USA > Georgia > Coffee County > Ward's History of Coffee County > Part 16
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The South Georgia State College was formerly the Eleventh District Agricultural and Mechanical School. In 1906 the General Assembly passed an act establish- ing an Agricultural and Mechanical School in each of the eleven congressional districts. Douglas won the school for the eleventh district by offering fifty-two thousand dollars, three hundred acres of land, and water and lights for a term of ten years.
The first year's work began in the fall of 1907. Three splendid buildings were ready for the students and nearly every department had good equipment. The school continued to do general high school work, in- cluding Agriculture and Mechanical Arts and Home Economics, until the summer of 1927, at which time the General Assembly passed an Act creating the South Georgia Junior State College, the new college absorbing all of the property including buildings, equipment and grounds, of the Eleventh District A. & M. School. The new charter permitted the South Georgia Junior State College to do two years of college
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work and continue its high school work so long as the Board of Trustees and Faculty deemed it wise to do so. In 1929 the General Assembly changed the name of the college by dropping the word "Junior." It is now the South Georgia State College.
The South Georgia State College offers freshman and sophomore work in courses leading to the follow- ing degrees: Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Science, Bachelor of Education, Bachelor of Music.
Charles W. Davis was the first principal, serving from 1907 to 1914. J. W. Powell from 1914 to 1917, C. W. Fraser from 1917 to 1918, L. G. Procter, 1918- 19, J. M. Thrash from 1919 to 1927, at which time the charter was changed, creating a college, J. M. Thrash was elected president, serving to date.
The Faculty 1930-31
J. M. Thrash, President, Georgia School of Tech- nology ; special work Mercer University.
C. C. Childs, B.S., M.A., Dean, History and Social Sciences, Mercer University.
T. A. Clower, A.B., M.A., Education, University of Georgia, Emory University.
C. E. Lancaster, B.S.C., M.A., English, Mercer Uni- versity.
C. A. Johnson, B.S., Science, University of Georgia.
R. C. Childs, A.B., M.A., French, Spanish, Louisiana State University, Georgia, Peabody College for Teach- ers, Nashville, Tenn.
Charles A. Reed A.B., M.S., Physics and Mathematics, University of Oklahoma.
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J. H. Breedlove, L.I., History, Science, Georgia, Peabody College for Teachers, Towa State College of Agriculture.
H. F. Johnson, B.S.C., Athletic Coach, Instructor in Mathematics, University of Georgia.
Miss Mary T. Collins, A.B., Instructor in English, Georgia State College for Women, Milledgeville.
Miss Jimmy Carmack, Home Economics, Girls' Dis- ciplinarian, Georgia State College for Women, Val- dosta, Graduate Student University of Georgia; Mer- cer University, Georgia, Peabody College.
Miss Lucile Wheeler, Secretary and Registrar, Geor- gia State College for Women.
Miss Ethel Wilkerson, Piano, Voice and Expression, Shorter College, New York School of Music, Bush Con- servatory of Chicago.
W. P. Richey, Mechanic Arts, Superintendent of Boys' Dormitory, South Georgia Junior State College, South Georgia A. & M. College.
Mrs. B. J. Moye, Superintendent of Dining Hall, Warthen College.
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Georgia Normal Business College
GEORGIA NORMAL BUSINESS COLLEGE
The Georgia Normal College and Business Institute came into being at Abbeville in 1897 with Prof. A. A. Kuhl and Prof. W. A. Little its head.
It was operated there for about ten years, hundreds of students graduating in shorthand, bookkeeping, teachers' courses and business training courses. Doug- las at that time was little more than a village, but far- seeing citizens sought Little and Kuhl and persuaded them to come to Douglas. Within five years from the date of their coming to Douglas in 1908, the popula- tion trebled. Conservative estimates reveal that 5,500 students have graduated from the college since it came to this city. Further interesting information in connection with the development of both the school and the city, reveals that approximately $1,250,000 has been expended by students attending the school. The
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thirty-two years of activity have presented to the business world in practically every state of the Union and Cuba, graduates that are now leaders in the busi- ness world. Many of the G. N. B. C. have gained places prominent in political and financial circles as well as high places in the religious world.
