Once the Indians were out of the way and their lands thrown open to the white settlers, Rome and Floyd County began to grow with a vim. As early as 1837, according to a report from Capt. J. P. Sim out on, disbursing agent of the Cherokee Removal, sent from New Echota to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, and dated Sept. 27, 1837, Col. Wm. C. Hardin was president of the Western Bank of Georgia, of Rome. Col. Hardin and Andrew Miller, agent of the Bank of Georgia, of Augusta, loaned the Government $25,000), transmitted through the Rome bank, toward the removal of the Cherokees.

The Western was undoubtedly the first bank in Rome, and Col. Hardin its first president, It was located at the southwest corner of Fifth Avenue and East First Street. An old $10 bank note shows that William Smith was president on July 13, 1840, with R. A. Greene as cashier. Zachariah B. Hargrove bad been connected with it prior to his death in 1839. The Bank of the Empire State, which also got into financial difficulties and was forced to suspend, was organized much  later.    In  1851   the Rome Weekly Courier expressed the hope that a bank would soon be formed at Rome.

The first inn was kept by William Quinn at "Cross Keys" as the local neighborhood at the present "Five Points," North Broad Street, was then known. A Mrs. Washington, descended from George, kept the Washington Hotel. The McEntee House was in operation in 1845 when Rev. and Mrs. J. M. M. Caldwell stopped over in Rome on their way to Selma, Ala., where Dr. Caldwell had been offered the pastorate of the First Presbyterian church. James McEntee, the proprietor, and others persuaded the newly-married couple to remain in Rome, and they taught one of the first schools of any pretensions in a part of their dwelling, the old John Ross House, in which they had been temporarily settled by the owner, Col. Alfred Shorter. After assuming charge of the Rome Female College on Eighth Avenue in 1856, they taught on East Second Street.

Another early hotel was the Choice House, built by John Choice, probably prior to 1850. This was conducted from 1855 to 1857 by Wm. Melton Roberts, father of Frank Stovall Roberts, of Washington, D. C. It was located where the Hotel Forrest now stands. For several years around 1857 it bad six colonial columns of white in front.

The Buena Vista, at the southeast corner of Broad Street and Sixth Avenue, was built in 1843 by an Irishman named Thos. Burke, who soon got into a serious difficulty and turned the property over to Daniel R. Mitchell as a fee for representing him.

About 1850 Wm. Ketcham was proprietor of the Etowah House, southeast corner of Broad Street and Second Avenue, and in 1863 the proprietor was Gen. Geo. S. Black.

The Tennessee House was started at the end of the Civil War by Jas. A. Stansbury. It stood at the northeast corner of Broad Street and First Avenue, and later be-came the Rome Motel.

The first newspaper, according to The Weekly Bulletin of Thursday, Jan. 8. 1876. was the Western Georgian, published by Gen. Jas. Hemphill and Samuel S. Jack. It was started in 1837, and Mr. Jack was the first editor. The location was at 602 Fast First Street, where a band press was installed. This was on the spot where Mrs. Naomi P. Bale now lives.

Pisgah Baptist church at Coosa is the oldest religious institution of its kind in the county. It was organized in the spring of 1833 by Rev. Hugh Quin and associates.

The First Presbyterian of Rome was founded at Livingston Oct. 29, 1833, and removed to Rome Apr. 17. 1S45, by Rev. J. M. M. Caldwell.

The First Baptist is the oldest church in Rome, having; been founded May 16, 1835.

The First Methodist was organized at Rome in 1840 by Mrs. Samuel S. Jack, Mrs. James Hammet. Mrs. Daniel R. Mitchell, Mrs, Jesse Lamberth, Mrs. Samuel Stewart and Miss Emily McDow. The location was the southwest corner of Sixth Avenue and E. Second Street. The circuit of which Rome was an appointment in 1S36 extended from Knoxville, Tenn., to the Chattahoochee River, and Rev. J. B. McFerrin, of Tennessee, stood every four months on a stump at Fifth Avenue and West First Street (now the courthouse property) and preached to mixed crowds of Indians, negroes and whites. On one of these occasions Dr. McFerrin converted John Ross, who thereafter spread the doctrines of Methodism among his tribesmen. It is considered worthy of note in . this connection that Sam P. Jones, the Methodist evangelist, went to preaching 40 years later four blocks from this spot and two blocks from the Fourth Ward home of Ross.

St. Peter's Episcopal church was first located at Fifth Avenue and E. First Street, and was established Mar. 31, 1854, by Rev. Thos. Fielding Scott, of Marietta, and associates.

