THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD

The Underground Railroad was a network of secret routes and safe houses established in the United States during the late 1700’s to mid 19th century (into the Civil War years). It was used by enslaved African Americans to escape into free states and Canada. However, it was not literally a railroad nor ran underground, but served the same purpose of transporting people long distances. The safe houses ran through homes, barns, churches and businesses, etc. and consisted of meeting points, secret routes, and various modes of transportation, usually by foot.

The term “Underground Railroad” was used because those who took passage on it disappeared from public view as if they had literally gone into the ground. (Actual underground railroads did not exist until 1863). It was known as a railroad and used rail terminology mainly because that was the transportation system in use at the time. The Railroad was often known as the ”Freedom Train” or “Gospel Train”.

Information about the routes and safe havens was passed along by word of mouth, signals and signs. Most messages were encoded so that they could be understood only by those active in the railroad. One such way was thought to be with old lanterns placed in certain places indicating the house/building was safe and able to accept these visitors. Another was with quilt designs displayed on fences, railings, bushes, trees, etc.

These quilt designs indicated how and where to travel, what was safe and what was not.

Examples of these designs and meanings;

Monkey Wrench – meant for them to gather tools needed for a long journey.

Wagon Wheel – meant to load the wagon or prepare to board the wagon to begin the escape.

Carpenter Block – meaning help from “Jesus”, would guide them through

Bear Paw – meant to take a mountain trail, out of view and follow the path made by bear tracks. The tracks would lead them to water and food.

Basket – meant for them to bring enough food and supplies to get to the crossroads.

Crossroad Block – referred to Cleveland, Ohio, an area offering several routes to freedom. It also signifies reaching a point where a person’s life will change, so one must be willing to go on.

Log Cabin Block – a secret symbol that would be drawn on the ground to indicate that a person is safe to talk to. It also advises seeking shelter.

Shoo-Fly Block – It may have identified a friendly guide who is nearby and can help.

Bow Tie Block – meant for them to dress in disguise, or put on a change of clothes.

Flying Geese Block – The points were meant to follow that direction, such as where geese would fly during their spring migration.

Birds in the Air Block – meant for them to follow the birds in the air.

Drunkard’s Path Block – meant for them to create a zig-zag path and not to walk in a straight line so to avoid pursuers in this area.

Sailboat Block – meant for them to take the sailboat across the Great Lakes.

North Star – mean to follow the north star.

The information about the Railroad was taken from Wikipedia web site. More information can be found there about the Railroad and the people involved in the movement during those times.

The quilt designs information was from research done by Julia Kilgore, Assistant at the Seven Springs Museum, for a display at the Museum located in the Black History Room.

Southern Quilt Trial

The Southern Quilt trail originated in Powder Springs, Georgia in late 2007 and early 2008 and is considered the Home of the Southern Quilt Trail. Their mission was and is to promote and preserve the history of traditional folk art quilt patterns that have been handed down from generations through the years. These unique art forms are displayed on historical farms and buildings in our community and the rural countryside.

Since then, the Southern Quilt Trail has been growing in the surrounding cities, counties and states including Bowden, Breman, Centralhatchee, Dallas, Douglasville, Tallapoosa, Ephesus, Hiram, Franklin and Roopville.

How it began – When Joe Sutton, owner of Powder Springs Flowers Gifts, went online to read his hometown daily newspaper he found, on the front page, a picture of three quilts on the side of a building. The article then went on to tell about the Appalachian Quilt Trail. After researching the Quilt Trail, he went across the street to the local antique shop, The Country Store of Seven Springs, where he and the shop owners, Gloria Hilderbrand and Diane Reese decided that Powder Springs needed to start a quilt trail of its own.

As members of the Seven Springs Historical Society, they presented the idea to the Society as a project. The Seven Springs Historical Society was very excited about starting this project and formed a Quilt Trail Committee.

After more research was done, it was found that the original trail was started in 2001 in Adams County, Ohio. Here, one quilt was painted in honor of a mother, while other quilts were painted to honor the heritage of quilting. This quickly spread to East Tennessee, Iowa, Kentucky, Virginia, North Carolina and other states. Quilts are and have been such a big part of everyone’s life.

The first quilt was then started at the County Store of Seven Springs, which is located in a building that dates back to the mid 1800’s and is on the National Register of Historic Places. Others were then painted and placed on other buildings in downtown Powder Springs. There are quilt squares on twelve of the buildings in our historic downtown area. Most of these buildings were built around 1910 – 1920. The quilt squares depict sixteen different quilt patterns that were popular around the turn of the 20th century. Most quilts were a necessity in the early days for warmth before heaters and central heat were available.

