Butts County History Center

With the recent work going on to the west side of the New York Store Building on Third Street, this seemed like a good time to recount the history of the building and the business that created it. Be sure to click on the photographs to read the vintage articles about it.

The original Etheridge-Smith Company began life in 1882, and they eventually constructed a single story mercantile store on the corner of Third Street and Oak Street in Jackson (see colorized postcard) but after a number of years, they needed more space to expand their booming business. Wanting to stay on the corner of Third Street and Oak, they arrived at an innovative plan, which was to add a second floor to the building, while continuing to operate their business on the main floor. Once the second floor was complete, the two floors were connected internally by a grand staircase and a more impressive new facade was added to the Third Street side of the building.

Construction on the second floor began in 1909 and was finished in 1910, creating the largest store that downtown Jackson had seen. The expanded space served the company well, as the Etheridge-Smith New York Store remained in business for well over 70 more years, celebrating its 95th anniversary in 1977. While New York Store closed for good several decades ago, the building continues on, and if you look on the backside of the building's second floor, you can still see traces of the company name near the top of the building.

Camp Meeting is back in Butts County for its 131st session! More information below:

🌲131st Annual Indian Springs Camp Meeting is July 14th-July 24th Without a doubt, the biggest annual event that takes place each year in Butts County is Annual Holiness Camp Meeting, which is held each summer for ten days at the Indian Springs Holiness Campgroun…

Given recent events in our county and across the world, we take a look at life in Butts County during the fall of 1918, the last time our world was impacted severely by a pandemic.

The Spanish Influenza pandemic of 1918 was not uneventful in Butts County, as noted in the pages of the Progress Argus. The newspaper for several weeks listed the names of many citizens afflicted with the Spanish Flu or those who had come here to stay with others and weather the storm out. Apparently the Courthouse and School System had a run of it as well, because in the October 18, 1918 issue, it mentioned that Judge S.J. Foster, County Clerk William Wilson, School Superintendent Hugh Mallet and others were at home with it. The Pepperton schools also closed that week due to an "epidemic of Spanish flu".

The October 25, 1918 issue noted that the entire staff of the Progress Argus had all come down with the flu and asked people to forgive the shortcomings of that week’s paper.

Some deaths covered in obituaries included:

Mr. Harold Thompson, Age 26 (Camp Gordon)
Mrs. S.F. Thurston
Mrs. Lennie Washington (and noted other family members, including her husband, were seriously ill)
The child of Mr. & Mrs. R.E. Duke, age 4
Mr. Hubert Johnson of Worthville, age 27.

World War I ended on November 11, 1918, and it was noted on December 13th that by this point the Spanish Flu had killed more people than the World War had. In the United States alone, between September 15th and December 13th, 350,000 deaths of Spanish Influenza had occurred among the civilian population of the US. Approximately 20,000 soldiers had died in military camps and bases throughout the US, never having been sent to fight in the War.

Schools returning after Thanksgiving in November of 1918 noted that pupils and teachers would wear masks when school resumed. The method had been tried in other schools and that in many cases, the disease was “stamped out” in just a few days. This "will make the closing of schools unnecessary". It was also noted that there were a “good many cases of influenza in the town and county” and that quite a few children were out sick with it.

It was reported that that there now appeared to be two strains of the flu. The earlier, more predominant flu was considerably less lethal; the second strain was noted to be much more lethal. The Jackson Mayor and Council shut down schools for ten days in the city and enacted a "keep moving" rule to prohibit people from stopping and talking to each other on the street.

Most telling was an op ed written late in 1918 by the Jackson Progress Argus, pointing out the many ways the response nationwide could have been handled differently and which strangely echos much of what has been said during the present events in 2020.