Ed Jackson and Charles Pou

The University of Georgia

October 16

1918 The Southeastern Fair, held in October each year at the Lakewood Fairgrounds south of Atlanta, was a popular fall tradition.

The 1918 fair was underway but was threatened with closure because of the Spanish influenza epidemic. On this day, the Atlanta Constitution reported that the Red Cross was calling for local volunteers to construct 40,000 flu masks for patrons at the Southeastern Fair.

Red Cross Volunteers Assembling Flu Masks

Rather than order the fair closed, Georgia's State Board of Health allowed it to stay open but required fair patrons to wear flu masks to attend the fair.

The Red Cross also announced it was immediately opening a school of nursing in Atlanta, to teach elementary hygiene and home nursing to people to help with home emergencies arising from the flu epidemic. Meanwhile Gov. Hugh Dorsey called for a meeting of the State Board of Health to discuss statewide preventative measures. Still, Atlanta had not been hit by the epidemic as badly as most cities its size. Only 500 new cases had been reported in the previous week, most of them mild. For more information on the pandemic, see PBS's The American Experience: Influenza 1918 web site.

1968 Ivan Allen Sr. died in Atlanta, the city he loved so much and promoted so well.

Ivan Allen Plaque Incorrectly Lists Year of Birth

Allen was born in Dalton, Georgia on March 1, 1876. He became so successful at selling office supplies that he moved to Atlanta in 1895 to work for a larger firm. Allen eventually worked himself up through the ranks until he became the company's owner. He made the Ivan Allen Company into one of the largest office supply firms in the world, and was the creator of the one-stop department store concept. But as successful as he was in business, his passion was to promote Atlanta to the nation and the world. Serving in such positions as president of the Atlanta Chamber of Commerce and organizer of the Atlanta Rotary Club, he worked ceaselessly to present Atlanta as a great place to live and do business.

In 1925, while Atlanta suffered under a sagging economy and many businesses were looking to Florida for the future, Allen organized the Forward Atlanta Commission campaign to attract businesses to relocate to Atlanta.

Within the span of three years some 17,000 new jobs were created in Atlanta. But Allen was not interested in business alone; he also collected rare maps, purchased and donated the land for Fort Mountain State Park, and even wrote two booklets explaining and praising Atlanta – Atlanta from the Ashes and The Atlanta Spirit. Throughout his life he continued to serve on various boards and committees, from government advisory positions to director of the Trust Company of Georgia. Allen never ceased singing the praises of Atlanta and almost daily walked its streets and conversed with its citizens around his home on Peachtree.

1973 Maynard Jackson was elected mayor of Atlanta – becoming the first black mayor of a major southern city.

1976 Campaigning in Youngstown, Ohio, Jimmy Carter harshly responded to recent attacks upon him by President Gerald Ford. Carter read from a telegram he had sent the President, denying charges of wanting new income taxes, wanting to eliminate homeowner exemptions, advocating costly new programs, and wanting to drastically cut defense. Carter then told the enthusiastic crowd that "Mr. Ford knows that he is telling the American people things that are not true."

2010 Prior to the University of Georgia's homecoming game with Vanderbilt, Uga VIII was installed as the official bulldog mascot of the university in a lineage of English bulldog dating back to Uga I took the sidelines in 1956. In ceremonies on the field prior to the game, the symbolic studded collar was transferred to Uga VIII from Russ, a stand-in bulldog that had served as football mascot after the unexpected death of Uga VII in 2009.

The new Uga took over as a 11-month-old, 55-pound "puppy." His official name is Big Bad Bruce, a name that honors UGA veterinary school professor Dr. Bruce Hollett, who has attended to the Uga line of bulldogs for many years. Uga VIII apparently brought the Bulldogs good luck, and they shut out Vanderbilt 43-0.

Unfortunately, Uga VIII's time as mascot would prove to be short, as he contracted cancer soon after the regular season, and died on February 4, 2011.

2011 The Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial was officially dedicated in Washington, D.C. Click here for a virtual tour of the memorial.

Georgia towns and cities incorporated by acts approved on Oct. 16:

1891 Springville (Randolph County)

In Their Own Words on This Day. . .

1862 In Atlanta, D.C. Smith, Confederate Enrolling Officer for the 8th Congressional District, issued the following notice:

"ATTENTION CONSCRIPTS! I hereby give notice to all persons between the ages of eighteen and thirty-five in Fulton County, Ga., not in the actual service of the Confederate States, and properly subject to the provisions of the existing conscript law, that they must report to me, the enrolling officer, at the city hall, by two o'clock next Monday, the 20th inst. All persons exempted here-to-fore by the enrolling officer are included in this order and must report. All persons properly exempt by the present law must report their names, as well as the names of those acting under them, or the office or complaint by reason of which the exemption is claimed. I hereby, in most solemn and emphatic manner, warn all delinquents and skulkers of their peril in attempting to evade the high and overruling obligation of coming up to their duty on this occasion. Such vast and holy interests as you are now called upon to defend and pluck from danger, must not be trifled with. The government expects that every man will do his duty, and his whole duty, and every power is lodged in my hands to compel compliance if any should be so derelict as to withhold it. If any man should be so misguided as to attempt to escape from the operation of the law, a military force is at hand fully organized for the apprehension and bringing back of such persons in irons. I feel confident, however, that it will not be necessary that such extreme measures shall be resorted to, but that all will promptly respond to the call of duty and patriotism."

Source: Franklin M. Garrett, Atlanta and Environs: A Chronicle of Its People and Events (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1969 reprint of original 1954 volume), p. 530.

For more, see This Week in Georgia Civil War History.

1864 Col. Fredrick Winkler of the 26th Wisconsin Infantry wrote his wife from Atlanta:

"I am here stopping at division headquarters. The first night I stopped at the Trout House, but it was so very unpleasant, and I have been invited to stay at division headquarters. The railroad has been torn up again between Resaca and Tunnel Hill. I have full faith that General Sherman will succeed in rendering his communication secure, and thus hold on to all that he has gained, but it is idle to deny that there is danger. We have intelligence that the rebels retreated southward from Dalton, and that the railroad is cleared of rebels and a good portion also cleared of rails. It is said that it will be repaired in about ten days. I am afraid they will strike out again south of Resaca. I wish our court was over, so I could get back to my regiment; it is unpleasant to be here amongst strangers."

Source: Civil War Letters of Major Fredrick C. Winkler, in 26th Wisconsin Infantry Volunteers Home Page

For more, see This Week in Georgia Civil War History.