The Quilt Trail in Powder Springs:

“Star of Bethlehem” quilt square located on the east side of the Country Store of Seven Springs (Rooted Trading Co. since 2020). “Pickle Dish” located on the east side of a building at 3880 Broad Street. “Sunbonnet Sue” located on the side of a barn behind the Victorian house at 4279 Marietta. “Carpenters Wheel” located on the west side of 4477 Marietta Street. “Floral Basket” located on the east side of the building at 4456 Marietta Street (old Push Rods building). “Double Wedding Ring” located over the back entrance to Powder Springs Florist and gift shop at 449 S. Town Square. “Double Irish Chain” located on the west side of the Country Store of Seven Springs. “Star in a Square” located on the east side of Powder Springs Flowers & Gifts at 449 S. Town Square. “Rose of Sharon” located on the east side of the building at 4451 Marietta Street. “Snow Crystal” located on side of the former home of The Seven Springs Museum located in the city park on Brownsville Road. “Sampler Quilt” made up of several different patterns is used to hide a lot of electrical meters and wires on the west courtyard side of the Hand Me Ups building. “Grandmother’s Flower Garden” located on the west side of the Book Worm Bookstore at 4451 Marietta Street. “French Nosegay” located on the back of the brick building between the traffic circle and Lewis Road. This building was part of the hardware store used as a lumber yard.

One can pick up a brochure containing more information about the date of these quilts, their locations, photos and their histories at The Seven Springs Museum at the Bodiford House at 4355 Marietta Street. Come visit us at the Museum to see our quilt display and learn more of the history of Powder Springs and those who settled and lived in the area.

One criteria for buildings and barns is that they should be old enough to be considered historic, generally at least 50 years old. One criteria for traditional quilt patterns is that old quilts are hand pieced or hand appliqued.

More information about the Southern Quilt Trail, the criteria for quilt patterns to use and buildings or barns that qualify as places to display them can be found at www.southernquilttrails.com.

1882 and 1905

In 1882, the Southern Railroad was built. The train traveled from Atlanta to Chattanooga, Tennessee. The railroad helped to put Powder Springs on the map.

The old Depot sat downtown on Murray Avenue along the tracks, back behind the old brick building that sits between Lewis Road, near the traffic circle. This old building was once a cotton warehouse used by the cotton Gin, which sat next door. It was then used from the early 1900’s to the mid 1980’s as the lumber yard and storage by the Hardware Store that was located on Broad Street. This made it easy for these merchants to ship their merchandize, as well as receive any supplies needed for their businesses. The Depot was demolished in 1973.

The Southern Railroad was originally known at the East(tern) Tennessee, Virginia and Georgia Railroad. It was later called the Norfolk Southern Railroad. The Southern Railroad still operates today as CSX but does not make any stops in Powder Springs.

In 1905, the Seaboard Railroad was built. The train traveled from Atlantato Birmingham, Alabama. This railroad also helped to put Powder Springson the map. It was a vital passenger and commercial link to Atlanta. It carried mail, passengers, general freight and cattle.

The Seaboard Railroad was called the Seaboard Coast Line. The railroad actually originated in Florida and ran north up the coast through North Carolina to Virginia. It spurred off the original line to expand to the west to reach the towns that did not have rail service. Another name was the Seaboard Air Line Railroad even though there was no “air service”. This name was more to describe the railroad as “streamline” with its service to quickly get to one destination to the next.

The old Depot sat along the railroad tracks on the righthand side of Dillard Street before crossing the tracks (Silver Comet Trail) where Dillard Street currently ends. The Depot was torn down in 1945. The railbed is now the Silver Comet Trail, a multi-use trail.

Both Railroads opened up new markets for the shipment of the towns goods to other areas of the country. The town was able to receive goods quicker and easier. It also provided passenger service to Powder Springs and out of Powder Springs to the rest of the world. The railroad was essential to the growth of the town, as it made travel, jobs and business very good for the locals. Transportation, hauling and passenger services were being provided.

Cotton could now be shipped easier. From 1899 to 1910 Peaches were grown here and shipped out by rail. A few years later, Tomatoes were grown and shipped out. Mail could be sent and received in mere days.

Access to jobs outside of Powder Springs were now opened to the people of Powder Springs. The railroad itself provided job opportunities for the town folk, as well.

Train Excursions begin to run in the summer months to the resort town of Powder Springs. The first one was advertised in 1882 by the Georgia Pacific Railroad Company and the Cincinnati & Georgia Railroad Company on Thursday, June 1st, 1882. It was billed as their “FIRST EXCURSION – ATLANTA TO POWDER SPRINGS AND RETURN.”

Another one billed as a “GRAND EXCURSION Train Ride planned on Friday, May 18,1888 and put together by the Powder Springs High School which provided the Powder Springs Brass Band entertaining the riders.

