A short history of Griffin, Georgia, part four

4. 1880-1990

Perhaps the most significant events in the return of economic strength to the South, were the election of Democrat, Grover Cleveland, to two terms in the latter part of the Nineteenth Century and the delivery of the "New South" speech delivered by Henry Grady in New York City. With the election of a Democrat in the White House, Reconstruction ended and the Southern states were reinstituted into the union. However, with the delivery of the "New South" speech by Henry Grady, northern industrialists and entrepeneurs began to look at the south as a place of opportunity.

During this time, cotton mills were seemingly established in every city, town and hamlet in the southeast. It was during this time that the first mills were constructed in Griffin, beginning with the Kincaid Mill. The proximity of cotton and cheap labor drove the mill owners to relocate from New England and the middle Atlantic states to the southeast. Textiles began to rival and even supplant the agricultural portion of the economy in Griffin and Spalding County. As the years progressed, more and more farm workers, the children of farmers, and even the farmers themselves, left the farms upon which they had been raised and made their way to the mill villages which sprang up around the mills in Griffin.

The general economy of Griffin began to thrive. Griffin became a more significant part of the farming communities around Spalding County. Having the railroad and the mills which bought the cotton grown on the farms continued to grow the economy in Griffin. Griffin became the market town for the surrounding counties in the area, the place where people came to buy and sell and build their wealth.

However, the economic gains of the middle and upper classes in Griffin did not pass on completely to the lower classes, particularly the African-American citizens of Griffin. Life was still hard on tenant farms and in the growing shanty towns which housed the majority of African-Americans in Griffin and Spalding County. As a result, many African-Americans continued to leave Griffin for northern cities and the promise of jobs in existing industries in the north.

The racial divide in Spalding County was burdensome on the African-Americans, who were continuously under the thumb of the white citizens of Griffin. The Ku Klux Klan was revived in the early part of the Twentieth Century and they grew stronger as the century continued. The behavior of the African-American citizens of Spalding County was constantly under the eye of the government and under the control of the unofficial "police" patrolling the county streets.

The continous exodus off the farms in the county to the industrial factories of the north was especially prevalent during the Depression and afterward. Opportunity and the promised deliverance from racism, a promise which often proved untrue, drove many people toward the large cities of Chicago, Philadelphia, Detroit and Cleveland. One such citizen of Spalding County who found his way to Chicago and, ultimately, Philadelphia, was Dox Thrash. Thrash grew up in northern Spalding County on a small farm. In his late teens, Dox left Spalding County to go on the road as an entertainer. Thrash served in African-American units during World War One. Ultimately, he made his way to Chicago where he enrolled in art school in the 1920's. Graduating from art school at the end of the Twenty's, Thrash became an artist just as the Depression gripped the nation.

After the election of Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1932 and the establishment of programs for relief and assistance under the New Deal, Dox Thrash found employment with the WPA. Soon, his art work was depicting the workers in industry in northern cities. After the Depression ended, Thrash located to Philadelphia where he worked as a printer. It was during his time as a printer in Philadelphia, in which Thrash developed a new mode of printing which allowed Thrash to produce some amazing works of art. These works of art have found their way into exhibits at the Philadelphia Museum of Art and elsewhere. Sadly, because of his race, few people in Griffin have even heard of Dox Thrash. Even most African-Americans in Griffin, some having lived here all their lives, have never heard of the printer/artist who was born in Spalding County and found fame in Philadelphia and Chicago.

In the 1950's, Wyomia Tyus, another African-American who grew up in Spalding County, left Griffin for fame and fortune elsewhere. Wyomia Tyus attended Tennessee State University in Nashville, where she participated on the track team. In the late 50's and early 60's, Tyus represented the United States and won gold medals in sprints and relays. Again, sadly, because of her race, no parades or welcoming ceremonies would come for her in Griffin until the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. Having left Griffin for California, Tyus was chosen to participate in the torch run as it came to the courthouse in Griffin. Finally being honored for her accomplishments, she could witness to the racial changes which had finally occurred in Griffin since she was a young women.

