Cobb’s agricultural past: a 1907 poultry show

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A cartoon drawing of a rooster, two hens, two chicks, and a hatchling along with a drawing of a chicken coop.

Posted By: Larry Felton Johnson March 31, 2024

Anyone who consistently follows Cobb County Board of Commissioners meetings or Planning Commission hearings is probably aware that chickens can be a controversial topic.

However, before World War II it was accepted that chickens were an important part of Cobb County’s culture and economy.

In 1900, as Cobb residents entered a new century, the county had fewer than 25,000 people, and agriculture dominated its economy.

In fact, prior to the influx of people to work in the Bell Bomber plant during World War II, Cobb was a solidly agricultural county.

So, it should not be surprising that there was little controversy about raising chickens during the 19th and early 20th centuries.

A 1907 Cobb County Poultry Show

The Atlanta Georgian, which became a Hearst newspaper in 1912, ran an article in its February 9, 1907 edition (click here to read the entire article on the Georgia Historic Newspapers website), reporting on a poultry show in Cobb County.

Here’s an excerpt from the article:

The Atlanta Georgian and News: Prize Winners Named at Cobb Poultry Show.

Marietta, Ga., Feb. After a three-day exhibition, the Cobb County Show came to a close with the announcement of prizes. The show was a success in every respect, with more than 1,000 birds being on exhibition. The winners were as follows:

  • Robert K. Adams, Marietta: First, second, and third cockerel; fourth pullet; first, fourth hen, and second pen.
  • R. W. Whitfield, Smyrna: Second cockerel; first, third, and fifth pullet; first, second, and third hen; first and second pen.
  • J. B. Lumpkin, Marietta: Fifth cock; fifth pullet.
  • John F. Price, Marietta: First hen.
  • Whitfield, Smyrna: Second cockerel; first, second, and third cock; first, second, and third hen; first and second pen.
  • Harry N. DuPre, Marietta: First cock; fourth pen.
  • H. E. Boynton, Atlanta: First, second, and fifth hen; fourth and fifth pullet.
  • Miss Alina Reid, Smyrna: Fifth cockerel; first and third cockerel; first and fourth pullet; first pen.
  • Edward G. Miles, Smyrna: First cock; second cockerel; first, second, and fourth hen; first and second pullet; first pen.

This pattern continues for various breeds and categories, with each winner and their respective awards listed. The prizes covered a wide range of poultry breeds and types, showcasing the diversity of entries in the show.

Additionally, various pigeon breeds were also judged, with winners announced for different categories like Block Muff Tumblers, Block Pygmy Pouters, Blue Fans, Yellow Fans, Rod Fans, Silver Turbits, A. O. C. Owls, White A.-Owls, Yellow Dragoons, and more. Each category had its first pair winner, contributing to the overall success and variety of the event.

Overall, the Cobb Poultry Show highlighted the dedication and expertise of breeders and enthusiasts in the region, celebrating the beauty and diversity of poultry and pigeon breeds.

The GHN website defaults to a PDF version of the article, but you can select a text version created by an OCR scan. That version isn’t perfect, but it was how the Courier extracted the text excerpt above.

About Georgia Historic Newspapers

Georgia Historic Newspapers is part of the GALILEO project and is housed at the University of Georgia. It’s an amazing resource for anyone interested in the history of Georgia and its regions.

According to the “About” page on its website:

The Georgia Historic Newspapers Archive is a project of the Digital Library of Georgia (DLG), a part of Georgia’s Virtual Library GALILEO and is based at the University of Georgia Libraries. Since 2007, the DLG has partnered with universities, archives, public libraries, historical societies, museums, and other cultural heritage institutions to digitize historical newspapers from around the state. The archive is free and open for public use and includes over two million Georgia newspaper pages between 1763 and 2021.

Newspaper titles are regularly digitized and added to the archive. If you are interested in including a particular title, you can visit our participation page. A majority of the newspapers on this site were digitized from the microfilm produced by the Georgia Newspaper Project (GNP). For more information about the microfilm available through the GNP, please visit their website.

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