The Excursion Train leaves from Austell at 5:45 am going to Cave Spring and returning the same day. Stops along the way are, once leaving Austell, Powder Springs, Lithia Springs, Douglasville, Hiram and Dallas. Governor John B. Gordon accompanying the travelers.”

Opportunities and jobs on the railroad were now available to the community. When the Southern Railroad Depot was built at the end of Atlanta Street around 1882, a number of blacks began to move into the area around it. Several adjacent land-owners developed plats and began to sell lots here. Around the same time the railroad constructed “section housing” for its African American workers at the intersection of present day Butner and Lewis Streets. These duplex houses, now gone, had two rooms in each unit. Many of the men had got tired of farming, not being able to make a living for their families and not owning their land. The railroad now provided a better opportunity for these families.

Section housing was also built along the Seaboard Railroad close to the tracks around Dillard Street and present day New Macland Road. These houses were provided to the families of men who maintained the tracks and switching equipment. Several of these houses were sold by the rail- road when the Depot was torn down in 1945 and moved back from the tracks. Charles and Charlene Pope lived in one of the houses until sometime in the late 1980’s or early 1990’s when New Macland Road was to be widened. They sat about where the Walgreen’s Drug Store is today.

There were jobs maintaining the railroad tracks, the trains themselves, as flagmen, engineers and Porters.

Archie Watson Young (1917-2001) former Atlanta Black Cracker Baseball Player, was a Porter for 30 years for the Southern Railway on passenger trains. Frank Moon (1923-2001) worked for Southern Railroad. Waymond Bookout (1899-1960) was a Flagmen and Conductor of Pullman Cars for Southern Railroad. Albert Voyles (1911-1996) began working at 16 for his father, then a section foreman, in Powder Springs, for the Seaboard Railroad. He worked first as a laborer then as section foreman in charge of maintaining the tracks and switching equipment. After working for the railroad for 42 years, he retired and they moved back to their childhood hometown of Powder Springs. Glenn Mitchell worked as a Flagman for the Southern Railroad for many years. (His uniform is on display at the Seven Springs Museum).

These were just a few of the men who made their living working on or for the railroads.

Memories – According to an article in the Marietta Daily Journal around 1989 or 1990, Sara Frances Miller remembers that lots of people rode the train (Seaboard) to Atlanta for the day. That a letter from Powder Springs could be delivered to a lot of points in one day. The Seaboard made five runs a day through Powder Springs affording many opportunities to ride the train to town.

Catherine Mellichamp remembers riding this train. She said that she and her friends used to go into Atlanta to the movies in the afternoon. She said “it was a delight”. They would get off at the old Terminal Station in downtown Atlanta and went to the old Paramount or Roxy Theaters.
Leaving Powder Springs at about 5:30 or 6 pm on the weekend, they took the midnight train back. The trip cost 15 cents and took a half hour. These trips on the train were made enjoyable because they could walk around in the trains while they rode. Mrs. Mellichamp admitted that there
was one hazard of riding those old trains. The ashes would come in if you opened the window and get in your eyes. Also, another impact on the community was that occasionally tramps would jump off trains behind their house, come to the back door and beg for food from her mother. When they would wander up, my mother did not mind feeding them. Her mother gave them water to drink and wash and fed them on the back porch, “white and black alike”. She added that most were considerate but some were unappreciative.

Madeline Moon also has fond memories of the trains. Her father, Frank Moon, was an Engineer and Conductor for Southern Railroad on the route from Atlanta to Chattanooga. She and her mother walked to the Train depot everyday when his train came through town. He would toss a chocolate candy bar to her as he passed. When the train stopped for passengers, Madeline, and sometimes her friends, would board and ride to Chattanooga where they would eat before boarding for the return trip. She fondly remembers all the Moon Pies she ate on those trips!

The trains brought prosperity to Powder Springs along with opportunities for all the residences of the town. Although, the Seaboard Railroad is gone, people are still able to enjoy the “railroad” as they use the Silver Comet Trail. You might say that the “passenger train rides again!”

1982 interview with Ted Leake by Patti Briel:

Cotton had been the main money crop for the farmers of the area, but the arrival of the boll weevil soon put a stop to growing cotton. The farmers were hard hit with little or no money. They had to find some other means of livelihood.

The Georgia Agricultural Extension Services came to the assistance of the farmers and helped them to establish a Cheese Factory Cooperation in the region. In 1921, Powder Springs had 15 investors to put up $100 each to establish the Co-op. With the capital investment of $1,500 the factory was then opened in with E. R. (Ted) Leake accepting the position of operator and manager. The Cheese Factory was located in a four room house on Anderson Street directly behind the Southern Depot.

Member farmers, or their wives, would deliver 5 to 10 gallons of milk early each morning to be weighed and dumped into a large, double boiler style vat. The milk was then heated and chemically treated to curdle it.

