McGaughey home was Serviceman's Shelter

Carroll and Effie McGaughey announced a house-warming party at their new summer home on Spruill Road in Dunwoody in 1939. The Dec. 30, 1939, Atlanta Constitution Society Events column included the announcement, using the alternate spelling of Spruell Road. The gathering was also in honor of their debutante daughter, Mary McGaughey. The couple would later make the Dunwoody home their primary home.

Carroll McGaughey was an electrical engineer and owner of McGaughey Electrical Company.  Effie McGaughey operated an antique shop called Backdoor Studios out of their Atlanta home on Lombardy Way.  The McGaughey’s had two sons, Carroll Jr. and Carrick, in addition to their daughter Mary.

When the United States entered World War II and Lawson General Hospital opened in nearby Chamblee, Effie McGaughey began thinking of ways to help recovering soldiers.  The McGaugheys turned their home from a social gathering spot to a place for relaxation and recreation for injured soldiers, the Serviceman’s Shelter.

Ethel Spruill and Elizabeth Davis describe the McGaughey place in their book The Story of Dunwoody. “Using a rustic building on the McGaughey property and colorful festive lanterns, church groups, community clubs, and Atlanta groups took turns at entertaining the boys and furnishing food and dance partners.” 

This 1945 photo of patients from Lawson General Hospital at the McGaughey home appears in The Story of Dunwoody, by Elizabeth L. Davis and Ethel W. Spruill.

By 1944 a group of Atlanta women including Effie McGaughey had organized a committee to plan parties for convalescing soldiers at various homes around Atlanta.  An article in the July 12, 1944 issue of The Atlanta Constitution titled Many Parties are Planned for Convalescent Officers describes the upcoming schedule of parties.  The following Friday evening a barbeque supper would be held at the home of Carroll and Effie McGaughey.  The guests would be entertained with swimming, music by the Tech band, and a movie shown on an outdoor screen. 

The schedule for the next two weeks includes parties on Habersham Road and another on Tuxedo Road in Atlanta, followed by a gathering at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Ryburn Clay on their Chattahoochee River country place known as Lazy River Farm.  The Clay summer estate was on what is now Clay Drive off Spalding Drive.

The McGaugheys place was for the enjoyment of all recovering soldiers.  One soldier from Lawson General Hospital who lost the use of his legs often got a ride to their home courtesy of the Red Cross.  Upon arrival, he would enjoy swimming in the pool. 

The Serviceman’s Shelter and use of the McGaughey’s swimming pool continued into 1946.  In August of that year they hosted veterans of both World War I and World War II, arranged by Veterans Hospital Number 48 in Brookhaven and financed by the Elks Club. (The Atlanta Constitution, August 16, 1946, Veterans Feted by Elks Group)

Effie McGaughey also helped during World War II by donating a movable kitchen in 1942.  The kitchen was operated by the Atlanta Red Cross Canteen Corps and was able to serve two thousand meals and forty thousand cups of hot coffee per day. 

1891 Atlanta, smallpox vaccine debate

Depending on when you were born, you may have a small circle scar on your upper arm as a reminder of your smallpox vaccine. In 1972, it was determined the vaccine was no longer needed and it stopped being administered to children

Looking through cemetery records, it is obvious that many deaths around the end of the nineteenth century and beginning of the twentieth century near Atlanta were due to smallpox. During the height of the Covid-19 pandemic and the discussions regarding vaccines, I found a similarity with discussions of smallpox vaccine from about 130 years earlier.

There were people on both sides of the smallpox vaccine debate in Georgia. A September 7, 1891, Atlanta Constitution column titled “Against Vaccination” featured a lengthy letter from a citizen strongly opposed to vaccination and Atlanta’s rule that students could not attend without vaccination.

The letter is followed by an explanation and opinion by Dr. J. B. Baird, secretary of the board of health. “The more the people become enlightened, the more they believe in it and know its worth, and if wanted of its benefits to humanity, thousands and thousands can be given.”

