By Dr. Charles Pendley
Contributing writer
The Return of King Cotton, New People, Towns and Communities, Institutions and Industries
The year 2021 was our county’s Bicentennial year, marking 200 years since our County’s founding by an Act of the Georgia state legislature. It is altogether fitting to look back on the last two centuries, on the people and events that made Henry County what it is today and – hopefully – to draw some lessons from our county’s long and eventful history.
The coming articles in this series will trace the long arc of our County’s history during a period of steady growth and change from the devastation of the Civil War in 1865, the brief and contentious period of Reconstruction from 1865 to 1878, the rise of new towns and communities, the spread of religion, the resurgence of “King Cotton,” and new industries based on cotton, wood and machinery, to the County’s celebration of its first 100 years in 1921.
Michael Reeves writes in Historic Henry County – An Illustrated History, “After the agonizing years of war and rebuilding, the people of Henry County laid the foundation for Henry County as it is today. Henry County experienced an era of prosperity that lasted almost 50 years.”
The coming articles will focus on the most important events, people and institutions that shaped Henry County during the decades between the 1870s and 1920s. It is a period that saw rapid growth in Henry County’s population, prosperity and its towns, communities and institutions like churches, schools, government and civic groups.
In 1870, the County’s population was only a little over 10,000, lower than it was 40 years earlier in 1830. The decade from 1870 to 1880 saw the population grow more than 40 percent to over 14,000. By 1920, the County’s population had doubled to over 20,000, fueled mainly by the influx of new settlers from other parts of the south and from the North. New communities appeared with names like Fosterville, White House, Peeksville, Sandy Ridge, Ellistown and Knob, some of which survive to this day, like Ola, Luella, Flippen and Oakland.
The county got its second railroad, the Southern Railroad, in 1882, which connected Stockbridge, McDonough and Locust Grove with Atlanta and Macon. Unlike the earlier Macon and Western Railroad that ran through Hampton in the western part of the county and avoided bridges and trestles by following the divide between the Flint and Ocmulgee rivers, the Southern Railroad had to cross trestles over creeks and rivers between McDonough and Atlanta. This was a hazard that was to have tragic consequences on a rainy night in June 1900 when a northbound passenger train from McDonough plunged into Camp Creek, killing 35 of the 45 people on board.
A third railroad, Georgia Midland and Gulf Railroad, was constructed in 1887 and connected McDonough, Greenwood, and Luella with Columbus. This rail line became famous when President Franklin Roosevelt used it on his trips to and from the Little White House in Warm Springs.
The same cannot be said of roads in Henry County. There were no paved roads in the county until well into the 20th Century. It could take as long as six hours to get from McDonough to Hampton and when there was heavy rain, many roads became impassible.
This period also witnessed the inflow of new investment, both from the north and from southern businessmen and entrepreneurs. To help offset the high cost of fertilizer, a guano factory was started in Hampton as well as a cotton spinning and knitting mill.
By 1895, Hampton, like many other towns in the County, could boast two cotton gins, a grist and flour mill, a coal and lumber yard, a guano (fertilizer factory), livery stable, a buggy factory, a cotton spinning and knitting mill making ladies’ lingerie, a Masonic Hall, two banks and a train depot, said to be the largest one between Atlanta and Macon.
In Georgia, child labor laws were not passed until the late 1930s, and even then were not always enforced. The laws set the minimum age for work in factories and mills at 14, an eight-hour day, and a forty-eight hour week. The law prohibited night work for children under the age of sixteen. It is noteworthy that the new child labor laws did not apply to work on farms and in family businesses.
An early industry in McDonough was the Henry County Milling and Ice Company, started by Mr. Fred Varner. Dr. J. G. Smith built a dam on Cotton Indian Creek that ran a generator that supplied power for lights and other purposes to McDonough and surrounding areas.
During this period numerous associations, clubs, societies and groups arose that were the cement that held society together. There were women’s clubs, sewing, gardening and square dancing clubs, benevolent societies, Masons, Oddfellows, Woodmen, Moose, Elk, Confederate veterans and others. There were also farmers associations, church and missionary groups, county fairs, home demonstrations and many other social networks. Soon after the Civil War, a chapter of the Ku Klux Klan made a brief appearance in the County until it was disbanded amid legal controversies. Education, social and cultural life remained largely segregated by race, which was not to change significantly until well into the 20th century.