For the past several years, Prof. and Mrs. A. A. Kuhl have operated the institution since Mr. Little severed his connection to accept the chair of English at the University of Florida.
The new home will be ready for occupancy with the fall term in 1930, and will be more spacious and suited to the needs and purposes of the school. At present equipment is owned that invoices approximately $30,- 000. There is not a commercial school in the State that has enjoyed greater success, or done more effective work.
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Coffee County, 1930
Size, Altitude-Longitude and Latitude- Population about 20,000.
Coffee County, Georgia, January 1, 1930, consists of six hundred thirty-two square miles of territory sit- uated about ninety miles west of the Atlantic Ocean, is about three hundred feet above sea level. Its latitude is 31° 30", longitude 82° 83". Population about 20,000
About 1800 when this section of the country was first settled it had the appearance of a beautiful pine park with many streams of water. With beautiful hills and valleys, with hammocks on the east side of nearly all the large streams. There was plenty of game here, birds, turkeys and deer and the streams had plenty of fish. It will be observed that the hammocks and sand ridges are located on the east side of all the large streams. It is said by those who profess to know that when the waters of this country were flowing into the Atlantic Ocean the waters moved east and washed the sands into the streams from the west side over on the east side and that is why great banks of sand, covered with black jack oaks grow on the east side of the streams. You will further observe that the east side of the stream contains many springs. This is especially true of the Seventeen-Mile Creek. The reason for this is said to be when the rain falls on the sand hill on the east side of the stream it sinks down into the clay some ten or twenty feet and then seeps down to the stream and bursts out into a spring which con- tains the best and purest water in the world. It has been strained through a mile and more of sand. Gas-
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kin Springs on the east side of the Seventeen-Mile Creek, two miles from Douglas, is a good illustration of what is here stated.
About the year 1800 there was not a decent road or bridge in all the territory now occupied by Coffee County. Later on the Blackshear Road and the Colum- bus Road were "cut out" but were never graded nor bridges built. The only road which tradition has brought to our notice is a single pathway that led from old man Daniel Lott's home, near where John Peterson now lives to the old Ward home where Mr. B. W. Tanner now lives. There was not a public road any- where to any place in this territory. The first bridge in Coffee County was built many years after the civil war.
In addition to the wildwoods and a few pioneer citizens we had the Creek Indians and as they owned this country and lived here when we came here, we have thought it proper to give a somewhat extended write- up of the Creek Indians. It seems that no real history of the Creek Indians has ever been written-nothing describing their personal appearance, their habits of life, nor their real economic lives as they once lived in Coffee County. As a rule the Indian commissioners in their reports to the Government, consisted of some Medicine Men or green corn dance or some other mat- ter that did not make a history of the Creek Indians.
A short biography of Billy Bow-Legs, the celebrated Seminole Indian Chief of Florida will appear in another place.
The information upon which the story of the Creek Indians is written has been obtained from many sources. From the reports made to the Government by Indian
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Commissioners. Drake's History of American Indians and the "Seminoles" of Florida written by Mrs. Wil- son of Kissimmee, Florida. I am also indebted to Mr. George W. Powers who lived in Florida in 1846 and many years after that time ; he had a personal acquaint- ance with Billy Bow-Legs. Much has been learned from tradition about the Creek Indians who lived in this section. They were friendly and were good mixers with the Pioneers of this section of the country.
Coffee County has several varieties of native trees. Also many native birds, native fish, and native snakes. Each of these items is more fully discussed in spearate articles in this book. And it may be truly said that Coffee County is well watered. It is bound on the north by the Ocmulgee River. The Satilla River runs all the way through the southern section of the county. The Seventeen-Mile Creek is a large creek with numer- ous runs and lakes all through it. It rises in the northwestern part of the county and runs southeast entirely through the county.
