[This is republication of an article originally published in the Courier in June of 2017 edited and slightly expanded]
When Cobb County’s first car owners tried to drive into neighboring counties, they faced a daunting patchwork of complex and restrictive ordinances, most of which were newer machines. The purpose was to prevent spooking the horse.
The state had not yet enacted a uniform traffic code, and each county enacted rules that seemed strange by today’s motorway standards.
Sarah Blackwell Gover Temple reports in Georgia’s First 100 Years: A Short History of Cobb County.,
He (the driver) must stop 150 yards from the horse or mule and cease all noise until the animal has passed at least 75 yards. They could not come within 50 yards or overtake unless the driver or rider consented. He could not approach a horse or mule tied to a pole within 50 yards “without the consent of the horse or mule’s owner or manager.” If you approach a horse or mule working in the field, you must stop within 100 yards and “give the person in charge time to remove the horse or mule’s leash and move it to safety.” In addition, the driver of the car could not pass one horse or mule more than once a day.
The Uniform Traffic Act and Vehicle Registration was passed by the states in 1910 to remove the complexity of operating this increasingly popular mode of transportation.
But there was a road. In the 19th century, road construction was primarily a collaborative effort, and stump removal and road paving were not considered priorities. Horses were good for circling stumps and walking on dirt roads.
By the turn of the century, every automobile purchase in the county was newsworthy, and road conditions were so dangerous that road trips were reported as if they were arctic expeditions. The Atlanta Georgian in June 1911 reported on Sweetwater’s trip from downtown Atlanta to his Park Hotel. The route, which the woman drove through south Cobb, was briefly described by the paper:
The driving route is via North Avenue to the Sweetwater Park Hotel, Marietta Street to Bellwood Avenue, across the Chattahoochee Bridge, through Mableton in Austell, and from there to Lithia Springs. The time recorded by a female driver is 45 minutes.
In modern terms, much of the route followed what is now Highway 78 (Donald Hollowell Parkway and Veterans Memorial Highway).
With the spread of automobiles, road maintenance movements became more active. In 1915, Georgia had few paved roads and no paved highways. In the late 19th century, bicycle enthusiasts launched the Good Roads Movement, but the initiative only gained momentum in 1908, when Ford’s mass-produced cars made automobiles available to a large portion of the population. That’s when it happened.
By 1915, the county had paved a portion of the road from Marietta to Fair Oaks, but the real push for paved roads through Cobb County began with the development of the Dixie Highway. An entrepreneur named Karl Fisher had purchased most of the land on an island near Miami, Florida, and was planning to build a resort. That island is now known as Miami Beach. He began advocating for a north-south highway system from Canada to Miami.
The Cobb County section of the Dixie Highway ran along present-day Atlanta Road and Old Highway 41. Even after the expressway was designated, there were sections of it that remained unpaved, and Temple’s book says local residents created a cottage industry of towing cars. Northern tourists emerge from the mud.
Progress (and sometimes the lack of progress) was a frequent topic of conversation in the local press. The Marietta Journal (predecessor to the Marietta Daily Journal) praised Smyrna’s work in paving part of the road in a front page article on November 26, 1920.
However, the article said:
Three or four sections of the short stretch of road between Marietta and Acworth became impassable last winter and will become impassable again without prompt attention from the county road superintendent.
They are within the city limits and 100 yards from Wilders. One mile from town and 200 yards from Northcut Meadows. About 400 yards at the two noon intersections. The Roberts farm is 100 yards away, and the Acworth cotton mill is 200 or 300 yards.
These short roads are a winter traveler’s nightmare, blocking local traffic and casting a shadow over Cobb County.
When federal highway funds became available in the 1920s, portions of the highway were paved, beginning with the section from Smyrna to the Chattahoochee River.
The section from Acworth to the previously paved section was completed. By 1929, this road was paved throughout Georgia. In 1930, the Bankhead Highway (now Highway 78/Veterans Memorial Highway) was paved, giving Cobb County two major paved routes.
During the remainder of the 20th century, automobiles and other wheeled vehicles rapidly spread throughout the county, and the modern road system began to take shape.
References for this article:
Edwin L. Jackson, “Dixie Highway” The New Georgia Encyclopedia. March 7, 2016. web. June 25, 2017.
Temple, Sarah Blackwell Gober.The First Hundred Years: A Short History of Cobb County, Georgia.