ADRIAN, GEORGIA

Adrian actually began as a place in 1891 when a post office was opened under the direction of Postmaster W.R. Smith. Smith, in accordance with the custom of the day, was given the honor of submitting a name for the town. Smith began looking at a long list of available names for a pleasant name. Smith didn’t have to look very far down the list for he decided on the name of Adrian. Adrian, a railroad town by birth, soon became a trading center for citizens of four counties which joined southwest of the new town. Those who lived in eastern Laurens, southern Johnson, western Emanuel, and northern Treutlen counties did most of their trading in Adrian - a fact that would later lead to a movement to create a new county with the crossroads town as the county seat.

No history of Adrian would be complete without mentioning an amusing story which led to the town being located in two counties, with a zig-zagging line running right through the middle of town. Joe Hutcheson and Burrel Kea each wanted a river bridge to built over the Ohoopee, known to anyone who lived in Adrian as “The Hoopee.” Kea, a county official at the time, won out. Hutcheson, not taking this defeat very lightly and not wanting to live in the same county as Kea, influenced the local members of the legislature to carve the line separating the new county of Johnson and Emanuel County in a way that none of Kea’s land was in his county. One of the results of this gerrymandered line caused Hardee Thigpen to sleep in Emanuel County, eat in Johnson County, and feed his horses in Treutlen County.

The First Baptist Church was established on September 25, 1891 under the leadership of Rev. J.A. Stephens and Rev. J.A. Chipley. The charter members of the church were J.F. Williams, Arcena Williams, Joseph Williams, Fanny M. Williams, Mr. and Mrs. J.M. Williams, Mr. and Mrs. Morgan Johnson, and Mary J. Cox. After a few services in a brush arbor, the church moved to a building known as the “Handberry House.” J.F. Williams, W.T. Bennett, and W.T. Phelps headed a committee to build a new church in 1892. Their efforts resulted in a two-story wooden building - the top story being the home of Adrian Masonic Lodge. This building was used until 1919, when the present building was constructed.

The impetus for the creation of the town of Adrian came in the early 1890s when Thomas Jefferson James, known to all the old-timers as Captain James, began grading his railroad, The Wadley and Mt. Vernon through the old Aaron Hutcheson place. James, like many other railroad men, used hired convict labor to build the railroad along the Johnson/Emanuel County line toward its terminus at Rockledge. James purchased the remaining assets of the bankrupt Perkins Lumber Company and set up a saw mill in the area. As many as 1,100 prisoners came to work in the mill, which was one of the largest in the state. E.P. Rentz, former Dublin banker and founder of Rentz, Georgia, took over operation in 1906. In 1908, the state outlawed prisoner leasing and the camp was closed. Captain James died in 1911. His house, said to have been located on the highest spot in town, burned in 1937, in a spectacular mass of flames which were seen for miles in every direction. Rufus Youmans, Carl Gillis, Jr., Richard Augley, Billy Belote, and others kept the mill in operation for nine decades. The Wadley and Mt. Vernon Railroad was completed to Adrian in 1893. By the end of the 19th century, the road was completed to Rockledge.

With 1,100 men in the area, the need for supporting businesses soon followed. Captain James drilled an artesian well to supply the camp with fresh water. One of his first wells, the flowing well at the northern end of the Ohoopee River Bridge, was a failure - being too far away for the water to be pumped up the hill to Adrian.

After sharing a church building with the Baptists for four years, the Methodists led by Capt. James, began the process of building their own church building. James, along with Aaron Hutcheson, Will Curry, and a Mr. Houston led the construction of Adrian Methodist Church building in 1897. That building burned in 1935 and was replaced by the current house of worship. Adrian is known far and wide for it native sons who have served in the ministry. Rev. Jack Key and his brother Rev. Billy Key, along with their friend the Rev. Robert Moye, began their ministerial careers as teenagers in the late 1930s are about to enter their eighth decades of preaching the Gospel.

Adrian Chapel C.M.E. Church was founded in 1894. St. James Baptist Church was founded in 1898. White Grove Church followed in 1900. The first school for black students was established in 1898 under the direction of Flora Troup. Faith Tabernacle Holiness Church was founded in 1933. Adrian’s newest church, The Church of Jesus Christ, began holding its services in the old Citizens Bank building in 1997.

The growth of Adrian accelerated in 1897 when the Brewton and Pineora Railroad began its operation as part of the Central of Georgia railroad system. The “B and P or the biscuit and potato” railroad crossed the tracks of the Wadley and Mt. Vernon in the center of community, which was appropriated called “The Crossing.” Some of the first stores were opened by W.R. Smith and M.L. Bailey.