The First Christian church was organized Feb. 13, 1896.

Sardis "Presbyterian church at Livingston and churches in Ridge Valley and Vann's Valley (such as the Baptist, the Methodist and the Episcopal at Cave Spring) and at Armuchee, Chulio, Everett Springs and the other pioneer districts of the county are also very old. Some folks say Sardis Presbyterian is older than Pisgah Baptist; others say it ain't.

The Episcopal church at Cave Spring, by the way, was built through the generosity of Francis S. Bartow and his parents, Dr. and Mrs. Theodosius Bartow, of Savannah, who maintained a summer borne there a number of years before 1860. The land for this church was given by Maj. Armistead Richardson.

The Baptist church of Cave Spring stands on the Hearn Academy campus. The brick it contains, still in a fine state of preservation, were made of Floyd County clay by the slaves of Maj. Armistead Richardson, Alexander Thornton Harper and Carter W. Sparks.

The Prospect Baptist church, near Coosa, was founded in 1856. Undoubtedly the oldest religious agency in the county (now only a memory) was the mission at Coosa (then known as Missionary Station). This was established in 1821 by Rev. Elijah Butler and his wife, Esther Butler, of the North, who were succeeded in the work by Rev. Hugh Quin, about 1827.

Such business establishments as might be expected in a growing town sprang up between 18,54 and 1861. Col. Alfred Shorter began to trade in cotton, merchandise and real estate, and was recognized as Rome's leading financier and business man. Col. Cunningham M. Pennington, a civil engineer, appeared on the scene as Col. Shortens agent, and also gave considerable attention to railroad enterprises. Chas. M. Harper, a nephew, likewise was early associated with Col. Shorter.

A post office was set up at a convenient spot in the center of town and all the folks came for their mail. The streets were bad for many years, and pig's and cattle roamed over them at will, and many a Roman of the period kept a pig-sty in his yard. The thoroughfares were lighted at night with oil lamps and the homes with lamps or candles, and early retiring was the rule, and early rising, too.

Stage coach lines were established, with thrice a week service, leading to Cassville through North Rome, to New Echota via Oostanatila River road, to Jacksonville, Ala., and Cave Spring via the Cave Spring road, to the towns of Chattooga County via the Suminerville road, and to Livingston and points beyond through the Black's Bluff road.

Practically all these roads of the present were originally Indian trails, notably the Alabama road, which was the old Creek path from Alabama through northwest Georgia. These stages were joggling, rickety affairs, pulled by four horses. As we view it now, it was worth a man's life to undertake a long journey, but somehow they always reached their destination and the trouble of getting there was forgotten in a delightfully long stay. Mail was carried in pouches and the stage driver was responsible for its safe delivery. To facilitate this object, the driver usually went armed, and was seldom molested. Among the early drivers and proprietors might be mentioned John H. Wisdom, who in 1863 warned Romans of the approach of Col. Streigbt's raiders, and Esom Graves Logan, J. R. Powell, Jos. II. Sergeant and other old timers.

Connections were made by stage with more remote points, such as Athens, Covington, Milledgeville, Macon and Augusta. Atlanta did not appear until Dec. 23, 1843, when it was incorporated as Terminus. Her name was changed to Marthasville, and then by an act approved Dec. 29, 1847, it became Atlanta Nine years before a village sprang up on the site of Atlanta, Romans had had a vision of a "terminus" on their own particular spot. Rome was the frontier outpost of Cherokee Georgia, as far as the rest of the state was concerned. It was the connecting link between "Old Georgia" and "Old Tennessee," the clearing house for the cotton, corn, wheat and produce of the rich Coosa Valley and the northeastern Alabama towns.

