Waycross, Georgia

==History==
[[File:Waycross Hx District.JPG|thumb|left|Street in the Downtown Waycross Historic District]]
The area now known as Waycross was first settled ''circa'' 1820, locally known as "Old Nine" or "Number Nine" and then Pendleton. It was renamed Tebeauville in 1857, incorporated under that name in 1866, and designated county seat of [[Ware County]] in 1873. It was incorporated as "Way Cross" on  March 3, 1874.<ref name="georgiainfo.galileo.usg.edu">[http://georgiainfo.galileo.usg.edu/topics/cities/waycross City of Waycross entry on GeorgiaInfo.com] Retrieved 2017-02-03.</ref><ref>[http://georgiainfo.galileo.usg.edu/topics/counties/ware Ware County entry on GeorgiaInfo.com] Retrieved 2017-02-03.</ref> Waycross gets its name from the city's location at key railroad junctions; lines from six directions meet at the city.<ref name="georgiainfo.galileo.usg.edu"/>

The city council in Waycross opened municipal [[white primary|primary]] elections to white women in 1917, the first town in Georgia to do so.<ref name=Taylor1959>{{cite journal|last=Taylor |first=A. Elizabeth |date=March 1959 |title=The Last Phase of the Woman Suffrage Movement in Georgia |journal=Georgia Historical Quarterly 
 |publisher=[[Georgia Historical Society]]|volume=43|issue=1 |page=23 |jstor=40577919 }}</ref><ref name=NGE>{{cite web |author=Eltzroth, E. L.. |title=Woman Suffrage |website=[[New Georgia Encyclopedia]] |date=20 July 2020 | access-date=28 August 2020 |url=https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/history-archaeology/woman-suffrage }}</ref> This action was taken because some of the largest property owners in town were women who wanted a say in how their tax dollars were spent.<ref name=Taylor1959/> It wasn't until two years later in 1919 that Atlanta became the second Georgia city to do this.<ref name=Taylor1959/> Georgia women would not get the right to vote generally in all elections until 1922.<ref name=NGE/>

Waycross was home to [[Laura S. Walker]] (1861-1955) a noted author and [[conservation movement|conservationist]]. Walker promoted a comprehensive program of forestry activity, including the establishment of forest parks. She erected markers and monuments along old trails and at historic sites, in Waycross and [[Ware County, Georgia|Ware County]] so that local history would not be forgotten. An effort to recognize her work culminated in President [[Franklin D Roosevelt]] issuing a proclamation to establish the [[Laura S. Walker State Park|Laura S Walker National Park]] in her honor. She was the only living person for whom a state or national park was named.<ref name="Name">{{cite web|title=Laura S. Walker: The Woman Behind the Park|publisher=Friends of Georgia State Parks and Historic Sites|url=https://friendsofgastateparks.org/node/866|access-date=April 13, 2018}}</ref> In 1937, the federal government purchased distressed farmland for the park.<ref>{{cite web|title=Current Use of Federal Land Utilization Projects Granted to State and Local Agencies|publisher=Department of Forestry and Natural Resources Clemson University|author1=Thomas J. Straka|author2=S. Knight Cox|author3=Heather T. Irwin|url=https://www.for.gov.bc.ca/hfd/library/documents/bib96089/65.pdf|access-date=April 13, 2018}}</ref><ref name="DNR" /> Work on the park was undertaken by the [[Works Progress Administration]] and the [[Civilian Conservation Corps]]. In 1941, the national park was deeded over to Georgia, becoming the State's 13th state park.<ref name="DNR">{{cite web|title=Laura S. Walker State Park Established 1941|publisher=Georgia Department of Natural Resources|url=http://gastateparks.org/sites/default/files/parks/pdf/lauraswalker/LauraSWalker_History.pdf|access-date=April 13, 2018}}</ref>

Waycross was the site of the [[1948 Waycross B-29 crash]], which led to the legal case ''[[United States v. Reynolds]]'' (1953), expanding the government's state secrets privilege.

During the 1950s the city had a tourist gimmick: local police would stop motorists with out-of-state license plates and escort them to downtown Waycross. There they would be met by the Welcome World Committee and given overnight lodging, dinner and a trip to the [[Okefenokee Swamp]]. The tradition faded away after the interstates opened through Georgia.<ref>{{cite news|title=The topsy-turvy life of former Miami-Dade commissioner ends in gunfire |date=May 15, 2016 | author1=Dixon, Lance |author2=Garvin, Glenn | newspaper=The Miami Herald | url=http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/article77760312.html | url-status=dead | access-date=2017-02-03 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161012085718/http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/article77760312.html | archive-date=October 12, 2016 | quote=When Burke was a teenager during the 1950s, Waycross was so desperate for commerce that police used to patrol nearby highways, looking for out-of-state license plates — not to give the drivers tickets, but to escort them into town for a visit with the town’s Welcome World Committee, in hopes they’d spend a little money. }}</ref><ref name="JH">{{cite book|title=Hang the Elephant|last=Hinson|first=John|year=2015|publisher=Lulu Press}}</ref>

In the mid-1990s, the [[Bubba Foods|Flanders Hamburgers]], a frozen hamburger that needed no defrosting, was created in Waycross.<ref>{{cite news| agency=Associated Press | title=Frozen Burgers Make a Big Splash Across the South | date=August 27, 1996 | newspaper=The Augusta Chronicle | url=http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/1996/08/27/met_199305.shtml | access-date=2013-10-08 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140802172710/http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/1996/08/27/met_199305.shtml |archive-date=August 2, 2014 }}</ref> This was the creation of Eaves Foods, Inc., a company that later changed to Flanders, LLC. in 2000. Bubba Burgers are now sold nationwide as well as worldwide through the United States Military Commissary system.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20130726220015/http://www.bubba-burger.com/heritage.html Bubba Burger Heritage] Retrieved 2013-10-08.</ref>