Nine years earlier Atlanta’s Superintendent of Schools, William Franklin Slaton, stated that every child in Atlanta schools was vaccinated against smallpox. When one student’s family asked for her not to be vaccinated, she was removed from school. (Atlanta Constitution, April 28, 1882)

A notice titled “Public Schools” on August 31, 1882, informed the public that the “Office of Superintendent, 75 E. Mitchell, will be open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. for the next three days. Persons applying for school tickets must bring certificate of vaccination.”

Whether the vaccine was required or even available to the small communities surrounding Atlanta, I do not know. I do know that smallpox was causing devastation to these communities.

At Nancy Creek Primitive Baptist Church Cemetery in Brookhaven, Solomon Goodwin was buried in 1849 and is believed to have died of smallpox. Goodwin was later reinterred on Goodwin land along Peachtree Road only to be later moved back to Nancy Creek Cemetery.(“The History of DeKalb County, Georgia 1822-1900, Vivian Price)

In Dunwoody, the Bennett-Rainey cemetery and Donaldson cemetery had their beginnings around the time of a smallpox epidemic. The Bennett-Rainey cemetery was referred to as a smallpox cemetery by Franklin Garrett, Atlanta historian who documented cemeteries in DeKalb County in 1931. (Atlanta History Center, Franklin Garrett necrology, 1931) Fannie Adams, Lonnie Adams, Maggie Adams, and Minnie Adams all succumbed to the disease around 1884 and 1885 and are buried at Bennett-Rainey Cemetery, a small, unmarked cemetery along North Shallowford Road.

The Donaldson cemetery, adjacent to Donaldson-Bannister Farm, includes the grave of Nuty A. Donaldson who died in 1883. She was the daughter of original owners William J. Donaldson and Millie Adams Donaldson. On her marker are the words “died from smallpox.”

Smallpox began over 3,000 years ago according to cdc.gov. History tells us that Spanish Explorer Hernando de Soto brought smallpox to Mexico in 1520. The first smallpox epidemic in New England occurred in the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1635.

Native Americans of Georgia were hit hard by smallpox outbreaks in 1735 and 1759.

Dr. Edward Jenner’s discoveries in 1796 led to a vaccine. Concentrated efforts by the World Health Organization to eradicate smallpox began in 1959. By 1966, smallpox was considered eliminated in North America and Europe. The Intensified Eradication Program began the next year and in 1980 the World Health Organization declared smallpox eradicated.

The November 25, 1974 Atlanta Constitution carried the headline, “Within a Few Months Smallpox Will Have Been Wiped Out.” They reported that 43 countries had outbreaks of smallpox in 1967 and that number had been reduced to four countries in 1974.

Lawson General Hospital Dental training, Co. G, MDTS

Glenn H. Curtis

I’m pleased to share the history of Glenn H. Curtis, who spent time training in the MDTS (Medical Department Technicians School) at Lawson General Hospital in Chamblee, Georgia during World War II. Curtis received dental training at Lawson between December 1942 to February 1943.

MDTS began at Lawson General in 1942 and continued into 1945. MDTS started out with 50 people being trained as laboratory technicians, 50 in dental training, 125 in medical training, 125 in surgical training, 50 in x-ray training. The full name of the training program was Medical Department Enlisted Technicians School. In 1943, the numbers had increased in each area, including 106 dental trainees. The website of AMEDD includes history of the Army Medical Department and includes data of the various Medical Department Technician Schools across the US during WWII.

In addition to treating patients at Lawson General Hospital, men (and women with the Red Cross) were being trained to provide medical and dental care to injured soldiers. Lawson reported their students trained through “lectures, demonstration, and by actually performing over and over again the various procedures. Performance of the procedures, under close supervision, is the most important part of their training.”

Glenn Curtis’ son Gary Curtis shared memories and history he has gathered about his father’s WWII service. Glenn was born Jan. 28,1920. His WWII registration card shows he was 21 years old, working as a driver for Hanna Market in Rochester, New York.

As far as his time at Lawson General Hospital in Georgia, he didn’t share much about his service. He did talk a little about Georgia Tech and could sing the school fight song. He said he enjoyed his time in school in Georgia and at Jefferson Barracks, MO, where he was sent next.

