Peachtree City Magazine History Special Edition

Special History Edition • 2022

M A G A ZI NE SPECIAL EDITION

The Story of the Development of Peachtree City How 15,000 acres of farmland and woods became a self-governing and award-winning city from 1956 – 2003.

Peachtree City Library photo by Dan Nelson About this publication: This is a compilation of four articles written over a period of two years, in the Peachtree City Magazine. The articles appeared in the following issues: Fall 2018-Winter 2019; Spring-Summer 2019; Fall 2019-Winter 2020; and SpringSummer 2020. The complete issues of the Peachtree City Magazine are located in the Joel Cowan History Room of the Peachtree City Library. These issues are available to students and researchers.

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>> peachtree city DEVELOPMENT HISTORY

MA G A ZI NE SPECIAL EDITION

How did 15,000 acres of farmland and woods become the award-winning, self-sustaining city chartered by the State of Georgia and named Peachtree City?

Editors / Publishers Charlie Nelson, Anna Nelson Peachtree City Magazine www.peachtreecitymagazine.com charlie@printgrahics.net anna@printgraphics.net

Publisher – Mike Nelson Coweta-Fayette Guide www.guidecowetafayette.com mike@mediaworks67.com

Creative Director Magazine Design & Layout Marilyn Wankel The Peachtree City Magazine is published semi-annually by Print Graphics Services Inc., 101 Tivoli Garden Road, Peachtree City, GA 30269. No portions of this issue may be reproduced without prior written consent of the publisher.

The editors are not responsible for return of any unused materials. All efforts have been made to include factual editorial copy throughout the magazine. However, the publisher is not responsible for any incorrect information contained within. © 2022.

The Peachtree City Magazine welcomes all social & communityrelated information. Send materials, non-returnable, to: The Peachtree City Magazine, 101 Tivoli Garden Road, Peachtree City, GA 30269. Call us about advertising or photographic and editorial contributions at 770-631-9159.

T

hat was the question foremost in mind in 2017. At that time the publishers of the Peachtree City Magazine began looking for the answers. The quest to find answers produced articles contained herein. The articles were written in four issues from Fall 2018 to Spring 2020.

From the beginning we recognized that it was important to have a complete, and accurate history written without any spin or political bias. The purpose was to provide students and historians details of how Peachtree City became an award-winning city. It also focused on the importance of being a self-governing city in order to finance future development and provide leadership required; coordinate the engineering of the development within the constraints of money available; create a community of people who had to learn to govern themselves; and provide the money needed to continue development after the developer would leave town.

The period studied was June 6, 1956, through 2003 which was the time that the development of the land was controlled in whole or part by various developers. The developers control began by acquiring and purchasing all of the land giving them complete responsibility to build the infrastructure which gave them complete control of zoning and planning in the beginning. As the development proceeded and the land was sold to builders and residents, the citizens increasingly took control of the zoning and planning of the existing land from 19592003.

Fortunately, many of the key people are still with us today and were willing to offer their personal insights and articles. This work could not have been accomplished without the willing, and honest assistance of Joel Cowan who at one point when asked about some personal documents asked, “are you CIA?” The reply was no, but we did a lot of digging to put the story together in a clear and meaningful way.

Corrections and Comments “The first dam that broke down and flooded was built under contract with a builder in Newnan. The replacement dam was built by Chip Conner and Joel Cowan – it never flooded”- quote from Chip Conner.

“The photo on page 13 that was identified as the Tyrone Bank was not the bank but was another Redwine family building”. Comment by unidentified letter writer.

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~ Overview ~ Peachtree City didn’t just happen, it took many people with many talents over many years to envision and build the city we know today.

Each developer and manager had many people in support roles – they have purposely been left out of this narrative, so that we can focus on the developers and recognize the mayors who worked alongside of them.

Throughout this development phase all infrastructure was paid for by the developer. The original goal was to build a self-sustaining city. The beginning of the city paying its own bills for funding the services provided, but not infrastructure, happened when Howard Morgan, 4th mayor, 1972-1977.

It is also interesting to note that in the end, the City Council, twice, turned down plans by Pathways Communities to develop 400 acres on the West side of Peachtree City, which led to the sale of the land to John Wieland Homes, which later built Centennial and Everton subdivisions.

After that sale, Pathways Communities opened an office in Atlanta. d

PEACHTREE CITY: THE AWARD–WINNING CITY

T

he Welcome Sign at the corner of Highway 54 and 74 is a reminder of the earlier days when newcomers and visitors were increasing. The idea that prevailed at that time was “lets work together to make it better”.

In 1995, the previous sign was about 20 years old. It was informative but not beautiful or impressive. A few individuals combined their creative talents to build a new Welcome Sign – the one that we see today. Rotarians

Bill McDonald, Tom Farr, Don Cobb, and Frances Meaders, decided that the old sign should be replaced.

Each person had a different background that made it work. Bill McDonald was a business owner, Tom Farr was a banker, Don Cobb was an architect, and Frances Meaders was a retired city clerk. They all belonged to the Peachtree City Rotary Club, the first civic club organized in Peachtree City. The Rotary Club financed

the sign and was repaid in part by all of the participating clubs. Currently, the sign displays the logos of some of the prominent non-profit organizations and clubs that welcome our community, from children to seniors, to participate and be a part of the future of Peachtree City. Each panel represents an “opportunity to serve” and an “opportunity to plug in”, making Peachtree City an even better place to live.

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>> peachtree city TODAY

Golf cart bridge over the Braelinn Ponds.

Photo by Dan Nelson

Dragon Boat Festival Photo by Atul Khasnis

Shakerag Festival Photo by William Courtney

BMX Track

Drake Field Courtesy of Peachtree City CVB 4 | PEACHTREE CITY MAGAZINE | SPECIAL HISTORY EDITION |

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Frederick Brown Jr. Amphiteater Photo by Terrance Rushin

Alzheimer's Walk

July 4th Parade Photo courtesy of Marie Schlosser

Pathway Activities, Battery Way Photo by Dan Nelson | www.peachtreecitymagazine.com | SPECIAL HISTORY EDITION | 5

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Atlanta Regional Airport, Falcon Field Kedron Aquatic Center Photo courtesy of the PTC Recreation Ctr.

Peachtree City U-14 Girls Lightning Soccer AFC National Champions Photo by Bryan McDermott 6 | PEACHTREE CITY MAGAZINE | SPECIAL HISTORY EDITION |

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Lake Peachtree Activities Photo by Mike Swanson “Like us”” on the

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The Avenue Peachtree City Photo courtesy of The Avenue First Presbyterian Church Photo courtesy of First Presbyterian, PTC

McIntosh High School Golf Cart Parking Photo by Tom Black

Little League Baseball National Champs Photo by Avory Sports Photo | www.peachtreecitymagazine.com | SPECIAL HISTORY EDITION | 7

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>> peachtree city SUMMARY TIMELINE

Summary Timeline of the Development of "New Town" / Peachtree City Special History Edition Peachtree City didnʼt just happen, it took many people with many talents over many years to envision and build the city we know today. Each developer and manager had many people in support roles – they were purposely left out of this narrative, so that we can focus on the developers and recognize the mayors who worked alongside of them.

Next Pages The following pages are from articles that were written covering four issues from Spring 2018 to Spring 2020, describing the development of our award-winning city!

■ June 6, 1956 (For details see page 12.)

Meeting to discuss “New Town” between Peter Knox, Jr., and Willard Byrd.

■ July-August 1956 (For details see page 12.)

January 2, 1959, Joel, and Geri Cowan moved into their newly built home on Shakerag Hill, and he is listed as Mayor on the new charter documents.

■ February 1959, Bessemer Securities accepts offer on land.

(For details see page 16.)

Realizing that the purchase of the land was too much to undertake alone, Knox, hired Phillip Hammer to work with Willard Byrd, to produce a Feasibility Study of the New Town to seek investors for $175,000.

The document was dated August 11, 1956, and named “New Town – Metropolitan Atlanta”.

James Riley, VP Bessemer Securities of New York City, after a personal visit to Fayette County, accepts the offer made by Joel Cowan on behalf of the FCDC, and Bessemer offers to purchase the existing land and finish the assembly of the land.

■ September-October 1956 (For details see page 13.)

■ March 9, 1959, Peachtree City is chartered by State of Georgia. (For details see page 16.)

Knox organized Fayette County Development Corporation (FCDC) using the capital raised from a few stockholders who he knew personally.

FCDC, represented by Earl Denny and Golden Pickett open an account at Farmers & Merchants Bank, Tyrone managed by Floy Farr. FCDC used the account to begin to purchase an intended 15,000 acres to build a city.

■ March 27,1957 FCDC went public. (For details see page 14.)

FCDC, sought to raise $150,000 by selling its stock to Georgia residents to keep the project active and meet its debts. Only $50,000 was raised from the public. Original investors unhappily make up the short fall.

■ May 1, 1957, Front page article Atlanta Journal (For details see page 14.)

■ July 16, 1957, Joel Cowan begins working for FCDC. (For details see page 14.)

FCDC hired Joel Cowan, a senior at GA Tech, to manage land contracts and negotiate new deals as necessary. Cowan to receive payment in stock and expenses.

■ July 1958, Joel Cowan employed by Knox Homes. (For details see page 14–15.)

Since his original stock was worthless, FCDC swapped Cowan’s stock for 60 acres in Shakerag. While working in downtown Atlanta for Knox Homes, Cowan was allowed to seek new financing for FCDC on his own time.

October 1958, FCDC lacking resources, Joel Cowan prevailed on an attorney friend to prepare a city charter to be introduced to the Georgia Legislature in January 1959.

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The Georgia Legislature approved House Bill 242 to make Peachtree City a chartered city. The sale/merger discussions moved forward between the FCDC and Bessemer Securities of New York City.

■ July 30, 1959, Peachtree Corp of Georgia was formed.

(For details see page 16.)

The new corporation replaced FCDC. FCDC now owns 49% and Henry Phipps Estates/Bessemer now owns 51%. The purchase of 51% of the new company stock provided enough cash to pay for the retirement of all outstanding debts on the land and for the initial development of the property.

Joel Cowan becomes the Manager of the newly formed Peachtree Corp of Georgia, and in 1961 he became the first elected Mayor of Peachtree City serving through 1965.

■ 1959-1962, Peachtree City – building Critical Mass and Infrastructure. (For details see page 18–19.)

While the city had its first mayor and city council, there was little in the way of taxes collected and the funds for building the dam, roads, and lakes were provided by Bessemer. Wearing both hats as Mayor and Manager of the Development, Joel Cowan worked closely with James Riley the VP of Bessemer to determine the priorities in these early years.

Ralph Jones was elected as the 2nd mayor serving 1966-1969.

Chip Conner was elected as the 3rd mayor serving 1970-1971. (continued next page) NO PORTIONS OF THIS ISSUE MAY BE REPRODUCED WITHOUT PRIOR WRITTEN CONSENT OF THE PUBLISHER. © 2022.

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Peachtree City Spillway Photo by Norm Goss ■ 1972, Bessemer borrows $6 million from Morgan Guaranty. (For details see page 22.)

