LULA

A short history of Lula

It has been recorded by many that the naming of the city of Lula was inspired by a daughter of the Athens businessman Ferdinand Phinizy. There is no official record that any of Phinizy's children were named Lula, but some assume that it could have been a nickname for one his daughters. Nonetheless, the town was created in part because of Phinizy. A business man and director of railroad companies, he bought the White Sulphur Springs Resort that rested between the city of Gainesville and where Lula would one day be. Because of this, Phinizy encouraged the establishment and building of railroads to run through Hall County.

A civil engineer named Joel Hurt began construction of Lula in 1874, but "In 1876, the North Eastern Railroad of Georgia opened, connecting Athens and Lula (just north of Gainesville), where it connected with the Air Line Railroad." At first, residents of the area assumed that the railroad junction would be built in the town of Belton (also referred to as 'Bellton' with an extra 'L' that was lost over time) the next town over, because it was the larger of the two. However, the company building the rail line was persuaded by a generous amount of land deeded to build the railway by brothers Joseph H. and Dunstan E. Banks. The requirement for the land to be deeded was that the town of Lula be constructed at the junction, and that the main depot rest on land donated by the brothers.

At the time when the connector was being built, it was a legal requirement that 40 miles of track was laid to be eligible for a state charter. Because Belton was not selected for the junction and it wasn't desired to run the extra mile into the neighboring town, one mile was laid going into the hills of the mountains and was never used. After the rail line was finished, the Banks brothers opened a store and warehouse, and many other businesses opened causing Lula to outgrow Belton. The schools for Belton and Lula consolidated in 1911, and eventually the Belton depot closed and trains only came to Lula. Water supply was also an issue for Belton, and Lula could more easily extend their reserves. All of these events led to the community voting a majority in favor of absorbing the sister town of Belton in 1955.

Marcelle Woody became the first female mayor in 1991 and served the city until 1996. Notably, she initiated the first employee health insurance program, adding two new water tanks, and restoring and remodeling the old city hall.

Adapted (trimmed) from the Wikipedia article Lula, Georgia, revision 1378743970 by its contributors, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.