July 2020 – Page 2 – Athens: In Time

Jennie Lou Mattox: Athens’ Housing Advocate and Volunteer

Note: Normally the Heritage Room would be changing out our display cases for the summer months right about now. However, with the closure of the building, only a few patrons got to see the exhibit put up in March featuring important women from Athens. Instead we’ll be posting a brief blog post about each woman here. Check back to see more of our virtual exhibit series.

Jennie Lou Mattox. Photo donated by LaToya Hill.

Prior to closing the library building back in March 2020, the Heritage Room received the start of a new collection focused on the life of community activist and volunteer Jennie Lou Mattox (1935-2015). While processing this collection (MSS 070), I began to dive into the life of Ms. Mattox and all of the organizational work that she did for the Athens area over her life. Broadly involved in volunteer work and activism across the area, Ms. Mattox focused primarily on issues of housing in Athens. In a time when it is increasingly clear that we must help our neighbors, Ms. Mattox’s legacy of community outreach is a model from which we can all learn. Through this post, I’ll be focusing on a few of the outreach programs that Ms. Mattox was involved with over the years.

The Inter-Community Council (ICC) and Athens Housing Authority

Founded in 1973, the Inter-Community Council is a nonprofit organization that serves as a representative body for all residents living with the Athens Housing Authority and seeks to prepare residents and families for the world. They comprise resident leaders from each AHA community and address residents’ concerns and other social service issues. The Council also provides services like job skills training and educational opportunities (Athens ICC Facebook).

Mattox was a member of the ICC from 1999 until her death in 2015, and served as board president for a decade (from 2004 to 2014). She received the ICC Leadership Award for Outstanding Community Service from 2009-2015 as well. In her memorial included in the AHA June 2015 newsletter, Mattox is remembered with joy for her enthusiasm for racing money for ICC and her constancy in the lives of everyone at AHA. Mattox’s work with the Parkview Community Center from 1974 to 1992 was also recognized by the AHA.

Her advocacy and presence led to the renaming of the community resource center that houses the ICC to the Cameron-Mattox Resource Center to honor the contributions Mattox made to the community.

Mattox was also elected to the Athens Housing Authority Board of Commissioners as a Resident Representative, furthering her advocacy for her neighbors. She served on the board from 2011 to 2015. For her service, the Georgia Association of Housing and Redevelopment Authority awarded her their Recognition Award for Selfless and Dedicated Service in 2013.

St. Paul CME Church

Ms. Mattox was also an active member of St. Paul CME Church located in the heart of Athens-Clarke County. She was an active member of the church choir, receiving an Outstanding Leadership award for her time as Choir President from 1988-1990. She also extended her compassion and leadership to the children of the church as a volunteer with St. Paul CME’s Vacation Bible School. On top of all of these achievements, she also received a CME Church 6th Episcopal District Christian Training Award in 2014.

Recognition

Clearly, Jennie Lou Mattox was loved by the Athens community. Her relentless volunteer work aided her community and made her beloved by many. Beyond the work mentioned above, Mattox also volunteered with the Morton Theatre, the Parkview Recreation Center, and other community organizations. For this work, former Athens Mayor Gwen O’Looney presented Mattox with a Key to the City in 1992, commemorating the years of dedicated service Mattox provided to the citizens of Athens-Clarke County from 1974-1992.

Ms. Mattox passed away in 2015, but her legacy lives on through the work that she completed in the community. She was also honored by the renaming of the 200 block of S. Franklin Street as Jennie L. Mattox Street. Mattox’s family originally pushed for the section of Flint St. occupied by St. Paul’s CME to be renamed, but later picked S. Franklin Street because of resident concerns on Flint St. The proposal for renaming was successful in early 2019 and the block was renamed after a ceremony held at Clarke Central High School in March 2019.

Mattox’s contributions to the Athens-Clarke County community are commemorated not only by awards and renamed streets, but also by how she’s remembered by the countless folks who worked with her while volunteering and were aided by her work. While the Jennie Lou Mattox collection is brand new here in the archives, we do also have resources related to housing in Athens, Community Centers here in Athens, and the Morton Theatre.

“Oh, telephone line, give me some time”: Joanna Eppard and Telephone Operation in Athens

But, all things must start somewhere, and phone companies got their start in the 1800s as private phone lines began to be a luxury that some could afford (History Atlanta notes that private phone lines came to Atlanta, for example in 1877) and public phone lines became more common. Of course, the question remains — who was behind making these lines work the way that they should? The answer to that question for the South was the Southern Bell Telephone and Telegraph Company.

If you’re of a certain age, the idea of a telephone operator is a completely foreign concept. For those of us who grew up in the age of answering machines, automatic switchboards, and now cell phones, the concept of the phone company has come to perhaps mean our cell phone provider more than another phone operator. But, all things must start somewhere; phone companies got their start in the 1800s, as private phone lines began to be a luxury that some could afford (History Atlanta notes that private phone lines came to Atlanta, for example in 1877) and public phone lines became more common. Of course, the question remains — who was behind making these lines work the way that they should? The answer to that question for the South was the Southern Bell Telephone and Telegraph Company.

