August 19, 1890

1890 The federal government established the Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park.

August 19, 1905

1905 Gov. Joseph Terrell signed legislation abolishing the "colored troops" of the State of Georgia, active and retired, from the state militia. The act further discharged officers and enlisted men of such colored troops from Georgia military service.

August 19, 1905

Georgia towns and cities incorporated by acts approved on August 19:

1905 Byromville (Tattnall County) and Ohoopee (Toombs County)

August 19, 1907

Georgia towns and cities incorporated by acts approved on August 19:

1907 Screven (Wayne County)

August 19, 1911

Georgia towns and cities incorporated by acts approved on August 19:

1911 Benevolence (Randolph County), Cleveland (White County), Folkston (Charlton County), Middleton (Elbert County), Morris (Quitman County), and Scotland (Telfair and Montgomery counties)

August 19, 1912

1912 Gov. Joseph M. Brown signed legislation creating the state Department of Insurance to regulate insurance companies doing business in Georgia. The new agency was placed within the Office of the Comptroller General, who was made ex officio insurance commissioner.

August 19, 1912

Georgia towns and cities incorporated by acts approved on August 19:

1912 Canoochee (Emanuel County), Charing (Taylor County), Constitution (Fulton and DeKalb counties), Crest (Upson County), Luella (Henry County), Mableton (Cobb County), Modoc (Emanuel County), Mount Zion (Carroll County), Orchard Hill (Spalding County), Osierfield (Irwin County), Tarrytown (Montgomery County), and Vanna (Hart County)

August 19, 1913

1913 After Leo Frank’s statement the previous day, the twentieth day of his trial was rather anti-climatic. The defense continued its parade of character witnesses, one of whom prosecutor Hugh Dorsey got to admit that he had once seen Mary Phagan talking with Leo Frank -- and that Phagan seemed to be backing away. There was another bitter disagreement between the opposing attorneys over the defense team’s attempts to discredit the statement of Minola McKnight. McKnight was the housekeeper for the Selig family (Frank’s in-laws with whom he and his wife lived) who had signed a statement saying Leo Frank was intoxicated and talked of suicide the night after Phagan’s murder. Though McKnight later repudiated the statement, which had been signed after she spent a night in jail and undergoing hours of intensive questioning, Dorsey still introduced it as evidence, leading to yet another vehement argument between the opposing sides.

August 19, 1916

1916 Women were allowed to practice law in Georgia due to an act signed by Gov. Nathaniel Harris on this day.

August 19, 1916

1916 Georgia’s first compulsory school attendance law was signed by Gov. Nathaniel Harris. The legislation required children aged 8-14 attend school for at least four months each year. However, a long list of exemptions seriously weakened the law. For example, school attendance was not required of children who (1) had completed the fourth grade, (2) who needed to work to help support their family, (3) whose parents could not afford to buy books and clothing, or (4) who lived over three miles from school. Additionally, local boards of education could excuse children from attending school "for other good reason."

August 19, 1916

Georgia towns and cities incorporated by acts approved on August 19:

1916 Tallulah Park (Habersham County) and Taylorsville (Bartow County)

August 19, 1919

1919 Gov. Hugh Dorsey signed an act of the General Assembly placing the entire state in the Central Time Zone as of Sept. 1, 1919. Previously, Georgia was divided into Eastern and Central time zones.

August 19, 1919

1919 Gov. Hugh Dorsey signed an act of the General Assembly creating the Georgia Training School for Mental Defectives. [That was before the days of PC.]

August 19, 1919

Georgia towns and cities incorporated by acts approved on August 19:

1919 Offerman (Pierce County) and Osierfield (Irwin County)

August 19, 1921

1921 Georgia baseball great Ty Cobb got his 3,000th career hit. At age 34, he was youngest professional baseball player to reach this milestone .

August 19, 1981

1981 Dr. Betty L. Siegel became the first woman president in the University System of Georgia when the Board of Regents unanimously chose her to head Kennesaw College, replacing charter president Dr. Horace W. Sturgis, who retired on March 9, 1981. In 1972, Siegel had become the highest ranking female administrator in the University System of Florida, when she became Dean of Academic Affairs for Continuing Education at the University of Florida in Gainesville. In 1977, she left Florida to become Dean of the School of Education and Psychology at Western Carolina University, the post she held until her appointment at Kennesaw. During her tenure at Kennesaw, graduate programs were initiated in 1985 and enrollment grew from 4,195 students in 1981 to 12,537 students in 1996. [Contributed by Dr. Tom Scott of Kennesaw State Univesity.]

August 19, 1992

1992 Atlanta Brave starting pitcher Tom Glavine won his 13th consecutive game, a franchise record for the 20th Century.

August 19, 1993

1993 Former four-term Georgia congresswoman Iris Faircloth Blitch died in San Diego, California.

August 19, 1996

1996 The Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia approved changing the name of Georgia College to Georgia College and State Univesity. The name change came after the Board of Regents upgraded the Milledgeville college to university status in July 1996.

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Today in History

1954 Georgia Lt. Gov. Marvin Griffin announced his candidacy for governor and immediately blasted the U.S. Supreme Court’s Brown vs. Board of Education decision issued one week earlier. read more