In the late sixties, the civil rights movement finally made its way to Spalding County. As in many communities, the leaders of the African-American community met with the more progressive white citizens of Griffin. Voting rights and the ability to place black citizens in elected positions of power literally changed the complexion of government in Spalding County. In the late sixties and early seventies, the school system, which had been operated as an unequal, separate system for decades, combined in order to integrate the schools. As the children were integrated in the schools, the opportunities of African-Americans in Griffin grew. By the eighties, African-Americans were spreading out from the traditional jobs as laborers, domestics, and food preparers and servers to bankers, lawyers and doctors. Suddenly, a lot of African-American citizens began to return to communities like Griffin to live. Many lived in neighborhoods which had been established with restrictive covenants which forebade the sale of houses to "people of color." Realtors started showing houses in "white neighborhoods" to African-Americans, Hispanic-Americans and Asian-Americans. Suddenly, the complexion of the neighborhoods became more racially mixed.

In the meantime, the textile industry was changing. Labor for textile required little education in the beginning. However, other industry require more technical knowledge and education. At the same time, the monetary requirements of textile workers increased, reducing the profits of the textile companies. In Griffin, the textile mills which dominated the city began to close or move their facilities to other states, other countries and other continents. As had happened at the end of the 19th century when textile manufacturers followed the cheap labor to Georgia, the companies continued to relocate to Mexico, Central America, and finally to Asia. The passing of NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement), intended to make the balance of trade fair between the countries constituting North America (Canada, USA and Mexico), instead, caused more companies to leave their homes to go follow the cheaper and cheaper labor and overhead. The end result was the end of textiles as a viable industry in Griffin.

Meanwhile, certain decisions made by the citizens of Griffin and elsewhere had an adverse effect on the growth of Griffin, just as the decision to ignore the opportunity to have the intersection of the north/south and east/west railroad lines in Griffin. The next large negative decision was the decision for the route of Interstate 75 to change from the present route of U.S. 19/41 to the present eastern route through Henry County. This decision was probably made by politicians in Henry and Clayton County who had the political power to alter the original route to the present route. The end result was the failure of Griffin to have close access to an interstate highway.

The second adverse decision was the choice to refuse the opportunity to have a four year college located in Griffin. Given this opportunity, the town fathers chose to turn down this opportunity in favor of technical education. This choice turned down the positive affects of a college atmosphere located in the city of Griffin. The irony of this decision is that earlier, city fathers had located small colleges in Griffin.

Finally, in the early 90's, city government tried to relocate the existing public airport to a site in the western part of the county. FAA officials considered the plan and approved same. Money was set aside for the creation of a newer, bigger airport. However, some local negative response from adjoining landowners caused the city and county governments to decide not to relocate the airport. Now, the airport has been reduced from its former use. The construction of residential subdivisions along the approach route has reduced the ability of the airport authority to extend the runway. At this point, the issue of a larger local airport is on hold, probably forever.

1990-present

The last twenty years in Griffin have seen a waxing and waning of the population and industry in the city. At the same time, adjoining counties have seen huge growth, in connection with the general growth in Metropolitan Atlanta. The growth in Henry, Fayette and Coweta counties has come about for several reasons. First of all, proximity to the Atlanta Airport and I-75 and I-85 has helped the growth of these counties. Next, the availiability of large areas of undeveloped land, for relatively cheap prices has helped as well. Finally, the existence of city and county governments which were pro-development, helped builders and residential developers to develop the farm land into residential developments, strip shopping centers and other commercial developments. The centrality of Griffin as market town and place of culture and commerce has disappeared.

At the same time, the government in Griffin and Spalding County have fought over the possibility of growth, both residential, commercial and industrial. Griffin has not had the same pro-development appearance as the other counties in the southern crescent.

However, certain changes have pointed to future development. First of all, the University of Georgia did expand their facilities in Griffin to allow for future expansion of the instruction in Griffin. The facility is now known as the University of Georgia, Griffin campus. Secondly, a new residential development on the north side of Spalding County has promised a potential growth in the area. Finally, infrastructure improvements along Georgia 16 to Interstate 75 and on Georgia 155 into Henry County have promised better access to downtown Griffin from the interstate. In addition,the over-crowding of contiguous counties has pushed growth into Spalding County. The perception of Griffin as a community far from Atlanta has been reduced by the expansion of Metropolitan Atlanta into farther and farther counties. Finally, the possibility of rail service through Griffin to link to the rapid transit and airport in Atlanta promises the return of Griffin as a transportation hub.

As a county close to the ever-growing metropolis of Atlanta, Spalding will see growth in the future. Perhaps the only question is how we manage that growth and what kind of growth will come. The present leaders of Griffin must look with confidence and wisdom toward the future. Mistakes have been made over the years which have harmed or inhibited the growth of Griffin. All we can do is learn from our mistakes and go forward.