This American Foursquare house is located across from the Girls Dormitory of the Gillespie-Selden Institute. It was the home of Dr. Augustus S. Clark (1874-1959) and his wife Anna Clark, visionaries who established the institute, and is also known as the Founder’s Home. Tax records and real estate listings date the house to 1941. This seems a bit late for the style, but variations of American Foursquare are still popular today, so the date may be correct.

Dr. Clark, a native of North Carolina, received his theological training at Lincoln University in Pennsylvania and after teaching for a year at the Haines Institute in Augusta, was sent by the National Board of Missions of the Presbyterian Church to Cordele in 1898 to help revive the struggling congregation of the Portis Presbyterian Church, a Black congregation. A new church was built and named St. Paul Presbyterian.

In 1902, the Clarks established the Gillespie Normal School to improve the educational opportunities of local African-American children. It was named for a Pittsburgh family who gave money for the school. It quickly outgrew the basement of St. Paul, where its first classes were held, and moved into two wooden buildings. By 1904, donations made it possible for the construction of three more buildings. The school continued to grow and attract students from all over the Eastern United States and eventually included a hospital. Though the school closed in 1956 due to consolidation, most of its structures survive to this day, and some have even been restored.

Gillespie-Selden Historic District, National Register of Historic Places