1829 Presidential campaign button found in Houston County

Over the 2019 Christmas season, the Perry Area Historical Society received an artifact of what’s now believed to be their oldest artifact, an 1829 presidential campaign button of United States President Andrew Jackson.

Ellie Loudermilk, president of the Perry Area Historical Society, said a person who lives in Houston County discovered the button using a metal detector.

“This was the first time a campaign button was used and with this being an election year, we find it interesting, and all these many years later, we have campaign buttons everywhere, but we only have one 1829 button for Andrew Jackson and it’s very exciting to have.”

Loudermilk said she and members of the Perry Area Historical Society were then interested in how the button made its way to Houston County so they began to do some research.

“What we found was in 1884 there was a 4,500 acre plantation that was sold to bring in colonists from Massachusetts,” Loudermilk said. “We know at least 100 of these colonists who moved to Houston County between the years of 1884 to 1890 purchased this land. We assume this find on our part was one of the items that belonged to them and was left behind.”

The group from Massachusetts identified their community in Houston County as the “Oak Lawn Community.” Loudermilk said it was located in the 11th land district of Houston County, which known as today, includes some of the general area of Kathleen and roadways leading into Kathleen.

“We have no idea why they named it the Oak Lawn Community, but they were very progressive,” Loudermilk said. “They had a hotel, several businesses and a post office. But as time went on, they assimilated into the rest of the community. Some of them moved into Perry and other surrounding communities. It wasn’t too many years before the post office was no longer needed and the community became a part of the larger community of Houston County.”

Loudermilk said she and other members found through their research that Jackson was the first to introduce campaign buttons.

“He ran for president in 1824 and lost,” Loudermilk said. “Then with determination to get his name out there and win, he created these buttons. Best we can tell, it is made out of brass, but we don’t want to disturb the composite in any way. It is very exciting to have this artifact and we do believe that it is our oldest piece here at the museum.”

You can see the button on display at the Perry Area Historical Society’s Museum located at 901 Northside Drive in Perry. Hours of operation are Tuesday through Thursday from 10 a.m. to Noon and 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. For more information Loudermilk said you can call the museum during those hours at 478-224-4442.