The dental training he received would eventually be used to identify victims in aircraft training crashes in the U.S. I can only imagine that this would be difficult and stressful work, with a lot of sadness and emotions.

Dental section, Day class, MDTS Lawson General Hospital February 1943

Loren Brown, a childhood friend of Glenn Curtis from Rochester, New York was also in the MDTS program at Lawson. Brown’s fiance Lois Howell and Curtis’ girlfriend and later wife, Mildred, and Curtis’ sister Joyce Curtis visited the two men in Chamblee. They stayed in a cottage at the nearby W. O. Pierce Dairy. Visitors to patients and staff of Lawson General Hospital and trainees of MDTS usually stayed in nearby homes. There were no hotels in Chamblee at the time.

Lois Howell facing camera and Mildred Curtis facing the cottage at Pierce Dairy Farm, where they stayed on a visit to Lawson General Hospital in Chamblee during WWII.

Loren Brown stands in front of the W. O Pierce Dairy Farm in Chamblee. Brown and his friend from Rochester Glenn Curtis were in the medical training program at Lawson General Hospital.

Glenn Curtis and Mildred became engaged during her visit and they went to a jeweler on Peachtree Street in Atlanta for a ring.

While at Jefferson Barracks, MO, Glenn Curtis was injured playing baseball. Baseball teams were popular at bases across the country. Curtis is documented as being at O’Reilly Hospital during the last part of 1943 and his son believes this may have been a result of the injury.

Glenn Curtis and his brother Robert registered on the same day in Rochester, New York in January 1942. Robert Curtis served with the Army in France. Glenn would like to have served overseas, but either due to his injury or the timing of his training, he remained in the U.S. Every person who served either in the states or overseas was crucial to the cause.

After the war, Curtis opened an Amoco gasoline station near his home in Rochester. He later worked for the post office, retiring after 17 years. He also operated an antique store with his wife.

Below is the timeline of Glenn Curtis’ service:

Army Air Forces Technical Training Command St. Petersburg, Florida, Nov. through Dec. 1942

Lawson General Hospital, Chamblee, GA, Co. G, MDTS, dental, Dec. 42 to Feb. 1943

Army Air Forces Station Hospital Chicago, IL, March to June 1943

25th Training Group Squad C, Jefferson Barracks, MO, July to Oct. 1943

O’Reilly Hospital, Springfield, MO, end of 1943

Return to 25th Training Group, Jefferson Barracks

18th Replacement Wing, Salt Lake City, Utah, Feb. 1944

Walker Army Air Force base in Victoria Kansas, where his wife may have joined him until he moved on.

Worked at Pressed Steel Car Company, McKees Rocks, PA, a rail car manufacturing company that produced tanks during WW2.

3706 Army Air Forces Squad H. Sheppard Field TX, July 1945 to Sept. 1945

1060 Army Air Forces Squad E Sept thru Jan or Feb 1946

Thank you to Gary Curtis, who reached out and shared this history and amazing photos of his Dad and his time at Lawson General Hospital.

Oglethorpe University train station

This photograph of the Oglethorpe University train station includes a view of Hermance Stadium in the background. The station was located directly across from the Peachtree Road campus in Brookhaven. Photo from the Philip Weltner Library Oglethorpe University.

The September 20, 1916 Atlanta Constitution newspaper announced the opening of Oglethorpe University railroad station. The Cross Keys flag stop closed when Oglethorpe University Station opened.

Students rode the engine, Air-Line Belle, to attend the newly opened Oglethorpe University Station in Brookhaven. Oglethorpe University Station was also home to the new Oglethorpe post office, and the offices of Silver Lake Park Company.  (Atlanta History: A Journal of Georgia and the South, 1995, Paul Hudson)

In an interview with James Magbee, who grew up on Peachtree Dunwoody Road, he recalled the old granite Oglethorpe University station. He remembered that young men from Buford commuted to Oglethorpe University aboard the Air-Line Belle.

