Georgia Natural Wonder #104 - Albany - Dougherty County (Part 2). 1,170

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Georgia Natural Wonder #104 - Albany - Dougherty County (Part 2)

OK we did the natural wonder of the Chickasawwhatchee Swamp and Wildlife Management Area already along with the interesting history of the Second Creek Indian War battle there in 1836. This gives us a wonderful opportunity to do a history tangent on one of the finest towns in Georgia, Albany. Dougherty County, comprising about 330 square miles in southwest Georgia, was carved from Baker County in 1853 and named for Athens judge Charles Dougherty, in appreciation for his strong support of states' rights. In 1854 and 1856 the county gained more territory from parts of Worth County.


Can't find image of Charles, we do find an image of Florida's Charles Dougherty (Also from Athens and UGA).



The current courthouse, the third in the county's history, was built in 1968.




Second Courthouse demolished 1966.


Proports to be Albany Courthouse but vastly different from above photo.

Albany remains the only incorporated town in the county; other communities are Acree, Pecan City, Putney, and Radium Springs.

History

The original inhabitants of the area were the Creek Indians, who called it Thronateeska after their word for "flint", the valuable mineral found in beds near the Flint River. They used it for making arrowheads and other tools.



The Creeks were driven out in 1836 after the Creek Wars as we detailed a little in part 1 of this post. The Creek Indian Agency was located on the Flint River, near Knoxville, GA, It was the headquarters of the Agent for Indian Affairs South of Ohio.  Here Benjamin Hawkins, agent from 1796 to 1816, negotiated treaties with the Creek Indian Nation and was well respected by the Creeks.  He established an immense model farm and taught the Indians how to spin and weave and grow cotton, corn, grain and cattle. We have done tangents on Hawkins on several post, but I again provide the New Georgia Encyclopedia link written by my professor of anthropology cousin from Ole Miss.


Grave of Ben.

Many of the new settlers were wealthy cotton planters from the older parts of Georgia and South Carolina who were attracted to southwest Georgia's rich soil and the navigational possibilities of the Flint River. These planters settled around the new town of Albany, which was then still part of Baker County.


Nelson Tift (1810-1891), the founder of Albany

European-American settlement began with Nelson Tift of Groton, Connecticut, who took land along the Flint River in October 1836 after Indian removal. Tift took a roundabout route to Albany. Starting in 1826 at the family's Key West, Florida, salvage business, he managed stores in Charleston, South Carolina, and Augusta and Hawkinsville, Georgia. Prospects to the west continued to beckon, and in October 1836 he made his final move, this time to present-day Dougherty County, where he established a trading center on the Flint River.He speculated in land throughout southwest Georgia; he operated a dry goods store and several mills; he regularly extended credit to friends and neighbors; and for many years, he owned and edited the local newspaper, the Albany Patriot.


Nelson Tift Building.

Tift and his colleagues named the new town Albany after the capital of New York; noting that New York's Albany was a commercial center located at the headwaters of the Hudson River, they hoped that their town near the headwaters of the Flint would prove to be just as successful. Alexander Shotwell laid out the town in 1836, and it was incorporated as a city by an act of the General Assembly of Georgia on December 27, 1838. Alexander also had considerable property ownership in south GA. The main residential street in Bainbridge, GA named for him. His name is given to bridge near Shotwell, AL. The rapid growth of the population in and around Albany led the settlers to petition the state assembly for their own county, and Albany was chosen as county seat.


Lot of hanging around the yard back in 1800's Albany.

Tift for decades was the city's leading entrepreneur. An ardent booster, he promoted education, business, and railroad construction. During the Civil War he provided naval supplies and helped build two ships. He opposed Radical Reconstruction inside the state and in Congress, and was scornful of the Yankee carpetbaggers who came in. Historian John Fair concludes that Tift became "more Southern than many natives." His pro-slavery attitudes before the war and his support for segregation afterward made him compatible with Georgia's white elite.



Albany was part of the Black Belt, the extensive area in the Deep South of cotton plantations. This area was developed for cotton cultivation by planters, who used numerous enslaved African Americans to clear lands and process the cotton. As a result of the planters' acquisition of slave workers, by 1840 Dougherty County's majority population was black, composed overwhelmingly of slaves.



