Old Powder Springs

such until December 19, 1859. Under this charter the corporate limits of the town extended for 1/2 (one-half) mile in every direction from the residence of Dr. Aristides Reynolds whose residence stood on the site of the home of Mr. Lawler on Marietta Street. It is said that when Dr. Reynolds’ house was razed some of the lumber from it was used in the house that now stands on that site. In the 1850’s Powder Springs was a resort town where people from the southern coastal region came for the summer. Doctors prescribed water from the springs for kidney patients. The hotels would be crowded and some residents would take summer boarders. It was necessary for patients to be in Powder Springs for the water cure because powder water did not have the keeping qualities to be shipped. The spring was the center of activities in Powder Springs. A large outdoor pavilion was constructed at the park as was a covering for the often visited spring pump. Over the years, it has been the site of picnics, fish frys, political rallies, dances, reunions and baseball games. Excursion trains were run on the East Tennessee Virginia and Georgia Railroad now known as the Southern Railroad. Many Atlanta Sunday Schools would have their Sunday School picnic at “The Springs.”

In addition to wading in the creek, many filled their picnic baskets with blackberries and other wild fruits. According to Miss Roberta Murray, “In the early days of Springville the pavilion was at the site of the brick pump house in the city park. Powder Creek would overflow after rains and it interfered with the so-cial life, so the early settlers and their slaves cut a canal and changed the course of Powder Creek and built the present pavilion before the Civil War."