Butts County History Center

02/07/2025

With the recent work going on to the west side of the New York Store Building on Third Street, this seemed like a good time to recount the history of the building and the business that created it. Be sure to click on the photographs to read the vintage articles about it.

The original Etheridge-Smith Company began life in 1882, and they eventually constructed a single story mercantile store on the corner of Third Street and Oak Street in Jackson (see colorized postcard) but after a number of years, they needed more space to expand their booming business. Wanting to stay on the corner of Third Street and Oak, they arrived at an innovative plan, which was to add a second floor to the building, while continuing to operate their business on the main floor. Once the second floor was complete, the two floors were connected internally by a grand staircase and a more impressive new facade was added to the Third Street side of the building.

Construction on the second floor began in 1909 and was finished in 1910, creating the largest store that downtown Jackson had seen. The expanded space served the company well, as the Etheridge-Smith New York Store remained in business for well over 70 more years, celebrating its 95th anniversary in 1977. While New York Store closed for good several decades ago, the building continues on, and if you look on the backside of the building's second floor, you can still see traces of the company name near the top of the building.

12/19/2023

It is our sad duty to report that former Butts County Commissioner Charles J. Brown (Charlie) passed away yesterday following a long illness. Mr. Brown served as a Butts County Commissioner from the beginning of 1985 through the end of 1990, for a total of six years. After his years of service to the County, he later went on to be elected as Mayor of the City of Jackson and served that office for 18 years before retiring from public office. Even after retirement, he remained engaged, and contributed invaluable advice and leadership to scores of elected and appointed officials, who credited his mentorship with their success in governmental affairs. His fiscal acumen and business skills translated well into the arena of public service, and under his stewardship, both Jackson and Butts County benefitted from his service to the public and the greater community. He will be sorely missed by many who knew him in both the government and private sector, as well as by all those who were fortunate enough to call him a friend.

As a sign of our esteem and respect for the late Charlie Brown, former County Commissioner and Mayor of Jackson, the flags at County facilities will be flown at half staff.

10/18/2023

A rainy day on Third Street in the 1960's...who remembers the Heart of Jackson Motel?

09/29/2023

Butts County History 📚

"When I was growing up during the 1950s and early 60's we had five new car dealerships in town, to list: Settle & Robinson Chevrolet, Moore Bros. Buick; White Pontiac Co., Spencer Ford Co., and Carter Motor Co sold Chrysler products. All these were downtown near the courthouse square. The buick dealer had an upstairs where they stored cars as well as a downstairs showroom and garage. John L. Coleman, father of our famous local artist, Scott Coleman rana garage on the square along with a body shop/junkyard on First Street."

-Story by Byrd Garland

08/30/2023

Since there has been some conversation this week about the cleanup work going on at the Old First Baptist Church, here is some historical information about the building that you might find interesting.

The building was constructed on East Third Street, adjacent to the previous wooden church building that it replaced. The original building was later torn down for the parking lot on the east side of the building. The church building program, which was planned for several years, was led under the pastoral leadership of Dr. Robert Van Deventer, who pastored the First Baptist Church of Jackson for 16 years. The cornerstone was laid on May 22, 1914 and it was completed later that year at a cost of $35,000.00. The membership held their first service in the new building sanctuary on December 20th, 1914. The building is constructed primarily of beige brick and the original part of the building was 109 feet long by 60 feet wide, with a 35 foot wide loggia or portico supported by four massive columns. Other additions followed decades later.

The materials used to build the church were sourced from Washington DC (brick), North Carolina (steel roof), Virginia (slate) and of course, Georgia (marble and lumber). The stain glass windows were crafted by the Empire Glass Company in Atlanta and dedicated as memorials to several founding members of the church. Most of the windows remain in place to this day.

The style of this building is classical Grecian and featured porticos, pediments, doric columns, balustrade railings (removed in recent years) and pilasters. The defining feature of the Old First Baptist Church, which is unique in Butts County, is the monumental domed roof, which is constructed of curving copper panels and crowned with a windowed cupola to allow light to enter at the top. At some point, the dome was painted silver but as the paint has worn away, the oxidized green copper is beginning to show through again.

At the time of its construction, the building contained basement spaces which held the kitchen, a dining hall, a gymnasium and a concrete swimming pool. The main floor consisted of the sanctuary, which could seat up to 400 people, with Sunday school rooms surrounding the sanctuary on the main level and upper floor which could be opened up when additional seating for worship services was needed.