In 1879, when public telephone lines were first coming to Atlanta, the Bell Company (formed in Connecticut in 1877) began the Bell Telephone Company’s Atlanta Telephonic Exchange as it was initially created to service citizens of Atlanta. However, soon enough, telephone services became something that was wanted outside of the big city, and the ATE renamed the Southern Bell Telephone and Telegraph company in 1882. The SBT&T operated across the South, serving nine southern states, which later dropped to four when the western portion of the territory split off. The company, originally incorporated in NY, was incorporated in GA in 1983 as SBT&T Co. You, however, may know this company by its more contemporary name, BellSouth Telecommunications, which was then merged with AT&T in 2006.

What does all of this have to do with Athens, you maybe be asking. Plenty! Southern Bell began operations in Athens in August 1882 with just thirty-six subscribers. It was headquartered in various places across town, including the rear of Scudder’s jewelry store , a location at the corner of College and Clayton in 1889, the Talmadge Building in 1906, and finally to its own building at 183 W. Clayton St. in 1918. Joanna Eppard is an important part of remembering these locations as her collection (MSS 026) houses these photos of the back room of these locations, as well as some of her own photography of the business.

Every time that the Southern Bell headquarters moved, there was an increase in space, and an increase in employees. While this can probably be conjectured from these moves, we know this in a much more concrete way because of the work of Joanna Eppard (1892-1968). Eppard was an employee of the SBT&T from 1907 to 1937, with much of this time being spent as a supervisor. (In a 1922 issue of Southern Telephone News, Eppard is listed as “supr,” or supervisor and again listed as supervisor in the 1931 Athens City directory.) From 1907-1937 the SBT&T company grew exponentially; by the time Eppard retired in 1937 there were more than 3,000 telephones in the city of Athens!

Phone directory for Athens and Watkinsville, 1951. Part of Heritage Room collection.

After her retirement in 1937, Joanna Eppard continued to be an active member of the Telephone Pioneers of America, a charitable organization comprising active and retired telecommunication professionals. She attended national meetings, as documented in MSS 026, up to her death in 1968. So remember, as you dial your phone to place your next call, whether from a landline or a cell phone, that much of our early phone service was pioneered by women like Eppard. For more information on the Joanna Eppard collection, contact the Heritage Room at heritageroomref@athenslibrary.org.

Works Consulted:

Lee, Conor. “Southern Bell Telephone Company Building.” History Atlanta Blog, 21 Feb. 2014. Southern Bell Telephone Company Building

Joanna Eppard collection, MSS 026, Heritage Room, Athens-Clarke County Library. https://aspace-arls.galileo.usg.edu/repositories/2/resources/20

The Last Resort and the 40 Watt Club “Uptown” (Part Two)

Part of the Using Newspapers and City Directories to Track Dates and Locations series.

At the start of 1983, the Athens music scene that had come under the national spotlight in the previous half-decade seemed fairly stable. The clipping below, found in the Athens Observer for February 24, 1983, gives a sample of what was on offer. The relative small size, and arguably confusing lay-out, of the 40 Watt’s advertisement may suggest where it stood in the nightclub scheme of things: two nascent acts associated with the new music scene, Is/Ought Gap and Oh-OK, visited that spot while Gregg Allman played the Mad Hatter. Allman’s fans would find plenty more music of a similar ilk that weekend: Friday night, the Randall Bramblett Band at Smoke’s, and Saturday night, the Normaltown Flyers at Friends, located in the Georgian building. The Last Resort offered fare perhaps more appealing to the 40 Watt’s regular attendees, especially local band Squalls and, from Atlanta, Current Rage. Meanwhile, a decidedly different brand of entertainment was taking place at a certain Bourbon Street.

Fast forward to the Athens Observer published on April 7th , 1983, and the situation is unchanged: Let’s Active, a group from Winston-Salem, North Carolina, with ties to R.E.M. played the 40 Watt while Tall Dogs set up at Smoke’s. This clipping also provides a taste of what was going at the J & J, out on Commerce Road, and Ronnie B’s, closer to campus.

This next clipping from the Athens Observer, April 14th, 1983, indirectly suggests that a big change was coming. Notice that Smoke’s appears to be in business, but advertises no live music. Meanwhile, the “i and i” ran into trouble regarding a John Prine show: “technical difficulties between John Prine and out-of-house promoters” to be inexact. (Open the image separately to see it at its full size and make the small print more readable.) In the first part of our article on the B & L Warehouse/ Buckhead Beach, a clipping from the Athens Observer mentions this situation as it pertains to the “i and i” closing.

By the time of the Athens Observer of April 21st, 1983, these two situations had resolved themselves. A 40 Watt advertisement in that issue announces the arrival of the “Uptown” version of the club, located at 382 East Broad Street. As we can confirm from the clippings above, this was indeed the same address as the now-defunct Smoke’s. The new 40 Watt debuted in fine form, hosting Pylon in what would turn out to be the final year of the first phase of that band’s history (they would return for two more, 1989-1991 and 2004-2009), even announcing an appearance by R. E. M. that, alas, would not happen. At this point in that band’s history, they would switch to playing Legion Field when returning to their hometown. As we have seen in the April 14th Observer clipping above, Pylon had originally scheduled an April 22nd gig at the “i and i,” but it had been moved.