The Oglethorpe University post office application shows the location as Land Lot 273, six miles south of the Chattahoochee River and one a half miles south of Nancy Creek, recorded here as Nancy’s Creek. The Chamblee Post Office was two miles away, Atlanta post office ten miles and Dunwoody six and a half miles according to the application.

Albert Martin of the pioneer Goodwin family also recalled the granite depot across the street from the university. Martin remembered that the depot building was home to Pierce Antiques in the 1960s and 1970s. When the Brookhaven Marta station and track were built, the old depot was demolished.

An advertisement for Pierce Antiques which appeared in the 1960s Atlanta newspapers.

Another view of Oglethorpe Station. Photo from the Philip Weltner Library at Oglethorpe University.

Lord family farm at Mt. Vernon Road and Wickford Way, Dunwoody

Not far from the crossroads of Mt.Vernon Road and Chamblee Dunwoody Road was the home of George Washington Lord and Dicey Ann Wade Lord. George Washington Lord was born in 1852 in Madison County, Georgia.   Dicey Ann Wade (full name Dicey Ann Sarah Frances Wade) was born in 1856 in the Oak Grove community of Fulton County, which is now part of Sandy Springs. 

George and Dicey Lord married in 1875 and had twelve children. Sometime before 1900, they moved their family to the Shallowford District of DeKalb County, or Dunwoody. They established a home and farm in the area where Mount Vernon Road and Wickford Way intersect.  Their neighbors were the Cheeks to the west and the Warnocks to the east. 

Three of the Lord children married members of another early Dunwoody family-the Mannings.  Margaret Adella Lord married John Manning, Effie Elizabeth Lord married Starling Manning, and William Alexander Lord married Mary Angie Manning.  These children each owned land in the same area along Mount Vernon Road, then known as Lawrenceville Road or Norcross Road.

In The Story of Dunwoody by Ethel Spruill and Elizabeth Davis, some of the memories of Fannie Mae Lord were shared through daughter-in-law, Cletis French Jackson.  Fannie Mae Lord was one of the other children of George and Dicey Lord.

When Fannie Mae grew up in Dunwoody, she attended the old Dunwoody School, located where the Dunwoody Library and Spruill Center for the Arts are today.  It was the only school in the area, sparsely populated with farmhouses. 

She remembered the day the boiler at the Cheek cotton gin exploded on the southeast corner at Mount Vernon Road and Chamblee Dunwoody Road.  It was November 21, 1920, the day before Thanksgiving.  Her brother-in-law, John Manning died from injuries during the explosion. 

William Edward Jackson was visiting his sister in Dunwoody in 1906 when he met Fannie Mae Lord.  Jackson worked for the Southern Railway as a switchman.  He rode the Roswell Railroad to visit his sister and later to visit Fannie Mae Lord.   Southern Railway had taken over operations of the Roswell Railroad at this point.  

Fannie Mae and William did most of their courting while on buggy rides.  They married in 1910 and had eight children.  At one time, they lived in a home where the first Austin Elementary School was located on Roberts Drive.  According to ancestry.com, in 1959 they lived in a home on McDonough Street in Roswell.  The home was known as Sleepy Hollow.

Antioch School, first Chamblee school 1905

A one-room school was built in Chamblee in 1905. Prior to that, some families sent their children to school in Roswell. Ida Wallace of Chamblee rode the Roswell Railroad from Chamblee to Roswell each week to attend school. She stayed in Roswell until the end of each week, then returned to her family in Chamblee. (“A History of the Community and the City of Chamblee,”1983 by Vivian Price)

The location of Antioch School is now 5295 New Peachtree Road. The school site was next to the First Baptist Church of Chamblee Cemetery and for many years was the location of Interactive College of Technology. Today 5295 New Peachtree Road is home to the International Pentecostal Church of God.

When the Camp Gordon World War I encampment was built in Chamblee, it took over a large portion of the town, including Antioch School. A new school was planned for Chamblee and the two-story brick school was completed and opened in 1919.

The new Chamblee School housed both the grammar school and high school. The Atlanta Constitution proclaimed the school to be one of the finest schools in the state, calling it “beautiful and modern in every respect and contains every feature of the up-to-date school house.” The final cost of the new school was $30,000.

