Community Corner
Oct. 10, 1918: Spanish Flu Breaks Out in Winder
The city of Winder was practically shut down to halt the spread of the Spanish flu in early October 1918
Schools were closed, church services were cancelled and other public gatherings were suspended to halt the spread of the Spanish flu in early October 1918, according to a news story printed in The Winder News on Oct. 10, 1918. After a week of festivities and celebration at a local fair, Winder practically shut down the following week. This was the local harbinger of a national flu epidemic that killed 20 million people over the next 18 months — an epidemic worse than the Black Death of the Middle Ages.
Contributed by Kathy White, president of the Barrow County Historical Society
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