Rome's strategic position was perhaps best realized by William Smith, who in 1836 was elected to the State Senate with the idea that he might have a bill passed at Milledgeville winch would cause the proposed State Railroad to stop at Rome instead of at some point in Tennessee, which later became Chattanooga. The people were not ready for such a radical step, however. The Steamboat Coosa bad come all the way up from Greensport, Ala., bad given the natives a good fright, and this was enough of transportation improvements for a long time. When Col. Smith offered for re-election, be was defeated by James Wells. Col. Smith bided his time, unloosed a new supply of political thunder and defeated Mr. Wells in 1838. Success still did not come, and in 1839 be was defeated by Jos. Watters, who served two years and then was defeated by Col. Smith in 1841. For three years, through 1843, Col. Smith pushed this project and others. He was given strong assurance that Rome would be made the terminus of the road, which would certainly have caused the place to boom like a mining town of the far West. Such a strong fight was made by Col. Smith during these years that an association of citizens at Chattanooga invited him to come there to live in a handsome borne that would cost him nothing. He was too strongly committed to the place of his adoption, and continued the fight for Rome. When success seemed certain, Col. Smith and another founder of the town, Maj. Philip W. Hemphill, built a steamboat in anticipation of the tremendous trade that would be created. The hull of the boat was made bv William Adkins, father of Wm. H. Adkins, of Atlanta, formerly of Rome. It was eased into the Oostanaula with appropriate ceremonies and her flag raised, bearing the name of ber projector, William Smith. The machinery was not installed for a time, possibly due to a delay in delivery, or the desire of the own-ers to sec the bill pass before they should increase their investment. Something; went wrong at Milledgeville. The Whiteside interests at Chattanooga, augmented by a faction in Georgia who thought better of the Chattanooga terminus, proved too strong for the Cherokee Georgia contingent. The bill as passed included Chattanooga. Rome was to be isolated to some extent; the road was to pass 16 miles away, through Cass County, from Mart has villc northwestward.

Col. Smith smiled his acquiescense, but there was no estimating his disappointment. One night the William Smith sank, at the point where the Central of Georgia trestle crosses the Oostanaula. Prat-tling tongues said Col. Smith bored holes in her bottom. He would never talk about it much, beyond saying that the action of the Legislature had greatly crippled Rome. He did not try to raise the boat, and up to 25 years ago her muddy hull could still be seen at "low tide."

In these days of slave labor, limited transportation facilities, heavy crops and lack of industrialism, the thoughts of the upper classes naturally turned to politics. The newspapers printed four pages of six columns each once or twice a week. The advertisements were usually small and the other space must be filled up. When people married, they remained married, and a divorce was a rarity and considered a disgrace. There were a good many fights with knives in grog shops, and an occasional duel, but news-gathering facilities had not been developed, and the papers were consequently filled with "views." Every editor was a savior of the country, and spread-eagle literary efforts readily found their way into the newspapers from politicians or statesmen. Presidential and Gubernatorial messages were printed in full and were considered choice morsels for the head of the house. Greer's Almanac furnished weather predictions for everybody. Politics often consumed a page or two, and communications on topics that today are of much less consequence often ran into two or three columns. As for the women, they religiously read "Godey's Ladies' Book," an eastern publication which met needs like the Ladies' Home Journal of today.

It is not necessarily a reflection on Rome that in the first 26 years of her existence, from 1834 to 1860, she elected more men to Congress than has the Rome of the 57 years from 1865 to 1922. A new country always develops rugged leadership and the fearless expression of opinion that goes with a daily light for existence. In this early period Rome sent four men to Congress. They were, in order. Judge John H. Lumpkin, who had previously served his uncle. Governor Wilson Lumpkin, as secretary, and had gone to the legislature in 1835; Thos. C. Hackett, Judge Lumpkin's law partner, who succeeded him ; Judge Augustus R. Wright, who had removed to Rome in 1855; and Judge Jno. W. H. Underwood who was a member of the Georgia delegation which walked out of Congress early in 1861 without taking the pains to resign. Only two men living in Rome at the time of their election have since been sent to Congress—Judson C. Clements and Judge Jno. W. Maddox.

Judge Lumpkin came near putting Rome on the map as the residence of the Governor of Georgia; that is, assuming be could have been elected over the eloquent and polished Benjamin H. Hill. Also, it is likely he would have been the War Governor. On June 24, 1857, the Democrats met at Milledge-ville to nominate a candidate to oppose the new American or Know-Nothing party. Lumpkin led the balloting for some time, but he could not get the necessary two-thirds, and in a stampede, the nomination went to Jos. E. Brown. Alfred H. Colquitt, later Governor, also missed it narrowly In the election held later. Brown defeated Hill, the American party nominee, by about 10,000 popular votes.

This convention attracted the leading men of the state, and Rome's representatives were Judge Augustus R. Wright, who on one ballot received five votes; Judge Jno. W. H. Underwood and Daniel S. Printup. At all such gatherings Rome was prominently put forward. Her leading men went to the national conventions on an equal footing with the large cities of the state; and on numerous occasions Governors, Senators and Congressmen came to Rome to seek the advice of these noble Romans. Among the Governors were Chas. J. McDonald, Herschel V. Johnson and Jos. E. Brown. When Judge Lumpkin died in the summer of 1860 at the Choice House, he was in company with a group of statesmen.

