A yellow folk Victorian is located on W. Whitney Avenue in Albany, Georgia, on a historic street that stands out among the more recently built homes and apartment buildings. Whitney Avenue was the epicenter of the Albany Civil Rights Movement. The Shiloh Baptist Church, Mount Zion First Baptist Church, and the Albany Civil Rights Institute are on the same block as the house.
Always curious about the early families who lived in older homes and wanting to know more about Black history, I began researching the history because I suspected the home might connect to Albany’s Black history. At first, I had trouble unraveling the history with my normal methods, but when I used the Sanborn maps, I realized that Whitney Avenue was once South Avenue. Here, I learned that the house was once 307 South Street.
The earliest family I could trace to the home belonged to Bartow and Charlotte Powell. The Powells married in 1890 and eventually had seven children (The Crisis, September 1918). According to a news article about his death in the Americus Times-Recorder (January 25, 1918), “He was one of the largest tax peyers (sic) in Baker county, and owned considerable property in Dougherty.” Powell was born in Bainbridge, Georgia. Before the age of twenty, he started working to help dredge the Flint River and started to save money so that by the age of 20, he had saved $2,000 and was able to purchase his first five hundred acres of land (Kletzing et al., 1913). According to Powell (Kletzing, 1913, p. 265)
I started with my (work) force on the first day of January, because they say whatever you do that day you will do year round. It proved to be so in my case, for it was not until the Christmas week of the next year that I saw a day off.
His hard work paid off, and he earned $2,500 in his first year. By his fifth year, he had saved enough money to purchase a 300-acre farm. By his 9th year as a farmer, he had grown his land holdings to 1801 total acres. He eventually owned over 9,000 acres where he grew cotton, sugar cane, and corn. He also owned livestock (Kletzing, 1913).
There are mentions of his nice home in Albany (The Valdosta Times, 1897; The Atlanta Journal, 1903). While it is possible that they were referring to another home Powell owned, I believe they were referring to this specific one since it was in a prominent Black neighborhood. It is clear that he has become a man with stature. In a 1914 article in The Atlanta Constitution, it is noted he provided fifteen wagons for a parade at a country fair where Booker T. Washington traveled from Atlanta to open. A 1915 article in The Valdosta Daily Times mentions a successful transaction of 500 bales of cotton earned him $20,000. At some point, he began to manage the Flint River dredging project (The Negro Farmer and Messenger, 1916; The Atlanta Constitution, 1918).
Unfortunately, Powell was murdered while driving his carriage in Albany in 1918 (Dittmer). At his death, it was estimated that his overall wealth was $300,000 (Tuskegee Institute). Most of his land was sold for $56,000 in 1920 (The Macon Telegraph). According to Census records, Charlotte and most of the children moved to either Ohio or New York after 1920.
The home was in the path of the 1994 Flint River flooding as the flooding went further west and caused significant damage to the Mt. Zion Baptist Church (Seegmueller, 2019). There was mention in 1996 that this house would be restored, but I cannot find evidence that this was ever started (Associated Press).
Note: I am still researching his family and hope to provide an update on their lives.
References
[Article about Barton Powell]. (1897, May 29). The Valdosta Times. p. 1, column 2.
Associated Press. (1996, July 22). Walkabout shows plan for Albany. The Atlanta Journal. p. 15.
Baker County Negro farmer sells 500 bales [sic] cotton. (1915, March 1). The Valdosta Daily Times. p. 3.
Bartow Powell, rich Negro farmer, is dead. (1918, January 25). The Atlanta Constitution. p. 9.
B. T. Washington opens Negro fair in South Georgia. (1914, October 23). The Atlanta Constitution. p. 3.
Dittmer, J. (1977). Black Georgia in the Progressive Era, 1900-1920. University of Illinois Press. p. 25. Retrieved January 12, 2025, from https://archive.org/details/blackgeorgiainpr0000john/page/24/mode/2up?q=bartow+powell.
Gibson, J. W., Crogman, W. H., Washington, B. T. & Williams, F. B. (1912) Progress of a race; or, The remarkable advancement of the colored American. From the bondage of slavery, ignorance and poverty to the freedom of citizenship, intelligence, affluence, honor and trust. [Naperville, Ill., J. L. Nichols & company] [Pdf]. Retrieved on January 11, 2025, from https://www.loc.gov/item/12032534/.
Hornsby, A. (2004). Southerners, too?: Essays on the Black South, 1733-1990. p. 79. Retrieved on January 13, 2025 from https://archive.org/details/southernerstooes0000horn/mode/2up?q=%22bartow+powell%22.
Men of the Month. (September 1918). The Crisis. p. 235.
Pays for $56,000 for 6,633 acres. (1920, January 8). The Macon Telegraph.
Personal. (April 1918). The Crisis. p. 298.
Seegmueller, T. (2019, July 6. The flood of ’94. The Albany Herald. Retrieved on January 15, 2025, from https://albanyherald.com/features/the-flood-of-94/.
(Thrifty Negroes. (1903, October 22). The Atlanta Journal. p. 6.
Tuskegee Institute. (nd). The Negro year book for 1916-1917. p. 7. Retrieved on January 12, 2025 from https://archive.org/details/negroyearbook4191tusk/page/6/mode/2up?q=%22bartow+powell%22.
Winners from the soil: Colored farmers who have possessed the land. (1916, March 25). The Negro Farmer and Messenger. p. 10. Retrieved on January 12, 2025, from https://archive.org/details/per_negro-farmer-and-messenger_the-negro-farmer-and-messenger_1916-03-25_3_6/page/10/mode/2up?q=%22bartow+powell%22.
