Car Thieves, Kudzu, and the Chamber of Commerce

Submitted by Rebekah Sheats

It all started a little over one hundred years ago. In 1919, residents of Jefferson County gathered to create a local body of individuals and merchants who could work together to promote the county. “The Chamber of Commerce was organized Friday afternoon,” announced the Monticello News on September 26, 1919. A good number of people turned out for the first meeting, and officers were elected. Charles A. Simpson was chosen as president, W. H. Bulloch served as the first secretary, and Paul R. Whitaker became the treasurer.
To become a member of the newly formed Chamber of Commerce, individuals were required to pay a $1.00 entrance fee. Founding members included such prominent citizens as local dairyman W. W. Bassett, farmer Leo Majewski, future county judge Thomas Bird, lumberman J. R. Hughes, and nurseryman R. C. Simpson.
On October 20, the Chamber met in the commissioners’ room in the courthouse to elect a board and adopt bylaws to govern the organization. “All interested are invited,” the Monticello News reminded its readers a week before the meeting.
Originally, the Chamber rotated the location of its monthly meetings to encourage county-wide attendance. In August 1924 it met at the Whitfield House in Lloyd, where an excellent supper was served. The following month, it met in Lamont. These town-by-town meetings were considered necessary in a day when automobiles were not in general use.
The Chamber of Commerce recognized that publicizing the county was an important way of bringing in new commerce and encouraging growth. Sometimes, however, the county received more publicity than it wanted. July 15, 1918, was one such day.
The day began like any other day, but matters took an interesting turn when a call came in about midnight from neighboring Thomasville, Georgia. A car had been stolen, and it was thought that the thieves were headed to Monticello with the stolen vehicle. Sheriff Allmon snapped into action immediately. Within twenty minutes he had located the car, which had been abandoned a few blocks from the county courthouse.
The auto thieves left the vehicle and took to their heels, but Allmon followed in hot pursuit. Headed east from the courthouse, he chased the thieves toward the railroad. The lumberyard and gristmill operated by J. M. Henry provided an excellent place of concealment for anyone wanting to remain out of sight until the arrival of the next train out of town, and Allmon searched the site carefully.
With only a sliver of a moon shedding its pale light on the scene, it was difficult to see in the flitting shadows and ominous darkness. Allmon stepped carefully over a board near the gristmill and was surprised to find a drop in the ground in front of him. As his foot continued to drop, he tried to catch himself with his other foot, but it was too late. As one foot caught on the board he had just stepped over, he plunged headfirst into the black chasm before him. It was an open well.
Allmon dropped thirty feet before splashing into the six feet of water at the bottom of the well. He called frantically to his deputies who had joined in the search for the car thieves. The sheriff later noted, “It was a very lonesome feeling down in that well.” Fortunately, his deputies heard his cries and came to the rescue. Sheriff Allmon suffered no serious injuries from his fall, but news of the night’s happenings spread far and wide. In its next edition, the Monticello News included the story in a front-page article that began:
Ding dong bell;
Sheriff in the well.
He dived headfirst,
And so ’twould seem
He thought he was
A submarine.
Needless to say, this wasn’t the type of local attraction that the sheriff’s office or the Chamber of Commerce was seeking to promote their rural community.
Long after the excitement of Sheriff Allmon’s unexpected adventure subsided, the Chamber encouraged its members to seek new ways to promote Jefferson County and become a benefit to the local inhabitants. “No organization can be more active than its members,” the Chamber noted. “The work of the Jefferson County Chamber of Commerce will be big, constructive, and helpful to our county in exact proportion to the individual efforts of the Chamber’s members.”
In 1924, the Chamber appealed to locals to come forward “with ideas, with suggestions, with helpful friendly criticism.” One such idea was presented at the Chamber meeting in August of that year.
Henry Holmes addressed the Chamber members with a special idea for farmers. He recommended farmers “plant say ten acres” in something that would provide financial stability. Kudzu, he noted, was a good idea. He had chosen kudzu for himself and hoped to harvest a ton of hay per acre by the summer’s end. He believed this crop would become a popular cash crop in the county.
When Holmes finished his recommendations, President Simpson took the floor and reminded farmers that other crops might also prove beneficial. “Blueberries,” he suggested, “seem to be a success in this section.” Pecans and satsumas were also mentioned.
One hundred years later, the Chamber of Commerce still forms an integral part of Jefferson County, assisting farmers, businesses, individuals, and tourists alike. Are you a member? If not, stop by the Chamber today and see what you can do to benefit your local community. By doing so you may—intentionally or not—become a part of history.