Quite often the Romans suited the convenience of their political friends ; quite often also they wrote a note saying, "Come up and let us talk it over." The Choice House veranda was a capital place for these gatherings, but occasionally a dignitary accepted an invitation to a private fireside and was treated to social courtesies which had nothing to do with politics.

A contemporary writer said of Rome's "quartette" and Dr. H. V. M. Miller, United States Senator elected in 1868 while residing in Atlanta :

John H. Lumpkin was the candidate of North Georgia, which section vigorously claimed the right to have the Governor. Lumpkin had been a congressman and a judge of the Superior Court and was a gentleman of excellent ability.

Dr. Miller, though a physician, won the soubriquet of "The Demosthenes of the Mountains" in his innumerable political encounters, for which he had the same passion that the Irishman is popularly believed to have for a "free fight." Deeply versed in constitutional law and political lore, a reasoner of rare power and as fine an orator as we have ever had in Georgia, capable of burning declamation and closely-knit argument, he was the peer on the stump of any of the great political speakers of the last half-century in Georgia.

Unfortunately for him, he had two perilous peculiarities a biting sarcasm that delighted in exhibition of its crushing power, and that spared neither friend nor foe, and a contemptuous and incurable disregard of party affiliations. He never in his life worked in harmony with any party or swallowed whole any single party platform. And no man ever had more stubborn independence and self-assertion.

Judge Wright, of Rome, was one of the brightest thinkers and most sparkling orators we had, but an embodied independent.**

Judge Underwood was a racy talker, a fluent, effective speaker and a good lawyer, with a portly, fine presence and manner; he would have made a far more commanding figure in Georgia politics, even, than he has with the possession of a greater quota of stability.

An evidence of the manner in which Romans kept pace with the political trend is furnished in the following letter, dated at Rome, Jan. 18, 1854, from Judge Lumpkin to Howell Cobb:

Dear Cobb:—I was with McDonald a good deal while he was here, and he was in fine health and most excellent spirits. In fact, I have never seen him when he was on better terms with himself and the most of the world. He has not much fancy for our friend, Col. Underwood, and I think he has not a great deal of respect for Dr. Singleton. I had no conversation with him in regard to the position of United States Senator, nor did he give me any intimation that he expected to go into Mr. Pierce's cabinet. But William Fort, of this place, a nephew of Dr. Fort, and who is the intimate friend and supporter of Gov. McDonald, informs me that Jefferson Davis is in correspondence with McDonald, and that McDonald informed him confidentially that he would go to Milledgeville immediately this week, and if he could control some three or four of his friends and induce them to go into your support for United States Senator, that he would then tender back to the party the nomination and go in publicly for your election; and if this was successful, he had no doubt of your election to the United States Senate, and that he would be appointed Secretary of War in the place of Jefferson Davis, would would also go jnto the Senate from the State of Mississippi. He further informed me that Brown was an applicant for the Senate from Mississippi, and that this difficulty would have to be accommodated by providing for Brown in some other way. I feel confident that this arrangement will be carried out, and if so, the party in Georgia will be once more thoroughly united  and cemented.

Locally, politics was active, but it was not confined to local offices or questions. The newspaper editors saw to it that their readers were well posted on national matters and characters. To inspire Georgians and Romans there stood the examples of Wm. II. Craw-ford, United States Senator and minister to France, who might have occupied the Presidential chair except for an unfortunate stroke of paralysis ;Howell Cobb, Georgia Governor, speaker of the National House, and Secretary of the Treasury; John Forsyth, Governor of Georgia, United States Senator and Secretary of State; Wm. H. Stiles, minister to Austria ; Benj. C. Yancey, minister to Argentine; John K. Ward, minister to China; Hcrscbel V. Johnson, United States Senator and candidate for vice-president on the ticket of Stephen A. Douglas against Abraham Lincoln in 1860; and a number of others who bore Georgia's banner in the front of the procession. Georgia did not play "second fiddle" to any state or the village of Rome to any city.

Few of Rome's early records were kept, and apparently no newspaper files before 1850 are in ex-istence. Several copies of the Rome Weekly Courier of 1850-51-52 were made available through the courtesy of H. II. Wimpee, of South Rome, and from these we get the best view of the political conditions up to that time, and looking ahead into the dark days of 1861-5.

