President Roosevelt Visits Roswell in 1905

Bulloch Hall in Roswell, Georgia was the girlhood home of Mittie Bulloch. Mittie married Theodore Roosevelt from New York in 1853. Their child, Theodore Roosevelt, would become the 26th President of the United States.

President Theodore Roosevelt at Bulloch Hall, 1905

A Historic Trip to the South

Catherine Evelyn King Baker (later married to William E. Baker), the daughter of Barrington King, was a bridesmaid at Mittie Bulloch’s wedding. She wrote a letter to Theodore Roosevelt asking him to visit her in Roswell, Georgia. In January 1899, Theodore Roosevelt, then Governor of New York, wrote back to Mrs. Baker. He stated that it was a great hope of his to see Roswell someday.

In 1905, President Theodore Roosevelt made a historic trip to the South. Included in the itinerary was a stop to Roswell, Georgia on October 20th. Arriving at the train station, located south of the Chattahoochee River, he was greeted by a crowd. His carriage was escorted up the hill into town by mounted police as the Roswell band played. He first visited Bulloch Hall and then attended an invitation-only reception at the Roswell Presbyterian Church.

Barrington Hall

Catherine Evelyn King Baker did not accept the invitation to the reception at the church after Roosevelt declined her offer to join her for breakfast at Barrington Hall. “I sent word,” she later told Gone With the Wind author Margaret Mitchell, ‘that if President Roosevelt did not care enough to come see his mother’s old friend, I certainly would not go to see him.” Visiting Mrs. Baker at her home, Barrington Hall, would become the last stop for President Roosevelt on his trip Roswell.

Itinerary for the Tour of President Theodore Roosevelt to the South, 1905

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