Georgia Natural Wonder #204 - Barrow County (Part 2). 509

[Top Row Dawg]

Georgia Natural Wonder #204 - Barrow County (Part 2)

Alright, we split this post into two sections as we covered the Natural Wonder of Fort Yargo State Park and we delved into some of the history of Barrow County up through the Civil War Battle of Kings Tanyard. Today we cover Barrow County's History, National Register Historical Places, Historical Markers, Cities and Towns. I am real proud of my GNW Gal theme and selection today.



The Georgia General Assembly approved a joint resolution on July 7, 1914, to place an amendment on the November 3, 1914, election ballot that proposed the creation of Barrow County. The approval of the amendment by Georgia voters officially created the new county. The land for the county came from parts of Jackson, Gwinnett and Walton Counties.


David Crenshaw Barrow, Jr

Barrow County was created from portions of Gwinnett, Jackson, and Walton counties when Georgia voters approved a constitutional amendment on November 3, 1914 making Barrow County the 149th Georgia county out of 159.


1955 and 2001.

Barrow County was named after David Crenshaw Barrow, Jr. a University of Georgia mathematics and engineering professor who was later Chancellor serving in that position from 1906 to 1925.



At the time of his appointment as chancellor, the University of Georgia could be accurately described as a collection of colleges, consisting of a liberal arts college, a law school, a summer school, beginning schools of pharmacy and forestry, an embryonic college of agriculture, and some graduate courses in various fields.



When Barrow retired in 1925, the university had become a modern institution, with an established college of agriculture, much-strengthened versions of the 1906 schools, new schools of education, commerce, and journalism, and a structured graduate school. Regular enrollment had more than quadrupled because of Barrow’s efforts and the admission of female students. Faculty size had tripled, funding had increased greatly, and several new buildings had been constructed on campus.



Barrow died on January 11, 1929 in Athens and is buried in Oconee Hill Cemetery in Athens.

National Register Historical Places Barrow County

Athens-Candler-Church Street Historic District

Roughly Candler St. between Melrose and Woodlawn Streets, Church St., and Athens St. between Horton and Center Streets.


84 Church Street.


George De La Perriere House, 1912


J. H. Jackson House, 1906


The original owner of this transitional Victorian was J. H. Perry.


This Mediterranean Revival house is also known as the Matthews-Lynch House.


Built by William Perry, this house was originally sided in brick that has been covered with wood or asbestos. It also featured Ionic columns that have since been encased with wood and now appear square.

Auburn Historic District (Auburn, Georgia)

Roughly bounded by 3rd Ave., 6th St., 6th Ave., and Main St.



The Barrow County Courthouse,

Located on Courthouse Sq. in Winder, Georgia, was built in 1916. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.



It was designed by J.J. Baldwin. It has a one-story projecting entrance and a two-story Doric tetra style portico. It has a three-stage clock tower with clocks facing in four directions.



Broad Street Commercial Historic District (Winder, Georgia)

Broad and Athens Sts.



The Carlyle-Blakey Farm

Located in Barrow County, Georgia near Winder, Georgia, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2008. It is notable as the site of a prominent agricultural reform demonstration in 1948, which addressed a huge problem in Georgia agriculture. This was the fact that few Georgia farmers terraced their fields or rotated crops, leading to severe erosion. An extreme example was the development of what became known as the Providence Canyon, from growth of a farm gully into a 150-foot-deep canyon, even becoming a state park. GNW #5



The farm is notable for the unusual event on May 12, 1948:

    when the farm (then 168 acres) was chosen as the site of a Master Conservation Field Day. Sponsored by the Oconee River Soil Conservation District, The Atlanta Journal, and the Civic Clubs of Winder, this massive one-day effort involving hundreds of men and machines transformed the badly eroded and depleted farm into a model of efficient and productive land management. The fence lines and re-configured demarcations for cropland, pasture, woodland, house lots, and ponds are all still starkly evident on aerial views today. The terracing from 1948 can be seen on the ground in several of the fields on the western half of the property. Most of the buildings and structures are clustered near the road and the 1.75-acre pond in the northeast quadrant of the property. These include the Blakey's mid-20th-century house, two barns, two sheds, a chicken house, a creek-side baptismal pool, and a small pump house. The entire property still maintains its rural character, in contrast to some of the tract housing development around the periphery."



