Jonathan Perry Knight Backed Creation of Lamar County

July 31, 2021 at 1:34 am (Governance & Civics, Knight Family, Uncategorized)
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Jonathan Perry Knight (1872-1953)

Jonathan Perry Knight, Representative from Berrien County, GA was celebrated as one of the instrumental men in creation of Lamar County, GA. Barnesville News-Gazette, August 26, 1920.

Knight of Berrien, as he was known in the Georgia legislature, Jonathan Perry Knight served multiple terms as a Representative from Berrien County and as state Senator from the 6th District. He served as Mayor of Nashville, GA, Judge of the City Court of Nashville, Judge of Alapaha Judicial Circuit, and sought a nomination to the state Supreme Court. Returning to the state legislature he became one of the instrumental supporters for the creation of Lamar County, the effort being led by Dr. Robert C. Woodard.

Jonathan Perry Knight (1872-1953) and Robert C. Woodard (1867-1949) were both born at Ray’s Mill, GA (now Ray City).

Jonathan Perry Knight was born on March 14, 1872, a son of John Graham Knight and Mary A. Davis.   He was a grandson of Levi J. Knight, pioneer settler of Ray City. J. P. Knight was educated at the public schools of Berrien County and attended North Georgia Agricultural College in Dahlonega, GA (now the University of North Georgia). He later attended Law School at Mercer University in Macon, GA. Prior to entering state politics, he served as the Clerk of the Superior Court in Berrien County during the sensational trial of James Thomas Beagles, who gunned down his brother-in-law at Ray’s Mill.

As a freshman assemblyman, Knight chastised his fellow legislators for outright “drunkeness” in the Georgia House of Representatives. He promoted prohibition legislation so vigorously, even the production of Coca-cola was threatened.

In the campaign of 1920, Jonathan Perry Knight was willing to “vote the women,” if that was what it took to win the election. He was an ardent campaigner in Tom E. Watson’s successful bid to represent Georgia in the U.S. Senate. Watson had identified as a white supremacist and ran as such during his failed presidential bid in 1908; Watson used his highly influential magazine and newspaper to launch vehement diatribes against blacks, Catholics and Jews. Knight continued his relationship with Watson until the latter’s death in 1922.

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Vidalia Union Station

July 24, 2021 at 11:53 pm (Georgia & Florida Railroad, Uncategorized)
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Thomas Babington McCauley, Engineer on the Georgia & Florida Railroad
Thomas Babington McCauley, Engineer on the Georgia & Florida Railroad

Vidalia Union Station on the Georgia & Florida Railroad

In 1908 the Georgia & Florida Railroad became Ray City’s rail connection to the world.  Within a few years, G&F trains stopped at Ray City several times a day, with freight and passenger service.  Ray City had its own train depot, and section houses for railroad employees and their families.  One of the locomotive engineers on the Georgia & Florida Railroad was Thomas Babington McCauley, who resided at Douglas, GA about 40 miles up the track north of Ray City.

G. Lloyd Preacher

In 1912, the Georgia & Florida Railroad constructed a Union Depot at Vidalia, GA about 100 miles above Ray City. The station would also serve the Seaboard Air Line Railway and the Macon, Dublin and Savannah Railroad, creating a significant transportation hub. The station building was constructed at a cost of $12,000 dollars and included the passenger depot, baggage room, express office and a restaurant. The facility was undoubtedly segregated, as were the Jim Crow passenger cars of the G&F Railroad.

The brick and stone building was designed by Geoffrey Lloyd Preacher (1882-1972), a prominent architect who later designed many Atlanta buildings including the Atlanta City Hall. Throughout his career, Preacher designed 417 structures in seven states, including 45 schools in Atlanta.

Georgia & Florida Railroad announces it will construct a Union Depot at Vidalia, GA. Railway Age Gazette, July 28, 1911.

Some time before 1920, Engineer McCauley moved from Douglas to Vidalia, GA, making his home depot the Vidalia Union Station. Anyone travelling from Ray City to points north would have passed through Vidalia.

Vidalia Union Station viewed from the southwest. Vidalia Union Station, built in 1912-13 at the junction of the tracks of the Georgia & Florida Railroad (right) and Seaboard Air Line Railway (left).Image source: https://hawkinsrails.net/shortlines/mds/mds.htm

Located in the triangular area bounded by the tracks of the G&F, the S.A.L, and Leader Avenue, Union Station was a fishhook-shaped building dominated by its two-story corner tower with bellcast conical roof. It also featured dormer windows, wide overhanging eaves with brackets, and a Ludowici tile roof. The tile was produced at the “Dixie” plant of the Ludowici Roofing Tile Co., at Ludowici, GA, (formerly known as Johnston Station on the Atlantic and Gulf Railroad.)

1913 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map from Vidalia, Toombs County, Georgia showing location of Union Station at the junction of Georgia & Florida Railroad, Seaboard Air Line Railway, and S.A.L’s Macon, Dublin & Savannah Railroad.

The depot water tower, which was the tallest structure in the area for nearly forty years, stood almost directly in front of Vidalia Union Station. The tank’s swiveling hoses pivoted almost 360 degrees, enabling trains to be serviced from either side of the structure.

To the northeast, the depot faced across the tracks of the S.A.L., paralleled by Railroad Avenue (now NW Main Street), where stood the Colonial Hotel and the New Vidalia Hotel. East of Union Station along Railroad Avenue was Vidalia’s first freight depot.

Union Depot, Vidalia, GA, circa 1913.

Today, there is no remaining sign of Vidalia Union Station. The building was torn down around the 1970s to make way for US Highway 280. Vidalia, GA residents still remember the Union Station fondly.

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