Dr. Tyson led the establishment of the first telephone exchange in 1898. That same year, a catastrophic fire incinerated the main line of stores. J.Y. King moved in from Dublin and erected a department store on the ash-laden ground. In 1912, A.J. Peddy erected a line of stores along the Wadley and Mt. Vernon Railroad.

The act to incorporate Adrian as a town became effective on December 19, 1899. The town limits extended five-eighths of a mile from the intersection of the railroads. The enabling law gave the authority to the mayor and council to police the town, tax property in the town, and establish a public school system. The sale of liquor and gambling in any form was expressly prohibited. Billard and pool tables were outlawed, as well as any ten pin alley. In an effort to attract factories, new and existing ones were exempt from property taxes until 1909.

The first mayor of Adrian was Dr. Jeff Tyson. Dr. Tyson, died before taking office and was replaced by Mayor-Pro Tem, Will Curry. Capt. T.J. James, James Kea, and Aaron Hutcheson were elected to serve on the initial town council. Many of the early records of the town were destroyed when the city hall, then housed in the old depot, burned in the 1930s. Among those serving as mayor of Adrian over the last century are: Will J. Curry, M.O. Campbell, J.W.A. Ivey, Alonzo M. Rountree, W.M. Rountree, Leon G. Moye, Ed Ellison, H.C. Williams, Gordon A. Fountain, A.E. Harrison, S.P. Chapman, Carl L. Gillis, Jr., J.R. Youmans, James M. Wammock, Richard Augley, E.W. Avery, and John E. Tyson, Jimmy Woods, Von Kersey, Mike Thigpen, Harol Meeks, and Joe Lumley. Dr. Leon G. Moye served as mayor for twenty years, Von Kersey for ten years, while James M. Wommack and Carl L. Gillis, Jr. served eight years each. Enoch Oliver was the first Town Marshall.


Adrian’s population soared to nearly three thousand persons according to some. The actual population according to the census of 1900 was 833. The town’s population declined every ten years until the 1950s, when people began to return to Adrian. At the turn of the 20th Century the businessmen of Adrian included sawmill owners T.J. James and Rufus Pennington; merchants , Thomas Cheatam, William Bailey, Sidney Scott, Sig Lichtenstein, and Charlie Fountain; blacksmiths Noah Jones, Jim Ruis, and Henry Stocks; barber, Fred Page; liverymen George L. Mason and Zachariah Anderson; dairyman, Arthur Ponder; druggist, James Mason; hotel proprietor, Susan Green; and Gristmiller, Allen Ham.

The biggest industry in the town were the sawmills.Twenty eight men worked in the mill along with the 73 of Captain James’s prisoners under the supervision of John M. Davis. Among the town lawyers were Louis Lightfoot, Bryon Kea, Col.Stephens, and William Pope.. Dr. Jeff Tyson was the first town doctor. He was followed by Jim Hamilton, Alonzo Rountree, G.E. Youmans, Thomas Kea, Dr. B.C. Yates, and Dr. Hutcheson. Leon G. Moye, who came to town as the physician in Capt. James’s prison camp and remained in town, where he practiced medicine for fifty years. Dr. Donald Kennedy provided valuable in-town medical services in Adrian in the third quarter of the century in the Adrian Clinic which was established by Dr. Moye. Dr. J.R. Rogers practiced dentistry in the early years of Adrian.

Among the other early merchants of Adrian were: the Barwick Brothers, M.C. Carter, T.J. Braswell, Ed Page, W.K. Porter, A.J. Peddy, F.A. Franklin, Levy Spivey, Sam Chapman, Everett Webb, Milo Mimbs, Mrs. McConnell, George Barwick, Mr. Ellison, J.B. Hutchinson, Clint Smith, Homer Youngblood, Morris Key, Tom Fountain, the Coleman family, Mr. Dent, Will Clements, and T.J. James, who owned several business in town.