Aberdeen Shopping Center was built using a $6 million loan from Morgan Guaranty.

Bessemer created Garden Cities as a subsidiary of Phipps Land (Joel Cowan, President) in order to make a deal with Equitable for a $15 million loan. Joel Cowan, having achieved the “critical mass” phase, resigned as President of Phipps Land in 1976 with the finalization of the “friendly foreclosure”.

Howard Morgan was elected as the 4th mayor serving 1972-1977.

■ December 1972 Equitable loan to Garden Cities makes Equitable the “de Facto” developer of Peachtree City.

(For details see page 23.)

1973 -1977 Equitable is the developer and “de Facto” owner of the undeveloped land in Peachtree City since they hold a $15 million mortgage on the property.

■ 1976 Equitable/Garden Cities. (For details see page 23.)

The friendly foreclosure leaves Equitable/Garden Cities with 100% of Peachtree City and leaves Bessemer/Phipps with all other land outside of Peachtree City including Phipps Plaza, Palmetto Dunes, and Snapfinger Woods.

■ 1977-1979 Equitable/Garden Cities is 100% developer. (For details see page 26.)

1977 Doug Mitchell named President of Garden Cities owned by Equitable.

Herb Frady is elected the 5th mayor 1978-1981.

■ 1979 Equitable liquidates Garden Cities and replaces it with a deal with Peachtree City Development Corporation (PCDC). (For details see page 28–29.)

1979 Doug Mitchell forms Peachtree City Development Corporation and agrees to pay approximately $20-24 million to Equitable -- receiving 10,000 acres of residential lots representing 2/3 of the land, plus the industrial

park. The debt to Equitable was to be paid upon the sale of lots with 70% going to Equitable and 30% going to PCDC. ■ 1994 Equitable sells 100% remaining property to Doug Mitchell, President of Pathways Communities and PCDC is liquidated. (For details see page 30.)

Fred Brown was elected 6th mayor 1982-1991.

According to reliable sources the final cash balance paid to Equitable was approximately $5-6 million.

■ 2003 – Pathway Communities sells final residential property to John Wieland Homes. (For details see page 30.)

Bob Lenox was elected 7th mayor 1992-2001.

Steve Brown was elected 8th mayor 20022005.

■ 2004 – Pathway Communities rents an office in Atlanta. (For details see page 30.)

End of Development.

NO PORTIONS OF THIS ISSUE MAY BE REPRODUCED WITHOUT PRIOR WRITTEN CONSENT OF THE PUBLISHER. © 2022.

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A BRIEF HISTORY OF PEACHTREE CITY Part 1 of 4 based on the Historical Timeline of Peachtree City by Joel Cowan and other historical information.

Note from the Editors:

We have made every effort to write this series as a fact-based historical document. Every effort has been made to fact check all comments and information. We encourage everyone to visit the copyrighted archives of Joel Cowan as well as any other documents that are considered important.

In order to write a brief history about Peachtree City, we chose to write our first of four segments based on the very early years. We intentionally have left out the early settlers’ stories and we will complete segment four with Joel passing the baton.

HOW FLOY FARR FACILITATED THE FIRST PURCHASE OF FARM LAND College Park realtors, Earl Denny, and Golden Pickett were searching for land in Fayette County, and met with Floy Farr the manager of the Tyrone Bank seeking farms that might be available. The bank was owned by the Redwine brothers of Fayetteville who owned and operated the Farmers & Merchants Bank in Fayetteville.

Floy Farr directed them to “the largest landowner, Mr. Robert H. “Uncle Bob” Huddleston. He was eager to sell and he encouraged others to sell, but no one believed Denny’s story about a new town.

Nothing significant happened until Denny went to see Peter Knox Jr. in Thomson GA. Peter Knox, Jr. was known nationally for his leadership in pioneering the building of prefabricated homes – he and his family were owners of large timber lands. Knox had read a popular book about the building of new towns in England after WW II and was intrigued with the idea of doing something like that in Georgia.

Photo left: Peter Knox Jr. on phone. Photo right: Peter Knox III. Photos courtesy of Pat Knox-Hudson.

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>> peachtree city DEVELOPMENT HISTORY Knox put together a group of friends who put up $175,000 to purchase the initial land. They were Tom Standard of Macon, Julian Roberts of Augusta, Tom Cousins of Atlanta, and Willard Byrd of Atlanta. This group created the Fayette County Development Corporation to raise additional funds by selling shares in the intrastate market. The intent was to buy more land and to pay off some of the land debt that had been created by the previous purchase of over 10,000 acres.

The public announcement came on the front page of the Atlanta Journal May 5, 1957, where it was reported that Knox, then president of newly-formed Fayette County Development Corporation (FCDC) announced the plan to build a self-sustaining new town in western Fayette County.

The town would be situated at the intersections of Highways 74 & 54, alongside the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad. It would be only 22 miles to the center of Atlanta assessable via the South Expressway.

In May 1957 Joel Cowan was a 21-year-old Junior at Georgia Tech and an ATO fraternity member, and Peter Knox III was his fraternity brother. Peter Knox, Jr. was his fraternity brother’s dad. When Cowan read the Atlanta Journal article he told young Peter III – “if your dad needs a mayor for his new city I’m available.”

A week later, after a lunch meeting on the 5th floor of the old Atlanta Athletic Club in downtown Atlanta, Cowan was hired by Peter Knox, Jr. to work for Knox Homes, but his main job during his senior year at Georgia Tech was to court and pacify the landowners and creditors since the intrastate stock offering that was expected to raise funds to supplement their original $175,000 failed. That also resulted in the failure of the FCDC. The debt on the land had to be paid or the land would be lost.

End – Part From left to right: Floy Farr, Joel Cowan and Charlotte Griggs.

Photo courtesy of Fayette County Historical Society To be continued in the Spring/Summer Issue of the Peachtree City Magazine. Also, visit Joel Cowan’s Timeline on the Peachtree City Magazine website www.peachtreecity.com.

We encourage any family members of the people written about to share with the authors any photos or newspaper clippings from family albums, since we will be building a historical database and publishing this information in other formats in the future. | www.peachtreecitymagazine.com | SPECIAL HISTORY EDITION | 11

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Celebrating the 60th Anniversary of Peachtree City Part 2 continued from Fall/Winter -- Celebrating the 60th Anniversary of Peachtree City.

By Charlie Nelson with special assistance from Rebecca Watts.

Here is a story of how a project called "New Town" became Peachtree City...

The commonly known “beginning of the history of Peachtree City” was the Floy Farr story of how two real estate men came into his bank in Tyrone and wanted to purchase 12-15 thousand acres of land. That story was also in the Fayette County News on October 3, 1956, and the story is also corroborated in the Joel Cowan Timeline.

So that begs the question, who sent the real estate men to the Tyrone Bank to open an account with Floy Farr, the branch manager? Who were the “undisclosed purchasers” noted in the article?

■ The meeting that started a project named “New Town” On June 6, 1956, the two men met, probably in downtown Atlanta, and exchanged ideas that would forever change the face of south metro Atlanta.

Peter Knox, Jr., a prosperous 44-year-old businessman, was president of the Knox Corporation in Thomson, Georgia. His guest was Willard Byrd, an up and coming 37-year-old owner of his own landscape consulting firm, Willard Byrd & Associates.

As a result of their meeting, on June 7th Willard Byrd wrote a letter to Peter Knox, Jr., which included the following: “After we parted yesterday, I checked on the preliminary topo maps … in and around Atlanta. The maps extend partway into Coweta and Fayette counties….”

On June 8, 1956, Peter Knox, Jr. responded with a detailed two-page letter to Willard Byrd thanking him for his letter of June 7. Peter Knox, Jr., went on to say, “I want to get a little more information about the Fayette County property….”.

Then he said, “I am very much convinced that some kind of a sizable approach along the line of our general discussion has outstanding merit.” He explained how he was going to New York “to explore some long-range financing questions relating to such a venture.”

Peter Knox, Jr. President of the Knox Corporation in Thomson, GA (Peter Knox Sr. in background photo.)

Willard Byrd Owner of his landscape consulting firm, Willard Byrd & Associates.

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■ Knox seeks additional investors July–August 1956 Peter Knox, Jr., was the organizer and visionary who sought investors and talent that could help him complete his idea in his proposed new development company. In another letter Knox asked Willard Byrd to hire Phillip Hammer, a well-known and highly respected economic development consultant, to produce “Like us”” on the

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Tyrone Bank The bank was owned by the Redwine Brothers of Fayetteville when the FCDC set up a bank account in 1956. In October 1956 Earl Denny and Golden Pickett, real estate agents for FCDC, were ready to purchase land options on 10,000 to 12,000 acres from farmers in western Fayette County.

Floy Farr

Floy Farr was the Manager of the Tyrone Bank. Farr was 45 years old and had deep roots in Tyrone. He was a community leader as well as a church going, family-man, and banker. He helped get telephones to Tyrone and electricity to the county. He was the perfect person to help the young Joel Cowan deal with unhappy creditor/farmers.

a feasibility plan. Together, Willard Byrd and Phillip Hammer, produced the “New Town – Metropolitan Atlanta” document which was dated August 11, 1956. Based on this feasibility study, the original investors group were convinced to put up $175,000 (the equivalent in 2019 dollars to about $1.75 million).

■ Original investment group formed In July, 1957, there were nine investors with Peter Knox, Jr. and Jack Schleifer of New York, together representing the majority.

Other stockholders were Tom Standard, James Hutchinson, Denmark Grover, Frank Story, Julian Roberts, Willard Byrd, and Tom Cousins.

■ The Floy Farr Story – the first time “New Town” was mentioned to anyone other than the investors Floy Farr, 44 years old at the time, was the perfect connection that the two real estate men, Earl Denny and Golden Pickett, needed. He was more than just the bank manager. His family roots were deep in Fayette County and he had graduated from Fayette County High School in 1930. Upon graduation he went to work for the Redwine Brothers in Tyrone. The bank building was a combination of businesses – the bank, a seed & fertilizer company, and the cotton gin.

In 1935, Farr had helped bring phone service to Tyrone by preparing the pine trees

for telephone poles after the phone company refused to extend the service from the Fayetteville Exchange. He dug holes and strung wire so that the telephone company would cooperate and extend the phone service. Floy Farr told the AJC reporter Jim Minter in 1996, “All through World War II, that phone line was our contact with the outside world.”

After the war in 1945, Floy Farr was one of the principal organizers of the Electric Membership Corporation (EMC) that enabled Coweta and Fayette counties to become part of the rural electrification program. For 10 years, through the 1950s, Floy Farr was also on the Fayette County Board of Education where he served along with Bob Huddleston, who history proves to be the major landholder that solidified the Fayette County Development Corporation (FCDC) land purchases.

Joel Cowan remembers that Earl Denny strongly suggested the importance of meeting Floy Farr at the bank in Tyrone. Joel Cowan remembers his first meetings with Floy Farr, “He was very excited about the project seeing the economic benefits to his bank customers, and to the CowetaFayette EMC. You have to understand that most people were skeptical… but not Floy. As we fell behind on our land payments, he would counsel the farmers to be patient.”

