John Fletcher Hanson

Who is John Fletcher Hanson?

John Fletcher Hanson was a self-made industrialist who lived in Georgia and helped establish the Georgia School 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.

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 Stillwell 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 Harris who introduced a bill in 1882 providing for the establishment of a state technical school, which was chartered in 1885 and opened in 1888, and eventually became Georgia Tech.