The market center for cotton plantations, Albany was in a prime location for shipping cotton to other markets by steamboats on the river.



In 1858, Tift hired Horace King, a former slave and bridge builder, to construct a toll bridge over the river.


King

In 1887 Tift sold the bridge to Dougherty County.


Shown here in 1892, the bridge was destroyed in 1897 when the Flint overflowed its banks during a flood.King's bridge toll house still stands.






Memorial Bridge there now.

Albany became prominent in the nineteenth century as a shipping port and market center, first served by riverboats and then by railroads. Albany became an important railroad hub in southwestern Georgia. Seven lines were constructed to the town and met in Albany, and it was a center of trade in the Southeast United States. An exhibit on trains is located at the Thronateeska Heritage Center in the former railroad station.



The large numbers of slaves brought into Dougherty County during its early days led to a significant black population throughout its post–Civil War history. Race relations in Dougherty County have been contentious for much of the county's history. Soon after emancipation, a large number of the county's newly enfranchised blacks elected several representatives to the state legislature. Aggressive white citizens challenged these voters' new rights after the Civil War (1861-65), and soon the numbers of black voters in the county had dwindled to little more than a handful.


Life changed very little for most former slaves after emancipation.

Beginning in 1890, the county's reliance on cotton farming during much of the nineteenth century gave way to the cultivation of pecans and peanuts. Here we find a great image of 1800's Albany.



20th century to present

On April 11, 1906, the Carnegie Library, created by matching funds from the philanthropist Andrew Carnegie, was opened downtown. Originally a segregated facility under Jim Crow laws, it was not open to African Americans until after the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. It functioned as a library through 1985. In 1992, after renovation, the building was reopened as the headquarters of the Albany Area Arts Council.



In 1912, the downtown U.S. Post Office and courthouse building opened. Other federal projects have been important to the city and region.
Cattle ranching arrived in the county during the 1930s, with meatpacking plants soon operating as a mainstay of the economy.



In 1937, Chehaw Park was constructed as a part of a New Deal program under the administration of President Franklin D. Roosevelt during the Great Depression. Now Chehaw Park will be a future Georgia Natural Wonder all by itself, we provide the Wikipedia link for now.



Major changes came with the expansion of military facilities in the city, secured by the powerful Southern Block in Congress. A U.S. Army Air Corps training base was built near Albany on land owned by the city and leased to the Air Corps for $1 a year. Construction of the base and airfield by the Army Corps of Engineers began on March 25, 1941. After being used during World War II, the airfield was temporarily deactivated between August 15, 1946, and September 1, 1947.



After the beginning of the Cold War and the founding of the U.S. Air Force in late 1947, the airfield was reactivated and upgraded with runways for a U.S. Air Force base. It was named Turner Air Force Base. The Air Force used this base for heavy bomber jets, such as the B-52 Stratofortress. A number of other Air Force units were also housed at this base. Among them were the 1370th Photomapping Group, and refueling and maintenance functions.



In 1967, the Air Force closed all its operations at the base, which was transferred to the U.S. Navy and renamed Naval Air Station Albany. NAS Albany was used as the shore base of nearly all the Navy's RA-5C Vigilante twin-jet, carrier-based reconnaissance aircraft. In 1974, the base was closed and the property was returned to the city. In 1979, the Miller Brewing Company purchased part of the old naval base's property to build a new brewery.



In 1951, the U.S. Marine Corps established a logistics base on the eastern outskirts of Albany. During the 1950s and 1960s, so many white servicemen and associated workers arrived that the city briefly became majority white for the first time since 1870.



New postwar industries included breweries, candy manufacturers (Bobs Candies), tire makers, and other factories.



In 1960, the population of Albany reached 50,000 people. During 1961–1962, African Americans in Albany played a prominent role in the Civil Rights Movement (see the Albany Movement). They led protests and non-violent demonstrations to end segregation of public facilities, gain the right to vote, and advance social justice. Assisted by activists from SCLC, CORE, SNCC, and the NAACP, African Americans and supporters took a stand to fight segregation through nonviolence.  During this time, prominent evangelist Billy Graham, a close friend of King's who privately advised the SCLC, bailed King out of jail.