Joel Cowan continued saying, “Much of my interaction (with the farmer-creditors) was in renting their former land back to them at ‘bargain Continued on page 14

McWilliams Grocery A typical country store meeting place for local farmers. The first city council meeting in 1960 was held here. Young Joel Cowan spent time here getting to know the people.

Joel Cowan Joel Cowan worked for the Fayette County Development Corporation from the summer of 1957 to the summer of 1958 without a salary. Upon graduation he began working for a salary for Knox Homes, but given free reign to seek new financing for the ailing project.

He moved into a Knox prefab house on Shakerag hill on 54 in December 1958 in order to qualify for the city charter received in March 9, 1959, when he wore two hats: Mayor of the new city of Peachtree City, Georgia, and Project Manager for the FCDC.

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Joel Cowan

Riley Field Dedication

In early 1959 Joel Cowan personally found and negotiated a land purchase deal with James F. Riley, Jr., VP Bessemer Securities part of the Phipps Land Company. Soon after the initial deal, he became President of the new Peachtree Corporation. The Bessemer deal saved the city from foreclosure and bankruptcy.

In July 1973, the directors of Phipps Land Company joined Joel Cowan to dedicate Riley Field to James F. Riley. Jim Riley was the person who worked with Joel Cowan to consummate the sale of the Peachtree City land from Fayette Development Corporation to the Peachtree Corporation owned by Bessemer/Phipps. Pictured left to right: J.E. Phipps, J. Gordon Douglas III, Joel H. Cowan, Ogden M. Phipps, Frederick E. Guest, Bruce C. Farrell, and T.W. Kessee, Jr.

Continued from page 13

rates’. They kept the timber anyway by the terms of the deal. I negotiated the leases at Floy’s desk.”

In another interview, in 2006, with Fayette County historian Carolyn Cary, Joel Cowan said this about Floy Farr, “He was a visionary, a Renaissance man trapped in a rural environment early on. He welcomed newcomers and new ideas, which was not typical in Fayette County back then and, to a certain extent, now. He was just forwardlooking.”

■ Three times broke – original investment quickly consumed – broke first time On September 12, 1956, Denny wrote a letter to Willard Byrd, in which he spoke of the urgency for Knox “to deposit just $58,500 in the bank at Tyrone.” This would represent just 10% of the nearly $600,000 of options expiring in less than a month on October 1st. Ultimately, nearly 10,000 acres were in jeopardy of being lost.

The Fayette News ran an article on October 3, 1956, stating that, “Earl Denny and Golden Pickett were opening a bank account in the Tyrone Bank on behalf of undisclosed parties in order to purchase options and land in the western side of Fayette County beginning on October 16, 1956.

■ Broke the second time – public stock offering failed in summer of 1957 The Fayette County Development Corporation went public on March 27, 1957.

The offering only raised $50,000 of an expected $150,000 that was needed to keep the corporation solvent.

■ Broke the third time – original investors make up short fall from stock offering 1957 The original investors were forced to put up another $100,000 to make up for the shortfall. Otherwise, the properties would go into foreclosure and they would lose the land along with their investment.

On May 1,1957, the story about the New Town appeared on the front page of the Atlanta Journal bringing attention to the stock offering. This was the newspaper 14 | PEACHTREE CITY MAGAZINE | SPECIAL HISTORY EDITION |

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article that Joel Cowan read and realized that Peter Knox, Jr. was his ATO fraternity brother’s, dad. After reading the article, Joel Cowan told Peter Knox III, “Tell your dad that I could be the mayor of his new town.”

Soon after, Joel Cowan met with “Mr. Pete” and his ATO Fraternity brother, Peter Knox III, in the prestigious 5th floor dining room of the Atlanta Athletic Club. At that time, Mr. Pete discussed the idea of Joel Cowan joining his company as an intern to work, for stock only, on the New Town Project in Fayette County and handle the “creditors and keep an eye on the land.”

Katy and Chip Conner ■ The Joel Cowan era begins July 16, 1957 On July 16, 1957, Joel Cowan met in Atlanta with Peter Knox, Jr., Willard Byrd, and Tom Cousins, the committee representing the FCDC. That meeting resulted in a formal six-page letter from Peter Knox, Jr., on July 19, 1957, which defined his employment by the FCDC for one year.

Attached to the 2-page agreement was a 4-page list of “Creditors” (names of property owners who had made Option to Sell Agreements with FCDC through their real estate representative Earl Denny). On that list were only three properties that were paid in full, with twenty-three NOT paid in full, and 17 tracts not closed as of May 31, 1957.

In the summer of 1957, Joel Cowan, working for the FCDC, began to visit the New Town area and meet casually with the local Fayette County people. Aside from the more formal “crisis” meetings with creditor/farmers that were held in Floy Farr’s office in the Tyrone Bank, he would meet most often at the McWilliams General Store.

At that time, Cowan began to attend the Board of Directors meetings of the Fayette County Development Corporation as called by Mr. Pete which were usually held at the Atlanta Athletic Club. During this period, with the encouragement of both Joel Cowan and Earl Denny, Floy Farr was added to the board of directors to get more local input.

As Cowan entered his Senior year at Georgia Tech, he moved into the apartment on Piedmont Road in Buckhead. It was part of his compensation package with the FCDC. Since he was not being paid any cash, this office/apartment was an important perk, as was the seven cents/mile reimbursement on his car expenses.

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Mayors meet in 1994

In 1994, the “Guide” magazine brought together all of the mayors of Peachtree City for a unique photo. The photo managed by the editor Tray Baggarly, for an article written by Sallie Satterthwaite chronicled the fact that all of the mayors of Peachtree City were still alive at that time, and all were still living in the city that they loved and served. The photo was taken by the Guide’s photographer, Erik Moore, at the PCDC Information Center. Pictured from left to right are: Bob Lenox 1992 -2001; Fred Brown 1982-1991; Herb Frady 1978-1981; Howard Morgan 1972-1977; J.K. “Chip” Conner 1970-1971; Ralph Jones 1966-1969; and Joel Cowan 1959-1965.

■ The mentorship of Joel Cowan 1957– 1958 While his employment contract spelled out that he was to report to Willard Byrd, it is obvious that the Cowan-Knox relationship continued to grow as they met at board meetings over the course of the next couple of years. That relationship became more important as the financial crisis grew and Cowan became the point person responsible for making rental deals with farmers who were pushing to close on their options.

The FCDC relied upon Cowan and Farr to keep the farmers from putting the options into foreclosure whereby the farmer would retain the option money and FCDC would lose its control of the land. It was the unique relationship that had been forged between the older, local bank manager Floy Farr and the young Georgia Tech senior that kept the land under the control of the Fayette County Development Corporation.

■ Joel Cowan graduated, was hired full time

by Knox Homes – July 1958 By the time Joel Cowan graduated from Georgia Tech in June 1958, it was understood that the stock he had earned in the FCDC was now worthless, but Mr. Pete made good on the debt by swapping it for 60 acres on Shakerag, the highest point in the city and on Hwy 54. Joel Cowan was hired for $600/month to work

for Knox Homes. Working out of the Atlanta office, his job was to help Mr. Pete with estimates on government bids, but he was given enough free time to handle the crisis down in Fayette County.

At the same time, Cowan and the board moved forward with the idea of incorporating the New Town in order to have complete control of the property and the governing regulations. But the new town needed a mayor and the mayor had to be a resident of Fayette County. So, in early December, 1958, Joel Cowan used his own money to purchase a Knox home and had Huie Bray build it. Joel and his bride of one year moved in before the December 31, 1958, deadline.

■ "New Town" becomes Peachtree City In late 1958, Cowan took charge of getting a Charter for New Town. Besides a charter it needed a name. Since they were broke and didn’t have money for a charter, Cowan enlisted the free help of some friends: Henry Neal and John Mobley. They found a charter of an old existing city in Georgia and copied it word for word.

The results were legally acceptable but produced some humorous results since the older city had wording that gave it the right to control such things as “Flying Jinny’s, circuses, side shows, opera houses, hacks” and many other things from a different era.

Before turning over the proposed charter to

the legislature they needed a name for the city. After much discussion, Cowan accepted the recommendation of Willard Byrd who put forth Peachtree City. At first, Cowan didn’t like the name, but recognized that the word Peachtree was needed in the name since it was easily recognized at that time to be part of Atlanta, which would be very important to getting investments and industry to come to Georgia’s Fayette County.

Early in the legislative calendar of 1959, Cowan personally lobbied the proposed legislation. House Bill 242 was introduced in the Georgia House of Representatives by Grady Huddleston and in the Georgia Senate by Harry Redwine. The bill was passed into law and was signed by Governor Ernest Vandiver on March 9, 1959. The Charter named Joel Cowan as Mayor, and as Councilmen: R.H. Huddleston, Hugh Huddleston, John Robinson, and J.A. “Albert” Pollard.

■ Joel Cowan saves the Fayette County Development Corporation from potential failure In February 1959, Joel Cowan’s relentless networking paid off. Judson Ackerman, a real estate agent with Adams-Cates Realtors connected him with James F. Riley, Jr., who was VP of Real Estate with Bessemer Securities of New York.

James Riley, Jr., agreed to come to Fayette County Continued on page 16

| www.peachtreecitymagazine.com | SPECIAL HISTORY EDITION | 15

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In 1966, Peachtree City applied for federal funds to construct Falcon Field. The Bessemer Corporation donated 100 acres south of the town's industrial park, and by 1969, the airstrip, 50 feet wide and 3,000 feet long, was being constructed, paved, and lighted. Joel Cowan was instrumental in bringing Falcon Field to Peachtree City.

Continued from page 15

Municipal Building, circa 1964

to view 12,000 acres of raw land within 25 miles of Atlanta. It was not originally offered as a “New Town” but as raw land. Riley would only agree to visit if he first had an option to buy the land. An excited, young Joel Cowan called his mentor to ask, “if it would be alright to give such an option.” Cowan said that, “Peter Knox said, ‘Joel, you have cart blanche to deal with them’ “.

Cowan then drew up an option for Bessemer to purchase 12,000 acres at $225 per acre.

Cowan had arranged for the pilot to land on a grass strip in Tyrone and Floy Farr left them his ‘57 Ford to drive around the land. Cowan was the only person presenting the land to Bessemer Securities.

It was only during this personal trip that Cowan disclosed to Riley the full potential of developing the raw land into a New Town and that the charter was already working its way through the legislature as House Bill 242, to make it an official Georgia city.

■ James F. Riley, Jr. visits with Joel Cowan to make a deal on the Fayette County raw land.

In February 1959, James Riley, Jr., a 58-year-old seasoned businessman met Joel Cowan and drove to the Fulton County Airport where Cowan had chartered an airplane so that they could view the land from the air.

■ Peachtree Corporation of Georgia, a new company formed On July 30, 1959, Henry Phipps Estates/ Bessemer purchased the land surrounding the proposed center of the town. This was deemed a “long term hold”.