The old Antioch School was moved to the new property and was used for the Home Economics program.

This may not seem like a great deal of historical information about Antioch School. I agree! I’ll continue to be on the lookout for more history and this blog post will be updated when and if I locate more history.

During the time that World War I Camp Gordon took over Chamblee, the school was part of the camp’s property. After the war, it was moved to the new site for the school, which is the same location as Chamblee High School today. The old Antioch School building was used as the Home Economics building. This 1940 photo also shows the cannery on the right and students forming the letters CHS in front of the school. (Photo from “A History of the Community and the City of Chamblee,”1983 by Vivian Price)

This 1938 yearbook page shows students standing in front of the Home Economics building, the former Antioch School.

Sams Crossing, story behind the name

I am often curious about the history behind road names. Sams Crossing and Sams Street in Decatur are along one of my regular routes and I presumed there was a family named Sams, but wanted to know more about them. At the end of this article you will see that I communicated with a Sams family member back in 2006, but just recently made the connection.

Marion Washington Sams came to Georgia from Greenville, South Carolina in 1870. Sams and his wife Mary Lucia Duncan Sams lived temporarily with his uncle J. H. Nash on Church Street. (DeKalb News Sun, Vivian Price, 7/22/1981)

Sams then purchased property along with a three- or four-bedroom home from Thomas Little. The property was located where Railroad Avenue (today’s College Avenue), Covington Road and Sycamore Street met.

Augustine Sams, grandson of Marion and Mary Sams, was an attorney and later a member of the Georgia general assembly representing DeKalb County. During WWI, Augustine Sams was stationed at Camp Gordon. He is buried at Decatur Cemetery with a marker that indicates he was born in 1893 and died 1978. The marker also recognizes his WWI service as a Captain in the U. S. Army.

When Vivian Price wrote about the Sams family in 1981 a marker had recently been placed by MARTA, naming the overhead crossing Sams Crossing, dedicated to the memory of Marion Washington Sams.

The Sams Crossing marker at MARTA’s Avondale Station reads, "This construction is located near the original 1870 home site of Marion Washington Sams, who settled in this area with his wife, Mary Lucia Duncan, and children, Hansford Dade Duncan, Lewis Reeve, Marion Washington, Jr., Mary Lucia, Joseph Augustine and Miles Stanhope. The rail crossing at this road junction immediately became known as ‘Sams Crossing’.”

Over on the east side of E. College Avenue, a stones throw from Sams Crossing, is Sams Street, named for the same family.

What became Sams Crossing was called Covington Road Crossing back then. The home of the Sams family was called Violet Cottage. There was a large bed of violets planted around a giant magnolia tree in the yard.

Price says “The only thing that is left of the Sams settlement area in 1981 is the plaque in the MARTA Station. Marion Sams at the dedication ceremony, said “So we see now that the first generation traveled by horse and buggy, the second generation primarily by train, the third generation by the old south Decatur Trolley and now the fourth generation will travel primarily by MARTA.”

Back in 2006, I wrote an article about WWI Camp Gordon in Chamblee for the Dunwoody Crier Newspaper. I received emails from a few readers, including one from Joseph Augustine Sams Bond. He shared the followed recollections with me.

This photograph of the J. A. Sams home on College Avenue from 3/4/1927 is from the archives of the DeKalb History Center and appears to be the home that Joseph Augustine Sams Bond describes as his mother’s childhood home.

“My Mother's childhood home was the large Victorian structure that stood where the Sams Crossing MARTA Station south parking lot is today. She was a Sams. Many times I heard my Mother and/or her sister or brother discuss the long, bumpy and dusty wagon rides that they endured traveling from Decatur to Camp Gordon for a dance or other function. Often just to see a friend in the service. My family and friends occasionally enjoy eating at Downwind (restaurant) while the grandchildren watch the runway activity. As I sit there, I often remember the many buildings that once stood on that site and those that served at Camp Gordon as well as Naval Air Station Atlanta.”

