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From the LaGrange Daily News, 1937

Front Page News:

Regular Airmail Service for City Envisioned Today — Regular airmail service to and from LaGrange was viewed as a possibility today following a test stop at the local airport by an orange-colored plane of the Eastern Airlines.

R.D. Hanger, traffic manager of the Atlanta division of Eastern Airlines, and Major Ralph Lockwood, pilot of the plane, told representatives of the city that a hangar was the only thing needed to bring the airport up to specifications of the post office department and the airline corporation.

Yesterday’s flight was a prelude to test flights which will be made throughout the state, including LaGrange on Aug. 9, when mail will be picked up for transportation to Atlanta and other points on regular airplane routes.

There is a possibility that airmail routes will be established throughout the state and that LaGrange will be included in the itinerary if a hangar is constructed at the local airport.

‘37 Troup Tax Digest Shows Good Increase — Revealing a healthy increase over last year, Troup County’s tax digest for 1937 was released today by tax commissioner Frank Hutchinson.

Taxable property in the county this year is valued at $9,605,612, a gain of $196,435 over 1936, when taxable property was valued at $9,409,177.

This good increase over last year was viewed by commissioner Hutchinson as a sure sign of better times and the continued improvement of conditions throughout the county.

Navy Quits Hunt for Lost Fliers — Miss Amelia Earhart, America’s greatest woman flier, was listed as dead today by the Navy. Search for her and her navigator, Fred J. Noonan, carried on since they were forced down in the Pacific Ocean July 2, was abandoned.

The couple was lost on the New Guinea-Howland island leg of their flight to circle the globe.

The U.S. Navy wrote off its search as a $4 million loss, even as the cost of the hunt was gathering congressional criticism. A member of the house naval affairs committee has said he would probably introduce a bill to prevent future use of government facilities to search for fliers who are not on government business.

(Our thanks to Kaye Minchew, director of the Troup County Archives, for helping us document what this search would have cost today – the $4 million loss would have been $63 million according to the CPI Inflation Calculators.

Old LaGrange Landmark Gives Way to Modern Sunday School Plant — Another old landmark is gone!

The last vestiges of the upright, rectangular little building, that for an estimated three quarters of a century saw service as an office for professional men of the city, are fast disappearing, and the long lead yellow pine timber that fashioned the sturdy little building just off court square, on Church Street, is now just a pile of meaningless boards.

The building has ended its vigil to give way to a more modern structure – the $60,000 model Sunday school plant that will supplement the present quarters in the First Baptist Church.

The church bought the building in February, 1936. It’s history records the housing of many of the city’s outstanding professional men, including lawyers, doctors and dentists.

Harriett’s Letter — Needham Avery, the older son of Dr. and Mrs. R.M. Avery, was winner of the state grammar school declamation contest again this year sponsored by the School of the Air. He will visit New York City with the other state winners in recitation, piano and declamation, the trip being the reward for winning.

Jimmy Daughdrill, the handsome young son of the Hal Daughdrills, upon being told by his father that he had a new baby sister, burst forth laughing and continued for some time. At last he stopped, looked up at his father and said, “I’d better go tell mother about it.”

Editorial:

Public Opinion and the County Court House Location: “The Troup County Court House should not be rebuilt on its present location. That sentiment seems to be the almost universal opinion of many of the business men of LaGrange. It was expressed in the conversations of men and women from all the groups that stood around the square this morning as the old structure burned.”

The above paragraph was written for the LaGrange Daily News editorial columns while the old courthouse was still blazing, Thursday, Nov. 5, 1936. We were honestly of the opinion at that hour that LaGrange would present a much more beautiful business section with a park taking the place of the court house and now, months later, with the debris removed, our convictions in the matter are stronger than they were when the imagination had to be given more play.

However, the opinion of one person does not prove a thing. We suggest that the county commissioners again give considerable thought to the matter of location, especially in reference to current public opinion. The decision which must now be made is not for today, but for generations to come. Every possible advantage from using the old site and every possible advantage from selecting a new site should be thoroughly canvassed before the architects’ plans are approved.