In addition, it funded the purchase of the “center” and contributed it to newly formed Peachtree Corporation of

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Georgia. Bessemer retained 51% of the company.

Thus, at the start, the 12,000 acres was debt free and Phipps owning 100% of the “outlying” land and Bessemer owning 51% of the stock. The former shareholders of FCDC owned 49%.

■ Development of Peachtree City begins under Peachtree Corporation of Georgia Two years later, the Phipps/Bessemer organization purchased the remaining 49% of the outstanding stock to obtain 100% of the company. With 100% of the ownership, Bessemer provided additional funding to push forward the development of the city.

Beginning on July 30, 1959, Joel Cowan was not only the Mayor of Peachtree City, but he became the sole employee and General Manager of the Peachtree Corporation of Georgia. d G GPeachtree City Magazine & App facebook pages

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>> peachtree city DEVELOPMENT HISTORY Guest Column (written for the “This Week” newspaper on March 14, 1979

by Joel Cowan in connection with the 20th Anniversary of Peachtree City – two years after Equitable/PCDC take over.)

Editor’s Note: The following article, written as a letter from father to son, was penned by Peachtree City’s first mayor and guiding force during its earliest days.

(Copied as it appeared on March 14, 1979 in the This Week newspaper. Written by Joel Cowan.)

My dear son, Look at you today – you are all grown up. And how proud we are of the way you developed. You’ve been away from our nest for only two years, but you have shown real maturity in your lifestyle. Your many friends and associates mirror the real you – and you are beautiful!

Since history is our best guide for the future, I thought it might be helpful for you if I highlighted some events in your history which you might not remember, and which could appear instructive.

You were born as a part of a dream – not just mine, but of a number of people who conceived you.

The dream was great, but I must say that you were somewhat inglorious as a baby. “He’ll never make it was most often said. But we told them to just give you time. ( I even said boastfully that you might be the “big apple” someday.)

As you started to grow up you were really a lot of fun. How many times did the few of us living here say, “I wish we could stay this way forever and never grow anymore.” But you did – and each stage was better than before.

We learned that your rapid growth, while worrying us at first, was inevitable. Do you remember the words of a kindly old Englishman who had a child much like you and visited us when you were young?

He said, “Can man plan; Man can plan; But no man can plan man.”

We then and there decided we had best recruit some Godparents, since it was clear you needed much more guidance than we selfishly could offer. This was a wonderful idea with many wonderful people rallying around you and they – and their spirit—have been an integral part of you and continues to relieve those worries.

You have become physically very attractive. But deeper than that you have a soul embodied in the spirit of love. You were conceived in love. You were taught that this love could be reflected and communicated. Just like a baby’s smile, you would soften the hearts that come to you from broad and sometimes harsh backgrounds, so that they too became your Godparents and returned the love to you and your other friends.

Now how do I feel about your future? Frankly, I am just as excited about you as I was 20 years ago.

I even enjoy you more as an adult than I did as a child. I anticipate and expect you to be even better at age 40.

Let me exercise some parental license once more to give you some advice wanted or not: 1. Continually cultivate more Godparents – none of us is wise enough to make it all alone. Don’t be dominated by any one person, but listen faithfully to all.

2. Always show a loving smile, and spirit, and it will be a permanent part of your makeup as you continue to grow.

3. Don’t over plan—always have a flexible plan remembering that “no man can plan man”.

4. Grow only a fast as you can maintain quality—but grow. I’m afraid as a nation of builders, we haven’t learned to stand still. We either go forward or backward – whether as a church, a city, or a nation.

Well enough of that. Maybe you won’t be the “big apple” – but “big apples” should be like you.

What a place this world would be if they were.

Joel Cowan

You are a dream come true!

Happy Birthday. d | www.peachtreecitymagazine.com | SPECIAL HISTORY EDITION | 17

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Building the Critical Mass– the Joel Cowan Years 1958-1976 Part 3 continued from Spring/Summer 2019 -- By Charlie Nelson with special assistance from Rebecca Watts.

■ Recap of Spring/Summer 2019 issue – the birth of the “New Town” In the Spring/Summer 2019 issue of our magazine, we reviewed how a vision of a New Town in Fayette County came out of a meeting on June 6, 1956 between Peter S. Knox, Jr. and Willard Byrd that changed the face of south metro Atlanta forever. After that meeting, Peter Knox, Jr. took charge of the project.

Joel Cowan was hired by “Mr. Pete” in June 1957, the summer before his senior year at Georgia Tech, for one year. Working out of his company furnished apartment, and being paid in Fayette County Development Corporation (FCDC) stock, his job was to oversee the 48 contracts on the land. When a land owner had a problem, Floy Farr would arrange a meeting between the land owner and Cowan in the Tyrone bank office. Cowan’s job was to keep all of the contracts active and the land owners happy. During his employment by FCDC, the young Cowan kept the books, attended FCDC board meetings and learned all the details about the planned New Town and became infatuated with the new concept.

His contract ended the next year – June 1958, which is also when he graduated from Georgia Tech. The FCDC was broke, and the promised stock was worthless, so he was given 60 acres of land for both his work and to incentivize him to build a house and move there in 1958. The FCDC had no funds to hire Cowan when he graduated, but “Mr. Pete” decided to hire him to work for his company, Knox Homes, to develop housing on military bases.

■ The transfer of ownership – the Joel Cowan Years 1958 -1979 After graduation in July 1958, Cowan began working in the Atlanta office of Knox Homes. He was paid $600/ month to assist Mr. Pete in doing estimates and working on projects. On his own time, he continued to seek a major investor to buy the land from the FCDC investors, including Mr. Pete.

From July 1958 until July 1959, Cowan wore both hats – paid by Knox Homes and unpaid FCDC manager seeking proper financing. During that period, Cowan continued to work with the land owners, Farr, and the FCDC to keep the project going while being paid only by Knox Homes.

Since the FCDC was broke, the investor group was simply looking for a land buyer to get their money back. So, Cowan began his search through networking in Atlanta. One of these contacts knew a New York broker who introduced Bessemer Securities of New York. Bessemer required an option before they would come down to visit. So, when Cowan called Mr. Pete for approval and to get the price to sell the 12,000 acres, Mr. Pete answered by simply saying, “Joel, you have carte-blanche”. He had to look up the meaning of that!

From that time on, Cowan was on his own and was the only person to represent FCDC in the sale to Bessemer.

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First Phase Map of Peachtree City published by Bessemer Properties Incorporated, circa 1963. Only 3 houses on the lake with iconic Water Tower in the photo. Only 3 companies in the Industrial Park. Golf Course is in the future plan.

Bessemer agreed to visit, and this led to the ultimate transaction. Before it was consummated, the legislation to create the city was introduced. The State Legislature approved House Bill 242 creating the city and naming Cowan as its first mayor.

Governor Ernest Vandiver signed it into law on March 9, 1959.

On July 30, 1959 a new corporation, Peachtree Corp of Georgia, was formed jointly

by Henry Phipps Estates (owned by Bessemer) and the Fayette County Development Corporation. Henry Phipps Estates purchased the land surrounding the center of town enabling the FCDC debt to be satisfied. FCDC put in the center land. Bessemer put in $435,000 to enable the first stages of development. Peachtree Corp of Georgia was then owned 51% Bessemer and 49% FCDC with no outstanding land options.

The Board of Directors of Peachtree Corp of Georgia, was headed by Peter Knox, Jr (Mr. Pete) representing FCDC. Other directors included Julian Roberts (FCDC); James F. Riley, Jr (Bessemer VP); R. Daniel Saxe, Jr. (Bessemer’s in-house counsel; John Izard, Jr (Atlanta attorney with Spalding, Sibley, Troutman, Meadow and Smith- later named King & Spalding).

In 1962, the Peachtree Corp of Georgia was liquidated and merged into its parent company – Bessemer Properties Inc. of Palm Beach FL, which was owned by Bessemer Securities Corp NY, NY. ■ Peachtree City has a new developer and Joel Cowan has a new job!

On July 30, 1959 Cowan was no longer employed by Knox Homes, but was the Manager of the newly-formed PCoG. At the same time, he remained Mayor of the new Peachtree City.

For the first time since he began working on the New Town project, all the debts were paid off, and there was money in the bank. He also had the basic original plan as

designed by Byrd.

The question facing Cowan on July 30, 1959 was: Now what do we do first and where will this lead?

■ Joel Cowan’s concept of Critical Mass is put into action.

For Cowan, New Town was never about building another subdivision, it was about creating the critical mass of a city, with all that implies. From that point, regular forprofit development could occur.

Anytime Cowan speaks about the early development of Peachtree City, he always instructs the listener that it’s not about the buildings, but it is about the people and the social institutions – he calls that the Critical Mass. He recently explained the idea of Critical Mass in the following way, “This mainly means the infrastructure of a small town with enough people to support an independent city government; a community church, a civic club and industries. The commercial structure was especially people dependent - so a small grocery store, a pharmacy and a bank were also needed.”

He concluded by saying, “Each step was part of that ladder and people dependent.

The things that money could build were done…Lake Peachtree, a subdivision, a water system (with a giant water tank for symbolism). He was determined to hold off “frontage type” developments forcing inside activities. This included not selling lake frontage to second home buyers…but rather community builders. All highway frontage was deferred, including the intersection of Highways 54 & 74.

The development “test” was met satisfactorily, and Bessemer increased its investment.

The critical mass development continued as his all-important job. With consultation and financial help from the parent company Bessemer Securities, Cowan continued building infrastructure that would best produce that critical mass. In 1969, he agreed to place the first advertisement in the Atlanta newspapers for normal sales – until then it was word of mouth, and the public knew very little about Peachtree City’s existence.

Continued on page 20 | www.peachtreecitymagazine.com | SPECIAL HISTORY EDITION | 19

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Early Aerial View of Peachtree City taken from the north side of Hwy 54.

Published in the Phipps Land Company, Inc. Annual Report 1972.

The first four mayors of Peachtree City gathered for a photo by the Guide magazine in 1994 – left to right, Howard Morgan 1972-1977; Chip Conner 1970-1971; Ralph Jones 1966-1969; Joel Cowan 1959-1965.

Continued from page 19

■ The Valleys were the basis of the original plan!

FCDC’s original land plan by Byrd took into account that the two valleys formed by Line Creek and Flat Creek, which flowed North to South, intersected at the southern end, making it the natural location for central sewage system as it exists today.

Those valleys had streams and swamps at the center, and they provided natural green space throughout the city, as well as the location of Lake Peachtree and Lake McIntosh.

Especially in the beginning, Lake Peachtree became a central selling feature for the new city, but in a practical sense it provided water needed by the people and industry.

In 1966, Peachtree City applied for federal funds to construct Falcon Field. The Bessemer Corporation donated 100 acres south of the town's industrial park, and by 1969, the airstrip, 50 feet wide and 3,000 feet long, was being constructed, paved, and lighted. Joel Cowan was instrumental in bringing Falcon Field to Peachtree City.

