WAYCROSS

A short history of Waycross

Waycross includes two historic districts (Downtown Waycross Historic District and Waycross Historic District) and several other properties that are on the National Register of Historic Places, including the U.S. Post Office and Courthouse, Lott Cemetery, the First African Baptist Church and Parsonage, and the Obediah Barber Homestead (which is seven miles south of the city).

The area now known as Waycross was first settled c. 1820, locally known as "Old Nine" or "Number Nine" and then Pendleton. It was renamed Tebeauville in 1857, incorporated under that name in 1866, and designated county seat of Ware County in 1873. It was incorporated as "Way Cross" on March 3, 1874.

The city council in Waycross opened municipal primary elections to white women in 1917, the first town in Georgia to do so. This action was taken because some of the largest property owners in town were women who wanted a say in how their tax dollars were spent. Two years later in 1919, Atlanta became the second Georgia city to do this. Georgia women would not generally get the right to vote in all elections until 1922.

Waycross was home to Laura S. Walker (1861–1955), a noted author and conservationist. Walker promoted a comprehensive program of forestry activity, including establishing forest parks. She erected markers and monuments along old trails and at historic sites, in Waycross and Ware County so that local history would not be forgotten. An effort to recognize her work culminated in President Franklin D Roosevelt issuing a proclamation to establish the Laura S. Walker National Park in her honor. She was the only living person for whom a state or national park was named. In 1937, the federal government purchased distressed farmland for the park. Work on the park was undertaken by the Works Progress Administration and the Civilian Conservation Corps. In 1941, the national park was deeded over to Georgia, becoming the state's 13th state park.

Waycross was the site of a B-29 crash in 1948, which led to the legal case United States v. Reynolds (1953), expanding the government's state secrets privilege.

During the 1950s, the city had a tourist gimmick; local police would stop motorists with out-of-state license plates and escort them to downtown Waycross. There, they would be met by the Welcome World Committee and given overnight lodging, dinner, and a trip to the Okefenokee Swamp. The tradition faded away after the interstates opened through Georgia.

In the mid-1990s, Walter "Bubba" Eaves created a frozen hamburger ("Bubba Burger") that needed no defrosting. This was the marketed by Eaves Foods, Inc., which changed its name to Flanders Hamburgers in 2000. Bubba Burgers are now sold nationwide, as well as worldwide, through the United States military commissary system.

Adapted (trimmed) from the Wikipedia article Waycross, Georgia, revision 1378268383 by its contributors, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.