When it was completed in 1914, the church was very modern by the standards of the time, featuring electric lighting in all areas of the building (Jackson had only had electricity for a few years in 1914), and indoor plumbing throughout, both installed by the Newton-Carmichael Hardware Company of Jackson. It was heated by a modern furnace system built by the Williamson Heating Company of Atlanta and special care was taken in the design of the building to ensure excellent ventilation during the hotter months of the year. The sanctuary style is known as the Akron plan, which is known for having a central sanctuary surrounded by wedge shaped classrooms that radiated out from the pulpit area.

The Old First Baptist Church was designed by Sayre & Baldwin Architects and contracted by Quartermus & McDonald Contractors of South Carolina. It was used by the congregation for just over 60 years, from December 20th, 1914 until the final service on July 20th, 1975. The congregation moved into a brand new church on Highway 16 west and the building was sold to the First Assembly of God, who would go on to use it for more than 20 years before it was sold again. As of August 2023, the building is privately owned and is for sale, though no plans have been announced for it as of this writing.

The black and white photo was made at the time the building was completed and shows both the older original wooden structure next door that was torn down in 1916, two years after the 1914 building was completed. The colorized post card also is from shortly after the building's completion and shows the copper dome as it would have looked before it oxidized. The three new pictures are from August 2023.

07/16/2023

Local newspaper advertising in the 60’s was a lot better than it is today. Who remembers buying Chevy cars and trucks at ABW Chevrolet in Jackson GA? (Adams-Briscoe-Webb)

07/15/2023

October 30, 1966-Macedonia Baptist Church dedicated their new sanctuary in the Stark Community. From the November 3, 1966 issue of the Jackson Progress Argus. Does anyone remember this event?

07/15/2022

Camp Meeting is back in Butts County for its 131st session! More information below:

Without a doubt, the biggest annual event that takes place each year in Butts County is Annual Holiness Camp Meeting, which is held each summer for ten days at the Indian Springs Holiness Campgroun…

02/22/2022

The upcoming spring season in Butts County will be a busy one, with Chamber events, Art Festivals, Golf Tournaments and more!

As I write this, spring and winter are having their annual February battle in Georgia, where the temperatures swing wildly from freezing cold to near-summer warm, usually within the same day and so…

10/06/2020

The J.R. Carmichael House, July 13, 1977. The house had recently undergone its first major restoration since it was built in 1897. Designed by the renowned architectural firm of Bruce and Morgan in Atlanta, it was one of four local buildings designed by the firm that included the Wigwam Hotel at Indian Springs, the Butts County Courthouse and the Jackson Presbyterian Church.

05/08/2020

Given recent events in our county and across the world, we take a look at life in Butts County during the fall of 1918, the last time our world was impacted severely by a pandemic.

The Spanish Influenza pandemic of 1918 was not uneventful in Butts County, as noted in the pages of the Progress Argus. The newspaper for several weeks listed the names of many citizens afflicted with the Spanish Flu or those who had come here to stay with others and weather the storm out. Apparently the Courthouse and School System had a run of it as well, because in the October 18, 1918 issue, it mentioned that Judge S.J. Foster, County Clerk William Wilson, School Superintendent Hugh Mallet and others were at home with it. The Pepperton schools also closed that week due to an "epidemic of Spanish flu".

The October 25, 1918 issue noted that the entire staff of the Progress Argus had all come down with the flu and asked people to forgive the shortcomings of that week’s paper.

Some deaths covered in obituaries included:

Mr. Harold Thompson, Age 26 (Camp Gordon)
Mrs. S.F. Thurston
Mrs. Lennie Washington (and noted other family members, including her husband, were seriously ill)
The child of Mr. & Mrs. R.E. Duke, age 4
Mr. Hubert Johnson of Worthville, age 27.

World War I ended on November 11, 1918, and it was noted on December 13th that by this point the Spanish Flu had killed more people than the World War had. In the United States alone, between September 15th and December 13th, 350,000 deaths of Spanish Influenza had occurred among the civilian population of the US. Approximately 20,000 soldiers had died in military camps and bases throughout the US, never having been sent to fight in the War.

Schools returning after Thanksgiving in November of 1918 noted that pupils and teachers would wear masks when school resumed. The method had been tried in other schools and that in many cases, the disease was “stamped out” in just a few days. This "will make the closing of schools unnecessary". It was also noted that there were a “good many cases of influenza in the town and county” and that quite a few children were out sick with it.

It was reported that that there now appeared to be two strains of the flu. The earlier, more predominant flu was considerably less lethal; the second strain was noted to be much more lethal. The Jackson Mayor and Council shut down schools for ten days in the city and enacted a "keep moving" rule to prohibit people from stopping and talking to each other on the street.

Most telling was an op ed written late in 1918 by the Jackson Progress Argus, pointing out the many ways the response nationwide could have been handled differently and which strangely echos much of what has been said during the present events in 2020.