By 1850 we find the old Whig party beginning to disintegrate, but its adherents fighting grimly. In that year its last President, Millard Fillmore, was inaugurated. Democrats were holding their own ; after Fillmore they elected Franklin Pierce and James Buchanan. The Republican party was rising in power. The  American Party sprang up at the expense of the Whigs; they were the "middle of the road" host, or "Know Nothings." The States Rights Democrats, often called "Fire-Eaters," were a wing of the Democratic party, in the main. The Constitutional Unionists were formidable, North and South. Smaller factions likewise existed.

An idea of the intense beat issuing from the political pot may be gained  from  the  statement that meetings  at  this  time  were attended by 10,000 to 20,000 people. The slavery and states' rights issues were fast coming to a bead. Elections held in Georgia showed a large majority of people favorable to maintaining the Union. On Oct. 24,  1850, Jos. Watters and Edward Ware received 882 and 809 votes, respectively, and Dr. Alvin Dean 121 votes, in a Floyd County election for two delegates to the state convention Dec. 10, 1850, at Milledgeville. Dr. Dean represented   the   disunionist   element, or "fire-eaters." The vote of the delegates on secession measures was heavily in favor of preserving the status quo. The eyes of the nation were  focused  on Georgia, and a different   result, it is believed. would have hastened the Civil War by a decade.

The following political letters were published in A. M. Eddleman's Rome Weekly Courier on

Thursday morning. Oct. 24, 1850: Hermitage, Floyd County, Ga. Oct. 15, 1850.

To Messrs. H. V. M. Miller, Jno. II. Lumpkin and W. T. Price, Union Party Committee:

Gentlemen: Your letter of the 10th inst., notifying me that at a very large meeting of the citizens of Floyd County, held in Rome on the 10th, I was unanimously nominated as one of the candidates to represent the county in the convention which is to assemble in Milledgeville, Dec. 10, has been received. You enclose a copy of the resolutions adopted by the meeting, expressing its opinion on the pending issues, and calling my attention to them.

I have carefully examined the resolutions and do approve of them as adopted by the meeting. As such, I accept the nomination received, and should I be elected by the voters of the county, I will oppose any measure leading to a dissolution of the Union.

Should Congress at any time exhibit its purpose to war upon our property or withhold our just constitutional rights, I as a Southern man stand ready to vindicate those rights in the Union as long as possible and out of the Union when we are left no other alternative.

Respectfully yours,
JOSEPH WATTERS.

Courtesy,  Floyd  Co., Ga., Oct 16, 1850.

To Messrs. H. V. M. Miller, Jno. H. Lumpkin and W. T. Price, Union Party Committee:

Gentlemen:
I received your polite note of the 10th inst. yesterday evening, informing me of my unanimous nomination by a large and respectable meeting of the citizens of Floyd County as one of the two candidates to represent them at Milledgeville Dec. 10. I consent to represent them if I should be elected.

I am requested by your honorable committee to give a pledge to support the resolutions submitted to me for my consideration. I pledge myself to support no measure leading to a violation of the Constitution of the United States or dissolution of the Union.

Gentlemen, I have the honor to be your most obedient servant,
EDWARD WARE.

Editor Eddleman was a staunch Union man himself, and his views were shared bv manv, as the following editorial item from the same issue of his paper will show:

Kingston Mass Meeting.—Let no one forget the gathering of the friends of the Union at Kingston on Nov. 8. Ample accommodation will be provided for 20,000 persons, and we hope to see at least that number in attendance. The noblest fabric of government ever purchased by the blood of patriotism or formed by the wisdom of man is threatened with destruction. Is there public virtue enough in the hearts of the people to save it? If the assault were made by a foreign foe, 100,000 bayonets in Georgia would bristle in its defense. Shall the enthusiasm be less warm, the determination less firm, to hazard all in its protection, because the enemy is in our midst?

Come out, then, to the meeting at Kingston, and let us mingle our voices in loud and long huzzas for the glo-rious old government of our ancestors, endeared to us as it is by the remi-niscences of the past, the incalculable blessings of the present and the bright anticipations of the future—spreading before the imagination a career of prosperity, of greatness and grandeur, to which all history affords no parallel. Let us meet and firmly resolve at any cost to maintain it pure and inviolate, as we received it. Come, people of Cherokee Georgia, and partake of the hospitality of your fellow citizens of Cass and Floyd. Come and listen to the eloquence of Stephens, and Cobb, and Toombs, and Andrews, and Pettigrew, and a host of others who are to be there to address you. Come and enjoy a "feast of reason and a flow of soul." Let the wisdom of age be there to moderate and control the fire and impetuosity of youth. Let the presence and the smile of woman, as in every contest of patriotism the world over, be ready to cheer and encourage the hardier sex in the performance of its duty.