There are several smaller streams throughout the county. Otter Creek and Tiger Creek are in the cen- tral eastern part of the county and flow south into Seventeen-Mile Creek. In addition to these streams there are many other smaller streams such as gullies, branches, spring heads, etc. Many of the smaller streams never go dry. There are ever-running springs and so it can be truly said that Coffee County is well watered. In Pioneer days there were thousands of fish in these creeks and streams, but sad to say, poison, dynamite, seines, traps, etc., have destroyed nearly all the fish in small streams, and in like manner many of the birds have been destroyed by high-powered
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shot guns and bird dogs. Forest fires have greatly injured the trees and all growing plants in the wild woods; but it is worthy of note, that in two or three years an abundance of fish will raise in the streams, and when fire is kept out of the woods, pine trees come back rapidly and when the hunter gives the birds a chance, it only requires a few years to fill the woods again with quail and other birds. The good Lord seems to be on the giving hand and when we destroy one gift he sends another and so we find ourselves always in "God's Country in Coffee County."
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Douglas, the Capital City of Coffee County
The Legislature of Georgia created Cof- fee County in 1854. Mr. James Pearson gave the county fifty acres of land on which to build the public buildings for the county. This fifty-acre tract of land was surveyed into lots and blocks. The court house was not built until 1858. COURT HOUSE, DOUGLAS, GEORGIA The lumber for building the court house was sawed at a mill on the Ocmulgee River. The lumber was floated down the river to Barrows Bluff and then hauled out to Douglas with ox teams. The court house was located back of the Overstreet building. The offices for the county officials were located on the second floor of the auditorium where the cases were tried on the first floor. It is said that Coursey Cato nailed the last shingle on the court house when it was covered and that he stood on his head as a signal that the building was finished.
Several jail houses have been built in Douglas. The first jail was a brick building and stood on the corner where the Tanner brick residence now stands. - The
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brick out of which the building was built was a very poor grade and in a year or two the building fell down. The next jail that was built was located about where the Coca-Cola building now stands and was built of hewn logs. The first story had no doors. The prisoner was taken upstairs and the ladder let down from the upper floor and the prisoner went down the ladder to his quarters in the jail below. When the ladder was taken up the prisoner was safely in jail. The prisoner was taken out in the same manner. The last jail is the building that you now see on the court house square. It has stood there more than thirty years and two men have been hanged within its walls.
The next building in Douglas was built for a hotel and boarding house. It was built of logs and was situated on the lot where the Peterson home now stands. The building was constructed by J. K. Hil- liard, who came from Holmesville, Georgia. The log hotel was a big success and was the only hotel in Douglas for many, many years.
The first store house built in Douglas was occupied by Ive Kirkland. It was located near where the Chevrolet building now stands. The Spivey home and store stood where the court house now stands. He had a big family of girls and boys. The next store house was a small wooden building with a back room and a side room and stood where the Union Bank building now stands. That building was occupied by Dr. Barber as an office and drug store and post office.
From time to time other buildings were constructed and other little store houses were scattered around. The mail was brought here on horse back from Stockton. Georgia, about twice a week.
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There was a race track leading from about where the court house now stands down the road by the side of a fence and ended about where the A. B. & C. depot now stands. We had some wonderful races on that track by some wonderful horses by some won- derful riders. It often happened that the worse looking horse won the race.
All the matters and things written above transpired before the Civil War. When the war came on Douglas went to pieces. There was nothing here to make a town and no town was made.
When the war was over and the soldiers returned home, Douglas was only a wide place in the road. It is said a troop of Yankees rode several days coming to Douglas, Georgia. When they reached here, it is said they walked out in the middle of the streets and looked north and east and south and west, and not a man was in sight, and they said in wonder and astonishment, "Is this Douglas?" "Are you sure this is Douglas ?"
The old court house and an acre of land on which it stood was sold to B. Peterson and a new court house was built of wood where the present court house now stands. The old court house was used as a school house, as a church house, for shows, for political meetings, and for everything else that a house was needed for in Douglas. I might add also that the goats had possession of it a long time.
For many years after the war Douglas was only a little country hamlet. There was nothing here except big court twice a year. All the business that Douglas should have had went to Hazlehurst and to Pearson. We had no railroads and nothing to build up the town.
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The first train came to Douglas from McDonalds Mill, now Axson, about 1895. The next train that came to Douglas was the Waycross Air Line, a small railroad built by the Southern Pine Company from Nicholls up to Douglas in 1898. In a short time we had railroads to Fitzgerald and to Broxton. These roads have now grown into the great railroad systems of the A. B. & C. R. R. and the Georgia and Florida Railroad.
