This typical early-20th-century commercial block originally housed offices for the textile mills that dominated life in Porterdale. The executives and paymaster had offices upstairs while the mayor’s office was located downstairs. Circa 1925, according to the National Register of Historic Places, Porterdale mills were among the largest spinning mills in the nation, with over 75,000 spindles.
Since the closure of the mills, it has been home to myriad businesses, including a barber, shoe shop, doctor, dentist, drug store, funeral home, restaurant, and even the Porterdale post office. After later remodeling and an altered roofline, it has been returned to its more traditional appearance.
Porterdale Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
As evident in this photograph, and the one below, the Julia A. Porter Church commands a high point in downtown Porterdale, dominating the skyline when seen from the Yellow River bridge.
According to a church history, Rev. Firley Baum was appointed the first pastor of the “Porterdale Mission” by the North Georgia Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, in 1903. 35 charter members joined the Porterdale Church and first met in the Community Building, and from 1917 until the construction of the present structure, the met in the Porterdale School. Rev. J. J. Mize led a capital campaign for the construction of the new church, which was completed in 1925. James Hyde Porter (1873-1949) was the largest benefactor and asked only that the church be named for his mother, Julia Antoinette McCracken Porter (1838-1926), which it was. Mrs. Porter was known for her charitable work within the mill community and was turned the first shovel of dirt and was present at the dedication. One source states she died a year later but her gravestone records the date as 1926. Her charitable works continue not only within the congregation but through a foundation that still sustains the community.
Porterdale Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
The Welaunee Inn originally served as housing for unmarried female employees of the Welaunee Mill, essentially a dormitory. Built in the Tudor Revival style in 1923 [some sources date it to 1920], it had 26 rooms. By the 1950s it was often referred to as the Village Inn, or simply, the Inn. It was sold by the mill in 1966. It’s a massive building, located on Broad Street near the center of town, and has rear-facing wings at either end. It’s still in good condition and though empty at present, has so much potential.
It’s best remembered today not as a hotel but, as Darrell Huckaby wrote in the Newton Community Magazine, “…the Center of Georgia’s Culinary Universe”. He noted, “In the 1950s and into the 1960s, Mrs. Effie Boyd served up some of the best Southern cooking this side of Heaven, from fried chicken and baked ham to roast turkey and country fried steak.” He recalled that Brown’s Guide to Georgia, the state’s periodical travel bible for many years, christened it the state’s best meat-and-three year after year after year. He also said that mill workers didn’t get lunch breaks during the week but folks from “town”, i.e. Covington, were faithful patrons. On Sundays, he said, people from everywhere would line up for hours to sample her Southern favorites. And, “If you have all those vegetables, you have to have cornbread and biscuits with which to sop. Effie Boyd’s biscuits were as good as anybody’s biscuits who ever sifted flour, and her cornbread came in pones, muffins or sticks, depending on the day of the week and her mood.”
Porterdale Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
