Warm Springs is a city in Meriwether County, Georgia, United States. The population was 465 at the 2020 census.

In 1921, future president Franklin Roosevelt contracted a paralytic illness, diagnosed at the time as poliomyelitis (later thought in a 2003 peer-reviewed retrospective study to be Guillain–Barré syndrome). He tried to regain strength in his legs by bathing and exercising in the warm water. His first time in Warm Springs was October 1924. He went to a resort in the town whose attraction was a permanent natural spring. He was a constant visitor for two decades, and renamed the town from Bullochville to Warm Springs.

Roosevelt had a cottage built in 1932 that became famous as the Little White House, where he vacationed while president, because of his illness. He died there in 1945, and the home is now a public museum.

The town is still home to the Roosevelt Warm Springs Institute for Rehabilitation (Roosevelt's former polio hospital), which remains a world-renowned comprehensive rehabilitation center including a physical rehabilitation hospital and vocational rehabilitation unit. Economist Thomas M. Humphrey was one of the children treated for polio at the institute during the 1940s. The springs are not available for public use as a bath/spa resort, but they are used by the Roosevelt Institute for therapeutic purposes.

On October 27, 2020, former vice-president Joe Biden visited the town during his presidential campaign, delivering a speech advocating for racial reconciliation and voting rights.

Geography

Warm Springs is located in southern Meriwether County at (32.888689, −84.680089). It is bordered to the south by Talbot County and to the west by F. D. Roosevelt State Park, including the Little White House. Pine Mountain rises to an elevation of south of the city, about higher than the city center.

U.S. Route 27 Alternate passes through the center of Warm Springs, leading north to Greenville, the Meriwether county seat, and southwest to Columbus. Georgia State Route 41 leads southeast to Manchester, the largest city in Meriwether County, while State Route 85 leads northeast to Woodbury.

According to the United States Census Bureau, Warm Springs has a total area of , of which , or 2.21%, are water.

As of the census

  • George W. Jenkins, founder of Publix, was born in Warm Springs.
  • Philanthropist George Foster Peabody retired in Warm Springs.
  • Cpl. Maoma L. Ridings was from Warm Springs. She was a WAC stationed at Camp Atterbury, and was murdered August 28, 1943, in Room 729 of the Claypool Hotel in Downtown Indianapolis. Her murder was never solved, and made national news because she had once been a nurse to President Roosevelt on his visits to Warm Springs.
  • US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt lived in the Little White House in Warm Springs while he was not in Washington or at his residence in Hyde Park, New York. He also died there.
  • Football player Mykel Williams was born in Warm Springs.

<gallery>

Little White House HIstoric Site.jpg|The Little White House, located in the Warm Springs Historic District, was Franklin Delano Roosevelt's personal retreat and was the site of his death. The house was opened to the public as a museum in 1948.

Georgia Hall Roosevelt Warm Springs Institute for Rehabilitation.JPG|Georgia Hall, the main building of the Roosevelt Warm Springs Institute, was built in 1933. Roosevelt often hosted Thanksgiving dinners in its dining hall for those who were using the Springs. For much of its existence, the institute was the only such facility "exclusively devoted" to polio patients.

Polio Hall of Fame.jpg|The Polio Hall of Fame (or the Polio Wall of Fame) consists of a linear grouping of sculptured busts of fifteen scientists and two laymen who made important contributions to the knowledge and treatment of poliomyelitis. It is found on the outside wall of what is called Founder's Hall of the Roosevelt Warm Springs Institute for Rehabilitation in Warm Springs, Georgia.

Eleanor_Roosevelt_School;_Warm_Springs,_GA.JPG|The Eleanor Roosevelt School in Warm Springs was built in 1936 and opened in 1937. It was the last Rosenwald school built in the United States using funds provided by the Julius Rosenwald Fund. The school operated from 1937 until 1972. The building was purchased privately in 1977. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on May 3, 2010.

Benjamin F. Bulloch House; Warm Springs, GA.JPG|The Benjamin F. Bulloch House was built in the Queen Anne style in 1893 by Warm Springs' co-founder, Benjamin F. Bulloch. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on May 26, 1994. For many years, the house was the location of The Bulloch House Restaurant. The Benjamin F. Bulloch House was completely destroyed by a fire on June 10, 2015.

Bulloch Family House; Warm Springs, GA.JPG|The Bulloch Family House is located at 5634 Spring St. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on January 11, 2002.

Oakland_Plantation_Inn;_Warm_Springs,_GA.JPG|The Oakland Plantation Inn was built in 1829. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on June 28, 1982.

BULLOCHVILLE, GA (OLD WARM SPRINGS).JPG|Warm Springs was originally named "Bullochville". The historic district of Old Bullochville is located in the center of town and is the site of the annual Watermelon Festival.

Broad Street, Warm Springs, Georgia..JPG|Downtown Warm Springs

</gallery>

References

Relevant literature

  • Harmon, Martin. 2014 The Warm Springs Story: Legacy and Legend. Macon, GA: Mercer University Press.
  • Roosevelt Memorial Airport
  • FDR at Warm Springs on YouTube