According to Frank Crouch, "The Seaboard passenger trains stopped two times a day," and there was also a railroad shop where trains would have gone for repair. A MaFitzgerald Herald-Leader article said that at one time, fourteen passenger trains stopped in Ocilla each day. The railroad was a prominent factor in the development of Ocilla and Irwin County in the late 19th and early 20th century, with multiple railroads bearing the name of the town. The building still stands today across from the old Irwin County High School campus, albeit without its prominent porches. It was eventually shut down and the track survives in severe disrepair.ĭoctors Dismuke and Willis, the first doctors in Ocilla, built and opened its first hospital, the Dismuke and Willis Sanitarium. The races eventually began to run from January to December and hosted drivers from as far away as Atlanta and Northern Florida, as well as some local drivers. VFW would eventually take over the track after the original owner, Marion "Buddy" Green, decided that its liabilities were too great. James Bennett of Macon, Georgia won the 20-lap featured race and Lucy Stacks of Fitzgerald won the women's race. On opening day 2,500 people watched the first program featuring five separate races. Governor Herman Talmadge was scheduled to attend but was unavailable and the former Governor M.E. On the outskirts of town, Ocilla once hosted the New Veterans Memorial Track (commonly known as the Ocilla Raceway) which was a 3/8 mile layout racing track. Ocilla Raceway or New Veterans Memorial Track Today, her tradition is somewhat carried on every year as the City of Ocilla now decorates Cumbee Park, the public park directly in front of Watson's former home, and holds a yearly session with Santa Claus. Watson became famous for her Christmas cheer but eventually stopped due to the hassle of decorating and because of her older age. In the 1980s and 1990s Marie Watson was known in Ocilla as the "Christmas Lady." Watson would intricately decorate the property around her home on Cherry Street with lights and Christmas decorations and each year "Santa Claus" would visit the property, taking wishes for gifts from children. Osceola is probably the reason that the sports teams in Irwin County are now known as the Indians. Allegedly, he camped in the area known as Western Heights in Ocilla and frequently could be found in the area until his capture and imprisonment at Fort Moultrie, South Carolina. The most popular theory is that Ocilla is named for Chief Osceola, who had a prominent role in the Second Seminole War. It was called by the Indians Assile, next Aglie, Axilla, Agulu, Ochile, and lastly Ocilla." This theory is less popular today. A later census in 1832 gives Oswhichee as the name of another Indian village close to Osochi." It goes on with "The town's name was changed seven times. The French census shows that a town called Ocichi existed there in 1750. A 1981 Fitzgerald Herald-Leader says that "a tribe of Oswichee Indians once lived near the Ocmulgee River on land known in 1818 as Irwin County." There, towns were called Oswitchee and Ocilla, and sometimes Ocichi. It is not clear whether Ocilla is named for the Seminole Chief Osceola, for an Oswichee Native American tribe, or, as proposed by historian John Goff, it could be an adaptation of the place name Auscilla. Ocilla was founded in 1880, incorporated as a town in 1897, and finally re-incorporated as a city in 1902. Ocilla is part of the Fitzgerald micropolitan statistical area. Its population was 3,498 at the 2020 census. The city of Ocilla is the county seat of Irwin County, Georgia, United States.
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