First Spillway

The first dam was built soon after Bessemer/FCDC formed the Peachtree Corp of Georgia which provided the needed funds. The first dam was designed by a prominent Atlanta engineering company and built by Joel Cowan and Chip Conner, but it was breached in a storm soon after and replaced with the one in this picture. The dam in the picture formed Lake Peachtree and was intact until it was replaced by the present spillway completed last year.

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■ Peachtree City began to be a city of Firsts!

The ink was not dry on the PCoG contract when Cowan, the new Manager-Mayor, began to work on building a dam to create Lake Peachtree. The original plan called for the dam to be on the north side of Hwy 54, but there were many problems with that location: the dam had to be too wide and would cost a lot more to build and maintain, and on a somewhat humorous tone, there were persistent beavers who would replace one of their dams overnight each time it was blown up by Cowan’s new dynamite device. This area became Flat Creek Golf Course instead. A new site for the dam had to be found, which was on the south end of the valley where the present dam is today. d

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>> peachtree city DEVELOPMENT HISTORY In 1966 Ralph Jones, Mayor, gave the OK to “Brother Leach” the head of the Peachtree City Volunteer Fire Department to purchase a used firetruck from the City of East Point for $3,000. Jones wrote the check for the firetruck from his personal account to make the purchase, with the understanding that the Volunteers would hold a fundraiser to repay him.

The purchase was prompted by the poor service that was then provided by Fayette County Fire Department which was limited by poor communications, rural roads and limited personnel. In those early years the county fire trucks generally arrived too late to put out the fire.

First Priority Summer 1959:

BUILD THE DAM AND CREATE LAKE PEACHTREE • Timeline: July 30, 1959 –1962 • ■ 1959 Building the dam and Lake Peachtree. *1) note. The basic roads needed to be built, as well as buried utility lines, sewage and water lines, and the Sewage Plant and Water Tower.

■ 1960 With the critical help of Floy Farr, Joel Cowan mediated a deal between the Coweta-Fayette EMC & Georgia Power. Georgia Power began to sell their power to industries in the park and the central residential area west of Lake Peachtree. *2) note.

■ 1961 First Election, 75 people voting, Joel Cowan elected Mayor – 1961- 1966.

■ 1961 First Home on the Lake was built by Jim and Miriam Fulton. Miriam Fulton became the first person to sell real estate in Peachtree City.

■ 1962 Bessemer/Phipps purchased the FCDC’s 49% stock to give it full control of the Peachtree Corporation

of Georgia. Subsequently, Peachtree Corporation of Georgia was liquidated and merged into Bessemer Properties Inc. of Palm Beach FL. which was owned by Bessemer Securities Corp NY of New York.

Notes of clarification: *1 – A conversation at the general store with Hugh Huddleston led Cowan and his newly- hired project manager Chip Conner to see the value of placing the dam in its present location. At that location the dam could be built in a naturally narrow section of the creek. *2 – Georgia Power was all important in promoting industrial developments throughout Georgia. So, a deal was needed for EMC to allow Georgia Power the territory covering the first village. Farr masterfully got agreement from the Coweta-Fayette EMC to this plan, which was the first of its kind in the state of Georgia.

Dixie Frozen Foods was the first industry brought to Peachtree City in 1960 - it was near the location of the present-day shopping area "The Avenue," later developed by Cousins, but not on Hwy 54 which was being reserved for other types of retail businesses.

Continued on page 22

The first home, far right in this photo, appeared in the Bessemer Properties brochure. It was built by Jim and Miriam Fulton who had a young family and was seeking a place on a lake. The land was swapped for stock that Miriam owned in the failed company Fayette County Development Corporation on the condition that the Fulton family would build a home on the lot and occupy it within one year. Miriam became the first real estate sales person in Peachtree City. | www.peachtreecitymagazine.com | SPECIAL HISTORY EDITION | 21

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Left to Right – In 1970, Chip Conner, Mayor 1970-1971 received the official papers making him the new mayor of the city from Ralph Jones, Mayor 1966-1969.

Continued from page 21

• Timeline: from 1964–1972 •

■ 1964 Bessemer/Phipps built a multipurpose building which housed the City, Fayette State Bank, the post office and The Community Chapel.

■ 1964 First church was an Interdenominational Community Chapel, which later became the First Presbyterian Church. *3) note.

■ 1965 First Bank - Fayette State Bank opened on corner Hwy 54-Northlake Dr.*4) note.

■ 1966 Bessemer donated 100 acres and built Falcon Field. 1969 - Falcon Field began construction and opened in 1970. It was later transferred to PTC airport authority.

■ 1966 All Volunteer Fire Department, Chief Myron "Brother" Leach *5) note.

■ 1967 Peachtree City Elementary was planned and built with Bessemer funds. It was then leased to Fayette County for students in west Fayette. Originally planned for 500 students, it began 1969 with 426 students.

■ 1967 First Civic Organization-Rotary Club of Peachtree City sponsored by the Rotary Club of Newnan. First President was Luther Glass.

■ 1968 First Baptist Church members were meeting in the Peachtree City Elementary School. In 1972, the church began construction, with the Rev Bill Delay as pastor.

■ 1968 Flat Creek Country Club and Golf Course.

Opened on Labor Day. *6) Note ■ 1970 Chip Conner elected mayor - he served through 1971.

■ 1971 First medical office opened by Dr. Henry Drake and Dr. Mildred Keene.

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In 1972 the Presbyterian church began services in their new building. Previously, the congregation was interdenominational that began in the early ‘60s by meeting in homes, later in the municipal building.

■ 1972 Howard Morgan elected mayor- he served through 1977.

■ 1972 Peachtree City Police Department established with Haskell Barber as Chief.

■ 1972 Post Office opened, and Peachtree City given its own Zip Code, 30269 ■ 1972 First Pedestrian Bridge opened over Hwy 54 near First Baptist Church.

■ 1972 Morgan Guaranty loaned $6 million for PTC's Aberdeen Village including construction of the shopping center.

■ 1972 Garden Cities Corporation was created as a subsidiary of Phipps Land. *7) note.

Notes of clarification: *3–The Interdenominational Community Chapel formed in October 1964. It held services in the new municipal building, and the Rev. Cobb Ware served as pastor. In 1966 the Presbyterian Church was formed by 25 members of the Community Chapel with the Rev. Donald Smith serving as Pastor. First elders were Joel Cowan, Chip Conner, Ralph Jones, and Luther Glass. The congregation met in the municipal building and individual homes until 1971, when they moved into their present Willowbend location on land donated by the developer. *4–The Redwine Bank of Tyrone (Farr was the manager) was purchased by Bessemer and renamed Fayette State Bank with Farr as manager and Cowan Chairman of the Board - bank was moved from Tyrone to Hwy 54 and Northlake Dr. *5– First fire truck purchased second hand from East Point with $3,000 check drawn against the personal bank account of Mayor Ralph Jones to be paid back later through fundraisers. *6-–Members wanted to buy their own golf carts instead of renting them from the club. Controversy was resolved, and the Georgia law had to be changed in 1974 to allow carts to drive on the streets. This led to the development of our extensive multi-uses path system. *7-–Bessemer/Phipps Land created Garden Cities to make the Equitable financing: Joel Cowan, President of Phipps Land was president, and Bob Bevins was the VP and Property Manager for Garden Cities.

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>> peachtree city DEVELOPMENT HISTORY First Golf Cart Parade on 4th of July, 1975.

In 1974 when Governor Jimmy Carter signed legislation making it legal to drive a golf cart on city streets it produced a needed breakthrough for residents to own their own golf carts and use them for transportation – not just golf.

In 1972 the first pedestrian bridge was built across Hwy 54. The bridge shown in this photo replaced the first bridge that was made of timber and hit by a truck. Photo appeared on the Phipps Land Annual Report of 1972.

• Timeline: from 1972–1976 • ■ Dec 29, 1972 Equitable was initially passive in management when it loaned $15 million to Garden Cities/Phipps Land having only the peripheral land as security.*8) note.

■ 1972 PTC establishes its first permanent offices, located in Municipal Building on Highway 54 ■ 1972 PTC master plan, prepared by Arthur D. Little Company, Richard P. Browne and Associates.

■ 1973 Riley Field by Peachtree Elementary School was dedicated. *9) note.

■ 1973 Aberdeen Village Shopping Center opened.

■ 1974 Golf Cart legislation is adopted into law by state and signed by Jimmy Carter, making it legal to use electric golf carts on city streets.

■ 1974 Newspaper "This Week in Peachtree City" published by Jimmy & Margo Booth.

■ 1974 Peachtree City Library opens in a borrowed room in city hall.

■ 1976 Equitable offered to purchase the outlying land (formerly owned by Henry Phipps Estates) *10) note.

■ January 1976 Joel Cowan resigns from Phipps/ Bessemer. *10) note.

■ 1976 Henry Phipps Estates sells the outlying land to Equitable. Under the terms of the "friendly foreclosure" would take place in 1979. *11) note.

Notes of clarification: *8-- Essentially for more than it would be sold for at that time - with no recourse to the borrower. That let Bessemer recover most all of the money it had invested to date just as though it had been sold. *9-- James Riley represented Phipps/Bessemer and was to whom Joel Cowan reported when it bought out the FCDC to become the sole owner of the land and its developer. He continued to give his full support to the development of Peachtree City by giving full support to Cowan, his new manager in charge of the project. *10-- January 1976 Joel Cowan resigns from Phipps/Bessemer and continues to serve as a consultant for the balance of the year to make an orderly transition with respect to Peachtree City and other projects as was planned in 1973 when the first loan was initiated. *11-- Joel Cowan continues to serve as a consultant for the balance of the year to make an orderly transition with respect to Peachtree City and other projects.

d

Rotary Donation to the Friends of the Library and the Joel Cowan History Room he Rotary Club of Peachtree City recently donated TLibrary. $1,000 to the Peachtree City Friends of the One half of the donation was earmarked

Left to right: Charlie Nelson, Mike Nelson, Rebecca Watts, Lee Eltzroth.

for use in the Joel Cowan History Room at the Peachtree City Library.

Under the leadership of Rebecca Watts, a retired librarian and Joel Cowan History Room coordinator, in consultation with Lee Eltzroth, current President of the Friends of the Peachtree City Library and a retired archivist, archival items in the History Room are being organized and protected. Among the Room’s contents are valuable documents (manuscripts, maps, reports, etc.), oral histories, and photographs donated by significant

members of the community including Joel Cowan, the late Floy Farr, and many others.

The goal is to eventually get much of this archive online and more accessible to the public.

Current and past citizens of Fayette County and Peachtree City are encouraged to donate their family stories, photographs, and memorabilia to be a part of this collection.

The Friends of the Peachtree City Library welcomes new members as well as volunteers interested in this worthy effort. Cash donations, via the Friends, from businesses or individuals are also encouraged, ensuring that this important vision becomes reality.

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Final Development 1977-2003 Part 4 of 4 continued from Fall 2019– Winter 2020 Peachtree City Magazine; By Charlie Nelson with special assistance from Rebecca Watts.

Peter Knox, Jr. Visionary Builder

Peter Knox, Jr. was a successful prefab home builder. His Knox homes were built in Thomson, near Augusta, Georgia. In 1956 he was a nationally known builder and did large projects for the Department of Defense specializing in housing.

