History
A publication of
The Times-Herald
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An Industrial Legacy in Newnan By John Duncan Powell | Photos by Jeff Leo
Carrie Pazolt works as a welder at Caldwell Tanks.
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bout 175 years ago, the Cole family moved into the vicinity of Newnan. A sign on East Broad Street reads “Cole Town,” and this family’s descendants still live in Newnan. A long line of Coles played an important role in the growth of a village into a town, then a town into a city. This legacy goes far beyond a sign on
Coweta Living 2011-12 • HISTORY
The foundry started by Cole is the oldest continuing industrial site in Newnan. Broad Street. What Cole founded as a blacksmith shop in a shed was to grow into a massive facility for the manufacture of water tanks. Did you know that all our water tanks were manufactured here in Newnan? They were made in the 180,000-square-foot industrial structure along the railroad tracks between Broad and Salbide Streets. It’s the one lighted inside day and night. Downtown Newnan residents hear its nostalgic factory whistle calling for work to begin at 7 a.m. The foundry started by Cole is the oldest continuing industrial site in Newnan. Water tanks of all types and sizes are designed, manufactured, transported and erected for towns and cities across America, Canada, and even, recently, Iraq. It may not look like it from the outside, but inside is a spacious, industrial high technology plant whose history in Newnan stretches back 160 years, when R.D. Cole opened his blacksmith shop. Newnan’s water tanks store and provide pressure for almost 10 million gallons of
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Water tanks are made in Caldwell Tanks’ 180,000-square-foot industrial structure along the railroad tracks in downtown Newnan. It’s the building lighted inside day and night.
water. It’s a good thing we have such easy and abundant access, because 80 percent of our bodies are composed of water. Humans can survive up to 40 days without food but only six without water. The R.D. Cole story begins in the 1830s, when the Cole family first settled in the area. By 1850, Cole “commenced business on a one-horse scale,” according to the Daughters of the American Revolution’s 1928 publication Coweta County Chronicles for One Hundred Years. Apparently Cole was quite the entrepreneur, because what began as a blacksmith shop by 1852 had its first steam engine. There is an interesting historical footnote to the Brown’s Mill Battle of 1864. It started when Yankee cavalry came westward on Broad Street, perhaps to destroy the Cole foundry. Unfortunately for them, there was a trainload of Confederate troops at the
railroad station who chased the Yankees south to the site of the noted battle! By 1875, Cole had completed his original brick foundry, which is still visible. If coming west on Salbide and crossing the railroad bridge, you look down along the lower side of the existing buildings. Cole was a farsighted innovator. His brick shop was designed for railroad cars to enter and unload raw materials and load finished products. By 1880, The Herald noted that the “Coles’ foundry & blacksmithy are the most complete south of New York; among many improvements, neither bellows nor chimney is used to fan the fire, but a current of air through tubes from another building is used.” Cole was not only an engineering innovator but also a master businessman. In 1892, R.D. Cole & Co. won the contract to put in a complete water system for Newnan. Cole HISTORY • Coweta Living 2011-12
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Joey Davis, above, uses a cutting torch while cutting a 1-inch plate at Caldwell Tanks.