During one demonstration, black youth hurled children's toys and paper balls at Albany police. King requested a halt to all demonstrations and a "Day of Penance" to promote non-violence and maintain the moral high ground.Despite the mobilization of virtually the entire black community in Albany, few concessions were achieved from the city government. The SCLC moved on to cities like Birmingham, Alabama and Selma, Alabama, where local police took a much harder line and created violent incidents which brought attention and sympathy to the cause. The city repealed its Jim Crow laws in 1963, but African Americans did not recover the ability to exercise their voting rights until Congress passed enforcement authority with the Voting Rights Act of 1965.



The decline in military bases and railroad restructuring nationwide both led to job losses in the Albany area. Much of the remaining white population moved to suburbs and newer housing out of the city, which became majority African American in the 1970s. Struggling with a poor economy, in 1988 Albany made national headlines as the "Murder Capital of America," with the highest murder rate per capita in the United States. Other cities have since taken that title. Its 24.1 murders per 100,000 people topped even the percentage of New York City who came in at 22.7 per 100,000 in 1988. That year 29 people were killed in Albany.



Today, although the city is surrounded by pecan groves, pine trees, farms and plantations, almost none of the population is employed in agriculture.


A pecan grove and Iris Court, built in 1854 in Albany, Georgia for Judge John and Adelaide Stovall Jackson.

It has become heavily mechanized and most is conducted on an industrial scale.



The city developed on both sides of the Flint River.



Health care, education and the Marine Corps Logistics Base Albany are the largest employers. Manufacturing, transportation, and retail trade are also important foundations of Albany's economy, and the city acts as a hub for commerce in southwest Georgia.


Core!

On December 17, 2008, Cooper Tire and Rubber, one of Albany's largest employers, announced plans to close the local manufacturing facility. Approximately 1,400 employees at the plant were projected to lose their jobs.



Albany is the principal city of the Albany, Georgia metropolitan area. The population was 77,434 at the 2010 U.S. Census, making it the eighth-largest city in the state. According to the 2010 U.S. census, the population of Dougherty County is 94,565, a decrease from the 2000 population of 96,065.

Points of interest include the Albany Museum of Art, the only fully accredited art museum in southwest Georgia;



The Flint RiverQuarium and that whole downtown park along the river.





The Albany Civil Rights Institute;



The Parks at Chehaw, one of Georgia's two accredited zoos;



Radium Springs - GNW #2



And Thronateeska Heritage Center in Albany .....



which includes the Museum of History, Wetherbee Planetarium, and the Science Discovery Center.



Three institutions of higher education, Albany State University, Albany Technical College, and Darton State College, are located in the county.



In recent years, tourists have increasingly come to enjoy boating, fishing, and hunting in and around the county's Flint River, cypress swamps, and quail reserves.



Flint still scenic in Urban stretch.



While integral to the economic life of the town, the Flint River has flooded regularly. The Flint River overran its banks in 1841, 1925, and 1994, causing major floods in Dougherty County.


Two men attempt to rescue a cow in high water near Albany during the Flint River flood of 1925.

The devastating flood of 1994 was caused by rainfall from Tropical Storm Alberto; it killed 14 people and displaced 22,000.



The lingering memory for many was the floating caskets.



It brought national and international attention to the area, but the ensuing public and private funding enabled residents to embark on an award-winning recovery program. The state supported a $150 million renovation of the Albany State University campus to repair storm damage and complete upgrades. New housing was built on the south side of town to replace what had been destroyed. In 1998, the Flint River crested at 35 feet above its bed and flooded parts of the city.



Because of such flooding, the city has decided against redeveloping areas along the riverfront floodplain for commercial or residential purposes. This area is being improved for other uses, with a riverfront walkway and a new aquarium built over a tributary creek.



The Ray Charles Plaza is a nice tribute to the #3 artist in terms of number 1 hits behind the Beatles and Elvis.



The city has also been subject to tornadoes. On February 10, 1940, a severe tornado hit Albany, killing eighteen people and causing large-scale damage. On January 2 and 22, 2017, violent tornadoes passed through the area, claiming several lives and destroying mobile home parks in the process.