Knox, Jr. is credited with being the originator of the idea to build a New Town on land south of the Atlanta airport that was being offered as timberland by a realtor.

Knox, Jr. took charge of the project from the beginning. He assigned Byrd the task of working with Phil Hammer a respected Economic Development specialist to do a feasibility study for New Town. Meanwhile, he began to contact prospective financial partners. This effort resulted in the formation of the Fayette County Development Corporation (FCDC) with $175,000 of capital.

Joel Cowan

Land Planner

Manager/President

Floy Farr

Willard Byrd was a younger man who in 1956 had just recently set up his own land planning business Willard Byrd and Associates. He too had worked for the Department of Defense as a land planner for military bases.

Later Byrd would become a nationally prominent golf course architect. Byrd donated his personal papers to the North Carolina State University in Raleigh, North Carolina. According to personal letters to each other dated June 7, 1956, we know that the two men met on June 6, 1956 and that meeting resulted in Byrd working with Phil Hammer to produce the feasibility study.

Byrd is credited with giving the New Town the name Peachtree City and with being the first land planner.

Joel Cowan in 1957 was given a part-time job

by Peter Knox Jr to oversee the FCDC contracts for the land in New Town. He worked with Floy Farr, and the 42 farmers with contracts through June 1958. During that time, he kept account of the contracts and reported to the FCDC Board.

In June 1958, he was hired by Knox Homes, but continued to work on the New Town project, without pay. He guided the city charter through the legislature and on March 9, 1959 the City was named Peachtree City.

After the charter was obtained Bessemer joined with FCDC and formed Peachtree Corp of GA. Cowan was fully in charge of the Peachtree City development from the very beginning. He expanded the vision and proceeded to follow the original plan. His goal was to create a critical mass of people that would form a self-sustaining, and self-governing city. In 1976, Cowan resigned to start his own company.

Floy Farr in 1956 was the branch manager of the Redwine Bank in Tyrone Georgia. Cowan described him as a true “renaissance man”. He liked the idea of building a New Town and could see how it would help many people obtain a better life.

Farr knew the people who owned the land, when a realtor set up an account to purchase 15,000 acres to build a city in 1957. In 1965 he helped negotiate the sale of the Redwine Bank in Tyrone to Bessemer – it later became Fayette State Bank the first bank in Peachtree City which provided much of the funds needed by the home builders and residents.

Farr was the key to negotiations between the Coweta EMC and Georgia Power. Those negotiations allowed Georgia Power to use its national marketing organization to help Peachtree City promote national companies to locate in Peachtree City’s new Industrial Park.

Willard Byrd

■ BACKGROUND The first article of this series of four was published in the Fall 2018 issue of Peachtree City Magazine. At that time, we focused on some of the untold stories of the very early development of Peachtree City – then known simply as “New Town.” The first three parts of this series covered the Early Years of Development 1956 – 1957 and the Joel Cowan Years between 1957 and 1976.

Research for those years relied heavily on the Joel Cowan Timeline, and other historical books and papers in the Joel Cowan History Room in the Peachtree City Library.

Further, research in the archives of Willard Byrd’s papers in the North Carolina State University in Raleigh North Carolina showed us how Peter Knox, Jr. and Willard Byrd met in Atlanta on June 6, 1956 to discuss an idea – how to develop a New Town south of the Atlanta Airport that would be modeled after the self-sustaining towns that were developed outside of war ravaged London in the late 1940s and early 1950s.

Peter Knox, Jr. was a nationally known prefab home builder from Thomson, Georgia, near Augusta. And Willard Byrd was a younger land planner who had just opened his business in Atlanta.

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“Like us”” on the

Banker

In 1957 the Civil Rights Act was signed into law. At that time Atlanta, Georgia, was socially torn by the problems related to segregation. One of the results of this problem was people moving to the suburbs. The Hartsfield Atlanta Airport was growing with the arrival of the first commercial jet in 1957, and the Interstate Highway System was created and being built under the direction of President Eisenhower. Land syndications were being formed to purchase land near the Interstate exits. These factors were just a part of the decision to build a city, but they all played a role in that decision, along with the basic idea of land development for a profit.

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Doug Mitchell President, PCDC

Steve Black

VP–Industrial Sales, PCDC

Jerry Peterson

Rick Schlosser

Doug Mitchell was hired by Equitable as President of Garden Cities in 1977. He hired Jerry Peterson, a land planner. In 1978, Doug Coats joined his team as the Chief Financial Officer.

In 1979, when Equitable took 100% ownership of Peachtree City properties, PCDC was awarded the contract to be the manager of the project, and Garden Cities was closed.

Mitchell then hired Steve Black as Director of Industrial Sales, and later in 1982 he hired Rick Schlosser as VP, and President/Broker of Peachtree City Marketing Group (PCMG). Using Peterson’s revised plans, they continued the successful development of Peachtree City through 1994.

By 1994 as the developable land was down to about 5,000 acres, PCDC and Doug Mitchell formed a new company Pathways Communities and purchased 100% of the existing properties from Equitable.

In 2003, there were only small unattached parcels left in Peachtree City, and Pathways Communities moved their office to Atlanta.

In 1977 Steve Black joined PCDC as its first Director of Industrial and Commercial Sales. He had a background in economic development with Georgia Power and quickly became the go-to-guy for much of the sales which freed up Mitchell to work on the big new projects.

He continued to push the Industrial sales forward by hiring other top-level economic development specialist including Tate Godfrey.

Black represented PCDC on most occasions when the company was donating land to the city or the county, and worked closely with other parts of the company, as they pushed forward When Pathways Communities was formed Black became President of the company and remained with the company until 2003.

Jerry Peterson had an extensive resume with regard to planning and building “new towns” which were very new in the 1970s. With a degree in architecture he had already worked on two “new town” projects—Jonathan, Minnesota, and Shenandoah, near Newnan in Georgia.

Peterson went to work for PCDC in 1977, having worked with Mitchell on Shenandoah. His first task was to take the city plan back to restore the basic original plan and to make improvements based on recent changes.

Peterson’s contributions were appreciated by all of the team and Cowan commented, "Jerry Peterson needs more recognition for his contribution to Peachtree City over the years."

When Garden Cities Corp became PCDC and PCDC became Pathways Communities, Peterson was always a trusted, and respected member of the team.

By 2003 when Pathways closed in Peachtree City, Jerry chose to start his own consulting business. He still lives in Peachtree City today.

Rick Schlosser first came to Peachtree City in 1982 to join the PCDC executives in their monthly sales meetings. He was asked to share his knowledge about residential sales with the group since he was the VP of Marketing for another Equitable project on the north side of Atlanta called Rivermont.

In 1983 he was made PCDC, VP and President/Broker for the Peachtree City Marketing Group (PCMG).

His studies of the existing sales and marketing system led the company to major organizational changes including 10% marketing charge to be added to all real estate sales which was used to fund a large advertising campaign in Atlanta and at the Atlanta airport.

Schlosser is credited with creating a unique model for a Sales Magazine called the Guide to Peachtree City. That magazine served both as a PR piece for the local residents and as a Sales piece for prospects and it was free to PCDC.

Thanks goes out to other history buffs who volunteer with Rebecca Watts, who leads the efforts to organize the files in the Joel Cowan History Room. Fortunately, many people have added their own personal stories and photos that provide new depth and reliability. Joel Cowan was my inspiration in the beginning and has continued to be a reliable source of historic information. He has been a person of great patience as I personally tried to understand the corporate details of the land ownership covering the years of development.

Land Planner, PCDC

■ PART FOUR OF FOUR – THE FINAL DEVELOPMENT OF PEACHTREE CITY 1977–2003 One of the definitions of “developer” is given by Dictionary.com is a person who invests in and develops the urban or suburban potentialities of real estate, especially by subdividing the land into home sites and building houses and selling them.”

This article does not pretend to be a complete history of Peachtree City to date, but rather a “History of

Pres/Broker, PCMG

the Development of Peachtree City.” As Joel Cowan always said, “there were a lot of folks involved in the development of Peachtree City.” A steady stream of companies and their teams were responsible for taking the land that Cowan and others had amassed to build to a self-sustaining, self-governing city. From 1956 when Peter Knox, Jr. formed a company to purchase the land through Fayette County Development Corp, to the Peachtree of GA Corp (January 1959), to the Bessemer/Phipps Land (1962-1973), to Phipps Land/ Garden Cities (1973-1976), to Garden Cities/Equitable Assurance (1976-1979), to Equitable/PCDC (19791994), to PCDC & Pathways (1994-2003), to the final Continued on page 26

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Peachtree City executives celebrating the 40th Anniversary of Peachtree City.

Left to right: Fred Brown Mayor 1982 to 1991; Howard Morgan, Mayor 1972 to 1977; Doug Mitchell president of PCDC; Bob Lenox, Mayor 1992 to 2001; Jim Basinger, city manager; Ralph Jones, mayor, 1966 to 1969.

Continued from page 25

days of Pathways Communities when most of the developable land and the infrastructure had been sold – it took a lot of money, talent, inspiration, and hard work to finish the job.

Large projects were underway everywhere, and citizens were enjoying Peachtree City’s benefits with the first use of golf carts being allowed on the roads and a new Flat Creek Golf Club, and cart paths expanding to encompass ten miles around the town.

As I was compiling the historic details about the last development era, I came upon an analogy that will help the reader to understand the complete development of Peachtree City. Think of an Olympic Swim Event called the Medley Relay. Each team consists of four unique swimmers with outstanding capabilities in a swim stroke. In order to win the Gold, they take turns in swimming a relay in competition starting with Butterfly, Back, Breaststroke, Freestyle. Each swimmer must excel if the team is going to win the Gold. As we examine the 1977 – 2003 era and consider the earlier era from 1956 up until 1976, we see the unique attributes of the various companies and their leadership.

Each company’s leaders played a special role in the development of Peachtree City. The many awards won and the pleasant town we enjoy today is proof that these leaders in the past 60 years have produced a Gold Medal City!

■ 1977–1979 EQUITABLE/GARDEN CITIES CORP

■ STATUS OF THE PEACHTREE CITY PROJECT – 1977 (see Parts 1–3 for details of 1956-1976).

When Cowan was elected Mayor in 1961, there were 65 votes cast. By 1963 there were about 40 houses and 4 industries. The population in 1961 of about 1,000 grew to about 4,000-5,000 by the end of 1970.

In the 1970s the city had a high percentage of “citizen volunteers” and was becoming self-governing as originally planned. By 1974 there were over 20 paid government workers besides the mayor and city council. In fact, for the first time Mayor Howard Morgan requested authority from the City Council to borrow funds for the Operating Account to meet a payroll. Previously, the developer would step in and pay the bill.

That same year, the Georgia Red Carpet Tour brought Industrial prospects to visit the Industrial Park.

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In early 1976 Joel Cowan announced his retirement from Phipps Land Company by year end in order to form his own company Cowan and Associates. Equitable, in 1977, went from a de facto owner/developer to a fully operational developer.