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was also manufacturing water tanks, and in 1899 was awarded a contract in Baltimore for one. By 1901 the Cole Co. was manufacturing 100 boilers annually. In 1903, R.D. Cole Sr. laid the first brick for the Coweta County Courthouse, since his versatile company got the building contract. By 1917, R.D. Cole Mfg. Co. had joined the world market of America’s amazing industrial leadership, shipping four cars of boilers and
Coweta Living 2011-12 • HISTORY
other machinery to the Dutch East Indies, India, Brazil, Japan and Manila, according to the DAR Chronicles. Shipments to China, Korea, and Tacoma, Washington took place by 1920. During the Great Depression, the company replaced all its old wooden buildings with the present steel and glass structure, preserving the original brick shop as a sort of museum, and completed its office on Broad Street. In WWII, Cole manufactured buoys and masts for Liberty Ships. Following WWII, Cole supplied various kinds of pressure vessels to such industrial giants as Dupont and Hercules Powder near Wilmington, Delaware. In 1968, ownership passed to Graver Tank and Manufacturing Co., a subsidiary of Union Tank Car Co. of Chicago. From 1971 to 1994, Brown Steel built water tanks on the site. Caldwell Tanks of Louisville, Kentucky acquired the facility in 1999. Caldwell has been building water tanks since 1887 and has built the Broad Street facility into a modern industrial showcase. No longer using the abandoned railroad spur that your car bumps across on Broad Street, trucks bring the raw materials, mainly plate steel of various thicknesses, into the shop’s receiving area. Materials are then allocated to specific projects based on requirements. Tank parts are cut on one of Caldwell’s Numerically Controlled Plasma burning tables. Depending on the style and location on the tank, cut parts are sent to one of the presses, one with a 1,500-ton capacity. Welding stations perform any required subassembly prior to entering the final building. Completed parts are cleansed using a centrifugal post blast machine, followed by priming. The primed parts are allowed to cure inside prior to shipping them to the location for tank erection and assembly. The part played by Newnan’s industrial legacy, started by R.D. Cole in 1850, is finished with shipping. Until the next order comes in! Old R.D. would be pleased. CL
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Stop by today and pick up your copy! Coweta’s Greatest Generation Now Available in a Limited Edition Hardcover Book Recently The Times-Herald spent over a year highlighting the stories of surviving local World World II veterans in a project called “Our Greatest Generation.” This award-winning series presented the stories of over 120 local men and women and was a favorite of readers young and old. Since the series ended, we have had countless requests to reproduce this collection of stories so they may be preserved for future generations and enjoyed time and again in their entirety. We are pleased to announce the entire series has been published in a limited edition hardcover book with 288 pages that tell the stories and feature photographs of these proud men and women.
Pick up your copy today at The Times-Herald, 16 Jefferson Street, Newnan, GA 30263; order online at times-herald/store; or fill out the form below and mail with your payment to: The Times-Herald, c/o Book Order, P.O. 1052, Newnan, GA 30264
Coweta’s Greatest Generation Book Order Form Limited Edition Hardcover $42.95 each
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Mail to: The Times-Herald, c/o Book Order, P. O. 1052, Newnan, GA 30264 For more information, call 770.253.1576
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Coweta Museum Tour COWETA COUNTY HERITAGE MUSEUM AND RESEARCH CENTER 92 Farmer St., Newnan; 770683-7055; By appt. thecowetacountymuseum. blogspot.com Coweta’s first Black Museum is located in a circa-1900 renovated shotgun house that exhibits AfricanAmerican architecture and provides a repository for African-American artifacts and records. Adjacent to the museum on the site is the Farmer St. Cemetery, which may be the largest slave cemetery in the South. In addition, the museum serves as a genealogy workroom for African-American research. Acting Museum Director, Dianne Wood, volunteers her time helping others research their heritage and invites all citizens to take advantage of free access to Ancestry.com, a genealogy website, on the museum’s computers by appointment. The museum is operated by the African-American Alliance (AAA), a non-profit organization dedicated to the documentation and preservation of the African-American history of Coweta County.
BUGGY SHOP MUSEUM 74 Main St., Senoia, open weekends April through October and during local Senoia events. For group tours (5 or more), call 770-253-1018, www.senoiabuggyshop.com. This unique museum, housed inside the former Baggarly Brothers buggy building, is operated by descendants of Rev. Warren Baggarly, one of Senoia’s earliest settlers. Inside you’ll find six generations of antiques, circa 1890-1930, including a model T Ford, buggies and wagons from the late 1800s, an extensive arrowhead collection, and other curiosities.
LEWIS GRIZZARD MUSEUM 2769 Hwy. 29 S., Moreland, GA; By appt.; 770-253-3400 This small town museum
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celebrates the life of one of the most beloved and well-known Southern humorists. Lewis Grizzard, whom the New York Times once dubbed “The Mark Twain for our time,” spent most of his life in Moreland and eventually became almost inseparable from it in his life and stories. Visitors can stroll around a small room full of his memorabilia, including columns for the Atlanta paper, where he was sports editor at one time, photographs and clothing. The museum shares its space with Coweta Monument Services.
