Since the senseless destruction of Fitzgerald’s landmark Lee-Grant Hotel to make way for a Piggly Wiggly in the 1960s, this has been the city’s oldest standing hotel. It now serves the needs of developmentally disabled adults. For many years it was the residence of Mr. & Mrs. Wilmer Dorminy.
South Main-South Lee Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
My brother Mike and I spent many happy times here in the fifties and early sixties. This was aunt Sissy and uncle Wilmers house. My cousin Cathy Dorminy, (now Bagley) had the coolest swing set ever, that uncle Wilmer constructed in the back yard, using telephone poles. As kids we did not know that it had been a hotel.
Growing up in Fitzgerald I saw the Lee Grant 1 time before it was torn down. I always thought it was such a beautiful place,as a child I could only invision how it looked on the inside with how beautiful it was on the outside. The decor you can’t find anymore. When I was in the 9th. grade our class visited the hotel. What an awesome adventure we had going from room to room. Many years later I heard they had plans to demolish this Antibelum Hotel, it was more than I could believe. They destroyed Fitzgerald’s most historic attraction. I know without a doubt, they could have saved some of it, even a small portion of the building would have encouaged the town too remember our past.
somrtime Money speaks louder than words. What a loss for our southern heritage to have seen such a beautiful Hotel, come and go. The ghost of the past will forever be remembered.
Enjoyed your comment on the destruction of the old Lee-Grant, as much as the picture on this surviving hotel building. I would imagine the person responsible for such a decision wishes his or her name to be forever hidden from further ridicule – as damage/demolition was probably done some 45 yrs ago. And, just look what is on the corner today – absolutely nothing!