Who was Floy Farr?

By Charlie Nelson

On May 12, 1912, the day that Walter Floy Farr was born in Stop, near Tyrone, on the western side of Fayette County, the county was a world apart from what it would become in 1959 when Peachtree City got its name, its charter, and the developers.

Between those two dates, Walter Floy Farr grew up in the typical, poor, agricultural town of the deep south. While as a young man he dreamed of going off to college at the University of Georgia, his dreams of college were lost in the poverty of the times.

Floy Farr was 18 years old when he graduated from Fayette County High School in 1930. There were only 40 students in his class—20 boys and 20 girls. There were no buses to take you from Tyrone to Fayetteville, so he took an old Model T Ford every day. Upon graduation, he went to work for the Redwine Bank, which also owned a cotton gin and a fertilizer and seed company. His pay was $15 per week. He soon realized that his dream of going to the University of Georgia and becoming an Agriculture Agent were unattainable.

But young Floy was not ready to give up. While working for the Redwine company, he saved a little and enrolled at the Draughon’s Business School in Atlanta that required him to hitch a free ride daily to Atlanta at 4pm and return to Tyrone on the 10:30pm train.

The Floy Farr portrait shown above is an oil on linen painting by local artist, Martin Pate. This portrait was purchased by the Friends of the Library for the Floy Farr Collection.

About the Artist

Martin Pate is a resident of Newnan was born in South Carolina and graduated from Ringling School of Art in Sarasota, Florida in 1981. He has worked as a professional artist since then. Martin’s ability to paint people and historic sites has led to 30 years of commissions with the National Park Service. Paintings of Native American life, The Underground Railroad, Civil War battles, The Battle of the Little Bighorn and many others are used by the NPS for educational purposes. You can find Martin’s work at Dogwood Gallery in Tyrone, Fine Lines Gallery in Newnan, and Mary Martin Gallery in Charleston, SC.

Floy Farr Community Room is being updated.

Jill Prouty, Director of Library Services reports, “We have purchased 11 new tables for the Floy Farr Room, and we will replace the chairs in the fall. “Design is underway for a Floy Farr exhibit which will debut sometime in 2024.”

When Floy was about 23 years old, he recognized a problem. Tyrone was so far from Fayetteville that in 1935 Bell South, the only phone company, would not string a line to Tyrone. Taking a “no” was not the answer. Floy worked out a deal with Bell South that allowed him to get the farmers in Tyrone to cut trees for the poles and send them by his company truck to East Point where they were treated. Meanwhile, he and the Tyrone farmers dug the holes for all of the poles and then Bell South strung the wire paid for by Redwine Bank and supplied them a 4-party line phone!

In 1937 Floy Farr married fellow Tyrone resident Hilda “Bruce” Loyd. They had two sons, Walter Floy “Sonny” Farr, Jr. and Thomas Farr. Sonny became a doctor and moved to Arizona while Tom followed in his dad’s footsteps to become a banker in Peachtree City.

In the mid 1940’s a company wanted to start a quarry on the north side of Tyrone but were about to cancel the project because a property owner refused to sell a right-away through his farm for a railroad spur line connecting to the main railroad line. Floy Farr knew all of the local farmers who had brought their cotton to the cotton gin, purchased seed and fertilizer from the Redwine store, and banked at the Redwine Bank. Legend has it that Farr went to see the farmer, Johnny McEachern, as he was plowing behind his mule and began a conversation about what the quarry and 150 new jobs would mean to the Tyrone community. McEachern finally gave in and said he would let them have the right-away. When asked what he would want for the land, the farmer replied, “Nothing.” But Farr was a fair man and said, “You must need something, what can we do?” McEachern said, “Well this old mule is not going to last much longer.” Farr left and later purchased a mule and personally delivered it to farmer Johnny McEachern.

After World War II, Floy Farr and his Tyrone Brotherhood—a form of informal local government—learned about the new Rural Electrification laws. Floy was one of the original founders of the Coweta-Fayette EMC and in 1945 helped bring electricity to western Fayette County. In 1946 he became one of the first board members of the newly organized EMC.

In 1951 Floy Farr helped organize the Fayette County Kiwanis Club and was one of its original directors. During the early 50s, Farr served on the Fayette County Board of Education.