1940


2017



Notable persons born in Albany include

John Bahnsen - United States Army Brigadier General and decorated veteran of the Vietnam War.



Deion Branch - Super Bowl MVP football player



Nellie Brimberry - became the first Postmistress of a major U.S. Post Office in 1910.

Ray Charles, acclaimed rhythm and blues musician;



Alice Coachman, the first female African American Olympic gold medal winner;



Mary Francis Hill Coley - midwife in Albany 1930–1966, inducted into Georgia Women of Achievement 2011



Chris Daniels, Keef said I should add his favorite UGA basketball player ever (Harrick era and 1st yr of Felton) to our notable Albany people. Keef was kinda kidding, but he did play pro ball in France for years. May still be playing. Loved to watch him play off the ball. He was mean as a snake and Keef loved him for it.

Keef said: I was in the Steg watching one game and a couple of Gators were roughing him up and he he didn't get a call. I watched him as we were bringing the ball up the floor, he smartly looked around to make sure a ref was not looking or near and just flat slapped a Gator upside the back of the head. It was fantastic. Always heard he was a great guy off the court but he was an evil beast on the court when he wasn't in foul trouble and sitting on the bench. Last I could find he was still playing in France in 2015. I really am kinda kidding about adding him to the Dougherty notables, but I wanted to type a few lines about my man, Chris. Albany's finest, IMO.



William L. Dawson - U.S. Representative from Illinois



Paula Deen - chef and host of Paula's Home Cooking on the Television Food Network


Paula Deen Museum coming to Albany.

Field Mob - rap duo signed to Disturbing Tha Peace Records



Jim Fowler, host of the television series Wild Kingdom;



Leroy Gilbert - Chaplain of the United States Coast Guard

Alice Hawthorne - businesswoman, veteran, local community organizer, only victim of the 1996 Centennial Olympic Park bombing



Reginald D. Hunter - stand-up comedian



Harry James - trumpeter, Big Band leader;



Lee James - Olympic silver medalist weightlifter; attended Westover High School in Albany

Lionel James - NFL player, San Diego Chargers; in 1985 broke record for all purpose yardage



Wadsworth Jarrell - artist



Alexander Johnson - professional basketball player



Eddie Johnson - Cleveland Browns football player

Hamilton Jordan - former White House Chief of Staff



Alex Kendrick & Stephen Kendrick - filmmakers and authors, reside in Albany



Alonzo King - founder of the world renowned LINES Ballet, son of civil rights activist Slater King



C. B. King, Clennon Washington King Jr., Preston King, and Slater King - brothers and civil rights activists;


C.B. King after getting beat up.

Ray Knight, major league baseball player World Series MVP, also managed the Cincinnati Reds and husband of golfer Nancy Lopez.



Ricardo Lockette - Super Bowl XLIX football player



Nancy Lopez - professional golfer



Kregg Lumpkin - professional football player


Finally a Bulldawg from Albany.

Russell Malone - jazz guitarist



Paul McKinney - Pennsylvania State Senator for the 8th district from 1975 to 1982

Jo Marie Payton - actress of Family Matters and The Proud Family



Phillip Phillips - singer, Season 11 American Idol winner



D. A. Powell - poet, author of Chronic and Cocktails, born in Albany



Merritt Ranew - Milwaukee Braves baseball player



Brandon Richardson - actor



Travis Richter - record producer, dubstep producer of Modified Noise; guitarist and screamer/singer for From First To Last; lead singer of The Human Abstract



Wallingford Riegger - conductor and composer



Bobby Rush - U.S. Representative from Illinois



Daryl Smith - professional football player



Harry Spilman - professional baseball player



Montavious Stanley - professional football player



Ray Stevens - country music singer



Stephen Tanner - bassist for the band Harvey Milk



Angelo Taylor - Olympic gold medal hurdler


From Georgia Tech

Mark Taylor - former Lieutenant Governor of Georgia



Jodie Whire - NFL player


December 10, 1933 - New York Giants at Philadelphia Eagles

Another Bulldog, Whire, no images found. Anyway, that was a big tangent on Albany. Our GNW gal for the day from Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom like Jim Fowler.


Stephanie Arne, current host of “Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom,”