Let no one stay away because of the supposed weakness of our adversaries. They are more numerous than many suppose. They have talents, courage, cunning and money, and evince a determination to spend them freely in the desperate cause in which they have embarked. Come and show by your spirit and numbers your resolution to permit no sacrilegious hand to render asunder the Glorious Flag of your Country. It has formed the winding sheet of many of your patriot ancestors. It has been to Americans in every land and on every sea, as far as human foot has trod, the Aegis of Safety. Proudly has it waved over a thousand bloody but victorious battle-fields, and it is for you to say whether it shall be transmitted unsullied to your posterity. Let there be for centuries no stain upon it, no erasure; but on its bright field let every STAR and every STRIPE forever shine resplendently in glorious equality!

Thus were the war clouds assuming shape. The next ten years was to he a period of preparation in thought and to a considerable extent at its close preparation in arms and munitions of war. Some years before this, statesmen and military leaders saw the prospect clearly. In 1844 Lieut. Wm. T. Sherman, just out of West Point, was ordered to go by horseback from Charleston to Marietta to assist in bearing claims of Georgia volunteers in the Seminole War for lest horses and equipment. After finishing at Marietta, he passed through Cass (now Bartow) Countv, and examined the Tumlin Indian mound near Cartersville with Col. Lewis Tumlin; then proceeded to Bellefonte, Jackson Co., Ala., to continue his duties. He made a thorough study of the country from the military standpoint, especially Kennesaw Mountain, Allatoona Pass and the Etowah river. After spending two months at Bellefonte, be returned to Ft. Moultrie, Charleston Harbor, on horseback via Rome, Allatoona, Marietta (and Kennesaw), Atlanta, Macon and Augusta, following closely parts of the route he took 20 years later on his "March to the Sea."

Another distinguished guest of Rome who came on a different mission was Jeft'erson Davis ; and still another, on Tuesday, Oct. 29, 1850, was Col. Albert J." Pickett, of Alabama, concerning whose mission the Rome Weekly Courier of Thursday. Oct. 31, 1850, printed the following notice:

Col. Pickett On DeSoto's Route.— Col. Albert J. Pickett, of Montgomery, Ala., author of the History of Alabama and incidentally of Georgia and Mississippi, entertained a large number of our citizens for two hours Tuesday evening at the courthouse, giving an interesting account of the invasion of Georgia by DeSoto, more than three centuries ago. Col. Pickett is in possession of a more minute account of this remarkable adventure than any man we have ever seen. Upon the site of our city, he asserted, DeSoto encamped with 1,000 men for 30 days, during which time a battle was fought between the Spaniards under his command and the Indian tribes then inhabiting this country. Evidences of this battle still exist in the shape of human bones dug out of a mound near the junction of the Etowah and the Oostanaula.

From 1840 to 1861 Rome grew last. In this period Wm. R. Smith (called "Long Hill" because he wore his hair in a queue down his back). Col. Wade S. Cothran and Col. Daniel S. Printup appeared. All engaged in railroad enterprises, and in addition. Col. Printup attended to a large law business, and Col. Cothran acquired an interest in the steamboat lines, for which Capt. F. M. Coulter had built a number of handsome and serviceable boats.

The Rome Railroad (originally the Memphis Branch Railroad and Steamboat Company of Georgia) was chartered Dec. 21, 1839, and the whole town turned out several years later when the first train puffed in from Kingston, 16 miles and a good hour away.* In 1855 the Nobles came from Reading, Pa., to give Rome a decided boost in iron manufactures. The LeIIardys arrived from Belgium to found their Belgian colony, an experiment which added much to the agricultural interest and the social, educational and cultural importance of Rome. Major Chas. H. Smith ("Bill Arp") moved over from Lawrenceville in 1851, and thus Rome acquired a literary expounder who could proclaim her glories abroad, a sweet-voiced singer who could put her wonders into type and an artist who could paint her rude characters in the colors of their native abode.

Rome soon acquired a case of "growing pains." The editors began to call for better things than what Rome had bad. The flickering street lamps and the bouse lamps and candles were an abomination. An enterprising firm advertised "camphine" as better than any light except the sun; ten years later, in 1860, a local firm started selling machines to make gas out of pine logs.

In 1850 a volunteer fire company was formed, with a reel that would carry buckets of water. Robt. Battey was president and David G. Love secretary. "Water, water" was everywhere, but there were no pipes to carry it in, and there was no pump to send it into a gravity tank. Luckily, the earlv fires were usually small, except one in 1858, which took most of the block on the west side of Broad Street between Fourth and Fifth Avenues.