In June of 1956, Floy Farr was 44 years old and well established as the manager of the Redwine complex in Tyrone, but he was not aware of a meeting that took place between Peter Knox, Jr. and Willard Byrd, when they discussed the idea of building a “New Town” in western Fayette County (See The Story of the Development of Peachtree City, available for purchase at Peachtree City Library).

After the Knox-Byrd meeting, Peter Knox, Jr.—a wealthy, nationally known prefabricated home builder—took a Willard Byrd land plan to New York, Augusta, and Atlanta to raise $150,000 to start a new company called Fayette County Development Corporation.

Earl Denny and Golden Picket were in the real estate business working out of College Park and working on behalf of Peter Knox, Jr. at the time. In the latter part of 1956, Earl Denny and Golden Picket opened an account with Floy Farr at the Redwine Bank. That was the first time Floy Farr heard of this incredible story. In his words he said, “... I asked them, ‘what are you guys looking for? ’They answered me by saying, ‘Well we are looking for some land to build a city.’ They were in search of around 15,000 acres.”

Floy Farr said, “At that moment, I knew the very place for them to build their city. I told them to travel about six miles down the road until they reached a big open space at the Crossroads—the approximate location of today’s intersection between Highways 74 and 54. That was to be the future Peachtree City, but at the time it was nothing but farmland.”

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In his interview with Emily Reiter for an article in Fayette Portraits Spring 1998, Floy Farr said that he referred Earl Denny to meet with Bob Huddleston who owned about 4,500 acres. Floy said that the meeting went well, but they needed financing that he did not have at the time. That was when “a few gentlemen joined Mr. Knox, Jr. with $175,000 of stock purchases to form Fayette County Development Corporation.”

After the formation of FCDC , Floy stated, “We began listing property down there and soon after we began to see major results. We listed about 11,000 acres of land, including Mr. Huddleston’s 4 or 5,000 acres.”

Floy Farr said that funds were depleted quickly, and that they were paying one-third down with final payment in three years. In the same interview Floy Farr said, “During this time Mr. Knox employed a man named Mr. Joel Cowan who has been involved in the future development of Peachtree City since that time.”

Joel Cowan was introduced to Peter Knox, Jr. by his ATO fraternity brother Peter Knox III and was hired by Knox’s

Continued from page 7 company Fayette County Development Corporation in the Summer of 1957, as he was beginning his senior year at Georgia Tech. Joel Cowan said that “Denny strongly suggested that I meet with Floy Farr at his bank in Tyrone.” From that time on Joel Cowan worked as the property manager of the “New Town” properties. His relationship with Floy Farr enabled Joel Cowan to rework sales agreements since funds were still short because the new public stock offering of FCDC failed to bring in the $150,000 needed.

Floy Farr said, “After the first payment, we were really struggling to find someone to pay for the rest of the property....That was where Mr. Cowan came in. He found someone in New York to produce security for our investment.”

In fact, Floy Farr was referring to Bessemer Securities company which was a division of the Phipps Trust in New York and the site presentation that was made to James Riley, VP by Joel Cowan personally. That meeting led to the ultimate buy out of the FCDC by Bessemer Securities.

The Farr-Cowan relationship continued to grow as the city got its Charter and name on March 9, 1959. Cowan and his wife moved into their hastily built prefabricated home in Shakerag in December 1958 in order to be a legal resident as required for his being Mayor upon the issuance of the State Charter.

From the beginning Floy Farr worked hand-in-glove with Joel Cowan to build the community. There was infrastructure to build homes, churches, and schools. Above all, Cowan needed to build a viable community.

The Fayette State Bank was a great launching pad for everything. Loans were made to builders to buy the subdivision land from the developer and mortgages written with homeowners. The bank was an enormous success with Farr reporting to the directors: “In the last 15 years, we have as agents for a home loan organization over 600 loans amounting to over $50 million.”

Some of the things that Floy Farr helped with in one way or another during those first years include building the first multipurpose building for City Hall, Fayette State Bank, the post office, Community Chapel, the Airport (Falcon Field), and Flat Creek Country Club.

By March 10,1965, it was obvious that the development needed to have its own bank. At that time Cowan negotiated the sale of the Redwine Bank to Bessemer. The bank was renamed Fayette State Bank with Floy Farr as manager and Joel Cowan as Chairman of the Board. The negotiations were failing when the Redwine brothers refused to just sell the bank. Floy Farr stepped in and found someone to purchase the cotton gin and someone else to purchase the fertilizer and seed company – that solved the problem and the bank moved to Peachtree City on Highway 54 at the Aberdeen Shopping Center.

