Several of the photographs in my Chattooga County book and on this website were originally taken for a promotional brochure published by the Summerville Merchants Association and the Summerville Industrial Development Corporation, with assistance from the Area Development Division of the Georgia Power Company. The brochure, Summerville, Georgia: The City of Young Men, included the following photographs:
The
Riegeldale Tavern was listed as the official meeting place for all civic clubs in the county.
The
Presbyterian Church on West Washington Street. Note the parking meter
at the nearby bus station.
The
Summerville Methodist Church is still located across West Washington
Street from the former Presbyterian Church.
Summerville First Baptist Church. The brochure stated there were 71 churches in the county, attended by 75 percent of the population.
The
brochure included this shot of Summerville High School.
"In
August 1955, the city purchased a new fire truck with 500 gallon
pumping capacity. A regular weekly fire school was started in September
1955 and all firemen are required to put in eight hours monthly in
study and latest fire fighting methods."
Who
can forget the confusing layout of the traffic islands at the south end
of Commerce Street? Despite changes over the years, I'm sure the traffic islands
are still confusing to out-of-town drivers.
Highway 48 as it ascends Lookout Mountain. Large trees now border the highway.
"The Police Department is staffed by six well-trained and well-equipped officers. This police force operates one patrol car and one motorcycle."
The Summerville cop who posed for this photograph remembers it well:
"Joe Frank Thompson was the dispatcher for the police department, and sometimes came to work without a uniform. On the day the photo was made a photographer was making photos for some kind of publication, perhaps for the Chamber of Commerce, or the Retail Merchants Association, and they wanted a picture of the 'modern' police radio system. Joe Frank had come to work without a uniform, and I happened to walk into the office, either getting ready to go to work or else getting ready to get off work, and I was asked to pose for the photo. I really don't understand what difference it made if the subject was in uniform or not since you can't really tell whether or not I had a uniform on. My wearing a coat indicates the photo was made during the winter months."
The policeman is Robert S. Baker, author of Chattooga: The Story of A County And Its People, the definitive history of Chattooga County.
The Memorial Home.
Chattooga County Hospital.
The Montgomery Knitting Mill, "makers of children's fine hose."
The original Best Manufacturing building in Menlo.
An architect's rendering of the new Georgia Rug Mill.
The Trion Golf Course.
The two photographs above were captioned: "Fisherman's Paradise - Two Local Lakes."
You can't grow anything without plenty of water. Summerville spent a million dollars in 1955-56 on the municipal water system to triple its output.
Brochure and photographs courtesy of Chattooga Chamber of Commerce.