This Rare Footage In The 1940s Shows Georgia Like You've Never Seen Before
Marisa Roman
Author
As much as some people complain about technology, there are times when we have to really be grateful that it has advanced in the ways that it has. How else would we be able to see this rare footage of Fitzgerald, Georgia in the 1940s?
Freelance filmmaker Sol Landsman was able to profile the South Georgian town of Fitzgerald in 1946. Landsman was an unknown local film enthusiast, who wanted to showcase his hometown on 16mm film as “The Old Fitzgerald Story” (c. 1939-1941). Preservation of these films was funded by a grant from the National Film Preservation Foundation.
Fitzgerald isn’t a huge city in Georgia, but it certainly is worth mentioning. The city was developed in 1895 by Philander H. Fitzgerald, an Indianapolis newspaper editor and a former drummer in the Union Army. Philander Fitzgerald originally founded the city as a community for Civil War veterans – both from the Union and from the Confederacy. The city itself is actually one of the very few planned out cities in the state, conveniently laid out as a square, with multiple intersecting streets divided into four wards.
Thanks to BrownMediaArchiveUGA, you can take a look at what this city once was during the 1940s, from what their small businesses looked like, to how their milk was bottled every day.
Are you from Fitzgerald, Georgia? We would love to hear how much the city had changed since this video! Or perhaps you know anyone from this town or era that have some great stories to tell. We love to hear your feedback and see your photos in our comments!
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