Dunwoody road named for members of Kirby family
Lisa Lane in Dunwoody was named for two sisters in the Kirby family-Lisa and Lane. I received confirmation of this story from Lane, except her name is spelled Laine. Laine Kirby Wood and her family grew up in a nineteenth century farmhouse on what is now Lisa Lane.
Laine’s father, Stephen Kirby, came from Jasper, Georgia to Dunwoody in 1916 with his siblings and parents, Tolleson and Laura Little Kirby. The last leg of their trip was on the Roswell Railroad from Chamblee. The Kirby family purchased forty acres from Scott Powers, along what is called Pitts Road today. During the time they lived there the road was known as Little Kirby Row. Laine remembers well the houses that her extended family owned along Little Kirby Road, including her Aunt Sue, Uncle Max and Uncle T. J.
In later years, the Kirby family had a home and dairy next to New Hope Presbyterian Church. The church was located near where KinderCare is today on Chamblee Dunwoody Road. Moving to this new location allowed the children to be able to attend Dunwoody School.
In the 1940’s, Stephen Kirby and his wife Mary Bob Bishop Kirby bought a home off Mount Vernon Road on twenty-five acres with a lake, pond, and creek. The home may have been a church parsonage before they purchased it.
The property was on the border of DeKalb and Fulton County, extending down to Peachtree Dunwoody Road. Their street was first known as Gresham, then Star Route. Later, Laine’s parents named the road for Laine and her younger sister, Lisa. It became Lisa Laine Road. When the county came in years later, the name was shortened to Lisa Lane and the correct spelling of Laine’s name was lost in the process.
The house was in Fulton County, so Laine attended Hammond and Guy Webb Elementary School, and North Springs and Ridgeview High Schools. She also attended the Annie Houze Cook School for first grade due to a fire at Hammond School.
Laine Kirby Wood later taught horseback riding at the Baptist Church assembly grounds which were located on the former estate of Judge Sam Hewlett and which is now part of Island Ford Park. There were various outdoor activities at this retreat by the Chattahoochee River. She would ride her own horse to the camp, stopping for water at local creeks. She remembers riding her horse through what is now Hidden Branches Subdivision.
This family photo was taken around 1945 in front of the family home, before Lisa and Laine were born. On the far left is Mary Bob Bishop Kirby. Stephen Kirby Sr. is in the center of the photo with his mother Laura Lucinda Little Kirby behind him. Children in front left to right include Linda Kirby Donaldson, Stephen Emmett Kirby Jr. (Bud) in his dad’s lap, and Laura Kirby Barron. Barbara Jean Kirby Bowen is to the right of her grandmother, Laura Lucinda Little Kirby.
The other children of Stephen and Mary Bob Kirby were Barbara Jean, Linda Ann, Laura Marie and Stephen Kirby, Jr.
Another memory of Laine’s is of Pappy (Sentell) Spruill who ran the post office out of the small country store at Mount Vernon Road and Chamblee Dunwoody Road, where BP is now located. She remembers his blacksmith shop and home that sat where Dunwoody Baptist Church is today. It was a farmhouse with a tin roof, dirt yard, and front porch where family and neighbors would gather. Later he sold this land to the church and moved into the parsonage home where Publix is located on Chamblee Dunwoody Road.
Unfortunately, Mary Bob Kirby died in 1976. Two years later, Steve Kirby sold the property and house due to high property taxes.