Where did Linnentown Work?

Linnentown was a neighborhood in Athens up until the 1960’s, when UGA used eminent domain to take control of the area to create dorms and a parking deck. While this sounds quite tragic, I want to focus on the history of Linnentown and the people that made it a wonderful home in Athens for those who lived there. I will be extensively researching Linnentown and discover the residents' daily work patterns that helped provide for their families. Although Linnentown has been heavily studied, I am excited to be the one to make some connections and show the true stories of the residents and shedding light on where these people worked. It is important so we can continue to remember the legacy they left with where they worked.

Something to note is that the entirety of Linnentown was African American, if not 100% then very close to it, and in 1950’s Athens, job opportunities were definitely more restricted for colored people than today. That being said, work was far from sparse in this community. The most abundant occupation was a maid, a job held exclusively by women, that works at other people’s homes, the University of Georgia, or other businesses around Athens. Some of these women included Grace Powers at the Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity, Carrie Johnson at Snelling Dining Hall, Ruby J. Tory at the Gallant-Belk Company, and Lois D. Taylor at the Grand Ellen Apartments. The male equivalent of this job was being a janitor, which some men held the position at UGA. Some of these men include Davis Johnson, Fred Brown, and James Thomas. There were also some businesses found commonly among the people of Linnentown. The most prevalent was, quite unsurprisingly, UGA, whether it be the aforementioned maid or janitor, or workers in the dining halls or fraternity houses, such as Nealy Robinson, Dora Pass, Beatrice Dillard at the Phi Delta Theta Fraternity, and Frances M. Dillard at the Kappa Sigma Fraternity. One of the other businesses common in Linnentown was the Colonial Poultry Company, where Lillie Hunter, Willie Hill, Gertrude Johnson, and Stella Lumford simply worked as employees. Another was Athens Tire and Supply Company, where a few men worked as porters (Henry Johnson), recappers (Luther Lanier), and other jobs dealing with car maintenance (Lucius Lanier). Other less common businesses include D D Saye Construction Company, Sunshine Cleaners, Bailey’s Roofing and Sheet Metal, and Old Colony Motor Inn.

In the map below are the routes that people took to go from Linnentown to their jobs. Out of 69 directory entries of people that lived from Linnentown, 41 had occupations, with most of them being less than a mile away from where they lived. As stated previously, a few people worked at UGA, which was close. Because of its proximity, it's no wonder the university wanted to take the land and let students walk to school from there. The map also shows how many people worked in downtown Athens, with almost ten businesses being represented in the area. The two outliers that were quite far away from the main radius of Linnentown were the Colonial Poultry Company Inc, which is on current day Tallassee Road, and the Old Colony Motor Inn, where Corry Lyons worked down a few miles south of the 10 Loop on Macon Highway. This just shows that many people in Linnentown worked very close to home, making it easy to get to their jobs easily and quickly.

While Linnentown was not afforded the same privileges as other neighborhoods in Athens, they made the best with what opportunities were given to them. Community in Linnentown proved to be one of the reasons why Linnentown was able to provide for themselves and their households. They didn’t have the most lavish lifestyles or the best paying jobs, but they did well for themselves and were able to make a community with the other people that live there. When Linnentown was replaced by dorms, Athens lost a group of hard working and resilient residents that either had to leave the city to find work elsewhere or find another community to continue the legacy of Linnentown.