With the coming of the railroads various enterprises came to Douglas. The Ashley-Price Lumber Company, the Agricultural School, G. & F. R. R. shops, and the Georgia Normal Business College.
The first brick building in Douglas was a school building. It was built in 1896. The railroad was ex- tended from Downing to Douglas primarily for the purpose of hauling the brick to build the middle build- ing on the campus in Douglas. Professor John R. Overman taught the first school in the new building. The next building was a large wooden building with auditorium upstairs and is still standing on the south- west corner of the campus. The money for that was one thousand dollars paid by Lucius Guthrey for per- mission to sell liquor in Douglas.
Eighteen hundred and ninety-eight the court house
. was burned, and in 1900 the present brick court house was built.
With the coming of the many enterprises mentioned above, Douglas put on a new life. Water and lights were installed. Later on the streets of the city were paved. Side walks were laid along the principal streets of the city. The Baptist and Methodist churches were built. And from time to time improvements have
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been made in the business section of the city and also in the residential section.
Douglas has one of the most beautiful cemeteries in South Georgia. The place is well kept and has many beautiful trees and shrubbery of all kinds. There are many very expensive tombstones. Among some of the very nice monuments are those of J. M. Ashley, Frank Sweat, B. Peterson, and others. At this writing, 1930, Douglas is a beautiful city of 5,000 in- habitants, with all the advantages of a real city and the pleasures of a country town. The water for the city is furnished by an artesian well which affords an abundance of pure, fresh water. Douglas is a good city in which to live and no one who lives here has ever been ashamed to say, "My home is in Douglas, Georgia."
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Towns in Coffee County
Ambrose
The town of Ambrose, in Coffee County, was started in 1899. Soon after the A. B. & A. Railroad had reached that place, Dennis Vickers and J. J. Phillips gave the land on which to build the town. H. L. Vickers put up a store and Dr. Moorman built a drug store. Soon afterwards H. L. Vickers built a brick building and ran a general merchandise store. Dennis Vickers built a gin, and other enterprises came in from time to time. At the present time Mr. T. J. Holland is manufacturing guano in Ambrose. The Seaboard Farms have their warehouses at Ambrose and make that their shipping point to north and west. Mr. H. B. Macklin, who manages these truck farms, is now trying an experiment by transporting the products of his farm to New York and other large cities with trucks. He has eighteen trucks which go from South Georgia points to northern points in thirty-six hours.
In 1927 the Ambrose School District voted for bonds to build a school building and the building has been completed and is a credit to Ambrose and to Coffee County. In 1915 the Christian Church was built at Ambrose. Mr. T. J. Holland is one of the leaders of that denomination at Ambrose.
October 1st, 1930, the Georgia Power Company be- gan to furnish power for Ambrose and they now have lights. The town has about five hundred people and is
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in a good farming section and will grow as the country grows.
Ambrose is about twelve miles west of Douglas on the A. B. & C. Railroad.
Broxton
Broxton was named after Broxton Creek near by. The tract of land where Broxton is now sit- uated was owned many years ago by John Passmore.
Mr. Jesse Lott bought the entire tract of land and built a log cabin on what is now the cen- ter of the town. He HIGH SCHOOL, BROXTON, GEORGIA and his wife moved there, later replacing the cabin by a large two-story dwelling.
Broxton was known first as Gully Branch. The mail was carried on horseback from Pearson on Tues- day of each week by a crippled Confederate soldier named Bryant Douglas.
Mr. Jesse Lott was first postmaster. Next Mr. Thomas Young. Following him was Mr. B. R. Leg- gett, who was postmaster twenty years, and is now serving in the capacity of assistant postmaster. Now Miss Mae Gibbs is postmistress.
Mr. Jesse Lott, Mr. Thomas Young and Mr. B. R. Leggett are the outstanding men who figured in the
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founding of Broxton and making it a town worthy to live in.
Mr. Leggett came here from Jesup and was the third man to build a home here. For two years he was in the mercantile business. In 1902 he was appointed railroad agent of Georgia and Florida, which position he held three years, when he was appointed post- master.
