Aerial View of Ashburn

Aerial View of Ashburn

From David Baldwin:
"The sign east of the silos reads Ashburn Peanut Company. It began in 1938 by a Mr. Ray from Thomasville, (no relationship to our Rays) who had experience in the peanut business in other towns; however, Jay Faircloth 's grandfather had come here in 1916 to manage JS Shingler's Ashburn Oil Mill, then he served as Vice President of the Ashburn Peanut Company in 1938. Peanuts were first introduced in south Georgia, Edison Ga. in 1908 or there abouts. JS Shingler started the Ashburn Oil Mill, between these peanut silos and Mr. Betts saw mill beside the railroad in 1910 with WA Shingler manager from 1910 to 1916. The Betts Saw Mill went broke around 1912. Mr. Betts died in 1918. The silos burned around 1972. David Moore, Jimmy Black, and Willie Turner were among the brave souls that tried to save it. I saw that at around 2pm in the afternoon in the Fall of 1972 or 1973. There is an old story that when the old black laborers there knew they were soon to die, they would go into the silos to the top and lay on the peanuts and leave for eternity there since they had given so much of their lives for the mill. The Sinclair station is there, built in 1935, after the Hotel Clyde was rolled back first. Shingler and Lawrence has been change to the Stein Theater on the corner. It appears West Washington Street is still dirt."

Best guess on age is the late 1950s based on the cars in the Ashburn Peanut Company lot.