The Fabulous Fifty of 1906
On Saturday, December 1, 1906, Gov. Joseph M Terrell, Georgia's "education governor," came to Savannah to moderate the bidding contest for the historic First District's only Agricultural and Mechanical School. Bulloch County's
delegation consisted of fifty leading citizens whose names appear on the other side of this marker. The Statesboro News editorialized: "Bulloch County must have that college."
The Fabulous Fifty rode the Savannah-Statesboro Railway to the bidding site. At the end of the day, Statesboro's winning bid of $125,500 included a 300-acre campus on the town's highest hill. Some citizens virtually emptied their bank accounts to make the town's dream come true. The train conductor blew the whistle for the final mile home, beckoning everyone to come to the station to celebrate.
By 1924 old A&M had increased in stature and grew into a Normal College for teachers. In 1929, as the state's second public coeducational college, it granted bachelor's degrees. In 1990 the college became Georgia Southern University.
The Delegates
Fifty individuals represented Statesboro as official delegates on this historic day, December 1, 1906:
Jefferson Randolph Anderson (Moderator)
James R. Miller (Secretary)
Robert Lee Moore (Spokesman)
Julian J.E. Anderson
J. Gordon Blitch
Alfred J. Bowen
Moses J. Bowen
Cecil Williams Brannen
James Alonzo Brannen
James Ewell Brannen
Joshua G. Brannen
William J. Brannen
Morgan Brown
Daniel Buie
Albert Mitchell Deal
William H. DeLoach
James Hobson Donaldson
William Henry Ellis
Bedford Everett
Joshua Everett
Alton Jerome Franklin
George Bruce Franklin
Jason Franklin
Jasper Franklin
Stephen Hill Franklin
Noah D. Hendrix
Gustave Jaeckel
James Z. Kendrick
Perry Kennedy
Raymond Jimmerson Kennedy
Wallace D. Kennedy
James B. Lee
S.H. Lichtenstein
D.E. McEachern
Samuel Lowndes Moore
Edwards Conyers Oliver
William Cling Parker
Jakle Z. Patrick
Albert W. Quattlebaum
Hunter Marshall Robertson
Milledge J. Rushing
Egbert Andrew Smith
Millard Fillmore Stubbs
Thomas B. Thorne
George R. Trapnell
Leon Jackson Trapnell
David Benjamin Turner
Remer Warnock
Madison Warren
John William Williams
Comments 0 comments