Polk County GaArchives News.....Polk County July 10 1924
************************************************
Copyright.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://www.usgwarchives.net/ga/gafiles.htm
************************************************

File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
W. Stephens wend@bellouth.net April 19, 2004, 12:51 pm

The Standard, Cedartown, GA
The Standard, Cedartown, GA
July 10, 1924

Polk County
By Rev. Wm. J. DeBardeleben, of Atlanta

   Polk County, one of the richest and most beautiful sections of North 
Georgia, was formerly a part of Paulding with headquarters at Van Wert.  Its 
birth dates back to April 1, 1852, at which time Cedartown was made the county 
site, with Stephen A. Borders as first Ordinary.
   The population of this county, now given at 20,050, is in no danger of 
suffering a decrease from the simple fact that this section boasts the lowest 
death rate in the state.  High altitude, abundance of substantial food and pure 
water are some of the reasons given for longevity of the inhabitants.  As an 
evidence of this, Cedartown, 900 feet above the sea level, has a water supply 
from a natural spring that furnishes a volume of 8,000,000 gallons every 24 
hours.
   The soil of Polk county is specially adapted to apples, peaches, plums and 
other fruit.  Besides favorable conditions for the growing of cotton, corn, 
potatoes and other farm products, it is especially suited to dairying, stock 
raising and poultry.  An additional advantage is the fact that no farm in the 
county is over six miles from the railroad.
      Ten thousand bales of cotton are marketed annually through the county 
seat.  Morgan Valley, which is noted for its beautiful scenery, is one of the 
most fertile spots in the State of Georgia.
   The mines of Cedartown produce 4,100 tons per month.  Its industries have 
over 1,000 employes, with an annual pay roll of approximately $1,000,000.  
There is located here a branch of the United State Finishing Company, a New 
England plant, valued at $6,000,000.  The management of this concern is so well 
pleased with its success in this locality that it is now doubling its capacity, 
and will soon be turning out a million yards of cloth each month.  The parent 
plant of this branch last year dyed and finished enough yard-wide cloth to go 
six times around the earth.
   In addition to the numerous mines and manufacturing enterprises of 
Cedartown, there are several others in different parts of the county.  The most 
important of these are the Aragon Cotton Mills, the Southern States Portland 
Cement Company, Georgia.  Stone & Cement Company, and the Rockmart Brick & 
Slate Company.  More than 1,200 men are given employment by these 
organizations, the pay roll amounting to more than $1,000,000 per annum.
   The brick manufactured in Rockmart, make of crushed shale, are used 
especially for paving and high-class building projects.  The plant has 11 large 
kilns with a capacity of 30,000 paving bricks or 45,000 building brick per 
day.  This concern has advance orders for more than twelve months ahead.
   An evidence of the farsightedness and efficiency of Polk county captains of 
industry is furnished by the manner in which they are blasting these mountains 
of rock and making of them the greatest commodity in the world for the building 
of highways and skyscrapers.  The output of one of the cement plants is 
approximately 400,000 barrels of cement yearly; 50,000 tons of coal and 160,000 
tons of raw material are required in making cement.
   A trip through one of these cemet plants, witnessing the process from the 
time the rock is blasted out of the mountain till it is sacked and ready for 
shipment, is a most thrilling experience.  Its manufacture is described by one 
of the officials in the following manner:   “Portland cement, a name given it 
by an Englishman on account of its resemblance to stone quarried on the Island 
of Portland, England, is made of lime, silica and alumina.  These ingredients 
are secured from different combinations of materials, such as limestone, clay, 
shale, marl and blast furnace slag.  From quarry to pit these materials are 
transported to the mill, where they are reduced to fine powder with much heavy 
grinding machinery.  In the process they must be correctly proportioned and 
thoroughly mixed so that the mixture is chemically exact.  The powdered raw 
material then goes to the kilns for burning.  These kilns are huge steel 
cylinders lined with fire brick.
   “Coming from the kilns in the shape of white-hot clinkers consisting of 
glass-hard balls ranging in size from a small marble to a walnut, this material 
is sent to coolers and storage piles.  Later it is ground with a small amount 
of gypsum, added to regulate the rate hardening.  In this final grinding the 
