Ed Jackson and Charles Pou

Carl Vinson Institute of Government

The University of Georgia

July 27

1852 Philanthropist George Foster Peabody was born in Columbus, Georgia. Blessed with a talent for finance and business, Peabody accumulated a fortune by age 50. He also was one of the organizing forces in creation of what would become General Electric. After retiring at age 54, Peabody spent his life and fortune in helping worthy causes. He bought a home in Warm Springs and was responsible for introducing Franklin Roosevelt to the thermal springs for treating his polio. Peabody died in Warm Springs in 1938 but is remembered for his charitable work and the Peabody Awards, which were established the year after his death.

1913 In Atlanta, Fulton County superior court judge L.S. Roan, who had been ill the previous week, announced that he now felt fine and would call the Leo Frank trial beginning at 9:00 the following morning. Click here for a detailed accounting of the case.

1914 Governor John Slaton approved legislation proposing a constitutional amendment to create Bacon County from portions of Appling, Pierce, and Ware counties. The new county was named for four-term U.S. Senator Augustus O. Bacon. Creation of the county by constitutional amendment was necessary because the state constitution then in effect prescribed a maximum of 145 counties. However, beginning in 1906, the General Assembly began getting around this constitutional limitation by amending the constitution to allow additional counties. By 1914, five constitutional amendments had added five counties beyond the 145-county limit. On Nov. 3 1914, Georgia voters approved a sixth amendment making Bacon Georgia's 151st county.

1938 Famed chemist Charles H. Herty died in Savannah. Born in Milledgeville in 1867, he received an undergraduate degree from the University of Georgia and a doctorate from Johns Hopkins University before undertaking research in Europe. Returning, he accepted a position at the University of Georgia in 1891. The next year, observing that there were no organized sports programs at the university, Herty organized and coached the first football team in 1892. He went on to become the first director of athletics and is considered the father of intercollegiate sports at the University of Georgia. But, Herty's greatest accomplishments were yet to come. In 1932, he set up a laboratory in Savannah to research use of Georgia pine trees. He developed a revolutionary process for obtain pine resin without killing the tree. More importantly, he pioneered the technology for using pine chips to make Kraft paper -- the brown paper used in making cardboard boxes -- and to bleach it for use as newsprint and other types of white paper. Herty's achievements made possible southeast Georgia's multi-million dollar paper industry, for which he is known as the father of the southern paper and pulp industry. His legacy lives on in the form of the Herty Foundation's Research and Development Center.

1941 U.S. Rep. Charlie Norwood was born in Valdosta, Ga. After graduating from Georgia Southern University (1964) and Georgetown University Dental School (1967), Norwood served as a U.S. Army captain (1967-69). After a tour duty in Vietnam, he opened a dental practice in Augusta in 1969. In Nov. 1994, Norwood was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives as a Republican from Georgia's 10 Congressional District. After reapportionment of Georgia's congressional districts, Norwood won election in a newly-drawn 10th District in Nov. 1996. He maintained that seat until his death on February 13, 2007.

1962 After two weeks of trying to meet with the Albany city council, Martin Luther King Jr., Ralph David Abernathy, and 8 others kneeled to pray on the steps of the city hall. King and Abernathy were arrested and sent to jail for the third time. Eighteen black youths were arrested two hours later when they attempt to pray, while a white SNCC worker was viciously beaten inside the jail.

1989 Atlanta Brave Dale Murphy became the tenth major league player to score 6 RBIs in one inning.

1996 In the early morning hours of the ninth day of the Olympics, downtown Atlanta was shocked with the Centennial Olympic Park bombing. The blast killed one woman and injured more than 100 bystanders. Conferring with law enforcement agencies and participation National Olympic Committees, by morning IOC officials decided to continue day 8 of Olympic competition (though Olympic flags were flown at half staff). 

1997 Over 3,000 explosives were used to implode the 25-year-old Omni coliseum, located several blocks west of the center of downtown Atlanta. Twenty-thousand tons of structure were leveled in seconds. Gone was the long-time home of the Atlanta Hawks, 1988 National Democratic Convention, and countless rock concerts (including a number by Elvis and most of the popular music greats) and other events. What had opened in October 1972 with an Atlanta Flames hockey game was replaced by the Phillips Arena as home court for the Hawks in 1999 [Click here for photo of Omni.] [For more on the implosion click here.]

2000 Former Georgia governor Zell Miller took the oath of office as a member of the U.S. Senate. Several days earlier, Gov. Roy Barnes officially appointed Miller following the death of U.S. Sen. Paul Coverdell, who died of a cerebral hemorrage on July 18. Miller's appointment was effective until a non-partisan election to fill the vacancy could be held in Nov. 2000.

Georgia towns and cities first incorporated by acts approved on July 27:

1904 Broxton (Coffee County)

1929 Silvertown (Upson County)

In Their Own Words on This Day. . .

1739 In contrast to what most Georgia colonists were experiencing, John Martin Boltzius recorded relative prosperity for the Salzburgers at Ebenezer:

"As the Salzburgers already own more than 250 head of cattle and again are about to buy some more from the Carolina area with the money they have earned so far, they are now busy making hay to provide fodder for the winter. They do not really have any meadows yet, but on fertilized ground some kind of sweet long grass grows so abundantly that they can cut it several times a year. They also break off the green leaves from the Indian corn at this time and on several other occasions throughout the year and dry them; this is better than the best hay for cows and horses . . . . since there are no horses and wagons or well cut roads, they must carry the fodder home, which they do not mind doing as they are richly rewarded for their troubles later with milk and butter. . . .

"As time goes on, our dear people keep improving their arrangements, and everything goes more easily. We have no place in the orphanage to store fruit and crops or fodder, so we are compelled to build new barns for threshing the rice and storing the harvest . . . ."

Source: George Fenwick Jones and Renate Wilson (ed. and trans.), Detailed Reports on the Salzburger Emigrants Who Settled in America . . . Edited by Samuel Urlsperger: 1739 (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1980), Vol. 6, pp. 166-167.

1764 James Habersham wrote to William Knox, Georgia's agent in London, thanking him for his efforts, then adding in a postscript one of the many tribulations the colonists faced:

". . . We are very sensible of your Abilitys [sic] and Zeal to serve us, and return you our very hearty thanks for the Attention you have given to our Affairs -- We likewise desire you will make our gratefull [sic] Acknowledgements acceptable to the worthy Members of the Honourable House of Commons, who have assisted us the last Session of parliament, . . .

"P.S. We are at present afflicted with the small pox in this Town, and as many of the Committee with their Familys have retired into the Country, it is difficult to get a sufficient Number of the Committee to meet."

Source: Collections of the Georgia Historical Society, Vol. VI, The Letters of the Hon. James Habersham, 1756-1775 (Savannah: Georgia Historical Society, 1904), p. 25.

January / February / March / April / May / June / July / August / September / October / November / December

© Carl Vinson Institute of Government, University of Georgia

If you have a date related to Georgia history or people that ought to be included, or if know of entries that should be corrected, send a note to Ed Jackson or Charles Pou.

Go to Yahoo/The History Channel This Day in History page for July 27

Go to Georgia History page