencement exercises by choosing a celebrity and center- ing the program around his achievement. The graduating class that year selected as class honoree Harry Stillwell Edwards, nationally famous au- thor of "Eneas Africanus," "Sons and Fathers," and other stories. Ernest
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Fruchdu
Tift Theater and Street Scene
Neal, Georgia poet laureate, was selected in 1935; Dr. W. F. Melton, poet, teacher, journalist, and later poet laureate, in 1936; Morgan Blake, jour- nalist. in 1937. William Sutlive, journalist, in 1938; Ralph McGill, jour- nalist, in 1939.
Despite the depression there was progress in Tift County. In 1930 farm schools were operated, and educational pictures presented. Boys received $2,685 for their cotton on September 15, 1930, Annual Cotton Club Day. The county tour was held in July. Cooperative sales were under direction of County Agent Culpepper. Poultry brought $23,350; hogs, $38,356; velvet beans, and sweet potatoes, $375. Truck farming revived and more than fifteen hundred people called for farms in Tift County.
Several new enterprises opened in Tifton during this period. Downing and Company, Auto Supply Company, Loel's Ten-Cent Store, four new grocery stores, Phoenix Mutual Life Insurance Company, and a bureau of markets were among the number. A large pecan shelling plant, with capacity to handle all the pecans the county could purchase in this sec- tion, began operation in Tifton November 1, 1937, on second floor of the Coleman and Chandler Building.
In 1933 two lumber markets, a large chicken hatchery, cotton mill,
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fertilizer plant, peanut mill, and a tobacco stemming plant were additions to Tift County. Kent's furniture store and Kulbersh's new department store were opened. The cornerstone for American Legion Home was laid. The formal opening of the $15,000 basketball shell was significant in the progress of athletics. Tifton Coca-Cola Bottling Company finished a hand- some new plant, a modern sanitary, and up-to-date building. A new Nehi plant was constructed. The Columbian Peanut Company finished a large peanut warehouse, an office, and weighing shed.
The Tift Theater with some of the best equipment in South Georgia opened on February 22, 1937. The magic eye, operating doors and foun- tains, was an innovation in this section of Georgia. The theater received from the Ritz Theater in Marianna, Florida, the largest post card that ever came to Tifton. This card of congratulation, twenty-four by forty- eight inches, required $2.62 postage.
Electrical progress was exhibited in the 110,000 volt electric power sub- station of the Georgia Power Company; it was practically completed with cutting in of the new Tifton-Valdosta 66,000 volt line. The Tifton station, which cost a half million dollars, was connected with Columbus through Americus. Another phase of this progress was the one hundred miles of rural electrification line.
The Farmer's Bank of Tifton opened for business in February 1937. Joseph Kent, Senior, was president, and J. S. Harris and Dan Fletcher, vice-presidents.
A new water plant was constructed at a cost of $79.000. "Omega in- stalled a hypochlorinator on its municipal water supply. All municipal and industrial water supplies were sterilized in Tift County. This county is the first with more than one city system in the deep-well section to have sterilization equipment on all its supplies."1
Among the improvements in buildings were the remodeling of new rooms at the Colonial Inn, the additional equipment of the Tifton Floral Company and the Southern Ornamental Nursery, changes in the Myon Hotel, and Armour's expenditure of $50,000 on the plant, which re-opened on November 1, 1935. It had closed in 1920. The Tifton Board of Trade helped the athletic association with enclosing field and grading ground. The ball field was equipped with metal fence, and flood lights for night games.
Several Tift County people and institutions were honored during this time. Senator Moore was honored at a program dedicating Moore High- way, which connected Abraham Baldwin College and Georgia Coastal Plain with state route seven. She was presented a loving cup. The highway was named for Mrs. Susie T. Moore because she introduced the bill to have paved roads in front of all colleges in the University system. She was
1. Tifton Gazette.
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also nominated for honorary membership in the International Pilot Club. The Democratic Luncheon Club of Georgia, with Mrs. Dunn as presi- dent, gave a dinner at the Atlanta Athletic Club in honor of Senator Moore, vice-chairman of the Georgia Democratic Executive Committee.
A granite marker at Tenth Street entrance to Fulwood Park was un- veiled to the memory of J. L. Herring, H. H. Tift, founder of Tifton, and C. W. Fulwood, first chairman of the Park and Tree Commission. Trees were planted in Fulwood Park for Mr. Fulwood and Miss Leola Greene.
Mrs. N. Peterson, Dr. Peterson's wife, was presented a certificate of leadership and later named one of the captains in the Women's Field Army for the control of cancer for the Second District. She received national recognition on account of her pioneer work in rural education.
