Porterdale Georgia Cotton Mill Bibb Manfacturing

Cannery

A cannery was operated at some time during WWII when everyone was encouraged to grow a "victory garden".

As you can see the cannery was set up to do actual canning (in cans) as well as the normal home practices of canning in jars. There were several large floor-mounted steam pressure sterilizing/cooking containers capable of holding a substantial number of cans each. These containers were loaded using overhead chain hoists. There were tables for food preparation in addition to the canning facilities themselves. It was a hot place to work in the summer when all the vegetables were being harvested. (I helped out there.) The cannery was located on the ground floor of an old tin building best remembered as the location (upstairs) of the band room in the mid-40s. My guess is that showing Maud King was a PR photo. She's certainly not dressed for the job. The woman in the rear of the two is, I'm almost certain, Ruth Tanner, who was the Porterdale High School Home Economics. teacher and was heavily involved in cannery operation. I think, but am not sure, that my dad's crew grew a lot of stuff that went to the cannery, but I don't remember the ultimate use of the food. Following provided by Prentis Ollis:

The photo of the old building was made in 2003. I spoke with Bobbie Jean (Chapman) Copland recently and she remembered that her Dad, Glenn Chapman, bought a cow and had the entire beef canned at the cannery in the 1930's. She remembers that being some of the best beef she's ever eaten.

Men's Club

Another place that hasn't been mentioned yet is the "Men's Club". It was in a brick building west of the post office/stores. It had pool tables and card tables as well as pinball machines. So far as I know, it had the first TV in P'dale - a monster cabinet with a lift-up lid that had a mirror which showed the screen. Test patterns would run for hours. A lot of overstuffed seats were set up for people to sit in while watching TV. While the club was supposedly for "men", the rules were pretty lax, and lots of high school boys (myself included) spent a lot of time there playing pool, pinochle, and pinball. It would have made a great setting for "The Music Man". "Trouble right here in River City" The building also held the offices of the dentist (Dr. Axelrod, then later "Peaches" Smith) and a beauty parlor. There were probably other things there as well. It had a second floor. No clue as to what was there, though it might have been mill offices. The following comments by Prentis Ollis. I recall being at the club on several occasions. There was what was called a "ticker tape" that provided constant updates on all the baseballs games in progress. I would read the tape and call out the scores. We do know, reported elsewhere in our Porterdale Web that the Porterdale Kindergarten was house in this building in the early days. The photo was made in 2003.

Transportation

We haven't talked much about transportation. Very few folks in P'dale had cars during WWII, and those that did couldn't get gas for them. Virtually everyone walked to work. People who had lots of groceries to haul, either from the "Company Store" or from one of the grocery stores in Covington (A&P, Piggly-Wiggly - maybe called Big Apple at one time) hired taxis. There was a taxi stand in front of the stores in P'dale and another on the square in Covington. One of the taxi drivers was named King (no first name). At some point (date uncertain - might or might not have been during WWII) a bus service (Callaway Coach Co.) was established between P'dale, Covington, and Oxford. (It may also have run to Covington Mill.) The main bus stop was in front of the stores, but the bus went to the south end of P'dale to turn around before going to Covington. Service was fairly frequent and the bus would stop and pick up/drop off passengers anywhere along the route.

A trip to Atlanta was a great rarity. Unless someone had a car and ventured that long (27-mile) drive, one had to take a taxi or the bus to the Covington Bus Station, then take a bus to Atlanta. As did everywhere else, the bus stations had separate facilities (toilets, drinking fountains, etc.) for whites and blacks. Seating on the buses was strictly segregated. Atlanta trips were generally reserved for trips for some medical need or some special shopping need.

Following comments by Prentis Ollis: I certainly remember the Callaway Bus Line. Anyone have a picture of one of the buses? My Dad had an automobile, and being a minister, he was able to get gas stamps during the war. I remember that he made two to three trips per week taking folks to visit their family member hospitalized at Emory, Georgia Baptist, Crawford Long hospitals.

Drug Store

During the 40's, the Drug Store was operated by "Doc" Hardaman, a very genial man. It consisted of a pharmacy in back, several counters of miscellaneous home remedies and the typical things found in drug stores of those days. It had a genuine soda fountain that also made real milkshakes. In summer time, in particular, a cheap treat was a "cherry ice" - a cone-shaped paper cup filled with shaved ice with some cherry syrup poured on it. It cost a few pennies. There were a few tables with the wrought-iron chairs typical of the drugstores of the time. It was the favorite after-school destination for the high-school crowd. At some time, there was a visit from "The World's Tallest Man". His last name was Wadlo. Someone had him stand against the iron column that stood in the middle of the store and marked his height on the column. That mark remained there for as long as I could remember. In good weather, James Lummus was always found in front of the drug store. Confined to a wheelchair (polio?), virtually a quadriplegic, he was always a cheerful person. People would wheel him down the hill to the stores where he would spend many hours. Pushing him back up the hill was a bit more of a challenge. Following comments by Prentis L. Ollis. I remember very well the day that the tallest man in the world came to Porterdale. He was 8 feet and 9 3/4 inches tall, if my memory is correct. One of his shoes was displayed in the window at Lucy Whites Dept. Store for several days (weeks) before his arrival. I was there when he arrived, the front seat of passenger side had been removed and Waldo sat on the back seat with his feet resting on the front floorboard.

Entertainment

Some entertainment took place in the gym. There were wrestling matches and occasional visits by "celebrities". One was a mentalist named Dunninger. There was a radio show called "Phil Spitalny and the All-girl Orchestra". It featured "Marian and her Magic Violin". Marian was one of the entertainers who performed in the gym. Gospel quartets were very popular. A local favorite was "The Happy Four with Big Jim Waites". Wallace Edwards of P'dale was a member of the quartet. Pretty much every year, the senior class put on a play. In '48, it was called "A Ready-made Family" I played the role of a kid who put egg white all over his face to fake hydrophobia. We put the play on in P'dale and Covington Mill, and raked in the huge sum of $1300 - lots of money then. One entertainment that didn't take place in the gym was dancing. The only dancing for school-age kids in the mid-40s took place at a "teen canteen" in Covington and at "square dances" in several then-small towns like McDonough.

The big Saturday entertainment was to go to the "cowboy show" in the auditorium of the grade school. It also served as a movie theater, both nights and weekends. The theater was operated by a large man named Butler. There was a popcorn stand where one could sometimes get grains that didn't pop for free. The typical Saturday show consisted of a western featuring the likes of Hopalong Cassidy (good guy - he didn't sing), Gene Autry, and Roy Rogers (with the "Wonder Horse, Trigger"). There was also a "continued piece" (serial) that lasted for about 15 minutes. These featured a variety of heroes such as Tarzan. At the end of each piece, it was obvious that the hero had met his doom and there was no escape ("trapped by the prysmic catapult" - honest). Of course the next week would show some miraculous escape and didn't seem to be concerned with the fact that the escape took place before the event that ended the previous episode. In addition, there was usually a cartoon feature, often one of the Disney characters. On weeknights (how many?), more popular movies were shown. During the war, movie newsreels of the fighting were of special interest.

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