Gris List: ‘Marquis’ day, tonic, cherry trees, and what’s in a name?

Chances are, you remember the name of Marquis de Lafayette from history class. And, if you don’t, you probably weren’t paying attention.

Lafayette was a Revolutionary War hero and a  close ally of George Washington. He also was a key figure in the French Revolution. (No, he did not sign the Declaration of Independence. A few history books got confused on that one.)

At the invitation of the U.S. Congress, Lafayette was part of a 24-state tour from July 1824 to Sept. 15, and Macon was one of his stops on March 29, 1825. 

 A crowd of about 700 people greeted Lafayette as he crossed the Ocmulgee River into Macon. Dr. Ambrose Baber, the town’s first physician, delivered a tribute. There was a dinner in his honor at the Macon Hotel.

A bicentennial celebration of his visit will be held on March 28 as part of the Cherry Blossom Festival. It will start with a parade at 10  a.m. behind St. Joseph Catholic Church. A character actor dressed as Lafayette will make the short trip down the hill to Macon City Hall in a horse-drawn carriage to meet with Mayor Lester Miller.

A historical marker will later be dedicated at 2 p.m. near Gateway Plaza at the foot of Mulberry Street.

  Were you aware that  the oldest nonprescription drug manufacturer in the country has its roots in Perry and Macon?

The history of the S.S.S. Company, which is famous for its S.S.S. Tonic, dates back to 1826 when the Muscogee (Creek) Indians bequeathed a remedy to Cpt. Irwin Dennard of Perry for saving the life of one of their chieftains. 

Dennard later sold the formula to Col. Charles Swift, also of Perry, who partnered with Col. Henry J. Lamar to bottle and sell the tonic. The S.S.S. stood for “Swift’s Southern Specific.’’ Lamar later moved the manufacturing operation to Atlanta. 

The company and its wholly owned subsidiary, Pfeiffer Pharmaceuticals, now markets more than 100 products, including Curasore anesthetic, Mother’s Friend skin lotion and Tetterine antifungal ointment and soap.

S.S.S. Tonic is a high potency iron and B Vitamin (B1, B2 and Niacin) tonic. (It also contains 12 percent ethyl alcohol, which is about the same as a glass of wine.)

Vice-President George H. W.  Bush was in Macon 11 days before the start of the second annual Cherry Blossom Festival on March 7, 1984.

President Ronald Reagan had been invited, but he could not attend, so he sent the vice president on his behalf. More than 1,000 people stood shoulder to shoulder in Third Street Park to watch as Bush gave a 15-minute speech praising the festival. He then shoveled dirt into the hole where a Yoshino cherry tree had been planted near the stage.

The headline writers were thrilled. It’s not every day a Bush plants a tree.

The location of the tree was just a few feet from the park’s southeast corner at Third and Cherry. It was a photo op during the election-year primaries. 

The location on the corner was never intended to be permanent. It was planned for convenience, saving Bush a few steps and putting the Secret Service detail at ease since the vice president would not have to walk through a large crowd.

By the next day, the tree had been dug up and was moved to another location farther down the sidewalk as part of a row of trees that provided a canopy of blossoms during the festival. It has since been replaced by another tree.

If you’ve ever been on a road, crossed a bridge or seen a building in Macon and wondered who it is named after, here are nine  namesakes to file away for future reference. (I will include more of these on the next Gris List in a few weeks.)

Thelma “T-Lady” Ross Bridge – The bridge on Mercer University Drive that crosses Interstate 75 is named after Ross, who worked at Mercer for more than 50 years. She was a familiar face in the college’s dining hall, snack bar and at the information booth called “T’s Corner” in the old student activities center. She was a staunch supporter of Mercer Athletics.

Guy Paine Road – This 1.5-mile road runs through the industrial side of town between Mead Road and Pio Nono Avenue. Paine was the first homeowner in the Cherokee Heights Historic District, which was  Macon’s first “planned” suburban neighborhood. He was president of the Macon chamber of commerce in 1915-16. 

Sgt. Kelley Courtney Memorial Interchange – The interchange at Hartley Bridge Road and I-75 was dedicated in 2007 in memory of Courtney, a 28-year-old counterintelligence officer who was one of eight Marines killed when a convoy truck was struck by a suicide bomber outside of Fallujah, Iraq, on Oct. 30, 2004.  He was the first serviceman from Macon to die in action since the Vietnam War. 

Willie “Smokie” Glover Way – The half-mile loop from the entrance at Carolyn Crayton Park (formerly Central City Park) to Luther Williams Field was named after the longtime groundskeeper at Luther Williams, who worked for six different baseball organizations at the nation’s second-oldest minor-league stadium. 

Lt. Walter L. Harden Sr. Memorial Bridge – This bridge crosses Walnut Creek on Shurling Drive, not far from where Harden,  a 14-year veteran with the Macon Police Department, died when his patrol car slid on the rain-slicked road and struck a guardrail in May 1987.

Napier Avenue –  One of midtown’s longtime east-west thoroughfares is named for the family of Viola Ross Napier. She was the first woman to take the bar exam in Georgia, the first to argue cases before the state’s highest courts, and the first Georgia woman to be sworn in by the state legislature.

Henry McNeal Turner Building – The city’s downtown post office was named after Turner,  who was the first Black postmaster in Georgia. He also was a bishop in the African Methodist Episcopal Church, was elected to the Georgia State Legislature in 1868 and helped found the Republican Party in Georgia.

Brad Henderson Memorial Stadium  – Henderson was a junior quarterback on Willingham High School’s football team who was killed in an automobile accident on Labor Day weekend in September 1964. He was the son of Billy Henderson, one of the state’s legendary high school football coaches. The stadium was dedicated on Sept 2, 1965 — almost one year to the day after Brad’s death.

Reginald Trice Parkway ­— The 10-mile stretch of Interstate 75 from the Monroe County line to its junction at Interstate 16 in Macon is named for this Thomaston native. He spent eight years as chairman of the Georgia State Highway Board and later became an influential resident of Macon.