ERSKINE CALDWELL MUSEUM Moreland Town square, Moreland, GA; Thurs.-Sat. 11 a.m.-3 p.m.; Admission, $2.00, adults, $1.00, under 12; For appt., call 770-897-1888. The Presbyterian Manse, where author Erskine Caldwell was born in 1903, has been moved from outside of town to Moreland’s town square where it attracts visitors from all over the world as well as Caldwell scholars and family members. Caldwell remains one of the most widely read authors of the 20th century with more than 80 million copies of his books sold to readers in 43 different languages. Caldwell has written more than 50 books, including Tobacco Road and God’s Little Acre. His themes center on social injustice in terms of race, class and gender. “The Little Manse” contains Caldwell’s books, art, a video presentation, dramatizations of stories, and items that belonged to Caldwell or his parents.
Moreland Mill Museum Moreland Town Square, Sat.-Sun.1-4 p.m. or by appt.; free admission; 770-8971888. Located in an old hosiery mill/W.A. Brannon Department store that is listed on the National Register
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[Advertisers’ Index]
of Historic Places, this museum features a textile exhibit, a collection of antique farm implements, and the contents of Dr. Quigg Young’s medical office in addition to housing the town’s government. Currently featuring new exhibit about Lewis Grizzard.
MALE ACADEMY MUSEUM 30 Temple Ave., Newnan; Tues.Sat. 10 a.m.-noon and 1-3 p.m., Sun. 2-5 p.m.; 770-251-0207, www.nchistoricalsociety.org. A charming museum housed in a former boys’ private school dating back to the 1840s. A peek inside reveals period clothing, Indian artifacts, treasured furniture, a Male Academy “classroom,” Civil War artifacts, including guns, swords, bayonets as well as early medical instruments, maps, photos, and memorabilia from Coweta’s own country music legend, Alan Jackson.
NEWNANCOWETA HISTORY CENTER 60 E. Broad St., Newnan; for rental or private tour info, call 770251-0207. Located in the old A & WP railroad depot, the purpose of the depot is to preserve and interpret the history of Newnan and Coweta County through collections, educational programs, exhibits and research. The center contains a permanent exhibit of the history of Coweta County as well as a painting of the Battle of Brown’s Mill by local artist Martin Pate. The center is owned by the Newnan-Coweta Historical Society and is available for special event rental and private tours. CL
Allstate Insurance/ Dianne Parker . . . . . . . .17 Ancient of Days Yoga Center . . . . . . . . . . . . . .62 Arbor Springs Plantation . . . . . . . . . . .21 Arlington Christian School . . . . . . . . . . . . . .49 Bank of Coweta . . . . . . . . .2 Barnett & Cheeves, Inc., Building Materials . . . . . .6 The Bedford School . . . . .51 Boatright Certified Public Accountants . . . . . . . . .31 Bowdon Denture Center . . . . . . . . . . . . . .61 Budget Blinds . . . . . . . . . .19 Bypass Body Shop . . . . . .31 Center for Allergy and Asthma of Georgia . . . .5 Crossroads Podiatry . . . . .69 Coweta County Development Authority . . . . . . . . . . . .25 County County School System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .37 Coweta-Fayette EMC . . .25 Coweta Hearing Clinic . .63 Coweta Medical Center . . . . . . . . . . . . . .69 Crossroads Podiatry . . . . .69 Dalton Carpet Outlet . . . . . . . . . . . .20, 27 Dustin Shaw Homes . . . . . .7 Georgia Health Coverage . . . . . . . . . . .65 GMC Community College . . . . . . . . . . . . .39 Grannie Fannie’s . . . . . .102 Headley Construction Corp. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .87 The Heritage School . . . .49 Heritage of Peachtree . .66 Jeffries Eye Care . . . . . . .65 Landmark Christian School . . . . . . . . . . . . . .38 Let Them Eat Toffee . . . .101 Jeff Lindsey Communities . . . . . . . . . .9 Main Street Newnan . . . .72
