County of marker: Carroll County
Location of marker: Bradley St. & Lee St., old depot, Carrollton
Marker erected by: The City of Carrollton, University of West Georgia & The State of Georgia
Text:
The Bustling Depot
WEST GEORGIA TEXTILE HERITAGE TRAIL[Map of Trail]
The Carrollton Textile Trail contains five signs within the city. They can be visited in any order, but a suggested route
is presented above. The four other locations are (1) along Adamson Street, (2) along Bradley Street, (4) at
Mandeville Mills, and (5) at the railroad crossing on Maple Street.
Carrollton depended on the railroad to insure the success of the local textile industry. Horse-drawn wagons brought freight such as fertilizer and large cotton bales in and out of the city until the arrival if the railroad in 1874. The importance of the railroad to the local textile industry continued until the mid-20th century.
Trains made the transportation of cotton and fertilizer such as guano much easier. Good fertilizer increased cotton production locally, contributing to the growing cotton trade and activity around the depot and the square. The depot became a bustling center of activity in Carrollton. Workers loaded heavy cotton bales, cotton yarn, and hosiery products to transport to larger markets. Passengers boarded the train to conduct business and visit friends and family along the route. The railroads linked Carrollton to small towns and big cities like Atlanta and later Alabama and Tennessee.
By 1902, the Central of Georgia, a railroad that played a significant role in Georgia's cotton and textile industry, had acquired the rail line. Now, the Norfolk Southern Company operates a freight line through Carrollton. The City of Carrollton and the Friends of the Carrollton Depot are preserving this historic building once so vital to the city.
The "New" Carrollton
Atlanta newspaper editor Henry W. Grady promoted a vision of a "new South" that would bring industry and railroads to rebuild the southern economy after the Civil War. In an 1874 editorial, the year the railroad was completed through Carrollton, Grady argued, "There is a New South, not through protest against the Old, but because of new conditions, new adjustments, and, if you please, new ideas and aspirations."
The arrival of the railroad helped Carrollton to fulfill Grady's deal of a "New South." Rural towns across the South were now part of a large trade system powered by new and improved railroads.
What other changes do you notice in these Sanborn Fire Insurance maps between 1900 and 1922? How has the
depot changes since 1927?
Mapping Growth
The cotton industry expanded so dramatically that the depot and its cotton platform both grew in size by 1922. The cotton platform had moved closer to the street, expanded, and serviced two spur lines! Why do you think that the cotton platform was moved closer to the street by 1922.
Jim Crow and the Railroad
By the early 1890s, racial segregation imposed by the Jim Crow laws impacted railroad travel. Black and white passengers waited in separate sitting rooms in the depot and traveled in separate passenger and sleeping cars.
All Aboard!
By 1890, four passenger trains arrived in the city daily. Passengers in Carrollton could travel to Atlanta and back again in just one day! That was a big improvement from taking a wagon or coach.
By the 1950s, automobiles and highway systems had begun to replace passenger service on the railroad. have you ever traveled by train to go on vacation or visit a distant city?
Railroad Men
Standing, from left to right, in front of the train were two railroad yard workers, the yard's hostler, the railroad yard clerk, the yard master, and the train engineer, John Henry Horton. The type of clothing they wore reveals who did the heavier work in the yard and who worked in the office. Until the mid-1960s. like textile mills under the Jim Crow laws, the Center of Georgia Railroad hired African American men to work primarily in jobs that required more physical labor like the hostler, wo moved engines in the train yard.