The volunteers called for extra apparatus, but none was forthcoming for a while. Rome was not to be built in a day.

Soda water and ice cream appeared in 1850, and created a sensation.    There was no great demand for them; the people needed such money as they bad for more urgent necessities; most of all, per-haps, they were new and untried. In 1860 the druggists attempted to make soda water  go  again, and gave away quantities to introduce it. The name of it at that time was soda pop. The two drug stores were conducted by Dr. J. D. Dickerson and Battey & Brother. The senior member of the latter was Dr. Geo. M. Battey, and the junior member Robt. Battey.   Dr. Diekerson not only ran his drug store, but found time to act as the first mayor, which position be filled two terms, until December, 1850, when he retired in favor of Jas. P. Perkins. Mr. Perkins was followed by Nathan Yarbrougb in 1852. Other early mayors, of uncertain date, were Wm. Cook Gautier Johnstone and Jas. M. Sumter. In 1857 Judge Robt. D. Harvey was mayor, and in 1S59-60 H. A. Gartrell, lawyer and uncle of Ilenrv \V. Grady.* Old newspapers state that Dr. Thos. Jefferson Word was elected mayor ¦In 1861 and succeeded himself in 1862.

The proprietor of The Courier, an occasional traveler, informed his readers as follows, Jan. 30, 1851:

Mail Change.—We are informed by Thos. J. Perry, Esq., postmaster at this city, that he has received a communication from the Department at Washington giving assurance of a speedy and salutary change in the transportation of the mail and passengers between this place and Guntersville, Ala. A four-horse stage coach will soon take the place of the spring wagon.    Very well.

And be piped this summarizing panegyric to the voting city under date of Feb. 5, 1851:

Rome, Its Prospects.—It is gratifying to watch the gradual hut certain growth of our young and vigorous city. Buildings of various kinds are rapidly going up and valuable accessions are being made to our population. Since the completion of the "Rome Railroad," business has steadily increased, and under a wise and liberal policy will be largely augmented during the next few years. If we are not greatly deceived, Rome will double its population of more than 15,000 in the next four years, provided its resources arc properly directed and its interests prudently fostered. Its population with the exception of some 20 or 30 very clever doctors and lawyers, (who, we arc happy to say, have hut little to do), is made up mostly of substantial business men who are permanently identified with the place and deeply interested in its prosperity and reputation.

Surrounded by a country of unsurpassed beauty and fertility, occupied by an unusually dense and valuable agricultural population—at the terminus of railroad and steamboat transportation—Rome is and must ever continue to be a place of considerable commercial importance. We hope before the commencement of another business season we shall be able to record the establishment of a hank in our City,** Such an institu tion under proper regulations will greatly  promote the convenience and prosperity of every class of our citizens. Our business men should take this matter under immediate consideration, or a large and profitable interior trade may be forever diverted from their control.

"Ye call us a small town?" quoth Editor Melville Dwinell Mar. 3, 1860.   "Harken ye!":

A person living in Middle or Lower Georgia, who has never visited the "Metropolis of Cherokee," has an idea that it is like all other up-country towns, composed of a courthouse in the center of a square, surrounded by two taverns, a variety store, a ten pin alley, a blacksmith shop and three groceries. He therefore expresses great surprise on coming to our City for the first time, to discover what an egregious mistake he has made. One eye is opened slightly when he arrives at the depot and beholds those city institu-tions, church steeples, and an omnibus, and by the time his baggage is seized and violently tugged at by zealous drummers, from our two large rival hotels, thai eye is wide open. The lids of the other begin to part company, in order to give a better view of the long line of fine brick stoi*es, stretching away up Broad Street, at the head of which, upon an eminence overlooking the city, is the handsome residence of our Ex-M. C., and the imposing building of "Rome Female College."

At night, when our stores and street are illuminated with gas, the rays of enlightenment begin to shine in upon his benighted mind.

If he be here on the Sabbath, and is not a "heathen or a publican," he attends one of our four churches, and finds it filled with an intelligent and attentive congregation, and hears a sermon that would be listened to with interest and profit by any similar assembly in the State, On Monday morning, his curiosity being aroused, he strolls down one side of Broad Street, and up the other to observe the style and extent of our business. While he stands wondering at the number of cotton and produce wagons "coming to town," and our energetic business men hurrying to and fro, if it be a pleasant day, and he an unmarried man, his heart leaps as he hears tiny heels, (bless their little soles), pattering on the pavement behind him. He turns, and his gaze is fixed upon a sweet and intelligent face, just as far in advance of "a dear love of a bonnet" as the most enthusiastic admirer of "beauty when unadorned" could wish.