On February 1, 1977, Equitable named Doug Mitchell as President of Garden Cities Corporation to manage the Peachtree City project. In August 1977, Mitchell hired Jerry Peterson, who had experience as a city planner of two other “new town” projects – Jonathan in Minnesota, and Shenandoah in Coweta County.

Peterson’s expertise was needed since two thirds of the land, about 10,000 acres that were part of the master plan, remained undeveloped. Later, Joel Cowan said, “Jerry Peterson needs to get more credit for what he did. He stuck generally to the plan, but always with an eye to saving a beautiful tree or seeing room for improvements.”

While being interviewed for this article, Jerry shared some insights about how Equitable came close to not finishing the Peachtree City project as it was originally planned. He recalled that Mitchell told him that the Equitable “experts” were pushing to convert the remaining land into large tracts that could be sold to pilots (a popular real estate program at that time) and that Mitchell convinced the Equitable leadership that they could make more money by just continuing with the plan to build Peachtree City.

So, if it were not from this shared insight, we might never have known that Doug Mitchell’s first job in 1977 was to keep Equitable from giving up on the complete development of Peachtree City. As it turned out, the project was much more profitable.

The development by Garden Cities Corp continued at a good pace, as Equitable “Like us”” on the

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Howard Morgan 1972–1977

Herb Frady

n 1972 when Howard Morgan became the Mayor it was a time of transition. The young town began assuming Iresponsibility for itself. When interviewed in 1994, Morgan said, “that the developer continued to offer expertise the city could not afford and training programs for city officials and valuable legal assistance”. Lacking funds, Morgan promoted volunteerism – everything from the library to the recreation program were manned by volunteers. Under his leadership doors were open for public involvement.

When Herb Frady took the reigns in 1978, he oversaw the turnover of facilities that were initially built as part of the developers marketing program. He took over the site for the Neely Fire Station, the City Hall property, and all of the large recreation areas: Glenlock, Big Pine Park, Riley Field, and the 65 acre Meade Field. His administration purchased the amphitheater property from a foreclosure for only $250,000 – it was worth $750,000.

1978–1981

Fred Brown 1982–1991

With the election of Fred Brown in 1982, the city government was expanding and budgets were an important part of his legacy. When Brown was interviewed in 1994, he said that the most important thing that he did was “the city’s public improvement program and capital budget. Based on a five-year planning cycle, the program funded one year at a time, allowing city planners to anticipate revenues and set aside funds for the rest of the cycle.” During the eight years that he was in office the city acquired Falcon Field along with other FAA grants. The completion of the library, City Hall as well as the four-laning of Hwy 74, and fine tuning of the zoning ordinance and the city’s land use plan were also accomplished.

By the time Bob Lenox came into office in 1992 he would tell the Guide’s reporter that, “the Mayor and City Council are there to set policy and give direction. We should use the energy of the people here (government officials) and

had just refinanced a $9 million loan as well as a $3.3 million loan to Phipps Land Company. The Peachtree Crossing Shopping Center at Peachtree Parkway and Hwy 54 was opened in 1977 with a Big Star grocery store, Eckerd’s Drug Store, and other small service businesses. In the industrial park, Fasson opened a 150,000 square foot facility, and Peachtree Aircraft opened at Falcon Field.

The intersection of Hwy 74 and Hwy 54 got its first traffic light – showing the continued growth of the city.

1976 would be the nation's bicentennial year. The year prior, local resident Robert Price established the McIntosh Arts Council which sought to create a robust arts complex anchored by an amphitheater hosting an outdoor historical drama, “The McIntosh Trail.” The project was situated on 25 acres that the developers donated for the endeavor. While the drama did run for the 1976 season and received critical acclaim, it was costly to produce. And, being only a seasonal outdoor production, it could not sustain itself financially. "The McIntosh Trail" would not have a second season and without the draw of the production, the other aspects of the arts complex and Indian crafts village never came to fruition. The McIntosh Arts Council needed help in repaying its loan, so the city purchased the complex in early 1977. Soon, the amphitheater would be reborn as the McIntosh Opry, a venue for mostly free concerts of bluegrass, country, and folk acts courtesy of the city.

In the summer of 1977, Mayor Herb Frady took the initiative to purchase the entire McIntosh Arts Complex and take over the loan which was held by the Fayette State

Bob Lenox 1992–2001

create an atmosphere in which to get things done. Amongst his achievements were the four-laning of Hwy 54 and Hwy 74 south (both requiring a great deal of work outside of Peachtree City). Also, he oversaw a successful resolution of the sewage system problem.

In 2002, Steve Brown became mayor, but the developers decision to move was already underway.

As you review the history of the government by elected officials during the latter years of development, it is easily seen that as the major pieces of properties were developed, there was a parallel increase in the strength and capability of the city government to take on business without the help of the developer.

It could be said that the original goal of Joel Cowan; to build a self-sustaining city, had been reached! d

Bank managed by Floy Farr. By doing so, the city government took over the site where the Fred Brown Amphitheater, the Gathering Place, the Senior Services, the BMX Track, the Dog Park, and the Shakerag Craft Festival are located today.

The community spirit of Peachtree City was showing strong as Mrs. George Hare and son designed and flew the first city flag in the 4th of July Parade in 1977.

Meanwhile, Peachtree City was emerging as a self-sustaining city. Under the leadership of Mayor Howard Morgan, the city began construction of Booth Junior High School using an $8 million county wide school bond issue.

■ 1979 FRIENDLY FORECLOSURE; EQUITABLE PCDC TAKES 100% OWNERSHIP OF PEACHTREE CITY By prior agreement between Equitable and Phipps Land Company/Bessemer, Equitable foreclosed on the $15 million loan with Garden Cities/Phipps Land. The terms of the agreement left Equitable all the Fayette County land including Peachtree City and Phipps Land would keep all the other lands with no more mortgages. It was called a “friendly foreclosure” since the settlement was part of a plan previously agreed by both parties. However, the company lawyers advised that a more formal foreclosure would be required to assure everyone of clear titles to their lands.

After the foreclosure, Equitable became the new landowner/developer of Peachtree City. Concurrently, Equitable named Peachtree City Development Corporation (PCDC), Continued on page 28 | www.peachtreecitymagazine.com | SPECIAL HISTORY EDITION | 27

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Frances Meaders began working for Howard Morgan in 1973 as the full time City Clerk.

Left to Right: Bob Lenox, Frances Meaders, Fred Brown, Herb Frady, and J.K. “Chip” Connor.

Peter Knox, Jr. (left) and Joel Cowan at the 25th Anniversary Gala in 1984.

Continued from page 27

owned 100% by Doug Mitchell, as the management company for Peachtree City.

Garden Cities Corporation was closed with many of the employees simply going to work for PCDC. Jerry Peterson, land planner at Garden Cities since 1977 was one of those team members who switched over to PCDC in 1979. Another important member to transition over to PCDC at that time was Doug Coates who was Chief Financial Officer.

1979 – Peachtree City Development Corporation (PCDC) became the developer of Peachtree City working under contract with landowner Equitable Life Assurance Society of America.

According to knowledgeable sources, the value of the Peachtree City portion that Equitable received was $24 million and consisted of about 10,000 acres of residential lots to sell plus the Industrial Park properties.

PCDC’s contract with Equitable made them the developer/agent of the undeveloped land. Reliable sources stated that the terms of the agreement (looking forward to an eventual buyout by PCDC) provided PCDC 30% of all sales and Equitable received 70% of all sales. Further, the Equitable portion of 70% would reduce the undeveloped land value by that amount each year.

With a new agreement from Equitable, Doug Mitchell began assembling a powerful team to keep the development going in the right direction. Doug Coats, CFO, had come to Garden Cities in 1978 to participate in the negotiations of the foreclosure. When Garden City closed he joined Mitchell as CFO of PCDC. The first person to be brought in from the outside was Steve Black. He joined PCDC in September 1979 as Director of Commercial and Industrial Development. When discussing those first days of 1979, Black recalled the difficulty of rewriting and getting signed a new real estate lease for every tenant served by Garden Cities Corp.

Black was proud of the industrial sales team that he assembled using his experience with Georgia Power and economic development. In particular, he spoke about Tate Godfrey who was successful in bringing in partners from the state economic development team as well as the chamber of commerce.

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With those great incentives in place, PCDC worked with the local government at all levels to continue the same land plan and sales effort. Herb Frady was mayor from 1978 until 1981, just before and after the foreclosure. Working together in a harmonious manner the developer and the city government continued to grow the city relying to a large degree on the original plan, which Jerry Peterson reworked and updated.

In 1979, Pitney Bowes Corp located their national conference/training center in a beautiful wooded area off Aberdeen Parkway in the Westpark area. Today after a $10 million update it is a modern Crowne Plaza Conference Center and Hotel.

New industries continued to open in the Industrial Park: Vox Com, a manufacturer of specialty labels; TDK of Tokyo announced construction of a $50 million plant, and was one of the first Japanese firms recruited to open in Peachtree City; and Topi Inc industries opened on a 10-acre site.

Also, in 1979, J.C. Booth Middle School opened. The school was named after James Cecil Booth a beloved educator in Fayette County. His son Jimmy Booth with his wife Margo started the first weekly newspaper, “This Week in Peachtree City” in 1974.

■ 1979 EARLY YEARS OF PCDC – GETTING ORGANIZED AND BUILDING A BETTER RESIDENTIAL MARKETING AND SALES TEAM As soon as PCDC became the Equitable agent, Mitchell had brought in Steve Black who brought in Tate Godfrey. Together they made a strong Industrial Sales Team that was very important to the continued growth of the city.

Steve Black said, “we needed those industries to provide jobs and for people to buy the houses and become residents.” These people were still part of the “critical mass” of people that Joel Cowan sought to attract in the very beginning, and PCDC was aware of the need to continue building on that industrial base.

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When Mickey Odem opened his barber shop in the Aberdeen Shopping Center, he had to change the name of the barber shop to “the Aberdeen Barber Shop” in order to comply with the new Peachtree City signage regulations.

Two years after the closing of the McIntosh Trail, Mayor Herb Frady assigned Councilman Fred Brown to head a committee to “figure out” what to do with the facility. The results were the McIntosh Opry which ran from 1978–1984.

In the short term, the Industrial Sales Team of Mitchell, Black, and Godfrey was powerful and could continue selling new businesses. However, it was soon recognized that something more had to be done to improve the residential sales that would increase the critical mass and produce more profit quickly.

In 1982, in order to improve the residential sales, Weldon Van Pelt, Regional VP of Real Estate for Equitable, requested Rick Schlosser, then the VP Marketing of Rivermont in north Atlanta, to meet monthly with the Peachtree City executive team to discuss ideas that would improve residential sales. Schlosser participated in the monthly meetings and was asked to prepare a report for the Board of Directors.

In 1983, Schlosser joined PCDC as VP of Marketing and as President/Broker of Peachtree City Marketing Group (PCMG). At that time the city had about 6,000 residents.

Schlosser brought in RMG, a local advertising agency owned by Cary Evans, to put together massive ad programs in the AJC and the ATL airport newspaper to target potential home buyers. The money used to pay for this program was raised by a 10% increase on all real estate sales which would go to a Marketing and Sales budget.