The contributing site is the transformed farm, now with gullies filled in and terracing.



It is located at 568 GA 211 NW, on the west side of Thompson Hill Road, 568 Georgia State Highway 211, Northwest, about 3 miles northwest of Winder. It was a rural area in 1948, but by 2009 the area around the farm was being developed.

Jackson Street Commercial Historic District

Roughly bounded by Jackson, Athens, Candler, and Broad Streets.



Jackson-Johns House

This house was built as a private residence but soon became a “day hotel” for businessmen working downtown. It’s used as a real estate office today.



The Kilgore Mill Covered Bridge and Mill Site

Located near Bethlehem, Georgia, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975.



The bridge, built in 1894, has also been known as the Bethlehem Bridge, the Apalachee River Bridge, and the Briscoe Mill Bridge.



It is located 3.5 miles southwest of Bethlehem, across the Apalachee River (which is the boundary between Barrow County and Walton County).



It is a single-span Town lattice truss bridge, 117 feet long.

Manning Gin Farm

In 1851 Solomon Manning purchased 700 acres on this site for $1000. He and Emily raised 8 children and prospered farming cotton and wheat. In 1870 the Civil War took its toll killing 2 sons and many slaves. In 1884 Robert Manning assumed control and built the farmhouse, cotton gin and 16 outbuildings, still intact. The cotton gin operated as Manning Gin Co. from 1904-1945. Robert died without heirs in 1943, leaving the estate to brother Williams' children. Gregg Van Lue purchased the property in 1982 and completed restoration in 1990.



North Broad Street Residential Historic District

An 18-acre historic district in Winder, Georgia. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984 and includes 39 contributing buildings.


41 West Candler Street. This unusual Neoclassical Revival house features high-pitched dormers, reminiscent of the Gothic Revival; it’s one of the most recognizable houses in Winder and is home to the Magnolia Place restaurant today.

The district addresses historic buildings from the 1890s to 1930s; there are also modern intrusions.



The district includes the Smith-Baxter House, built in 1902, which has a large porch, decorative scrollwork, and stained glass. The First Baptist Church in the district is a "good example of the use of the Gothic style for a church." The majority of houses are Bungalow style. The district is also significant for its residential landscape architecture.


Can't find Smith - Baxter House anymore, but did find this Folk design.

Omer Christian Church and Cemetery



Rockwell Universalist Church

Near Winder, Georgia, the Rockwell Universalist Church is a rural church built in 1881 in simple Greek Revival style.



It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) in 1985. It was deemed architecturally significant as a "good example" of its type of post-Civil War rural churches, being a one-room wood-frame church with no ornamentation and Greek Revival styling. It was also deemed significant as one of few Universalist churches ever to exist in the state of Georgia. Its NRHP nomination posits that Universalists, though the fifth largest religious denomination in the U.S. before the American Civil War, "did not prosper in Georgia due to their lack of organization and official discipline...[they] were overwhelmed by the popularity of the Baptists and Methodists who comprised over 90 percent of those identifying church affiliation in 1850 in Georgia."



Russell Homeplace Historic District

Barrow County's county seat Winder is the home of Georgia Senator Richard B. Russell, Jr. His father was Richard Russell, Sr. and he was the chief justice of the Supreme Court of Georgia on which he served for his entire sixteen-year career (1922 to 1938) in that position.