If not transfixed, he, like one of Dame Nature's loyal subjects, obeys her "supreme law," and immediately steps off the sidewalk, to make room for the widest circles of fashion that are "trundling" his way. Drawn irresistibly, he follows, and entering one of our many large dry goods houses, he sees several industrious and smiling clerks, energetically employed in pulling down and unrolling, and then rolling and putting up again, an extensive assortment of calicoes, bereges, silks, satins, muslins, delaines, etc., etc., to accommodate the fair customers, who throng the counters "only to sec the latest spring styles." All doubts that may have been excited by the information that Rome has furnished the last three Congressmen from the Fifth District* are dispelled, and he is "convinced against his will" that we have reached the highest point of civilization.

But he has yet to learn the importance of Rome, in a business point of view; for although he has observed that we have a number of fashionable dry goods establishments, various clothing stores, large grocery houses, three livery stables, two extensive hardware and four drug stores, also one of jewelry, another of crockery and a third of "books and stationery," he is surprised to learn that besides the "college," we have a "Cherokee Institute" for hoys and girls together, a high school for the former by them-selves, and two or three others, where the younger ideas are just taking aim; that we have two "carriage repositories," where fine buggies and other vehicles are made, and that two cabinet shops, with steam motive power, giving employment to about 50 hands, are daily manufacturing on an extensive scale neat and durable furniture of the latest and best styles.

Upon enquiring the cause of so much blowing and whistling of steam engines, some one of our obliging citizens takes his arm and conducts him down   to  the  foundry and shows him a large number of mechanics busily engaged in the manufacture of machinery of all kinds.

He is informed that they built the first, and one of the best locomotives in the State, besides numerous engines for mines, mills, steamboats, etc. He is then taken to the "Nonpareil Mills" and sees meal and flour in large quantities, ground by machinery, set in motion by one of these same engines.

He is still unprepared for the most astounding discovery of all. When told that Rome, away up in the northwest corner of the State, surrounded by the mountains of Cherokee, is situated at the confluence of two streams, upon one of which, and upon the river which they form, four steamboats are constantly arriving and departing, he smiles and shakes his head incredulously. In order to convince him, it is only necessary to take him down to the wharves, and point with honest pride to the floating witnesses. Three of them, he is informed, make weekly trips down the Coosa river, to Greensport, Ala., and the fourth, three times a week, up the Oostanaula to Calhoun, Gordon County. Each leaves her wharf with a heavy cargo of merchandise, and returns laden with cotton, grain, lumber, etc., etc.

The "chief among; us taking notes," walks thoughtfully away with the conviction that Rome is "no mean city," and if in the course of a year or two he returns and hears the "Iron Horse" snorting through Vann's Valley, bringing its living freight from Mobile and New Orleans, on their way to the Northern cities, he will find that it is making rapid strides to the position of influence and importance to which the hand of Nature points.

The Tri-Weekly Courier of Aug 8, 1860, stated that the population of Floyd County in 1840 was 4,441. and presented the following census table comparisons

Year	Whites	Slaves	Free	Total
1850	5,202	2,999	4	8,205
1860	9,200	5,927	16	15,233

James I. Teat, Floyd County tax receiver, presented the following countv tax return figures for 1859 and 1860:

Number of polls in 1859, 1,651; in 1860, 1,738—gain, 87.

Legal voters over 60 years of age, 118. Total number of voters, 1,856.

Lawyers and physicians in 1859, 57; in 1860, 56.

Free persons of color in 1859, 13; in 3860, 16.

Value of land in 1859, $2,652,003; in 1860, $2,807,435.

Town property in 1859, $446,680; in 1860, $537,951.

Value of slaves in 1859, $4,454,207; in 1860, $3,755,184.

Amount of money, etc., in 1859, $1,937,849; in 1860, $2,104,490.

Merchandise in 1859, $309,559; in 1860, $340,565.

Capital in steamboats in 1859, $6,400; in 1860, $14,910.

All other capital invested in 1859, $23,776; in 1860, $11,784.

Household, etc., in 1859, $35,283; in 1860, $36,805.

All other property in 1859, $496,365; in 1860, $524,667.

Total aggregate, 2859, $9,363,132; in 1860, $10,133,791—total gain, $770,669.

Average value of land per acre, $9.30.

Average value of slaves, $651.70.

Number of men over 60 years of age in proportion to polls, 14 3/4