Comments (0) | |

Monday, Oct. 05, 2009

History finds another corner

BARNESVILLE — Although history has probably been made on every street corner in America, I’m glad they don’t put markers in the shadow of every lamp post.

It sure would get crowded.

Still, when Anthony McCalla learned history had passed through the Gordon College campus about seven decades ago, he was determined to have it recognized.

That’s why a bunch of folks are expected to gather at the corner of Summers Field Road and College Drive on Tuesday morning at 10 a.m. A Georgia Historical Society marker will be unveiled, commemorating a speech made by President Franklin D. Roosevelt at the football stadium Aug. 11, 1938.

Anthony was turned down three times in his requests for the marker. And, even though he has not been a student at the college since 2006, he did not back off.

“I have a respect for history,” he said. “When I was growing up, I would always read the historic markers. My father says the greatest treason is a man who does not know his own history.”

Among those expected for the dedication is Lenora Ginn, who attended the FDR speech as a child. About 50,000 people gathered that day to hear the president dedicate the Lamar Electric Cooperative, a project of the New Deal’s Rural Electric Administration.

Barnesville, of course, was known at the “Buggy Capital of the South” at the turn of the 20th century, producing as many as 9,000 buggies annually.

The city now celebrates its heritage with a “Buggy Days” festival in September.

Well, the FDR event could have been called “Bulby Days.” FDR ceremoniously flipped the switch. Let there be light.

Anthony is now 24 years old and a MARTA police officer. He enrolled at Gordon College after graduating from Dacula High School in Gwinnett County in 2004.

He learned about Roosevelt’s visit in a college history class. After doing more research, he discovered a photograph of FDR next to a podium that read: “Barnesville, Georgia.” Later, he made the 50-mile trip to Warm Springs to visit the Little White House.

He was inspired to “leave a mark” at Gordon. He met with college professors and school administrators. He worked closely with city officials and the staff at Southern Rivers Energy.

But the Georgia Historical Society doesn’t hand out historical markers like candy. Finally, on the fourth attempt, the application was approved in May.

I’m not sure if FDR’s speech “electrified” the crowd. He used some of it to politically attack Georgia’s U.S. Sen. Walter George.

He hailed Warm Springs as the birthplace of the Rural Electrification Administration. “Six years ago, in 1932, there was such talk about the more widespread and the cheaper use of electricity, but it is only since March 4, 1933, that your government has reduced that talk to practical results. Yes, electricity is a modern necessity of life and not a luxury. That necessity ought to be found in every village, in every home and on every farm in every part of the wide United States. The dedication of this Rural Electrification Administration project in Georgia today is a symbol of the progress we are making. And, my friends, we are not going to stop.”

Anthony didn’t stop, either.

“I’m a police officer,” he said. “In law enforcement, you’re taught not to give up.”

Reach Gris at 744-4275 or gris@macon.com.