Mrs. H. H. Tift, benefactor of Bessie Tift College, was honor guest at a reception at Rhodes Memorial Hall, when Miss Ruth Blair, state historian, and the officers of the Bessie Tift Alumnae Association received guests. An exquisite miniature portrait of Mrs. Tift had been presented the state's collection of famous Georgians in Rhodes Memorial Hall. In 1937 the second edition of "American Women's Who's Who" contained names of four Tifton women : the late Mrs. Bessie Willingham Tift, educator ; Mrs. Josie Golden Clyatt, organist; Mrs. Nell Britt Tabor, singer; and Mrs. Lillian Britt Hensohn, singer. The name of Mrs. Hensohn was also included in "Who's Who in the East."
Mrs. Clyatt was elected president of the Georgia Federation of Music Clubs, during the meeting of State Federation of Music clubs in Tifton, and Mrs. C. R. Dyer corresponding secretary.
Lillian Britt Heinsohn and Nell Britt Tabor appeared in recitals in and near Philadelphia. A Pennsylvania paper, The Daily Local News, com- mented :
"Songs from the South by two charming sopranos, who looked as though they had stepped out of a family photograph album of a genera- tion or so ago. formed the entertainment at the opening meeting of the New Century Club, of this place, yesterday. Lillian Britt Heinsohn and Nell Britt Tabor, wearing costumes reminiscent of the middle of the last century, sang negro spiritua's, plantation songs, and ballads that were favorites fifty or sixty years ago, in a manner that brought back to the memory of many a hearer, voices long silent and made them realize anew how sweet the old songs were."
Mrs. Heinsohn and Mrs. Tabor broadcast old-time Southern songs over WHAT, the Philadelphia station, which was under the direction of the son of W. W. Atterbury, president of Pennsylvania Railroad. They succeeded so well with their program that they received an invitation to present a group of songs at the spring meeting of the agents of the New York Life
NOTED TIFTON WOMEN
Top-Mrs. Susie T Moore, first woman state senator in Georgia, well known in politics and for charities.
Second row-Mrs. Nichols Peterson, who has made distinctive contribu- tions to education and women's club work in Tifton and Tift County.
Second row, right-Mrs. Paul D. Fulwood, Sr., known over the South as rose gardener and in Tifton for interest in civic improvements, especially in beautifying city and Fulwood Park.
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HISTORY OF TIFT COUNTY .
Insurance Company in Washington, D. C., at the New Williard Hotel .. .
Several Tift County boys and girls were honored during the period. Herbert Hall, of Omega, won the Southwest Georgia District prize in the Arcadian Nitrate of Soda Contest by producing 2,655 pounds of cot- ton on one acre.
Whitfield Scarboro was selected by the commander of his company at Fort Moultrie as the best Four-year man and sent before a board of examin- ers to compete with the best Blue course trainees from other companies. Hav- ing proved to be the best Blue in the C.M.T.C. battalion, he was decorated publicly by Major Shield Warren, camp commander, Eighth Infantry U. S. A.
Fourteen-year-old Willis Dysart, of Omega, Georgia, startled Emory University professors when he exhibited in 1938 such feats as adding in seven seconds a group of seven three-digit figures, adding in twelve seconds a group of eleven three-digit figures and finding the square root of such figures as 138,799,961. He calculated without pen or pencil. Willis said that his mathematical gift came to him in a dream on the night his mother died. He stopped school because he could not get on with teachers or students. A favorite trick was to learn one's bithday and tell immediately the person's age in days, hours, minutes and seconds.
Prof. H. W. Martin, Emory psychologist, and Dean E. H. Johnson, head of business adminitsration pronounced Dysart a prodigy. On July 5, 1938 Willis appeared on Robert L. Ripley's radio program. Another Tift Countian was presented by Ripley. Smoky Joe Cravy, of Chula, appeared with the Ripley show at the New York World Fair. Joe played his har- monica and blew a police siren through his ear.
Miss Pauline Weatherington in 1937 was chosen princess at the Slash Pine Festival. Miss Mildred McLeod was elected Miss Georgia in a state contest. Miss Iona Beverly was queen of 1933 festival of States cele- bration at St. Petersburg. Miss Christabel Kennedy received an appoint- ment as clerk in capitol branch of the post office in Washington, D. C., and was later appointed secretary to Senator George. Miss Lillian Touch- stone's biography with biographies of two other Wesleyan seniors appeared in American College Year Book. Miss Caroline Kelley represented Tifton at a Beach celebration in Jacksonville.
George Sutton, who made the supreme sacrifice in 1945, by a competi- tive examination, won a scholarship to Emory University during the thir- ties.
Toby Cook, seven-year-old Tift County boy, who rode on ponies eight hundred-eleven miles from his home in Chula to Washington, D. C., to be in the inaugural parade of 1933, while passing the reviewing stand, re- ceived a salute from President Roosevelt. Toby was received by three gover- nors, Blackwood, of South Carolina, Ehringham, of North Carolina, and
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Pollard, of Virginia. The boy spoke three times over radio at Richmond, and over the NBC and Columbia networks from Washington, met sena- tors, other public officers, screen notables, and radio stars, including Kate Smith, Tom Mix, Joe E. Brown, Amos 'n' Andy, Buffalo Bill, Jr., and Thelma Todd.
