New Georgia Encyclopedia: Fitzgerald

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Fitzgerald

Fitzgerald, the seat of Ben Hill County, is located in the heart of south central Georgia, twenty-five miles

Fitzgerald

northeast of Tifton. Settled in 1896 by a land company under the direction of Philander H. Fitzgerald, the town is best known as a place of reconciliation among Civil War veterans. Fitzgerald, a former drummer boy in the Union army, had become a pension attorney with a thriving practice in Indianapolis, Indiana. His interest in the welfare of

Philander H. Fitzgerald

his fellow veterans was well documented in the publication of the widely read weekly newspaper American Tribune. Through his involvement Fitzgerald conceived the idea for a soldiers' colony in the more hospitable South. Georgia governor William J. Northen was eager to settle some of the sparsely populated areas in the wiregrass region of the Coastal Plain, and after some negotiation they settled on the area around the site of the former turpentine village of Swan on the Ocmulgee River.

Early

Fitzgerald

on, the prospect of so many northerners inhabiting the Deep South was a strange concept, but as soon as settlement began, the locals offered their cooperation. An early nickname of Fitzgerald, the "Colony City," is still in use today. Through this harmony the idea that the town would be a spotlight of post-Reconstruction reconciliation was assured. There was little strife among the new colonists, and to prove their dedication to unity, streets in the square that constitute the city proper were named equally for Union and Confederate notables. In one of the first public-works constructions in the United States, a mammoth four-story hotel was built; it was named Lee-Grant, to honor the leaders of the opposing sides of the Civil War.

In 1906 the town became the seat of the newly created Ben Hill County, named for

Lee-Grant Hotel, 1898

prominent Confederate Georgia senator, Benjamin Harvey Hill. Previously it was located in Irwin County, which was subdivided partly because Fitzgerald was about five times the size of the county seat of Irwinville. Almost immediately there was a model structure of government in the newly designated seat of government. A mayor and council were soon elected, and the city already had in place fire and police protection, infrastructure, and even a utility provider, which was quite rare at the time. The school system was among the first in the state of Georgia to issue free textbooks to students, in 1897.

The 2000 population of Fitzgerald was 8,758, with that of Ben Hill County near 17,500. Much attention has been brought to the city through the efforts of Beth Davis, founder and director of the Blue and Gray Museum. The museum hosts a Roll Call of the States, in which visitors from every state in the Union are photographed with their respective state flags. This idea was derived from an early custom in the colony in which representatives of the many northern and midwestern states paraded in unity through the center of town.

The writers Brainard Cheney and Frances Mayes, as well as military leader Raymond G. Davis, were born in Fitzgerald.

Mayor Gerald Thompson (who has held office since 1968) has made the growth of Fitzgerald his life's work, and through his efforts nearly thirty industries, East Central Technical College, and services usually expected only in larger cities have thrived. The city, while moving forward, is proud to maintain its links with the past and enjoys the distinction as the "City Where America Reunited."