“Honk! Honk! Rome is to have a Black Maria, and an automobile one, at that,” wrote the Tribune-Herald fifty years ago this week. City Council appropriated $1,350 for an automobile patrol wagon, the machine to be a 33-horsepower Hudson, with a self-starter.
The machine was to be bought and the body built here. If possible, it was to have an ambulance feature so that it could be used either as a patrol wagon or to haul sick people.
The car was to arrive in a short time and then Saturday drunks could have a joy ride, added the newspaper.
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Final steps in the purchase of the old courthouse on East Fifth Avenue and preparation to opening the avenue were taken by City Council. The city was to pay $2,000 of the purchase price, and adjacent property owners were to pay $2,263, the city pledging to open the street within a reasonable time and to deed the contributing property owners the strip between their property line at the old street and the new street, wherever it may run. … Plans for the erection of the new hotel at the corner of Broad Street and Fifth Avenue called for the expenditure of $100,000, incorporators to issue and sell stock to local people. … Romans were feeling the effect of high prices in food stuffs, most everything soaring skyward to such proportions that the housewife was at wit’s end to economize.
As the result of the magnificent contribution of $50,000 from President and Mrs. A.W. Van Hoose to Shorter College, the campaign on behalf of the college that was interrupted the past summer, was to be pursued with renewed vigor. It was expected that the great total of $300,000 for the college would be raised in Rome and in the state during the coming year.
The Van Hoose offer was announced at graduation exercises, and when the total sum was on hand, it was to be used to erect additional buildings. Miss Lillie Hardin of Rome was a member of the graduating class.
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Negotiations for a new and more advantageous contract for light and power, both to the city and to private consumers, were pending between the Rome Railway & Light Company and City Council. There was a possibility that the Georgia Railway & Power Company would complete its lines in time to submit a competitive bid; but whether it did or not, better rates were in sight. … Prospects also called for a reduction in gas rates for light and fuel. … By the overwhelming vote of 122 to 1, the Lindale school district voted for local taxation for public schools.
This meant that the schools would run for eight months a year. … Complaint was made by teamsters and others who drive that the wood block pavement on the east side of North Broad Street was very slippery, causing their horses to fall and be injured. It was caused by the “bleeding” of the cresoted wood blocks during hot weather, but after one summer the condition would remedy itself. … There was an epidemic of chicken thievery all over Rome a half century ago, with a total of 30 thefts reported. …
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