President's Article

Before COVID , there was the Spanish Flu:

When Griffin Shut Down in 1918

by Drew Payne

President, Griffin-Spalding Historical Society

When COVID-19 brought everyday life to a standstill in 2020, most of us had never experienced anything like it. Schools closed, church services were suspended, public gatherings were canceled, and families isolated themselves at home. Yet Griffin had experienced much the same thing 102 years earlier, in the autumn of 1918.

As World War I neared its conclusion, a deadly influenza pandemic swept across the globe. It became known as the Spanish flu, not because it necessarily originated in Spain, but because neutral Spain’s newspapers reported the outbreak more freely than those in countries fighting the war.

The war helped accelerate the disease’s spread. Soldiers crowded into military camps, troop trains, and ships carried influenza across continents. By September 1918, the epidemic had reached Camp Gordon near Atlanta, where thousands of soldiers were training for military service.

On October 7, Atlanta authorities ordered schools, churches, theaters, and other public gathering places closed. Quarantines and restrictions on gatherings became part of everyday life, just as they would again in 2020.

But there was a curious exception. The Southeastern Fair at Lakewood was permitted to operate while theaters remained closed. Theater owners protested the apparent contradiction, particularly because fairgoers could attend outdoor motion-picture screenings. The controversy over which gatherings were safe—and which businesses should remain closed—sounds remarkably familiar today.

Soon, Griffin faced its own crisis.

On November 2, 1918, the Atlanta Georgian published an article titled “Griffin May Lift Influenza Ban.” The report revealed that influenza had reached at least two-thirds of Griffin’s homes, with several hundred active cases remaining.

The medical situation became so serious that the Georgia State Board of Health dispatched emergency physicians to Griffin. Local doctors were overwhelmed, and some contracted influenza themselves. Many residents were unable to obtain medical attention because so few physicians remained available.

Griffin’s schools, churches, and theaters had been closed, and the local Board of Health was meeting to consider lifting the restrictions. Although reliable statistics were unavailable, the newspaper reported that the death rate had been comparatively low and that the worst of the epidemic appeared to have passed.

On November 11, 1918, the guns of World War I finally fell silent. But for families in Griffin and throughout Spalding County, the influenza epidemic had already left its mark.

More than a century before COVID-19, Griffin had experienced closed schools, silent churches, overwhelmed doctors, and families isolated by a frightening disease. Although the number of local deaths remains uncertain, contemporary reports suggest that influenza reached two-thirds of the city’s households.

For those who remember the shutdowns of 2020, the events of 1918 offer a remarkable reminder: Griffin had been through it all before.

Historical sources: The Atlanta Georgian, November 2, 1918, page 7, “Griffin May Lift Influenza Ban”; Georgia State Board of Health, Annual Report, 1918; Atlanta History Center; contemporary reporting on the Southeastern Fair.