Sams went on to tell me that his Uncle Augustine Sams had been at Camp Gordon and his cousins Marion A. Sams and Richard H. Sams were at Naval Air Station Atlanta in the early 1950s. Joseph Augustine Sams Bond died in 2020.

Ice Storm of 1973, major power outages around Atlanta

These below freezing days we have been having recently in Atlanta bring my mind back to the ice and snow storms from years past. Everyone knows these storms can bring our city to a halt. It happens so rarely, which means many of us have little experience driving in snow or ice.

The ice storm that struck Atlanta in 1973 is a memorable one for those who lived here. My family moved to a new home off Briarcliff Road in 1972. The ranch home had a fireplace, unlike our previous house. The fireplace was very useful during the ice storm, but I don’t remember exactly how many days we were without power.

A few years ago, I asked some people who were living in Dunwoody at the time about their experience. Time without power ranged from four days to two weeks. Trees and power lines had a thick coating of ice. Kathy Florence remembers pine trees bent over from the weight of the ice and the constant sound of trees snapping.

Lynne Byrd lived on Spalding Drive in the Branches neighborhood in 1973 and was without power for four days. She needed to get to her job at Piedmont Hospital. Lynne says she was able to get up her driveway in her small Volkswagen and drive on to work by not taking her foot off the gas until she got to the office.

Jeff Glaze was in the eighth grade at Peachtree High School and his family was without power for about ten days. Jeff’s uncle owned Glaze’s Hardware at the intersection of Winters Chapel Road and Peeler Road. The recently opened Winn Dixie across the road couldn’t operate because they had electric cash registers, but Uncle Glaze kept ringing up groceries because his older model electric cash register also had a hand crank.

The family lived near high tension lines that were coated with about an inch of ice. Jeff remembers, “…days when temperatures started to rise a bit, the ice would break off those lines and fall to the ground one hundred feet below. Sometimes they would hit the ground vertically and ‘spear’ the ground... it was pretty amazing to see and scary to consider what might happen if you were under them when the ice broke free.”

The January 3, 1973 Atlanta Journal reported that DeKalb police estimated 90% of residents were without power. Police and fire departments were inundated with calls about fallen trees, fallen power lines, and power outages.

I’ve been talking with people that lived in Atlanta during our past ice and snow storms about their experiences. The ones I remember are 1973, 1982, 1993, and then more recent ones. Apparently there was a big one in Georgia in 1935 and 1940, as well as the early 1960s. I was around in the early 1960s, but don’t remember that one. Look for my recent article in the Dunwoody Crier for more memories of Georgia ice and snow storms.

If you live in another state and are thinking those silly Georgians and their reactions to snow and ice, plus their inability to drive, you are right and we know it. Besides, it can be fun to miss work or school just because less than an inch of snow is falling!

• 1960s 6
• 1970s 2
• 1980s 1
• Atlanta 45
• Brookhaven 32
• Camp Gordon 20
• Chamblee 62
• Chamblee High School 1
• Chamblee schools 6
• Christmas 4
• Dairies 5
• DeKalb County 12
• DeKalb County schools 9
• Decatur 15
• Decatur historic homes 2
• Doraville 15
• Doraville Schools 1
• Dunwoody 82
• Dunwoody Historic Homes 19
• Dunwoody Schools 1
• Dunwoody historic cemeteries 4
• Dunwoody historic homes 3
• Dunwoody schools 7
• Dunwoody summer homes 3
• East Lake 1
• Farm Life 2
• Hightower Trail 4
• Lawson General Hospital 11
• Libraries 1
• Lithonia 2
• Memorable years 1
• Milton County 1
• Native Americans 2
• Naval Air Station Atlanta 4
• Norcross 4
• Norcross Rifle Range 4
• Oglethorpe University 3
• Olympics 2
• Peaches 2
• Road names 2
• Roswell 14
• Roswell Railroad 5
• Sandy Springs 34
• Sandy Springs HIstoric Homes 5
• Sandy Springs Historic Homes 7
• Sandy Springs churches 1
• Sandy Springs schools 4
• Small Town Doctors 1
• Spanish Flu 2
• Stephen Martin Cemetery 1

Chamblee High School photo 1928

This week, I’m sharing a 1928 photo of Chamblee High School graduates. Kathryne Carpenter is in the center of the back row and the photo was shared with me by the Anderson family, descendants of the Carpenters. The Carpenter family lived in Dunwoody, but Chamblee was the only high school in north DeKalb County at the time. Students living in Dunwoody, Doraville, Brookhaven and Chamblee attended Chamblee High School.

Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season. I’ll return with a new history post next week.

If you have a relative in this photo send me a message!

Swanton House and New Hope Cemetery in need of preservation assistance

As we approach the end of 2023, I want to share with you two local historic sites that are fund raising to assist with ongoing preservation. They are two very different places. One is Swanton House, a circa 1825 home in Decatur. The other is a historic cemetery in Dunwoody. Below is information about each of these efforts, links to read more about the history, and links to donate.

The following information comes from Marissa Howard, Programs and Membership Coordinator of DeKalb History Center. You can read more about the history of Swanton House here.

For this year’s End of Year fundraiser, the DeKalb History Center is focusing on the Swanton House, one of the oldest remaining structures in Decatur.

Early in the year, a massive tree smashed through the Swanton House’s roof causing extensive damage. This uprooted tree presented an opportunity to see what else we could do to preserve this cornerstone piece of DeKalb’s history. We were able to repair the damage, but now we need your help! Not only to replenish our reserves but also to help us keep the lights on and maintain the structure for future generations!

The average annual cost of maintaining the Swanton House, Biffle Cabin, and Thomas Barber Cabin is $20,400. This includes landscaping, utilities (at commercial – not home prices), maintenance, and services such as pest, rodent, and termite control.

As stewards of the Swanton House, we have maintained it since 1970 when it was moved to 720 West Trinity in Decatur to ensure its preservation for Decatur and DeKalb. Over the past 53 years, we have worked diligently to provide necessary maintenance to keep the Swanton House healthy and usable for future generations. The cost of maintaining it is expensive and we would appreciate any help you can provide in preserving this cornerstone piece of DeKalb’s history. Tap the link below to donate.

https://dekalb-history-center.square.site/

Dunwoody Preservation Trust is working to raise money to maintain and restore three historic cemeteries in Dunwoody. New Hope Cemetery, located on Chamblee Dunwoody Road behind KinderCare; Stephen Martin Cemetery, behind the Perimeter Expo shopping center; and Woodall Cemetery, barely accessible and between two Dunwoody neighborhoods. They have already begun restoration of fallen and broken headstones at New Hope Cemetery with the help of experts from Oakland Cemetery. This is an ongoing effort with many challenges.

Fallen headstones at New Hope Cemetery.

A repaired and restored marker at New Hope Cemetery.

Visit the Dunwoody Preservation Trust website and click on Donate to help with this effort.

Read more about New Hope Cemetery and the work of Dunwoody Preservation Trust to preserve Dunwoody’s historic cemeteries in an article I recently wrote for the Dunwoody Crier newspaper, titled “Taking Care of Dunwoody’s Historic Cemeteries.”

I have volunteered with both of these fantastic organizations and am currently on the Board of DeKalb History Center. I served ten years on the Board of Dunwoody Preservation Trust.

Thank you for reading Past Tense GA and Happy Holidays!

Icehouses in Chamblee and Doraville

New posts every Monday.

This post was updated on December 18, 2023 with additional information about Goree Ice Company.

5441 Peachtree Road in Chamblee was once the local icehouse. Today, it is home to the Chamblee location of AR Workshop, the DIY business begun by Maureen Anders and Adria Ruff.

Chamblee’s historic icehouse is now home to AR Workshop. Next door is the Frosty Caboose ice cream store and behind the former icehouse is the railroad and MARTA.

I haven’t found much history in my research of Chamblee’s icehouse. I’m sure having an icehouse nearby was helpful to the many dairies in the area. Chamblee had 33 dairies in 1939, plus there were dairies in nearby Doraville, Dunwoody and Brookhaven.