The article in the Red and Black shown above indicates a likely reason for the switch. Those who ran the “i and i” no longer wanted their club to be so strictly linked to the “new wave” of rock music represented by Pylon. Soon enough, as we have already seen, the club was closed entirely. In the meantime, the new 40 Watt was decidedly a better site for the band’s first gig promoting their second album, Chomp.

This performance by Pylon and the new 40 Watt were reviewed in the Red and Black, as seen below.

The fate of the Last Resort is harder to discern at this point. As suggested previously, the nightclub had started booking more rock bands. The commercial pressures that may have caused this decision certainly had their effect, as the venue temporarily closed in 1978, reopening in February, 1979, under new ownership. An update in the Red and Black, February 9th, 1979, seen below, does not go into as much detail as we would like, but at least mentions that the club had undergone extensive renovation.

An indication of how those who had come to enjoy the original version of the Last Resort felt about these changes is provided not by an Athens publication but by the Atlanta Constitution, namely one of its music writers, Bill King. In a November 1st, 1980, article in that newspaper, “A New Outlet for the Folk Circuit,” King notes, “the Last Resort’s latest ownership now concentrates on local rock bands.” King, a former resident of Athens, explains that the “folk club” circuit (apparently the term, listening room, was also used to describe these smaller venues) that had been prevalent in the Southeast the previous two decades served as “an alternative acoustic music scene” that grew out of the Folk Revival of the late 1950s-early 1960s. (The “new outlet” noted in the article’s title, by the way, referred to the Speakeasy, a short-lived venue located, like Friends, in the Georgian.)

While acoustic singer-songwriter music would make a comeback roughly a decade after King was writing those words, by 1983 artists like Pylon, Let’s Active, or–an example seen in the 40 Watt ad above–Jason and the Scorchers formed part of a new “indie,” or “college,” rock music. Heralded years later as its own “alternative” to the mainstream, only in retrospect is it easy to see how artists signed to record labels that were “independent” of the mainstream, and who eschewed commercial considerations, were not only a vital part of local scenes like the one found in Athens but were part of a nationwide trend. Before this punk-inspired/ D.I.Y. shift in the listening and socializing habits of American youth, if nightclubs featured live Rock music, it was likely to be in the form of artists performing the songs of the top sellers of the day. Most of the bands that you would have heard in the 1970s at the B & L Warehouse, for example, were “the ones who play big high school proms […] and a host of other Top 40 rock and roll cover bands,” as Bobby Byrd described the scene in a Red and Black article from September 19th, 1979. In this sense, the Last Resort, in its movement away from Folk, Blues, and Jazz toward Rock, actually bridged the gap between two eras of American music as performed at small venues.

Meanwhile, neither the Athens Observer nor the Red and Black noted the closing of the Last Resort, except in passing after the fact. The venue’s advertisements disappeared from the Observer by May, 1983. However, the Last Resort was still to be found in the Athens Banner-Herald/ Athens Daily News Saturday Nightlife listings for June 25th, 1983, as seen in the above clipping. )Note that the morning and evening papers were still being published separately at this point but were combined on Saturdays.) As with the Athens Observer clippings, these come from the Heritage Room’s microfilm collection. The listings are provided in their entirety to give the reader a fuller impression of what was going on in Athens at the time than what can be gleaned from these articles focusing on particular businesses. Unfortunately, this column seems to have only rarely listed performing artists and special events; while some of these spots merely served drinks and served as discos instead of live-music venues, undoubtedly there is a lot of information for the historian to fill in here. At least all of the businesses have their street location noted.

The listing found two weeks later, in the Athens Banner-Herald/ Athens Daily News for July 9th, 1983, as seen above no longer includes the Last Resort. Though it may not have been a headline story, undoubtedly the Last Resort’s closure is a landmark in Athens entertainment history, alongside, say, the opening of the Washington Street version of the 40 Watt in 1991 or the fires that devastated Tyrone’s and the Georgia Theatre.

On a lighter note, a clipping from the Athens Banner-Herald/ Athens Daily News, July 15th, 1983, shows another 40 Watt ad and lets us know what movies were being screened at the Palace Theatre (part of the Plitt Theatres chain), the Georgia Theatre, and the city’s last drive-in. And we see what new game was being promoted at Showbiz Pizza. Good to know, I suppose, that Porky’s II was attracting crowds in Athens.

We end this installment with a Red and Black article (October 25th, 1983) describing the Athens scene toward the end of 1983. Especially noteworthy is the rise of a new hot spot, the Uptown Lounge, located in a building on Washington Street that in recent years housed Copper Creek Brewing. Two more essays in this series, about the Uptown and its successors, especially the Atomic Music Hall; and about the Georgia Theatre as it progressed from music venue to movie theater back to music venue, will expand upon the story of Athens music from the early 1970s to the early 1990s.

—Justin J. Kau