Pulaski County GaArchives History .....Hawkinsville 
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Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 July 28, 2004, 11:35 pm

p. 105

CHAPTER IV

HAWKINSVILLE AND ITS ORGANIZATIONS

   Hawkinsville, the county seat of Pulaski County, with a population of
approximately 2,500, was named for that noble Revolutionary soldier, Colonel
Benjamin Hawkins, who from the high motive of patriotism, despite the earnest
protest of his large and influential family, for sixteen years lived among
savage tribes in the deep heart of the Georgia wilderness.

   He gave his services at a time when the nation's peace was gravely imperiled.
"He was a friend of Washington, a Senator of the United States, a scholar and a
man of letters." Hawkinsville was incorporated in 1836 with Robert N. Taylor,
David B. Holstead, Bryan W. Collier, James M. Bracewell, and James 0. Jelks as
city fathers. No record of the mayor was given. Hawkinsville deserves the
soubriquet "Queen City of the Wiregrass."

   Situated on a high western bluff of the 0cmulgee river, her broad avenues
shaded by large trees whose branches often interlock across the streets; the
beautiful homes of her prosperous and contented citizens, encircled by well-kept
lawns and beautiful flower gardens, Hawkinsville stands without a rival in the
beauty of her location among her sister cities of the State.

   The town is surrounded by one of the finest agricultural regions of the South.

   Boat lines on the 0cmulgee were among the first on Georgia rivers, and helped
to make Hawkinsville a thriving town.

   Hawkinsville was one of the first wholesale centers in South Georgia,
dispensed goods to a large area of splendid agricultural country, long before
the railroads were numerous in this section. She also became famous as a cotton
market very early in her history, being located in the very heart of the most
productive cotton lands in the South, hence in the world. Two lines of railroads
entered the city, giving schedules and rates far in advance of most Southern
towns and making Hawkinsville a shopping and trading center as well as market
for cotton and other crops.

   From the early forties until the fifties Hawkinsville citizens gave their
time and thought to building a city, and accumulating wealth. They lived in ease
and affluence, happy and content, with the future bright and promising. Later
war clouds began to gather, anxiety and uncertainty took the place of peace and
plenty, and in a few years completely changed the life of tranquil days, and the
people

p. 106

had to "right about" and face a new order. Out of the four long years of
struggle, tragedy, heartache, suffering and sacrifice, our men returned to their
broken homes, devastated farms and fortune, slaves freed, business demoralized,
to start anew. With dauntless courage and grim determination they faced the
changed conditions and builded anew on the broken foundation of the splendid
structure of wealth and culture a county and city that is still the pride of her
citizenry.

   In 1871 the business section of the town extended along both sides of
Commerce Street east to the river. There were no business houses west of Jackson
Street. With the exception of the Old Rock Warehouse the walls of which are
still standing, and one small store building on the northeast corner of Commerce
and Jackson Streets, the houses were constructed of wood. There were two wooden
hotels-one on the southeast corner of Jackson and Commerce and one on the
southeast corner of Houston and Commerce Streets.

   For thirty or forty years these wooden buildings had stood, a silent
invitation to the fire-bug and a constant nightmare to their respective owners.
The first brick building erected after the War Between the States was
constructed by Major John H. Pate. The next brick building of any consequence
was the two-story structure of J. O. Jelks and Brother at the corner of Jackson
and Commerce Streets, now occupied by Rogers, Inc.

   The example of Major Pate and the Jelks Brothers was imitated by other
business men, and from time to time other buildings of brick construction were
erected. Among the most prominent are the warehouse of C. M. Bozeman and Sons on
North Jackson; the old Pulaski Hotel Building, northwest corner of Commerce and
Jackson; the Odd Fellows Building, occupied by the Farmers Ex-change, F. E.
Dortch, proprietor, corner of Houston and Commerce; and the Kibbee Building.
Still most of the old wooden stores on Commerce Street remained as they were,
and the town was without any apparatus for fire protection.

   In the fall of 1879 Hawkinsville had its first big conflagration, when
Bozeman's warehouse, with several thousand bales of cotton, and a number of
other buildings between the warehouse and Commerce Street, went up in smoke. For
some hours it looked as if the entire business section of the town would be
destroyed. The people were panic stricken. In response to a telegram for aid, an
engine and necessary equipment, together with a number of firemen, came from
Macon on a special train furnished by the old Macon and Brunswick Railroad. The
fire was stopped, and the people were taught a lesson, as it proved an incentive
to rebuild of brick. As a result, our first volunteer fire company was organized.

p. 107

   About this time strong business enterprises were coming forth. Large and
prosperous firms were formed. Among them J. O. Jelks & Brother, Taylor & Jelks,
Clegg & Coney, D. Rhodes, J. N. Veal, M. T. Grace, Watson & Lewis, Jno. F. Lewis
& Son, Lewis & Fleming, J. B. Wasley, Merritt & Coney, R. T. Ragan & Brother;
John Pate & Co., J. Jacobus, John Love, P. H. Coleman & Brother, Van Bell, D. C.
Joiner & Brother, William Kupferwan, C. B. & A. L. Adams, B. T. Adams, and H. &
M. Waterman were among our leading merchants.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from 


"HISTORY OF PULASKI COUNTY GEORGIA"

OFFICIAL HISTORY

COMPILED BY THE HAWKINSVILLE CHAPTER
DAUGHTERS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION
PRESS OF WALTER W. BROWN PUBLISHING COMPANY
ATLANTA, GEORGIA

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