Living Jackson Magazine :: Our Towns

Our Towns – Talmo

Story by Gail Ellen Daly
Historic Photos Courtesy of Rick Stone
Modern Photo by Joshua T. Barnett

Although the origin of the town’s name is shrouded in mystery, Talmo would be recognized readily if called “the little city that could.”

The quiet community that lies between Pendergrass and almost touches the Hall County line has changed little since its incorporation in 1920.

Apparently, residents want to keep it that way.

“There’s still a lot of farming here,” said Mayor Larry Wood. “Cattle, chickens and at one time our cotton brought the highest prices.”

Wood, who has been Talmo’s mayor for the past 20 years, admitted that the biggest change on the horizon is growth. However, zoning regulations that prohibit high-density housing prompt little development.

“We can’t stop development, but we can make sure we plan for it,” he said. “We would like to see commercial development on the bypass.”

Developers must build on a minimum three-quarter-acre lot. In addition, a developer must set aside 10 percent of the property as greenspace. If there is no public water supply, minimum lot size becomes one-and-a-half acres.

“People live here forever,” Wood explained. Few of them rent. “And we don’t even have a convenience store.”

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the town library and town hall are located in a circa-1910 house the city bought from the McEver family.

“We have a full-time librarian and full-time clerk; the mayor and city council are volunteer,” Wood said. “We have no city property tax, just occupation tax and franchise fees.”

According to a history compiled in 1990 by Caroldene McEver and Nellie K. Stone, the town’s name might be derived from the Creek Indian word Talomeco, which means “home of Chief Tallassee.”

The first recorded settler was a Mr. Hemphill around 1840. Shortly afterward, others arrived. By 1865, when the Civil War ended, few people lived in what was then “a vast wilderness.”

Even today, the city has only 500 residents, give or take a few.

Located 10 miles north of Jefferson and 13 miles south of Gainesville, the area began to grow in the early 1900s when the Gainesville Midland Railroad built a track through the town. Residents built a depot in the center of town and Talmo became a regular stop. (Read more about Jackson County’s railroads on page 26.)

When the city incorporated, its boundary was set at a half-mile radius from the depot.

With the trains came business, including two large stores, a blacksmith and repair shop, a post office, a large cotton gin, two large warehouses, a rock quarry, a guano company and a doctor’s office.

Cotton helped Talmo grow and prosper, Wood pointed out.

“Talmo, recognized for its ‘gold cotton,’ grew the finest short staple cotton in the world and brought the highest prices,” he said.

Prosperity was short-lived, as the cotton market declined with the 1920 depression and the boll weevil infestation of 1919 that reduced the crop.

As cotton declined, M.E. Murphy began producing broiler chickens on his farm. With thousands of broilers shipped, Murphy’s successful venture spawned similar operations on neighboring farms.

The industry continued to grow, making poultry production in Talmo and the county a big business that continues to flourish.

However, a major Talmo business, McEver Packing Company, was born in 1925 out of necessity. When R.H. McEver’s wife needed to eat lean pork for health reasons, McEver began making and selling pork sausage to buy more hogs. He sold the sausage to Gainesville grocery stores. With his name on the product, people began asking for it by name.

Robert McEver, the founder’s son who lives in Talmo and worked in the family business, recalls carrying the sausage to Gainesville in a lard pail.

Over the years, McEver added on to his building and in 1955 the old wooden structure made way for a modern, fireproof brick building with 15 cold storage rooms. In 1970, the packing company merged with Gold Kist. Currently Motts Food Company owns the processing plant.

As the 20th century waned, and the county began looking ahead, a local landowner looked backward.

Wayne Miller, who owns and operates the 300-acre Talmo Ranch, began restoring the defunct downtown.

A Gainesville native, in 1978 Miller and his brother bought land in Talmo for a sod farm.

The sod farm operation lasted a short time, but Miller explained that all his neighbors were so helpful that, “with people as good as these folk, I put down roots in Jackson County.”

After acquiring more land, Miller began ranching. Miller and his wife Jill breed Chiangus and Chiford cattle. Several have been named Grand Champions at various shows.

Ten years ago he bought the old depot, moving it across the street to where he had acquired all the land and buildings.

“There was a lot of resistance (about moving it) from the people in town,” Miller said. “Now I’ve restored it to how it was in 1910.”

With a major addition of a kitchen and bathroom facility, the glowing structure can be used for parties, weddings and reunions. He located a caboose in West Virginia, which sits next to the depot.

Miller bought and restored the circa-1912 Kinney Store, which is now his contracting firm’s office, filled with antiques and memorabilia.

Next door, the old general store has also been restored. Even the post office inside the store looks exactly as it did around 1912. This building, Miller said, is not open to the public. But he will take visitors inside.

In 1960, the gas station at the corner of Main Street and Talmo Trail burned. Miller had Larry Boyd rebuild the Texaco gas station to scale, offering visitors another look at the past.

Miller’s acquisitions and restoration projects delight residents and should bring tourists. But it attracts few outsiders, as few outsiders are aware they exist.

“I know the city council doesn’t want much growth,” Miller said. “Maybe just sidewalks and walking trails.”

Dave Roselle, who lives just outside the city limits, operates a Talmo Web site. “A professional bunch of folk manage a small city,” he said. “I love that little town.”

Gail Ellen Daly is a freelance wrtier and former newspaper reporter living in Apple Valley with her husband and animals.