Early Days of Dunwoody School
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The first Dunwoody School sat along Chamblee Dunwoody Road where the Dunwoody Library and Spruill Center for the Arts are located today. The land for the first school in Dunwoody was donated by Zachariah Eidson. The earliest school dates to the 1890s and was a plain wood building.
This photo of the early Dunwoody School is believed to date from around 1898. The photo is from the archives of the Carpenter family and Ambrey Carpenter, Sr. is the young man with a moustache, standing in the back row in front of a window.
The next school, built in the 1920s was a painted white building with a front porch and a small bell tower. Then, in the 1930s a brick building was constructed.
The citizens of Dunwoody gather in front of their school on the Fourth of July in the 1920s.
Some of the best remembered teachers of the school were Nettie Austin, Alvine Chamblers, and Elizabeth Davis, who also served as principal. Nettie Austin is remembered as a kind and loving teacher by those who were taught by her. When Austin Elementary School later opened on Roberts Drive, it was named for Nettie Austin.
Elizabeth Davis and husband, Manget Davis, came to Dunwoody during the Great Depression when the school and community were struggling. She took over as principal and made changes to improve the school.
Students remember Alvine Chamber as an excellent teacher who had a firm, no-nonsense style.
Teachers usually taught more than one grade. When Ken Anderson attended Dunwoody Grammar School, Mrs. Nettie Austin taught first, second, and third grade. Mrs. Chambers was the teacher for fourth and fifth grade and Mrs. Elizabeth Davis taught sixth and seventh grade and was the school principal.
Before the school had running water, male students were sent to a nearby spring for water.
Students in the early part of the twentieth century took a pail with a biscuit and perhaps a piece of meat to school for their lunch. Later, Dunwoody School served a lunch from a small room which served as the cafeteria. The children picked up their trays and took them back to their desks. Ola Spruill, who lived across the road from the school, is remembered for her delicious graham biscuits and cookies.
Eddie Austin, Ken Anderson, Alvilene Price Anderson, Carlton Renfroe, Jeff Porter, Jane Anderson Autry, and Anne Renfroe Wilson attended the dedication ceremony of the new Dunwoody Elementary School in 2008. Some of these people are no longer with us, but they shared their memories of their school.
The old school did not have a library, but a few books were kept at the school. The children borrowed books from the Bookmobile which came to Dunwoody once or twice a month.
Nettie Austin’s husband, Glenn Austin, was a skilled carpenter who built toys and a Dutch play house for the children.
Teacher Nettie Austin and students of Dunwoody School pose with the Dutch play house that her husband Glenn Austin constructed.
The school bell that is located on the property of the former school, encased in a brick monument, dates back to the earliest days of the school. Students recall that when the bell was in the school building it was rung not only to announce the beginning of the school day, but for emergencies such as a fire. The bell was also rung during World War II when the children filled their war bond books with stamps.
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