Page "Cornelia, Georgia" Paragraph 15

In 1890, gristmills were owned by P. R.

Kinsey, T. J. Warren, and A. P.

Wofford.

J. C. Edwards and W. M.

Stott operated hotels.

J. M.

Biggers and P. G.

Payne were shoemakers, and Joe Poe was the town's blacksmith.

General stores were King and Sellers, and W. M.

Stott's.

J. C. Edwards was Justice of the Peace.

W. S.

Echols was Bailiff and W. N.

Harden was a lawyer and the town's depot master.

Hotel owners in the town contributed a great deal to the growth and development of Cornelia.

According to one source, the first hotel in the town was operated by Oliver Wyley, with Worth Grant coming soon after to open the Grant Hotel.

After the burning of the hotel operated by Mr. Wyley, Mr. Grant bought its lot and built a large, modern hotel which he operated very successfully for a number of years.

By advertising that it served chicken pie 365 days a year, he made it one of the most popular hotels between Atlanta and Charlotte.

About 1912 he sold the hotel to Joseph W. Jackson, who operated the place as the ' Commercial Hotel '.

At about the same time, the Stovall Hotel was erected on the site of the first Grant Hotel.

( History and Resources of the Hills of Habersham County, published by Department of Education, Clarkesville, Georgia, 1937, pp. 19 – 20.

) About the year 1900, business dealings became more active.

Officially, the 1900 census listed 1, 058 inhabitants in the district of Cornelia.

Of these, 467 resided within the city limits.

lt was in that year that W. S.