Historic Macon

health. She arranged for physical examinations
for school children and inspections of meat and
dairy products sold in Macon.
Viola Ross Napier, granddaughter of Macon
pioneer Simri Rose, was one of the first women
to practice law in Macon. In 1922 she became
the first woman elected to the Georgia General
Assembly. There she worked for badly needed
prison reforms in the state. Later, Mrs. Napier
served for many years as City Clerk.
The election of women to important offices
proved that Macon voters believed women were
equal to the job. Macon’s long tradition of
supporting equal rights for women began with
the first women’s college. By 1928 so many
women wanted to attend Wesleyan that the
college decided to expand. A new campus was
built at Rivoli, near Macon, and the original
College Street building was reserved for
students of the fine arts.
In the same year Macon got a preview of the
terrible financial problems ahead. The Fourth
National Bank, one of Macon’s largest, failed
after false rumors caused people to withdraw
their money. The failure of the bank caused the
collapse of seven smaller banks in nearby towns.
The 1929 crash of the stock market began
the nation’s longest and worst depression. In
Macon, as across the country, businesses and
industries closed, reduced hours, or laid off
workers. Money and jobs were hard to find.
Macon’s government worked with the federal
government to provide jobs. Franklin D.
Roosevelt’s New Deal programs put Macon
people to work repairing City Hall, rebuilding
the jail, expanding the Macon Hospital, and
building a new airport. These programs gave a
total of more than five million man hours of
work to Macon’s unemployed.
The excavation of the Indian Mounds was
another government work project. Experts were
brought to Macon to oversee the digging and to
record and preserve what was found. The
project gave jobs to hundreds while uncovering
the history of the people who built the mounds.
The federal government acquired the land
which had once been the Ocmulgee Old Fields
and made it the Ocmulgee National Monument.
A museum was built to house what was
discovered so that the public could learn the
story of the Indians.
Work programs gave relief to many without
jobs, but did not end the depression. World War
II brought recovery to Macon and the country.
Because of the war Macon grew more and faster
than ever before. As fighting began in Europe
and Asia, Macon’s city government bought land
near Wellston in Houston County. When the
United States entered the war, Macon gave the
land to the federal government. In 1941 the
government built an air depot there and named
it Warner Robins in honor of a World War I Air
Corps General. Macon’s Mayor Charles L.
Bowden and Congressman Carl Vinson deserve
credit for bringing this asset to Middle Georgia.
In 1940 City Council created the Macon War
Defense Council for the purpose of bringing
defense industries to Macon. The same year
Macon’s National Guard unit was called to active
duty. Well before the Japanese attacked Pearl
Harbor, Macon was preparing for war.
When war came Macon again geared up to
help win victory. The Macon Volunteers, the
oldest Macon company, was among the first to
join the war effort. In the war years Macon
citizens bought more than twenty-two million
dollars of war bonds and stamps. They collected
two hundred three thousand pounds of scrap
metal for defense use. They trained as volunteer
air raid wardens, policemen, firefighters, and
ambulance drivers. They joined in city-wide
❖
Del Ward became a Macon
broadcasting institution. Shown in
1950 behind her customary
microphone she worked in radio
before pioneering in local television in
1954. Her Southern charm and
professional poise have endeared her
to generations of Macon listeners
and viewers.
Chapter V ✦ 53