Mercer University . . . . . . .41 Morgan Jewelers . . . . . . .31 Newnan Academy . . . . .51 Newnan-Coweta Art Association, Inc. . . . . . .55 Newnan-Coweta Board of Realtors . . . . . . . . . .115 Newnan Utilities . . . . . . . .85 NuLink . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11 Odyssey Charter School . . . . . . . . . . . . . .40 Orchard Hills Church . . . .93 Our Lady of Mercy Catholic High School . .43 Palmetto Park . . . . . . . . . .65 Piedmont Newnan Hospital . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4 Point University . . . . . . . . .45 Powers’ Festival . . . . . . . .55 Radiation Oncology . . . . .3 The Redneck Gourmet . .101 Resurrection Lutheran Church . . . . . . . . . . . . . .95 The Salvation Army . . . . .95 Saint Mary Magdalene Catholic Church . . . . . .91 Sanders, Haugen and Sears, P.C. . . . . . . . . . . .29 Savannah Court . . . . . . . .67 Sa Za . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .102 Sellers-Smith Funeral Home . . . . . . . . . . . . . .107 Sewell Marine, Inc. . . . . . .73 Sew Exclusive Embroidery . . . . . . . . . .29 The Shoe Mart . . . . . . . . .99 SouthTowne . . . . . . . . . . .29 Ten East Washington . . .101 The Times-Herald . . .33, 111 Towne Club, Peachtree City . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .69 Uniglobe McIntosh Travel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .72 University of West Georgia . . . . . . . . . . . . .43 VITALcare . . . . . . . . . . . . .67 Wesley Woods . . . . . . . .116 West Georgia Health . . . . .8 Word of God Lutheran Church . . . . . . . . . . . . . .91
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Coming to
Coweta
These scenes from last fall show the Powers’ Festival coming up Labor Day weekend, September 3-5. The festival, formed in 1971 by artist Tom Powers, showcases the finest in juried arts and crafts. This year the festival will welcome over 100 artists from all over the U.S. exhibiting and selling their creative work in a beautiful country setting of the Powers' Family Plantation, with exhibitors set up along winding paths under shady trees. Attractions include the delicious country cooking; country, gospel, folk and contemporary music; demonstrations of plantation skills such as blacksmithing, sorghum syrup mill, spinning yarn, and the original Powers' Plantation grist mill; and 150+ quality exhibitors working in fiber, folk crafts, glass, jewelry, leather, metal, painting, pottery, mixed media, organic media, needlecrafts, sculpture, wearable fiber and wood. (powersfestival.com) Other popular Coweta events: Main Street Newnan Sidewalk Sales and Road Race, September 2 and 3 (mainstreetnewnan.com) Fall Art Walk, September 16 (mainstreetnewnan.com) Coweta County Fair, September 22 to October 1 (cowetacountyfair.org) Fall Taste of Newnan and Chili Cookoff, October 6 (mainstreetnewnan.com) Octoberfest Boutique Beer Tasting, TBA (mainstreetnewnan.com) Downtown Trick or Treat, TBA (mainstreetnewnan.com) Holiday Open House, November 13, Santa’s Arrival, November 25 (mainstreetnewnan.com)
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Equal Housing Opportunity
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PRESENTING A
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DISTINCTION
Wesley Woods is a Retirement Community for a Carefree Lifestyle s 2300 sq. ft. private cottages with 2-car garage s Spacious 1 and 2 bedroom apartments s 52 acres with walking paths, picnic area and a well-stocked fishing pond s 24-Hour security and guest rooms available s Putting green on campus and 4 professional courses within 9 miles s On-site chapel and spiritual activities s Fitness center, library, hair salon and barber shop s Billiards room and bistro s Restaurant-style dining with chef-prepared meals s Maintenance and weekly housekeeping s Continuing care community
Scheduled Transportation and Activities, including: – The Centre for Performing and Visual Arts – – – –
Call 770-683-6833 to schedule a complimentary lunch and tour!
Historic but vibrant Downtown Newnan Ashley Park Shopping Complex State-of-the-art Healthcare Systems Local Colleges and Universities in Coweta County available for continuing education
(IGHWAY s .EWNAN '!
www.wesleywoodsnewnan.com 30 minutes south of Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport Wesley Woods Newnan is part of Wesley Woods Senior Living, Inc. – a not-for-profit corporation serving Georgia seniors since 1954.