NGE >> Cities and Counties >> Cities and Towns >> Warm Springs |
|
Warm Springs Between 1933 and 1945 the eyes of the nation often focused on Warm Springs,
Located sixty miles south of Atlanta, Warm Springs grew up around natural springs with 88-degree (Fahrenheit) water that flows at a rate of approximately 914 gallons per minute year round.
When Roosevelt became governor of New York in 1929, and particularly when he was elected president in 1932, Warm Springs entered a new era. Whenever Roosevelt arrived or departed, large crowds of local citizens and tourists assembled to greet him.
During World War II (1941-45) Roosevelt had little time to visit Warm Springs, but in March 1945, near the beginning of his fourth term, he arrived for an extended stay.
After Roosevelt's death the national spotlight turned elsewhere. The population of Warm Springs, which grew from 400 to 608 between 1930 and 1940, returned to its pre-1930 level; according to the 2000 census, the town has 485 residents. Local business suffered until the latter part of the twentieth century, when a group of merchants and property owners began to revitalize the area as a shopping and dining center. Since 1948 the Little White House has been open to the public under the management of the Parks, Recreation and Historic Sites division of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources. The National Park Service declared the house as well as the Warm Springs historic district a National Historic Landmark in 1980.
In 2005 Home Box Office released Warm Springs, a film exploring Roosevelt's time at Warm Springs in the 1920s. The film, which was made on location in Warm Springs, stars Kenneth Branagh as Roosevelt and Cynthia Nixon as Eleanor Roosevelt. Suggested Reading Hugh Gregory Gallagher, F.D.R.'s Splendid Deception (New York: Dodd, Mead, 1985). William W. Winn, "The View from Dowdell's Knob," in The New Georgia Guide (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1996). Regina P. Pinkston, Historical Account of Meriwether County, 1827-1974 (Greenville, Ga.: Gresham, 1974). Kaye Lanning Minchew, Troup County Archives Updated 9/30/2003 |
|
|||||||||||||
Home | What's New | Index | Quick Facts | About NGE | Help | Contact A project of the Georgia Humanities Council, in partnership with the University of Georgia Press, the University System of Georgia/GALILEO, the Office of the Governor, and the Georgia Department of Technical and Adult Education.
|