Adrian’s first bank, the Adrian Banking Company, was established on May 26, 1902 by R.M. Rogers, J.D. Tyson, H.L. Yarborough, G.H. Barwick, T.A. Cheatam, A.T. Cobb, M.O. Campbell,and C.A. Fountain. This bank was located on the old drug store site. The town’s second bank, The Farmers Bank of Adrian, was incorporated on December 21, 1905 by M.C. Carter, E.L. Ricks, A.G. Smith, T.J. James, and W.S. Clements. A third bank, the Union Savings Bank, appears to have been a successor to the first banks. It was incorporated on April 25, 1908 by T.J. James, W.F. Staten, G.E. Youmans, T.A. Cheatam, and G.W. Drake. The fourth, and most enduring, bank was incorporated on November 26, 1909. With a virtual “who’s who” of incorporators, the bank lasted until it was forced into receivership in 1932. The founders of Citizens Bank of Adrian included C.R. Williams, E.J. Sumner, G.W. Drake, Morris T. Riner, W.D. Sumner, E.W. Carter, F. Carter, S.J. Sumner, J.R. Rowland, W.R. Smith, W.S. Burns, H.A. Stewart, J.L. Williams, M.T. Drake, J.R. Cherry, C.B. Spell, John A. Braswell, F.C. Gillis, Hardee Thigpen, B.R. Sandifer, F.J. Williams, W. Horton, A.W. Gillis, J.W. Smith, James H. Campbell, Arch Woods, A.M. Skinner, Uriah Anderson, S.H. Lynch, R. L. Odom, Ira Thigpen, and R.B. Thigpen. The old bank building, used at one time as a city hall, still stands at the northeast corner of U.S. Hwy. 80 and Ga. Hwy. 15. Through the efforts of Rufus Youmans and others, the Citizens Bank of Swainsboro opened a branch bank in town, which operated into the 1980s.

Adrian had one newspaper and possibly another. “The Adrian Index”, which began in 1914, was a weekly paper which sold for one dollar per year. J.G. Elder was reported to have began publishing a newspaper in 1905.

Adrian benefitted greatly from the location of Dixie Overland Highway along its Main Street in the years of World War I. The highway, which later became known as U.S. Highway 80, brought thousands of travelers through the town, until the completion of Interstate Highway 16 in the 1970s.

By 1920, the population of Adrian had increased sufficiently to authorize the legislature to re-incorporate Adrian as a city. The city limits were extended to one mile in every direction from the railroad intersection. Mayoral and council powers were extended. The legislature gave the city the right to tax dog owners two dollars per dog, the power to limit vehicular speeds, and to make improvements to the city’s infrastructure.

Captain James built the first school near the location of the Tom Fountain home. He hired Miss Annie Cheatam to teach. The second school, located near Mrs. Emma Spell’s home, was used until 1906, when a bond issue was approved to build a new two-story school. This imposing brick structure, which was located across the street from the First Baptist Church, was completed at a cost of eight thousand dollars. Part of that cost was recouped through a tuition fee of $1.25 per student per month. It burned in February of 1926. The fourth school, most of which was razed in 1998, served students for over sixty years. A modern gym, which brought basketball indoors for the first time, was completed in the spring of 1940. Basketball dominated the sports scene in Adrian for over three decades. In 1940, the boys team won the county championship for the third consecutive year. Playing on that team, were the Rev. Billy, Kea, Henry Neal, J.T. Horton, Dale Thompson, Verlon Watson, and Edsel Flanders. They were a close team, most of them being related to each other. The current gym was completed in 1957. Adrian’s boys and girls basketball teams were always tough, fast, and scrappy. Crowds jammed the gym every night the Red Devils were at home.

Adrian sent its sons and daughters off to war in World Wars I and II. Those who didn’t enter military service served on the home front, some even moved to Savannah to work in the war supporting industries. Thankfully, most of them came home safe. Jim Gay, a member of the 11th Division, single-handedly captured 192 German prisoners in World War I. Alonzo Drake attained the rank of General and is a candidate for admission to the Georgia Aviation Hall of Fame. Adrian’s biggest post war business, Adrian Housing Corporation, began in 1962 under the ownership of Carl L. Gillis, Jr., in the old D&J Building. The company’s output soared in the 60s and 70s and remains one of the largest employers in the area in their current facilities on Hwy. 80 east of town.

Adrian was, and still is, the epitome of the small towns and cities of Central Georgia. For nearly everyone who ever lived there, it holds a lifetime of fond memories. Perhaps Paul Kea said it best in his 1982 poem,

Make Me Once Again Your Barefoot Boy

“I walk as a ghost in my own hometown,
keeping to the shadows of shaded streets ‘neath stately oaks, pecan, and sycamore
looking for friendly faces from that happy carefree childhood.
Forty years away from you have not my vision dimmed.
How simple was my world in the days of my youth.
Oh! To once again feel the chill where the swamp begins at the bottom of the hill.
Bending over for that first sweet sip from Cap’n James’ well.
Watching squirrels play in the hardwoods along the lush banks.
To walk ‘neath the bridge, mist rising from the swamp,
or climb a tangled mass of logs left by time and high water.
To reach the special bend in the river where we always swam.
Come Adrian, help me throw off this sickly ghostlike visage.
Rise in youthful vigor as did the fable phoenix.
Become again what was, not is or will be.
Enshrine my name in a place of honor on your scroll of living dead.
Forgotten am I only if you forget me.
Wrap me securely in your comforting mantle of childhood joy,
lest my two worlds be always but a dream apart.
Make me once again your barefoot boy.”