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Title:
Fitzgerald enterprise. : (Fitzgerald, Ga.) 1895-1912
Place of publication:
Fitzgerald, Ga.
Geographic coverage:
  • Fitzgerald, Ben Hill, Georgia  |  View more titles from this: City County, State
  • None, Irwin, Georgia  |  View more titles from this: City County, State
Publisher:
Nettie C. Hall
Dates of publication:
1895-1912
Description:
  • -v. 17, no. 51 (Apr. 13, 1912).
  • Began in Dec. 1895.
Frequency:
Triweekly June 13, 1903-Apr. 13, 1912
Language:
  • English
Subjects:
  • Ben Hill County (Ga.)--Newspapers.
  • Fitzgerald (Ga.)--Newspapers.
  • Georgia--Ben Hill County.--fast--(OCoLC)fst01211756
  • Georgia--Fitzgerald.--fast--(OCoLC)fst01217259
Notes:
  • Also on microfilm: Athens, Ga. : University of Georgia Libraries.
  • Description based on: Vol. 2, no. 5 (Jan. 18, 1897).
  • Merged with: Fitzgerald leader (Fitzgerald, Ga. : 1910), to form: Leader-enterprise (Fitzgerald, Ga.).
LCCN:
sn 89053307
OCLC:
19965838
Succeeding Titles:
Holdings:
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Fitzgerald enterprise. October 3, 1902 , Image 1

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Fitzgerald Enterprise

When Ellis Peiper and Johnathan Peiper published the first eight-page issue of the Fitzgerald Enterprise on December 20, 1895, the "Colony City" of Fitzgerald had no newspaper and consisted of barely more than shacks set out among Georgia's southern pine forests. Philander H. Fitzgerald, a Union army veteran and newspaper publisher from Indianapolis, envisioned a planned city in the South for fellow veterans, and after successful lobbying by ex-Georgia Governor William Northen, Philander Fitzgerald selected Georgia's wiregrass region for the "old soldiers' colony." As such, the Enterprise reflected the politics of Northerners and Union army veterans who initially settled in the community.

In December 1896, the Peipers sold their publication to Nettie C. Hall, a suffragette and prohibition advocate, and beloved member of the community. Hall's commitment to Fitzgerald's growth, local-reporting prowess, and concern for area railroad workers earned her the moniker "Mother Enterprise," and she remained associated with the paper until her death in 1908. In September 1899, Hall sold the Enterprise to Jesse Mercer, who continued the paper's support for prohibition and expanded railroads, but he shifted its overall politics toward the Democratic Party. Although the publication wasn't a fire-breathing segregationist sheet like others in the state, Mercer's Enterprise fell in line with "reform Democrats" of the early 1900s, which included support for segregation and disenfranchisement of black voters. In 1906, Fitzgerald failed to become the seat of Irwin County, which prompted Mercer to relentlessly crusade for the establishment of Ben Hill County, including lobbying trips to Atlanta. Jesse Mercer's role as a public official, however, meant he spent time away from the Enterprise offices, and he often relied on locals to manage the paper's day-to-day matters. In December 1911, Mercer leased the printing plant to Ross E. Hammock and Harry W. Burnett, who managed the paper until its sale in 1912.

On April 16, 1912, Isidor Gelders, owner of the Fitzgerald Leader, announced the purchase and absorption of the Fitzgerald Enterprise, thus creating the Leader-Enterprise. The paper expanded to a tri-weekly publishing cycle, and it quickly became Ben Hill County's largest newspaper. The Leader-Enterprise, after absorbing the Fitzgerald Press in November 1915 and undergoing several minor title changes, became the Fitzgerald Leader Enterprise and Press a masthead which existed until 1964.

Gelders advocated for consolidation of rural schools, higher teacher salaries, and free tuition for students; and, as a leader for Fitzgerald's Jewish community, he published news relevant to its concerns. During the "Dixie Highway" movement of the 1910s, Gelders featured front-page editorials and notices pushing for the improvement of Fitzgerald's own roads. As a large cotton-producing community, the boll weevil became an increasingly dire problem in the county, and the Leader Enterprise and Press published all available news for combating the beetle.

Isidor Gelders and his wife, Maud Gelders, co-edited the Leader Enterprise and Press until Isidor Gelders transferred ownership to his son. The senior Gelders, however, continued to contribute editorials, including a long series in the early 1950s telling the history of Fitzgerald, Georgia, and Ben Hill County. Albert Gelders managed the paper until September 1964, when he sold the publication to the Fitzgerald Herald, which merged the titles into the Fitzgerald Herald and the Fitzgerald Leader. Managed by the Pryor family, another name with a long history in Fitzgerald, the paper continues to circulate today as the Herald-Leader.

Provided by: Digital Library of Georgia, a project of GALILEO located at the University of Georgia Libraries