Did they have footballs back then?

You never know when you accept an invitation to tell people about your hometown just what kind of questions they’ll lob your way.

I had just such a delightful time talking with three classes of third graders at Peachtree City Elementary School last week. Third graders are the most affectionate, curious little people, all eyes and skipping feet. From their clean T-shirts to their neatly corn-rowed hair, it is apparent that these kids are loved and cared for.

So, third grade means they were born, when? 1997? Good heavens, that was last Tuesday, wasn’t it? How can you make last week’s children picture Ga. Highway 74 with nothing but woods and farms and two lanes?

I can barely remember it myself. I told them how, when people got to the Ga. Hwy. 74-54 intersection in 1971, they said, “Where is it? Where is this ‘Peachtree City?’”

I thought their parents might have posed just those newcomer questions until their teacher asked how many of their families were living in Peachtree City when they were born. I think five of the 50 kids raised their hands.

I told them there was one gas station, one school, one convenience store, a short row of offices near Lake Peachtree, one motel that served as temporary housing, and one small airport. Oh, and one self-serve laundry, one tiny take-out chicken place, and a luxurious (to us) golf club complete with swimming pool and tennis courts.

There was no library, no grocery store, no traffic light, no doctor, no hospital, no police, and no K-mart. I think there was a bottle shop.

I told them there were five churches in Peachtree City in 1971, three historically black, two historically white, one built since the city incorporated. I told them that the developer shared space with the city government and the bank right about where the City Hall Plaza’s fountains are today.

I told them how a helicopter used to drop in front of the bank to take the day’s cash to Atlanta. I told them that the library in that little strip of offices, although Dave, a founding board member, says the organizational meeting was at our house. Griffin sent a bookmobile to Peachtree City once or twice a week.

I told them how two doctors remodeled the motel-beside-the-lake and turned it into a clinic in 1971, and a dentist came to town not much later. I told them how the bicycle bridge across Hwy. 54 made it possible for our children to ride bikes to school.

“And what do you suppose was the school ‘way back then, the only one in town?” I asked smugly. “Peachtree City Elementary,” they chorused instantly. “Our school.”

The police, I explained, were provided by the county Sheriff’s Department until we could provide our own. Our fire department, all volunteers then, with one engine, was already established, although there was no emergency medical service.

Of course I was careful to point out that there was no 4th of July celebration until 1973 when I got the fire department to back me, and we organized a parade and a modest display of fireworks.

But why would a town that couldn’t afford fire trucks build a golf course and an airport? Here’s where I tried to explain the relationship between Peachtree City and the major developer, then called Garden Cities. The developers did the expensive infrastructure (sewers, a water system, the lake, streets, golf courses), and the cosmetics like split rail fencing and mowed green spaces, to attract people with money and connections to establish commercial growth. The city developed policy to protect and preserve what we already had and plan for what we would need in the future. The resulting tension between the two has generally been seen as positive.

The teachers opened the floor to the children’s questions, and had a few themselves. “When did the cart path system get started?” I think I ducked that one. I can barely remember when there wasn’t a cart path. I guessed, probably correctly, that access to the golf course could be extended to residential areas adjacent to the course by use of the very vehicle that provided transportation for the game.

Eventually it was written into the city’s zoning law, that every subdivision, shopping center, office building must be linked together by the path system. The latest figure I remember reading is that we have about 80 miles of cart paths.

“When was The Avenue built?” asked one little girl. I made a ballpark guess that it was about three years old, and wondered why that would matter to a third-grader.

“When did they build Riley Field?” That’s the recreation area adjoining the school property to the west. I think it was finished about 1972; I used to know whom it memorialized, but I’ve forgotten.

“Is the first policeman in Peachtree City still alive?” I think he is. I’ve kept in touch with two of the first four, and one has died, but as far as I know, the first chief, Haskell Barber, is still living, near Newnan.

If you have any information about him or any of my previous guesses, please let me know.

I’ve saved the best question for last:

“Did you have footballs back then?”