hard clinker is reduced t a powder finer than flour.  Standard specifications 
demand that it be fine enough to shake through a sieve having 40,000 holes to a 
square inch, a sieve finer than silk.”
   There are 39 Schools in the county, 13 of which are colored.  Over 5,000 
children have been enrolled, while preparations are now being made to 
accommodate more.  Besides the high schools of Cedartown, which are valued at 
more than $200,000, there is one near the city limits known as the Benedict 
School.  This plant is valued at $6,000.  There is also a $4,000 school at 
Aragon, which is doing a wonderful work in the interest of the employes of the 
cotton mills.
   This, in addition to the splendid plant at Rockmart and other sections, is 
prophetic of the great intellectual advantages that are promised to the future 
citizens of the county.  An item worthy of mention, and which should be of 
interest to every citizen and school board in the state, is the fact that 
William Janes, the Superintendent of Education, has a complete alphabetical 
roll of every scholar, white and colored, in his jurisdiction.  In this manner 
he is enabled to keep tabs both on the individual and also the work of the 
various institutions throughout the bounds of the county.
   More valuable to the citizens of Georgia and of the South than all the 
various industries of Polk county are her institutions of learning.  Among 
these, none have contributed more effectively than old Piedmont Institute.  Of 
this institution, Col. R. W. Everett, formerly Representative from the Seventh 
District of Georgia in the United States Congress, said: “In 1890 there was 
erected, principally by the citizens of Rockmart and adjacent country, but 
under the auspices of the M. E. Church, South, an imposing and substantial 
school building, known as Piedmont Institute, that has done more for the moral, 
social, intellectual uplift of Rockmart than all other influence combined-- the 
churches not excepted, for Piedmont has been both church and school.”
   From this school have gone some of Georgia’s useful citizens.  Among these 
are to be found such men as Judge Fred Branson, of Oklahoma; Col. W. W. Mundy, 
of Cedartown, one of our State Senators; Prof. Walter Jones, of Macon, and Dr. 
C. E. Waits, one of Atlanta’s leading specialists.
   Among the ministers of the North Georgia Conference that have gone from 
Piedmont Institute are Revs. Lee Allgood and Irby Henderson, pastors of 
prominent Atlanta churches; Rev. Thos. A. Branson of Washington, and Rev. G. G. 
Venable of Monroe, the latter having at one time served as president.  These 
and hundreds of others are products of this institution, who are carrying out 
the injunction of the Master in their ministry of preaching, teaching and 
healing.
   Old Van Wert, the original county site, contains many points of historic 
interest.  It is said to have received its name from one of the three men who 
captured Benedict Arnold.  Mr. E.C. Kingsbery, a citizen of Rockmart, has in 
his possession the original plat and map of the town of Van Wert.  He has also 
a paper showing the advertisement of the sale of town lots, which took place 
Sept. 5 and 6, 1837.  There were 91 original lots, ranging in price from $2,12 
to $299.  The first lot was sold to John A. Jones for $80.
   Van Wert has the credit of establishing waterworks long before the people of 
Atlanta had ceased to draw from wells or visit the nearby springs.  It is also 
of interest to know that these works were installed without the use of a single 
iron pipe.  Huge logs, bored out in the center, fastened together on the 
outside, and coupled to smaller ones for installation in the houses, furnished 
the necessary conduits.
   It was here that the illustrious Sam P. Jones first served as pastor.  The 
house in which his children were born is still standing.  The parsonage he 
built, which served as the house for the Methodist preacher of Rockmart has 
since been replaced by a more modern and commodious dwelling near the Methodist 
church.  The old Van Wert church, in which this spiritual giant first began his 
labors, stands as a silent sentinel for those who sleep in the adjoining 
cemetery, where so many sacred memories thrill the soul no one can enter 
without removing his hat and feeding that he is treading on holy ground.
   Such sanctuaries, scattered throughout Georgia, call the tourist to check 
his roaring automobile and pause for an hour, while recollections fill the mind 
with the heroic lives and deeds of our forefathers--the pioneers who at 
tremendous sacrifice made Georgia the imperial commonwealth which all her true 
citizens love with a fervent patriotism also akin to piety.


This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/gafiles/

File size: 9.6 Kb