John Fletcher Hanson

John Fletcher Hanson (born November 25, 1840 in Monroe County, Georgia) was a self-made industrialist who lived in Georgia and helped establish the Georgia School of Technology (later known as the Georgia Institute of Technology). The son of a farmer-preacher, Hanson learned about the brick and furniture industries in Barnesville, Georgia. He later moved to Macon, Georgia and started the Bibb Manufacturing Company in 1876; it was a textile company that built and acquired mills, particularly in Columbus, Georgia.cite book|first=Robert C.|last=McMath|coauthors=Ronald H. Bayor, James E. Brittain, Lawrence Foster, August W. Giebelhaus, and Germaine M. Reed|title=Engineering the New South: Georgia Tech 1885-1985|publisher=University of Georgia Press|location=Athens, GA]

In 1881, Hanson became the principal owner of the "Macon Telegraph and Messenger", a republican opponent of the democratic "Atlanta Constitution". It was reportedly at Hanson's request that Harry S. Edwards composed a March 2, 1882 editorial in the "Macon Telegraph" that promoted a polytechnic college in the state of Georgia, in order to create a skilled workforce.

Major Hanson was also instrumental in electing Nathaniel E. Harris, another strong proponent of a technical school, to the Georgia House of Representatives in 1882. It was Representative (later governor) Harris who introduced a bill in 1882 providing for the establishment of a state technical school, "GAILLARD, Crawford County" (Georgia history, section G, page 3/93), PDF webpage: [http://www.kenkrakow.com/gpn/g.pdf KKrakow-section-G] .] which was chartered in 1885 and opened in 1888, and eventually became Georgia Tech.cite web | title = The Hopkins Administration, 1888-1895 | work = "A Thousand Wheels are set in Motion": The Building of Georgia Tech at the Turn of the 20th Century, 1888-1908 | publisher = Georgia Institute of Technology | url = http://www.library.gatech.edu/gtbuildings/hopkins.htm | accessdate = 2006-12-30 ]

Through his connections, Hanson became president of the Central of Georgia Railroad in 1903. One of Georgia Tech's residence halls, Hanson Hall, built in 1961, was named in his honor. [cite web|url=http://www.irp.gatech.edu/space/fac.cfm?fac=093|title=Major John Hanson Residence Hall|publisher=Georgia Tech Office of Institutional Research and Planning|accessdate=2007-07-09]

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