John B Broadwell (1855-1953) was so poor as a child that he could not afford to go to school. Yet, he became a successful farmer who developed new strains of cotton. He invented at least two farm implements. He built the iconic Broadwell Building in downtown Crabapple. He married twice, and at age of 83 talked about starting another family. J. B. was quite a fellow.
J.B. spent his entire life in Crabapple. He died of pneumonia and was buried in the Crabapple Baptist Cemetery as were his parents, Euel Broadwell and Mary Broadwell, and his wife, Nancy Ruth Rucker Broadwell (1860-1937). Like many cotton farmers, his family was too poor to send him to school, so he taught himself to read and write.
The Broadwell family home was built in 1843. It was restored and made into a restaurant called Mr. B’s in 1990 by Ruby and Lloyd Pittman. In 2002 it was sold again, renovated by its new owners and renamed the Broadwell House restaurant. It is now known as Milton’s Cuisine and Cocktails, a centerpiece of downtown Crabapple.
Norman Broadwell is J.B.’s second cousin. He notes that his cousin crossbred his plants to develop new and improved strains using seeds from plants that provided the most bolls of cotton. His champion 6-foot-tall stalk of cotton containing 715 bolls was put on display for many years in the State Capitol museum. The stalk was grown by a creek on his property where Mayfield Park is today.
J.B. knew how to market his cotton and was a familiar figure driving his horse-drawn wagon around Fulton County promoting his “Double Jointed Cotton” with the wagon’s large sign proclaiming, “3 Bales on One Acre in 1911.” By using his carefully selected seeds he was able to outproduce other farmers at a lower cost per bale. His Broadwell Cotton Seed was well known throughout the Southeast.
J.B. was an inventor. His machine…
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