Railroad Strikers Make Lemonade of Lemons In the 1920s.

Old Folkston railroad telegraph tower from which many went out on strike.

When life handed them a lemon, they made lemonade. Just after the turn of the 20^th Century, the railroad unions called a crippling strike. It was a bitter strike with labor and management pulling out all the stops to win their points. Many longtime railroad workers in Charlton County were affected by the walkout. Soon it became a "lockout" when the railroad managers called in strikebreakers, or scabs, as they were called, to break the backs of the unions. The lockout proved successful and those who walked out on strike never returned to their railroad jobs.

In Folkston and Charlton County, numbers of former railroad workers were forced to find other jobs. They did. In subsequent years most became successful businessmen, never regretting giving up their jobs with the railroads.

One became Postmaster at Racepond. Shelton M. Howard opened a small grocery store-post office in the little community. There he and his family became valuable community leaders, all the while prospering as hard work and long hours paid dividends. Howard became a member of the Board of Trustees of the Charlton County schools, and in later years built several commercial buildings in Folkston, which he leased or sold to others. His son, Osworth Howard, followed in his dad's footsteps, becoming a telegraph operator with the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad, and later moving up to become a Dispatcher, an important position, in the Waycross railroad offices.

Another to go out on that strike was R. A. Boyd, Sr. He found responsible jobs as bookkeeper for William Mizell's Reliance Chevrolet Company in Folkston, and later moved into a similar position with Mizell's Citizens Bank. Before his retirement, Boyd had reached the position of vice-president of the Folkston bank. The former telegrapher became a landmark inside Mizell's bank, chewing on the ever-present cigar and looking after the bank's business. Boyd also, never regretted the move into the community's business life and away from the click and clacks of the telegraph keys.

Still another who changed occupations because of the strike was Jim Purdom, also a telegrapher. He and his wife opened Folkston's Dixie Restaurant at the west corner of Main Street, which was then the Dixie Highway.

Photo shows old Dixie Restaurant as it looked in the 1920s. It became a Folkston

That Dixie Restaurant soon became the most popular restaurant in the town; back then serving a full four-course meal for fifty cents. Mrs. Purdom employed scores of young Folkston girls to work as waitresses in her restaurant in the 1920s. Her brother-in-law, "Happy" Smith, had also lost his railroad job as a result of the strike. Smith, and later his son, Everett, became Charlton County Superior Court Clerks. Purdom and Smith never looked back. Life had handed them lemonade and they had turned it into lemonade.

Mrs. Purdom's Dixie Restaurant became a landmark for motorist entering Folkston on the Dixie Highway. It was right on the curve where the highway made its easterly turn through the downtown Folkston area. The restaurant was later to be operated by Leon and Mary Askew in the 1930s. They hired a young black youth, Buttercup Bolden, to wear a white suit and hold a sign in the air, soliciting business for Mrs. Askew's restaurant. The tactic proved more than successful. Cars packed the limited parking area each day at breakfast and lunch to enjoy the home cooking. In later years S. M. Altman, Jr. and his family operated a restaurant in the building.

In later years, the building was occupied as a dry cleaning business by the Jennings Haddock family, and later by the M. J. Chancey family. Today it is occupied as a part of Big John Trailers.

Back at the turn of the 20^th Century when those men turned from their railroad jobs to other vocations, there was never a dismal thought in their minds. They went on to other successful careers and to become valuable leaders of the community. The lemonade they had made from the lemons they were handed got sweeter each day.