Richard Brevard Russell Jr. (November 2, 1897 – January 21, 1971) was an American politician. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the 66th Governor of Georgia from 1931 to 1933 before serving in the United States Senate for almost 40 years, from 1933 to 1971. Russell was a founder and leader of the conservative coalition that dominated Congress from 1937 to 1963, and at his death was the most senior member of the Senate. He was for decades a leader of Southern opposition to the civil rights movement.



Born in Winder, Georgia, Russell established a legal practice in Winder after graduating from the University of Georgia School of Law. He served in the Georgia House of Representatives from 1921 to 1931 before becoming Governor of Georgia. Russell won a special election to succeed Senator William J. Harris and joined the Senate in 1933.



He supported the New Deal early in his Senate career but helped establish the conservative coalition of Republicans and Southern Democrats. He was the chief sponsor of the National School Lunch Act, which provided free or low-cost schools lunches to impoverished students.


Franklin D. Roosevelt, Governor R.B. Russell, and Senator Cohen in Atlanta, Georgia

During his long tenure in the Senate, Russell served as chairman of several committees, and was the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Armed Services for most of the period between 1951 and 1969.



He was a candidate for President of the United States at the 1948 Democratic National Convention and the 1952 Democratic National Convention. He was also a member of the Warren Commission.



Russell supported racial segregation and co-authored the Southern Manifesto with Strom Thurmond. Russell and 17 fellow Democratic and one Republican Senators blocked the passage of civil rights legislation via the filibuster.



After Russell's protege, President Lyndon B. Johnson, signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 into law, Russell led a Southern boycott of the 1964 Democratic National Convention.



Stayed Conservative til the end.



Russell served in the Senate until his death from emphysema in 1971.



Russell Family Cemetery is private property on house grounds.



Richard Brevard Russell Jr. Grave.



DawgSong posted about Mama Russell in his Today In Georgia History post, so as an addendum ..

Ina Dillard Russell, once known to Georgians as “Mother Russell,” was the wife of state supreme court justice Richard B. Russell Sr. and mother to U.S. senator Richard B. Russell Jr.



Blandina Dillard, the thirteenth and last child of farmers America Frances Chaffin and Fielding Dillard, was born on February 18, 1868, in Oglethorpe County, near Lexington. She attended school locally before enrolling at the Palmer Institute in Oxford and the Lucy Cobb Institute in Athens. In 1889 she began teaching third grade at the Washington Street School in Athens.

In 1891 she married Richard Russell Sr., a young Athens lawyer. In 1906 he became one of the first three judges to serve on the Georgia Court of Appeals, and in 1922 he was elected chief justice of the Supreme Court of Georgia. He lived primarily in Atlanta and was home only on weekends.


Photograph of Richard B. Russell Sr., a Georgia state legislator and judge, and Ina Dillard in Niagara Falls, New York on their honeymoon in June 1891. The water crashes behind them, and a suspension bridge rises above them. They stand in front of a boulder.

While her husband pursued his political career, Russell raised seven sons and six daughters on the family farm in Winder, where she also managed several tenant farmers. Although her 1912 ledger shows that she sewed more than 200 garments that year, Russell preferred working outside, planting peanuts, cotton, tomatoes, and potatoes and raising hogs and chickens to make money and feed her family.

Although her husband hired teachers to live with the family, Russell and her sister Patience Dillard often taught the Russell children. When the children went away to school, at the age of thirteen or fourteen, Russell would write long letters to them, with instructions on healthy living, the importance of studying while young, and proper behavior in all circumstances.


Ina with the teachers.

Russell’s children grew up to become productive citizens, choosing careers in business, education, law, medicine, the military, the ministry, and politics. Russell’s oldest son, Richard Russell Jr., became governor of Georgia in 1931, when he was just thirty-three years old. Because he was a bachelor, Russell Jr. asked his mother and father to preside at the Governor’s Mansion with him. Thus the heads of the executive and judicial branches of state government were housed under one roof during Russell’s tenure as Georgia’s first lady. Two years later Russell Jr. became the youngest member of the U.S. Senate.


Family Reunion.