Toby was enthusiastically received at many points on the trip by offi- cials, school children and other citizens. In South Hill, Virginia, A. W. Jeffry directed a reception in honor of Toby. Pictures of the boy, his ponies, and retinue were published in newspapers and magazines over the country. He was guest of the Georgia Congressional delegation in Washington until he rode in the parade.
Accompanied by his father, and two negro servants, John Townsend and Jesse Allen, Toby rode in five-mile relays his ponies, Billy, Jim, and Pet, for fifteen days to Washington; he spent three days getting out of Geor- gia. The riding time computed in hours was between one-hundred-fifty and one-hundred-sixty. Mr. Cook drove a car, to which he had attached a house van to accommodate ponies and provide feed, food, such as Georgia cane, ham, "taters," et cetera, and camping equipment. The boy had selected Billy for the parade, but the intervention of an accident changed the plan to Jim. Within thirty-five miles of the end of the trip he and his retinue were stopped on a highway, which was being repaired and forced to ride on a shoulder of the road. Cars going in opposite directions tried to pass ; one car skidding struck Toby, throwing him thirty-five feet over a fence and down an embankment and killed Billy. Although bruised and stunned, the boy rode on after first aid.
Toby was to lead the fourth section of the parade, heading Georgia delegation, but he accepted an invitation from the chairman of the New Jersey delegation to lead their section, which was third, to show friend- ship between the two states. He was entertained at lunch by the New Jersey delegation. A noted New York cartoonist, a guest at the luncheon, drew a cartoon of Toby; all the guests, hosts and hostesses autographed it. He secured a number of autographs during the trip.
He and Frances A. Bishop, ninety-two years old, at that time oldest holder of a Congressional Medal for bravery, had their pictures made before CBS.
The Cook party had planned to stay in Washington a while after the inauguration, but on account of the bank holiday they hurried home, driv- ing night and day. The ponies enjoyed a ride home
For several weeks after his return, Toby had fan mail; as many as thirty-one letters arrived in one day. He answered with post card scenes of Tifton.
None of these rich experiences affected Toby who, the same unassuming, affable little fellow when he returned, continued his school work and later
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entered Tifton High School. After completing the tenth grade here, he went to Florida, where he later received a diploma. During World War II he volunteered for service in the Marines. On March 26, 1945, Mr. Cook received this message from the Navy Department: "Pfc. James W. (Toby) Cook killed on Iwo Jima, Volcano Islands, of the Marine Corps killed March I 'in the performance of his duty and in the service of his country`." The message was signed by Lieutenant General A. A. Vande- grift-Commandant of Marine Corps.
E. P. Bowen, Jr., of Tifton, one of the largest farm operators in this section, was appointed by Henry A. Wallace, Secretary of Agriculture, as one of the collaborators on the new soil conservation program, which took the place of Triple A.
Some of the colored people of Tift County were honored during the period. Lilla Deas, wife of J. M. Deas, principal of the Tift County In- dustrial School, colored, was for her group head of the Georgia W.C.T.U. She was one of the best teachers ever connected with the local negro school. Besides being state president of the colored W.C.T.U., she did efficient work in Tifton after organizing a union.
In 1939 the first novelist of Tift County had a novel, "Leila's Unusual Heritage," published by Pegasus Publishing Company, New York.
Institutions and organizations, as well as individuals were honored. In 1932 the Gazette was the first newspaper in the state to win the award offered by the Georgia Bankers' Association for the newspaper in Georgia doing the most constructive work for the restoration of confidence. In 1936 the Gazette was the first paper in the state to win the award offered by the War Cry, publication of Salvation Army, for the best editorial published during the year 1935 to 1936, on a religious subject.
The Gazette was the first and only paper in the state to win award offered by the Emory School of Journalism for the best editorial on the aims, ideals, and purposes of a newspaper.
During the session of the Georgia Press Association in 1932 the Gazette received the Bankston trophy for carrying the largest percentage of local news of any newspaper in the state, and the cash prize for producing the best job printing.
In the educational department, Tifton High School won first place in a district meet, second in state debating contest, and contributed the most points to the banner which the Second District won in the State contest. The school paper, the Pioneer, won in a contest conducted by Emory Uni- versity and the Atlanta Journal a certificate of distinction for being among the best high-school mimeographed papers in the Southern states. The Pioneer also won the cup for being the best high-school mimeographed pa- per in the state.
In 1936 the City of Tifton won second place and a cash award of $750
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in the home-town contest conducted by the Georgia Power Company. Mrs. N. Peterson received the prize for Tifton and made an acceptance speech.
Another honor came to Tifton when the first cabinet officer, Henry A. Wallace, Secretary of Agriculture, visited the city.
The Telephone Exchange, first in the Valdosta District to recover from the telephone depression set a new record in the number of telephones in service. The event was celebrated with a barbecue in Fulwood Park.
Chula received congratulations on being the first community in this sec- tion to establish a Red Cross first aid.
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