Editing Walthourville, Georgia (section)

==History==
[[File:Walthourville Presbyterian church.jpg|alt=Walthourville Presbyterian Church, National Register of Historic Places|thumb|Walthourville Presbyterian Church, National Register of Historic Places]]
Walthourville draws its name from Andrew Walthour, a revolutionary soldier and a physician who established a plantation in the area circa 1795. The Walthourville Presbyterian Church was originally housed in a structure, erected in 1820, which served as a meeting place for both Baptists and Presbyterians. In 1845 a Presbyterian church was erected, which was destroyed by fire in 1877. The following year a new church was completed, with that structure being destroyed in a storm in 1881. The present church was dedicated in July 1884.<ref>[https://npgallery.nps.gov/GetAsset?assetID=1fa04639-84e6-43b7-9a97-133ee051a5d9 National Register of Historic Places Inventory - Nomination Form: Walthorville Presbyterian Church]. Aug 6, 1987.</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Assembly|first=Presbyterian Church in the U. S. A. (Old School) General|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZYIRAAAAIAAJ|title=Minutes of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America|date=1857|publisher=Stated Clerk of the Assembly|language=en}}</ref>

The Walthourville Academy, a non-sectarian co-educational school, was founded in 1823.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Interior|first=United States Dept of the|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ezswAQAAMAAJ&q=%22Walthourville,+GA%22&pg=PA457|title=Annual Report|date=1883|publisher=The Department|language=en}}</ref>  A post office was established on July 3, 1837<ref>''Record of Appointment of Postmasters, 1832-1971''. ''NARA Microfilm Publication, M841, 145 rolls''</ref>

By the 1840s the town was one of the most prosperous towns in south Georgia.{{r|cityhistory}} In 1854 the North Newport Church moved to Walthourville.<ref>{{Cite web|title=First African Baptist Church - Riceboro, GA - This Old Church on Waymarking.com|url=https://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/wm24TY_First_African_Baptist_Church_Riceboro_GA|access-date=2020-06-13|website=www.waymarking.com}}</ref>

The tracks of the Savannah, Albany & Gulf Railroad reached Walthourville in 1857. The railroad merged with the Atlantic & Gulf Railroad and traversed south Georgia from Savannah to Bainbridge. The Walthourville depot was Station No. 4, the fourth to be constructed on the line from Savannah.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Caldwell|first=Wilber W.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EGyf7XQeWEIC&q=savannah+albany+and+gulf+railroad+station+no.+4&pg=PA199|title=The Courthouse and the Depot: The Architecture of Hope in an Age of Despair : a Narrative Guide to Railroad Expansion and Its Impact on Public Architecture in Georgia, 1833-1910|date=2001|publisher=Mercer University Press|isbn=978-0-86554-748-3|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Savannah, Albany & Gulf Railroad|url=https://www.csa-railroads.com/Savannah,_Albany_and_Gulf.htm|access-date=2020-06-13|website=www.csa-railroads.com}}</ref>

An 1862 guide to Confederate railroads provided the following description of Walthourville, "''a post-town in Liberty county, Georgia, forty miles South-west of Savannah, is the largest place in the county. It contains two flourishing academies, and about 400 inhabitants."''<ref>{{Cite journal|title=Hill & Swayze's Confederate States rail-road & steam-boat guide : containing the time-tables, fares, connections and distances on all the rail-roads ... 1862?.|url=https://hdl.handle.net/2027/nc01.ark:/13960/t2f77hm54?urlappend=%3Bseq=1|access-date=2020-06-12|website=HathiTrust| year=1862 |hdl = 2027/nc01.ark:/13960/t2f77hm54?urlappend=%3Bseq=1|language=en | last1=Swayze | first1=J. C. }}</ref>

By 1974 the town had an airstrip and an industrial park, and there was some concern the area might be [[Municipal annexation|annexed]] by nearby [[Hinesville, Georgia]]. Although the town was 179 years old, it was not officially chartered by the state. An attempt to do so by the male leaders of the town some 12 years earlier had failed due in part to "bickering."{{r|woodhead}}

A committee entirely composed of women completed the necessary census and circulated a petition as required, getting 300 signatures.{{r|april1974}} When they filed the paperwork with the [[Georgia General Assembly]] for approval they named themselves the incorporating officers. "We thought it was all just on paper", said Mayor Lyndol Anderson.{{r|woodhead}} But when the approved papers arrived (signed by then-Governor [[Jimmy Carter]]{{r|wtoc}}) they realized they were required to serve as town government until the first election in December.{{r|woodhead}}

[[File:City_of_Walthourville_history_historical_marker_front.jpg|thumb|right|2007 Historical marker]]
They were sworn into office in April 1974{{r|april1974}} becoming one of the first all-women governments of a [[municipality]] in Georgia history.{{r|sexes}} (The first known instance was [[Oak Park, Georgia|Oak Park]] in 1934{{r|oakpark}}). Coming as it did at the height of the [[women's liberation movement]], the all-woman government of the town attracted much attention including national coverage by [[Associated Press|A.P.]],{{r|ap}} [[United Press International|UPI]],{{r|upi}} ''[[NBC Nightly News]] with [[John Chancellor]]''{{r|nbc1}}{{r|nbc2}} and ''[[CBS Evening News]] with [[Walter Cronkite]]''.{{r|cbs1}}{{r|cbs2}} The women of Walthourville, however, reportedly rejected the label of "women's libbers".{{r|cbs1}}{{r|rigert}}

In December 1974 the all-woman slate ran in its first election, and were challenged by a slate of male candidates, none of whom succeeded.{{r|ap}}{{r|nbc2}}{{r|dec1974}} The women had proven themselves good campaigners{{r|rigert}} as well as good governors. They had gotten streetlights installed in the town and put up street signs, and had not only levied no new taxes, but they had donated their own (nominal) official salaries back to the town.{{r|woodhead}}

Four years later, one man did join the council in the 1978 election.{{r|kent_elected}} In the same election, council member Carrie Kent was elected mayor - the first African-American woman to be elected mayor in Georgia.{{r|kent_elected}} In 2007 the town erected a historical marker commemorating the history of its incorporation (see photo).