In 1932 the Georgia State College for Women (later Georgia College and State University), the alma mater of five of Russell’s daughters, renamed its library to honor her. Although she never held public office herself, Russell received an unusual salute typically reserved for political leaders and statesmen—Georgia flags were lowered to half-mast in her honor on August 30, 1953, when she died of a cerebral hemorrhage.



Statham Historic District

Roughly bounded by Elizabeth, 8th, and 1st Sts., and CSX RR tracks.



Vanishing Georgia Statham.





Winder Depot


Then and Now.

Cities

We move from the National Register of Historical Places in Barrow County, to a listing of the towns and most of the 36 Historical Markers.
   
Auburn
   
Auburn incorporated in 1892 soon after the railroad was extended to that point.The town of Auburn was surveyed and the original plat drawn in 1891 by the Seaboard Railroad Company (originally known as the Georgia-Carolina and Northern Railroad). The rail line bisects the Auburn center and extends in an east-west direction. The town served as the terminus for railroad crews operating the four daily trains to Athens to the east and Atlanta to the west.



Auburn has a unique, second-track spur that parallels the main track to accommodate out-of-service cars. Warehouses and railroad buildings were constructed during this time as well as residential homes to serve the railroad and families living in Auburn. Eight commercial buildings were located on the north side of the tracks and four on the south side. Residential homes were constructed around this town center.



There were eight store buildings built on the north side of the railroad, but only the Poole Store (now Auburn City Hall) and the former Auburn Bank/Flanigan’s (now Rawhide Boots).


City Hall. You know I passed through Auburn on my way to school in the 1980's before they built expressway and I don't remember it being this big. Will have to revisit.

There were also four on the south side, of which only one survives. Other business establishments were a cotton gin, a tanning yard and a livery stable. The gin and tanning yard were located near the railroad and operated by D.W. Ethridge. The town was booming.



The T.C. Flanigan store is constructed of bricks made from Auburn’s red clay. Flanigan had a gin and bought cotton. He had three men on the road selling lightning rods, sewing machines and organs. He also owned a mineral spring about four miles from town.

Statham

The community was named after Charles Statham, a University of Georgia official. Statham,  Barrow County. Pronounced "Stay'-tum." Incorporated as a town from December 20,1892 to December 6, 1902.



In 1846 it was called Barbers  Creek, after the nearby stream, Barber's Creek. The name was changed to Delay in 1854, and the present name was adopted in 1892, in honor of Dr. Charles Statham, chancellor of the University of Georgia.


They put a lot of history onto this one sign for a house that's not there anymore.

First Georgia Chapter Future Farmers of America was located at Statham Consolidated High School. I remember 4H day at Sanford Stadium.


So great they made two signs.


Sidewalk of Statham.


Statham Depot then and now.
   
Winder

During the 1880s, rail was expanded and Barrow County played host to two railroads, the Seaboard Air Line and the Gainesville and Midland. One of the railroad builders for the Seaboard Air Line Railroad was John H. Winder of North Carolina. Jug Tavern's name was changed to Winder by the Georgia General Assembly on Dec. 20, 1893 to honor the railroad builder.




Vintage Winder.

Barrow County was created in 1914 from parts of Gwinnett, Jackson, and Walton Counties. A major reason for its creation was the intersection of its three parent counties within the city of Winder. To quote one of the supporters of the new county, “it was frequently difficult for a man even to die in Winder, as it was sometimes necessary to take out letters of administration in all of the counties.”



The first Doctors’ Day observance was March 28, 1933, in Winder. This first observance included the mailing of cards to the physicians and their wives, flowers placed on graves of deceased doctors, including Dr. Long, and a formal dinner in the home of Dr. and Mrs. William T. Randolph. After the Barrow County Alliance adopted Mrs. Almond's resolution to pay tribute to the doctors, the plan was presented to the Georgia State Medical Alliance in 1933 by Mrs. E. R. Harris of Winder, president of the Barrow County Alliance. On May 10, 1934, the resolution was adopted at the annual state meeting in Augusta, Georgia. The resolution was introduced to the Women's Alliance of the Southern Medical Association at its 29th annual meeting held in St. Louis, Missouri, November 19–22, 1935, by the Alliance president, Mrs. J. Bonar White. Since then, Doctors' Day has become an integral part of and synonymous with, the Southern Medical Association Alliance.


