Thomas County Historical Society to celebrate 65 years

Published 8:00 am Sunday, October 1, 2017

Raise a glass and say “Cheers to 65 Years” at the Thomas County Historical Society’s annual fall fundraising dinner on Saturday, Oct. 14, on the grounds of the Museum of History. Attendees will see the debut of the completed restoration of the 1916 American LaFrance fire engine, take part in a silent auction and tour the newly renovated Flowers-Roberts basement.

Past, present and future members, board members and friends are invited to the celebration of the museum’s sapphire anniversary. The Historical Society grew out of Mrs. William A. Watt’s concern that the history of Thomas County be written. A meeting of prominent citizens was held on Jan. 23, 1952, and W. W. Alexander was elected president of the newly organized society.

One of the first endeavors of the newly formed Historical Society was to engage Bessie Hopkins to write the history of Thomas County and in 1951 the county began paying her a salary of $200 per month to proceed with the work. Mitchell Davenport devoted many hours to visiting older citizens and recording their recollections for the society. Two rooms were made available in the jail annex for a workroom and the safe housing of the society’s growing collections, but the society suffered a great loss in 1957 with the death of Hopkins.

In 1958, the historical society engaged Dr. William W. Rogers, a professor of history at Florida State University to write the official county history. Dr. Rogers completed the first volume of this history entitled “Antebellum Thomas County, 1825-1861” in 1963 and then published four additional volumes over the next 40 years documenting different eras in the community’s history.

The Historical Society opened the Thomas County Museum of History within the Flowers-Roberts House, 725 N. Dawson St., in 1972. Since 1972, the museum’s collections have grown to include more than 500,000 artifacts and archival materials and eight historic structures. The Historical Society, in partnership with the state of Georgia, also operates the historic Lapham-Patterson House.

Today, three full-time staff, three part-time staff and hardworking volunteers welcome more than 5,000 visitors, students and program participants to the Historical Society’s two museums annually and is supported by more than 350 members.  

Reservations are available for $65 each and may be made online via Eventbrite, through the Historical Society’s website: www.thomascountyhistory.org, or by mail. For more information, contact history@rose.net or call (229) 226-7664.