Dr. Ricketson, deceased, was born and reared here and was once a Representative of Coffee County.
J. L. Palmer, deceased, was first mayor.
The Methodist Church, named "Monroe Chapel" after the sainted Rev. J. M. Wilcox, is the oldest church in the town, built in 1890.
The Baptist Church (as well as can be learned) was organized in 1902.
From a little section of wildwood Broxton has grown to a fine town with its three churches, Meth- odist Church, Baptist, and Primitive Baptist, its con- solidated schools, twenty-four hour service electric lights, water, excellent mail service, good banking system.
Broxton also has the credit of having one of the first newspapers in the county. The organ known as the Broxton Journal was printed in 1905, and also has possibly had some part in telling to outsiders the advantages to be gained by living in Broxton. One year prior to that, Broxton's first public school was erected. Today that institution stands as one of the foremost in the county. It is of the consolidated variety and offers to children of the territory sur- rounding the city an education on par with that to be secured in larger municipalities.
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Outstanding as the oldest active civic body in Broxton is the Womans Club, an organization founded in 1917 by twelve women of the community who had determined that steps should be taken to place the city in its rightful place as one of the leading sections of Coffee County.
Mrs. Ben Poer was named president and Mrs. John Lewis and Mrs. E. L. Bledsoe were named Secretary and Treasurer respectively. Soon after this organ- ization the Womans Club became connected with the State Federation.
Schools of Broxton
Many years ago, after Pioneers had first settled in the city now known as Broxton, children of this sec- tion went to a little wooden school house each morning to receive the rudiments of reading, writing, and arithmetic.
No longer do pupils walk many miles to school. Today students of Broxton and the section surround- ing the town are carried to a modern building in busses built for that purpose. Their school building is an architectural design followed in larger cities and the courses offered are on par with the curriculums of greater institutions.
The thirteen rooms of the two schools afford ample accommodations for the 480 pupils enrolled, and the fourteen teachers are well qualified to instruct in the most modern subjects. Probably outstanding among the courses offered in addition to the usual ones re- quired in all schools is a home economics class for girls and a pig club for the boys.
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A library of 500 volumes, which was installed by the Broxton women, is one of the leading assets of the school and is used by the students.
Nicholls
The town of Nicholls, Georgia, is situated on the A. B. & C. Railroad, twelve miles east of Douglas. The town was settled by the Southern Pine Com- pany in 1895. The post office was named for Captain PUBLIC SCHOOL, NICHOLLS, GEORGIA John C. Nicholls, who represented this district in Congress for several years. The first post office to bear the name of Nicholls was located at old man Dan Lott's country store, about four miles north of Nicholls. This store was established about 1869, and for many years the post office at Hazlehurst served all that section of Coffee County near the Lott store. When the A. B. & C. Railroad, then the Waycross Air Line Railroad, was built from Waycross to Nicholls, 1895, the post office was established at Nicholls.
The first school in Nicholls was organized in 1895 and was a one-teacher school. Mr. Ingram was the first teacher, and later was a Methodist minister. At one time the school was operated in a large two-story building located near the site of the L. B. Cole resi-
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dence. In 1909 bonds were voted and the present brick school building was built. The town is yet in need of better school facilities. The next big project will be the erection of a modern school plant. With the building of the schoolhouse came the churches. First the Missionary Baptist Church was organized by Rev. M. A. Grace. The building was located near the railroad, near where the Cason home is now lo- cated. The Union Missionary Baptist Church was organized by Rev. Gilford Lastinger about a mile east of Nicholls. About the year 1920, while Rev. H. M. Meeks was pastor of both these churches, they united into one church and built a church house in Nicholls. The Baptist Church has a membership of about three hundred and fifty.
The history of the Methodist Church in Nicholls dates back to about 1870. Rev. Daniel Morrison, of sainted memory, and Rev. W. A. McDonald were Pioneers in Methodism in this section. The church was situated where the Meeks cemetery is now located, about a mile east of Nicholls. Later the church was located in Nicholls, near the Edinfield home, where the Methodists worshiped for many years. The present Methodist Church was built in 1910.
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