Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1922-11-11
THOUSANDS ATTEND
DEKA[B COUNTy'S
TOOTH BIRTHDAY
BY O. b. KELLER

of DeKalb county at Decatur Thurs
| day morning to attend the centennial
celebration Of the county of which the
| principal feature was gigantic his
torical pageant numbering fully g.
600 persons with appropriate floats
and a graphic presentation Of the
strides of progress made by the coun.
ty in the first hundred years of it's
existence. n
A perfect day smiled down upon
the assembled mutlitudes which pack
ed the courthouse square as the pa
rade moved away from Clairemont
avenue at 10 o'clock with fanfare
| of trumpets, the blare Of brass bands
| and the roar Of a sham battle con
tributed by various military units
equipped with high-powered rifles, a
machine gun in a dugout and one
FOUNDER fieldpiece firing twenty
times a minute.
The pageant moved around the
west side of the courthouse square,
then down McDonough street and
back to the square again by way of
East College avenue, Gambler street,
Trinity Place, Church street and
Sycamore street, thus traversing
most Of the city before returning to
the east side Of the courthouse
square. The marching groups dis
banded on the west side, while the
floats were parked around the other
three sides.
At 11:30 o'clock the formal centen-
NAL exercises began in the Decatur
Presbyterian church, with Charles
D. Mckinney presiding. G. Murphy
Gambler delivered the historical adj
dress, beginning with the signing of
the document that made DeKalb a
county December g., 1922, the date
of the centennial celebration having
been moved UP month to assure
fine weather. DR.. Andrew Sledd de-
livered an address on the future of
DeKalb county, and was followed
by DR.. Thornwell Jacobs, who award.
ed the medals to the various essay
contest winners.
At2 o'clock in the Decatur High
school building the agricultural meet.
ing began, with L. T. Y. Nash pre-
siding, and at 8 o'clock football
game was scheduled at the Decatur
High school grounds between Deca-
tur High and Commercial High of
| Atlanta. Y
All day long attended by thousands
of interested persons the historical
exhibits were open in the court room
Of the DeKalb county courthouse,
presided over by Mrs. J. A. Camp
bell, chairman. It was a wonderful
assembly of relics of the early days
Of the county, representing every Pc
Rod from revolutionary times to the
present. Old furniture was there,
some Of it manufactured in a little
cabinet shop on the north side of
the present courthouse square 80
years ago. Quaint old samples in
frames were on exhibition, work OF
our great grandmothers in their girl
hood days, with wonderful spreads
and table cloths and tapestry. Old
documents were on exhibition, let
tiers written by pioneers Of the coun-
| ty; indentures and deeds and official
papers; family Bibles more than a
hundred years old; flint lock rifles
Of the earliest make and muskets
used in the Civil war, with vicious
looking dueling pistols and swords
and bayonets and other war relics.
"We sent out word all through
the county asking people to bring
in their family treasures, heirlooms
and relics,''' said Mrs. Campbell,
"and they responded in a most
| wonderful manner. We placed no
restrictions on the type of the eX-
hibits, and in consequence we re-
ceived remarkable assortment OF
articles giving intimate sketches OF
the family life and times of our ear
lest pioneers"
he pageant included floats rang
ing all the way fro" the Indians at
Stone Mountain offering gifts to
Spanish adventures, who visited
this part of the country in 1910, to
"the hope and dependence of the
future" in the boys and girls Of the
various high schools of Decatur and
DeKalb county and the students of
Agnes Scott college and Emory and
Oglethorpe universities.
There was band of Indians de-
parting from the county by the old
Hightower trail, followed by the pio-
neer settlers entering Dekalb In
their covered wagons drawn by OK
en-. There was a detachment of vol
unteers for the Mexican war in the
United States army uniform of 1848,
and there was a detachment of
Spanish-American war veterans and
of World war veterans with a unit
from Fort Mcpherson. There was
a great array of resources of De-
Kalb county represented by groups
in costumes-milk bottles, ears OF
corn, cotton bolls, bales of cotton,
blocks of granite, poultry, vege-
with two remarkable floats showing
the process Of cotton manufacture
in 1922 and in 1922.
The entire celebration, pageant,
speeches and exercises and agricul-
tural meetings proved one of the
great successes in the history Of the
city and county, with an unprece-
denied crowd in attendance.
Mrs. H. L. Parry was director of
the pageant, and w. Bayne Gibson.
Googer, Decatur police chief, looked
UACef Inc liHpOrLdHL HdCter OIL reSu-
lating traffic. r. G. w. RamspecE
vas ,secretary-manager. of the organi.
zatton for the continual, an dthe ex-
ecutive committee was composed of
| the following: ..E
Charles D. Mckinney, chairman;
Scott Gambler, treasurer; Mrs. Frank
Armstrong, Mrs. James A. Campbell,
chairman of the historical exhibit
committee, r. E. Carroll, J. ~ Hall,
j. r. Mccain, Mrs. Ralph McClel-
land, Mrs. J. A. McCrary, L. T. Y.
! Nash and E. P. White.