Whey, a biproduct of the cheese was separated and used by the farmers to feed their hogs. The butterfat was processed and the hardened cheese was cut into rectangular pieces and placed in a 6 inch by 18 inch hoop press. After being in the press for 24 hours, the hoops of cheese were then coated with hot paraffin and left to cure.

Mr. Leake remembers eating strips of cheese that were ready for the hoop presses like it was candy.

Mr. Leake remembers some problems he had with the cheese. One is very vivid in his mind because it earned him a nickname. One day he had a cheese that looked real good, but they began to swell and swelled up as large as a watermelon. He did not know what to do so he got on the train and went to Rockmart to ask the Agricultural Extension Agent who had set up the cheese factory, what had happened and what could he do about it. Mr. Mollett told him what his problem was and how to remedy it. Mr. Leake took the next train back to Powder Springs and “fixed” his swollen cheese.

Some of the boys heard about the swollen cheese and promptly dubbed Ted Leake “The Big Cheese”, thus giving him the nickname that he was thereafter known for many years!

The Cheese Factory did well for a time. It was capable of producing 8 to 10 cheeses per day.
The cheese was sold to wholesalers in Atlanta and to local merchants, who sold it in their stores like Mr. Lovinggood’s. It gave the farmers who produced the milk some money each month as opposed to only once a year when their cotton was sold.

Even soldiers returning on furlough from World War I had heard of the cheese factory. Some were surprised at the modest operation.

Mr. Leake had a steam whistle and any leftover steam in the boilers at the end of the day was used to blow the whistle just like a large factory. This practice was not particularly popular with some of the residents.

The Cheese Factory was successful for a time. Unfortunately, when the Georgia Cheese Factories began to make an impact on the southeastern market, the major cheese manufactures in Wisconsin began to lower their prices drastically to create competition and the Co-ops like the one in Powder Springs were unable to compete with them.

As the cheese market dwindled, Mr. Leake resigned as manager and operator of the Cheese Factory. A Mr.Westbrooks and other members of the Co-op took over, but were unable to keep the factory going. They had to close the factory in 1923. After the Wisconsin cheese makers succeeded in putting the Georgia Co-ops out of business, they raised their prices.

“Moonlighting” with the Big Cheese

1982 interview with Ted Leake by Patti Briel

At the same time the “Big Cheese” was operating the Cheese Factory he was doing some of the first “Moonlighting” in Powder Springs. Mr. Leake said he didn’t know it was ‘moonlighting”
until many years later. He was holding down two jobs. Mr. Leake was also the chief electrician for the battery powered Delco Light System that served the electric power needs in Powder Springs. He went to the Cheese Factory around 5:00 am and was usually through there by noon. He then went to his job at the Delco Light System.

Harry Miller was operating the Delco Light System and had been doing it all by himself. Keeping
the plant going, making all repairs and looking after the finances. He approached Mr. Leake and asked him if he would work in the afternoons and early evenings. So, Mr. Leake took the job as the Chief Electrician for the battery powered Delco Light System. Mr. Leake thought the system was owned by stockholders and the city.

To supply the electrical demands of the town, two generators powered a bank of Delco Batteries, which were charged during the afternoon to furnish the power for the street lights, businesses and homes at night. No electrical appliances were allowed, which was not a problem because these appliances were virtually non-existent at the time. Electric lights were also limited.

There were no meters. Citizens were charged a flat fee according to the number of rooms in their houses. The bigger the house, the more they had to pay.

Kerosene was used in the motors and in 1922 and 1923 it cost from eight to ten cents a gallon. The engines were high speed and the biggest problem was keeping good spark plugs or the engines burned out quickly.

The control battery was on one end in a big glass container with a big white ball in it. When the batteries were fully or sufficiently charged, the white ball would rise to the top. When the battery was getting low, it sank to the bottom. The exhaust pipe went into an old dry well outside the building. The well was kept covered with planks. Sometimes the fumes collected in the well and a spark would start a fire. Buckets were kept under the eaves to catch rainwater which were then used when needed to douse the fire.

In the middle twenties the delco equipment was wearing out and would need to be replaced. However, it would be expensive to do so. By this time, the Georgia Power Company had come to Austell. The Power Company approached the city of Powder Springs about buying the Delco System and obtaining a franchise. The City thought it would be a wise Move and so they agreed. By 1928, The Georgia Power Company was supplying the electrical power for Powder Springs.

The Delco Electrical System was located in a building on the left side of what is now Pineview Drive, just off Marietta Street, behind the old city hall, before getting to Jackson Way and the Baptist Cemetery. At one time, Mr. Leake also had a grocery store next door. There were several other businesses on this street in the early days of the town.