The Pierce Certified Dairy, W. O. Pierce Dairy, and P. E. Pierce Dairy were located on both sides of North Peachtree Road, between North Shallowford Road and Peachtree Industrial Boulevard. Irvindale (previously P. E. Hyde Dairy) and Chatham Dairies were located across from the railroad tracks.  A dairy on Hardee Avenue served WWI Camp Gordon and was known as Camp Gordon Dairy. 

The Wright Dairy was located along Briarwood Road near Buford Highway and N. Druid Hills. Ice was delivered every day to the dairy, likely from the Chamblee icehouse.

This photo of the icehouse appears in “Chamblee, GA-A Centennial Portrait, 1908-2008” and indicates the icehouse is still standing in 2008. However, the photo itself is not dated.

The Goree Ice Company of Doraville opened on Buford Highway in 1946. In 1967, in addition to an ice store, Goree’s was a convenience store, gas station, and bait and fishing supply store known as Angler’s Corner. The ice plant sold block ice to restaurants and hotels for ice carvings. The plant was nonautomated and produced 17 tons of ice every two days.(“Images of America: Doraville” by Bob Kelley)

An article was written in the July 26, 1983 Atlanta Constitution about Goree’s titled“The coolest guys are on the block.”. In 1983, the business supplied ice to Allied Concrete to cool its mortar, but it also did a good business selling crushed and snow ice to afternoon picnickers. It was the only block ice business in metro Atlanta in 1983.

If you have memories of the Chamblee Icehouse or of Goree Ice Company, write to me at pasttensega@gmail.com so I can share these memories in a later blog post.

Ina Evans runs for District 55 House seat 1972

New post every Monday.

Sometimes when I’m looking through a newspaper archive, there will be an article, photo, or even an advertisement that catches my interest. Ina Evans caught my interest and I wanted to know more about her life.

The pages of the August 3, 1972, DeKalb New Era newspaper features ads and articles on various local political candidates at the time. One of those candidates was Ina C. Evans and the article is titled “Ina Evans Offers for House Post.”

This photograph of Ina C. Evans appeared with the 1972 article announcing her as a candidate for House seat 55. (The DeKalb New Era, August 3, 1972)

Ina C. Evans was running for the District 55 House seat. Her platform included better health facilities, tax reform and better educational facilities in DeKalb County. She and her campaign team went door to door talking to voters and distributing material.

Evans spoke to The DeKalb News Sun about her campaign, “We are hoping that voters will decide on the basis of qualifications. I firmly believe that office holders are elected to voice the needs and concerns of the community. Win or lose, I’ll be right here next year and the year after battling to put this community up front in DeKalb.”

Evans lost the race, which went to a runoff between Betty J. Clark and Sherman S. Barge. Betty Clark won the runoff, and as a Democrat who was unopposed, she won the seat.

Ina Evans was born in Gallatin, Tennessee in 1935. She graduated with honors from Mississippi Valley State College. Her resume included working as a poll monitor in the Democratic primary in 1968 and during the presidential election that year.

In 1969, she was campaign manager in the Kirkwood area for H. E. Tate, the first Black candidate for Mayor of Atlanta. Evans also worked as area coordinator for the Committee for Sensible Rapid Transit.

Evans was secretary for the Georgia Shirley Chisholm Fund when Chisholm ran for President in 1972. She was an alternate delegate for the 1972 National Democratic Convention.

Evans would later serve 14 years on the Atlanta Public Schools Board of Education. She worked with Maynard Jackson, first Black Mayor of Atlanta, and civil rights leader and activist Rev. Hosea Williams, founder of “Hosea Feed the Hungry.” Later, she would work in the office of Governor Jimmy Carter. (meadowsmortuary.com)

She was married to John Evans for 30 years. He was President of the DeKalb County chapter of the NAACP for sixteen years before retiring in 2016. According to a 2012 oral history with John Evans in the archives of DeKalb History Center, he was appointed to the DeKalb County Executive Committee in 1968, on recommendation of Maynard Jackson. He also worked on the Shirley Chisholm 1972 Presidential campaign.

In the 1970s, Ina Evans operated the Loving Care Day Care Center in Kirkwood.

She passed away June 30, 2021.