Maddox Building, 1902. This multi-use commercial building may be Winder’s most recognizable and has recently been restored. It may be best remembered as the home of the Peoples Bank but has also been home to a theater and other businesses over the years.



Historical Marker and Grave in Winder for William Pentecost at the Pentecost United Methodist Church.


Pentecost United Methodist Church.



Winder's most historical site is really just the site of a prior school..



People gathered for the opening of the Farmers Mutual Exchange in Winder, Georgia in 1949.



Attempt at Separate but Equal School History in Winder.



The Historic Barrow County Jail in Winder. County museum now located in the old Barrow County Jail, built in 1914. See hanging tower, jail cells.



Towns
   
Bethlehem

Despite its small population, the town is very well known for its name, which comes from the community's original church, 'Bethlehem Methodist', namesake of the biblical town of Bethlehem. The local post office annually postmarks thousands of Christmas cards and other pieces of mail prior to Christmas. The street names in town are all names from the story of the birth of Christ.



Bethlehem was incorporated in 1902 by an act of the Georgia General Assembly.



The town took its name from the local Bethlehem Methodist Church.
   
Braselton

Braselton is a town in Barrow, Gwinnett, Hall, and Jackson counties in the U.S. state of Georgia, approximately 43 miles northeast of Atlanta. Since Braselton is in different countiues, we already did a brief tangent with GNW #122 - Hurricane Shoals - Jackson County.



The first permanent settlement at Braselton was made in 1884. The town is named after Harrison Braselton, a poor dirt farmer who married Susan Hosch, the daughter of a rich plantation owner. Braselton built a home on 786 acres of land he purchased north of the Hosch Plantation. The land he purchased was later called Braselton. The Georgia General Assembly incorporated Braselton as a town in 1916.



Braselton is an excellent example of late 19th Century architecture with its award winning town hall, homes, and commercial district on the National Registrar of Historic Places. Many of the Town's historic buildings have been renovated in keeping with the charm and small town feel Braselton has been known for since the Braselton Brothers first opened a store over 100 years ago.



In 1989 actress and Georgia native Kim Basinger and other investors bought 1,751 acres of the town's 2,000 privately owned acres for $20 million from Braselton Brothers Inc, intending to turn it into a tourist destination. Five years later, facing personal bankruptcy, she and her partners sold the land for $1 million.


Chateau Elan
   
Barrow County and Gwinnett County are the home of the Chateau Elan resort, winery, and estate, which is also Georgia's largest winery.



Chateau Elan is located in Braselton. The first cultivation of vinifera grapes, a European species, in the area.



Carl

The Georgia General Assembly incorporated the town in 1908 under the name "Lawson".


Carl Water Tower and Downtown Carl.

The present name of "Carl" was named after the infant son of early settlers.

Census-designated place
   
Russell

The community most likely was named after Richard Russell Sr. (1861–1938), chief justice of the Georgia Supreme Court.



The Georgia General Assembly incorporated Russell in 1902. The city's municipal charter was repealed in 1995.


Erk Russell will never be repealed.

Barrow County is the home of the Bethlehem Christian Academy Knights, Winder-Barrow Bulldogs, and Apalachee Wildcats. Barrow County is host to four middle schools, and the recently built Bear Creek Middle School, a new middle school in the city of Statham, Georgia.



Wikipedia usually list notable people of towns and counties, but not this time. I can only think of the Russell's and Hiawatha Berry. But Barrow County has inspired the theme for today's Georgia Natural Wonder Gals. They are all involved with Wheel BARROWS.