These ads were targeted at a new higher priced buyer with a call to action.

Part of the Schlosser program was to bring together the Information Center and the Sales Center which was manned in a separate location with sales representatives of individual home builders. Working closely with city government, PCDC was able to get proper signage that brought the prospects directly to the new Information Center.

In 1985, when PCDC built the Brookside building in Westpark, the first floor was designed to incorporate all the individual builder’s information, along with the topographic map of the city. Betty Robison, led a capable group of PCDC salespeople who would direct prospects to the builders.

In 1987, Schlosser and RMG teamed up once again to produce the first “Guide to Peachtree City”. The business model was unique and resulted in PCDC getting 20,000 high-quality full color magazines, at no cost to PCDC. The agency, under the direction of PCDC produced the magazines and sold ads to the community. RMG took the risk

and PCDC got the product. That magazine was purchased by Print Graphics Services in 1993 and is distributed annually as “The Guide-Coweta-Fayette.”

Mayor Fred Brown, served 2 terms from 1982 - 1991. During that period there was rapid growth due in part to the new sales and marketing efforts by PCDC, but also due to a bit of good luck! Steve Black said that 1987 was their “best year of residential sales, because it was the time of the big merger of Northwest Airlines into Delta Airlines.”

On the civic side, in March of 1984 Peachtree City celebrated its 25th Anniversary.

There were 9,548 residents living in 3,103 residential units. Residents enjoyed 40 miles of “bicycle paths”. Flat Creek was its only golf course and there were 4 tennis courts and 3 swimming pools. 14 churches and accredited schools, kindergarten through high school. The Industrial Park had grown to 38 industries with 89 commercial and 57 professional companies. Eleven of the top 12 income tax-producing companies in Fayette County were in Peachtree City.

In 1986, Jimmy Booth, President of the Peachtree City Library, announced in a letter and brochure to all residents that the hard part of the cost of construction, site preparation, and landscaping had been covered by a state grant, but that $92,000 was still needed from voluntary contributions in order to provide furnishings inside the library.

In July 1988, Braelinn Golf Course, the city’s second golf course was opened. It was a highly acclaimed, 18-hole championship course on Peachtree Parkway south of Crosstown Road. That section of Peachtree Parkway had only recently opened at that time.

While Fred Brown was still mayor, in 1990 the City Hall Complex was completed, and in 1991 the city’s population reached 20,000. The renovations were completed to the Amphitheater and it was appropriately named after Fred Brown for his hard work on the project. Also, in the same year, renovations and expansion of the runway of Falcon Field were finished.

Continued on page 30

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Librarian M.T. Allen with a young reader and his mom, in the new library.

Floy Farr walking next to golf cart driven by Fred Brown, with Iola Snow.

Continued from page 29

In 1992, Bob Lenox became mayor and the city continued to grow. Everything was getting larger and more complicated. In 1995 the population reached 25,000, and the cart paths reached 60 miles. The city passed a $3 million recreation bond to construct facilities ranging from a field house to baseball diamonds to a senior center. In 1994 the Flat Creek Nature Trail was constructed, and Planterra Ridge Golf Club was opened.

■ 1994 PCDC/PATHWAYS BECOMES NEW 100% OWNER OF UNDEVELOPED LAND IN PEACHTREE CITY Equitable agreed to a reported $20 - $25 million buyout

by PCDC headed by Doug Mitchell. Most of the purchase price was earned by PCDC over a long period of time as Equitable liquidated the value each year by 70% of all sales made - which was part of their agreement. The continual profit taking by Equitable kept the project alive.

Most of the sales price had been reduced over the 15 years of successful sales resulting in PCDC only having to pay about $5-$6 million, according to Steve Black, who was President at the time.

This deal represents the final phase of development of Peachtree City. The purchase was for about 2,500 acres of remaining undeveloped residential and business land, as well as, Georgia Utilities. It included about 900 acres in the Peachtree City Industrial Park, 350 acres outside of the city limits and 100 acres that comprised the Chimneys Hunting preserve on the south end of the city.

1995- Pathways Communities Corporation was formed

by PCDC and it took over all land and mortgages in order to complete the development of Peachtree City.

Concurrently, Pathways Communities began developing new communities in the Newnan area: Summer Grove and Avery Park; Monarch Village in Henry County; Lake Forest, Lake Astoria and River Rock in Forsyth County.

The largest development left in Peachtree City was Planterra Ridge, which brought the third golf course to Peachtree City. It joined the Peachtree City Tennis Center in the same area. After that, Pathways tried over a period to get the city council to approve another 400-acre development on the west side of the city. The proposed site of that 400-acre development was on the north side of Hwy 54 and on the south end of McDuff Parkway. After Jerry Peterson’s second set of plans was turned down by the City Council, Pathways sold the property to Wieland Homes who built Centennial and other subdivisions.

In 2003, Pathways Communities, with only small plots of developable land in Peachtree City, closed its office and moved to Atlanta.

It is ironic that the city was started by a developer who was both “developer” and “mayor” with the goal of it becoming a “self-governing city.” Then, in the end, it was the City Council – the governing body -- that denied the development of the last large plot of land available.

• HISTORY INFORMATION BEING DIGITIZED •

Rebecca Watts, Volunteer Coordinator ptclib.history@gmail.com

New online records that describe some of Peachtree City’s history will soon be available for researchers in the Digital Library of Georgia.

The collection, “Peachtree City: Plans, Politics, and People, ‘New Town’ Beginnings and How the ‘New Town’ Grew,” will be available at https://dlg.usg.edu and contains a number of documents from the late 1950s, including early conceptual drawings, as well as 1972 master plan documents, maps, newsletters from the 1970s, and a previously digitized collection of administrative records covering the history of the golf cart paths from the early 1970s up through 2007.

Rebecca Watts, former librarian and now volunteer coordinator for the Joel Cowan History Room at Peachtree City Library, describes the importance of these resources: “These materials will provide land planners, city planners, and those

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interested in how a city like Peachtree City came to be, with insight on its beginnings and early history, when the city was devoted to slow growth in an effort to keep a balance between industry, residential, and community amenities.”

Based at the University of Georgia Libraries, the Digital Library of Georgia is a GALILEO initiative that collaborates with Georgia's libraries, archives, museums and other institutions of education and culture to provide access to key information resources on Georgia history, culture, and life. This primary mission is accomplished through the ongoing development, maintenance, and preservation of digital collections and online digital library resources. DLG also serves as Georgia's service hub for the Digital Public Library of America and as the home of the Georgia Newspaper Project, the state's historic newspaper microfilming project.

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~Acknowledgements~ No advertising or sponsorships were used in the publishing of this Special History Edition of the Peachtree City Magazine in order to keep it completely free of bias.

T

he story had been told by the Guide-Coweta/Fayette in 1994; the “Images of America – Peachtree City” published in 2009; and “Historic Fayette County” published in 2009. The history was also detailed firsthand in the “Historical Time Line & Comments; “Time Line, Joel H. Cowan & Peachtree City” compiled by Joel Cowan and copyrighted in 2003. Metro South Magazine 25th Anniversary of Peachtree City Edition.

Most documents covering the development period can be found in the Joel Cowan History Room of the Peachtree City Library. The history room was created by the City Council in 1987, when Fred Brown was mayor, to be a repository of personal and historical documents. Recent updates of the History Room were led by Rebecca Watts, and Lee Eltzroth who used archival knowledge and skills to organize the files.

The publisher acknowledges the help, assistance, and encouragement of Jill Prouty, Library Administrator, and Rebecca Watts who was the librarian in charge of the Joel Cowan History Room until her recent retirement.

Clara Wilson, Librarian, Special Collections Research Center, NCSU Libraries, Raleigh, N.C. provided important support in retrieving the Willard

Byrd, “New Town” files from the library archives. The New Town Box provided previously unknown letters and insights into the early thoughts of the development of a new town south of the airport in Fayette County.

Alice Reeves and the staff of the Fayette County Historical Society for their assistance with the early family and business files of the Redwine family and the Farr family.

The publisher also acknowledges the help from many of the key figures, and those related to them, who lived and participated in the making of this city. Each person gave freely of their time, photos and memories that brought this story to its fullness.

Pat Knox-Hudson, wife of Peter Knox III, Margaret “Brownie” Jones Holt (wife of Ralph Jones 2nd Mayor); J.K. “Chip” Conner, 3rd Mayor; Fred Brown, 6th Mayor & Iola Snow; Bob Lenox, 7th Mayor & Debbie Lenox; Steve Brown, 8th Mayor: Vanessa Fleisch, 11th Mayor.

Rick Schlosser, VP Marketing, PCDC & Marie Schlosser; Jerry Peterson, Land Planner, PCDC; Doug Coats, CFO PCDC; Steve Black, President, Pathways Communities; Jim & Tom Fulton; Wendy Farr, Sonny Farr; Frances Meaders, former City Clerk; Betsy Tyler, former City Clerk; and the city’s Public Information Office; Doug Warner, former City Attorney; Margo Booth and Neal DuPre, Metro South Magazine; Sherri Smith Brown, author/editor. d

~Contributing Photographers~ Dan Nelson, pages 1, 4, 5; Atul Khasnis page 4; William Courtney page 4; BMX page 4; Peachtree City CVB page 4; Terrance Rushin page 5; Alzheimer’s Walk page 5; Marie Schlosser page 5; Atlanta Regional Airport, Falcon Field page 6; Bryan McDermott page 6; Mike Swanson page 6; Peachtree Recreation Center page 6; The Avenue page 7; First Presbyterian Church page 7; Avery Sports page 7; Tom Black page 7; Norm Goss page 9; David Hermecz page 32.

~Recent Accolades~ • Best Family-Friendly Suburbs (#9) in the U.S. - Realtor.com - 2021

• Best Family-Friendly Suburbs (#9) in the U.S. - Realtor.com

• Top 50 Best Places to Live in the U.S. in 2021-2022 (#24) Money Magazine, 2021

• Safest Cities to Live in Georgia (#2) Backgroundchecks.org - 2019

• The 11 Best Places to Live in Georgia (#9) - Simpleshowing.com – 2021

• Police Department - Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies 2019

• Mcintosh High School - (#15) in Georgia Rankings USNews.com - 2021 • Starrs Mill High School - (#21) in Georgia Rankings USNews.com - 2021

| www.peachtreecitymagazine.com | SPECIAL HISTORY EDITION | 31

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Special History Edition • 2022

MA G A ZI NE SPECIAL EDITION

Battery Way Park photo by David Hermecz.

This booklet is given to the citizens of Peachtree City, as well as our visitors in thanks for the many years of support given to the Guide and the Peachtree City Magazine.

We ask anyone to give us any information to correct any facts that we present.

Thanks for letting us serve you. d

The Peachtree City Magazine, 101 Tivoli Garden Road, Peachtree City, GA 30269 • Call us about advertising or photographic and editorial contributions at 770-631-9159. email: charlie@printgraphics.net or mike@mediaworks67.com

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