In 1967, under the pressure of a law suit to desegregate, Cowan and Farr worked together to get Bessemer to build and lease a new unsegregated school, Peachtree Elementary, to the Fayette Board of Education.

In November 1967, with encouragement from Cowan, Floy Farr organized the first civic club in Peachtree City. Farr was a charter member of The Rotary Club of Peachtree City sponsored by the Rotary Club of Newnan.

In 1966 Floy Farr was named Citizen of the Year and in December 1975 he was honored by an elegant dinner for “an outstanding humanitarian, a conscientious citizen a solid church man, and a friend to all.”

In 2000 Floy Farr, with the help of Elaine Gaillard, Excecutive Director of Ashley

Glen, organized the first Alzheimer’s Walk for Peachtree City. Floy’s wife, Bruce, was stricken with Alzheimer in the 1990s. The Peachtree City Alzheimer’s Walk was to raise funds in the honor of Bruce Farr. The Walk supported by former Mayor Fred Brown and Iola Snow and the Rotary Club has become one of the most successful Alzheimer’s Walks in metro Atlanta.

Floy Farr’s importance to the development of Peachtree City and Fayette County are reflected in the words spoken by Joel Cowan at Farr’s Memorial Service in September 2006:

Joel Cowan said of his long-time friend and business associate, “He was a visionary, a Renaissance man, who was trapped in a rural environment early on. He was an optimist, and he welcomed newcomers and new ideas, which was not typical in Fayette County back then and to some extent now. He was just always forward looking, with vision, inspiration, and a willingness to push on.”

Summary: This brief insight is a small part of the reason Floy Farr has his name on the street signs on Highway 54 and why his image is next to Joel Cowan’s image in front of City Hall. He was not only a banker and businessman but a local civic leader as well.

Robert Curnow has only been Peachtree City City Manager since last January, but already he is gaining a reputation as a public servant who wants to meet and listen to his community. His regularly scheduled “Coffee and Conversation” events invite citizens, regardless of age or background, to come together to discuss the issues facing the community—while enjoying a cup of coffee and building a relationship with their new city manager.

Bob’s entire professional career has been spent working in some form of government. In 2012 he went to work for the City of Coral Springs, serving as deputy city manager during part of that time. At the beginning of 2023, he left Coral Springs to come to Peachtree City with his wife, Jacki, and two sons to become city manager.

How important is the job of city manager in Peachtree City? Appointed by the mayor and council, the city manager serves as the chief administrative and operating officer of the City, overseeing the day-to-day operations of the government. The duties of the city manager include law and ordinance enforcement, conducting city business affairs, and administering over all regular departments and divisions of the city. The city manager acts in an advisory capacity to the mayor and council in the formulation and operation of city government and attends all meetings—but has no vote. He recommends legislation and prepares and submits the annual budget as well as regular finance reports.

Bob, whose vision is stated as “uncompromised excellence,” encourages everyone to come to the coffees.

Acknowledgements: “The Story of the Development of Peachtree City" Page 31; Fayette County Historical Society/Alice Reeves, Tony Parrott; Peachtree City Library/Joel Cowan History Room/Joel Cowan fact check, Lee Eltzroth; Tyrone Museum/ Darleen Robinson, Linda Howard. Floy Farr quotes come from “Fayette Portraits" Spring 1998-Interview with Floy Farr.

Special Acknowledgement:

Thirty years ago, I met Frances Meaders, City Clerk of Peachtree City, when I was writing an article about our city government. Since that time, Frances has been my friend, and trusted, reliable source of historical information about the people and events that shaped the history of Peachtree City. So it was with this article about Floy Farr. She provided valuable insights that are generally hidden from view.

We all need someone to turn to who is fair-minded but will always tell us the truth out of first-hand knowledge. That is what Frances has done for me.

—Charlie Nelson

"We want our citizens to feel like they can come together and share their ideas and concerns," said Bob. "We believe that these conversations are an important part of fostering a strong sense of community."

If you want to attend an upcoming Coffee and Conversations or schedule an event for an organization, please contact Hannah Thomas at hthomas@peachtree-city.org. Like Bob Curnow–City Manager on Facebook.