Category Archives: Brinson GA

Brinson Consolidated School, Circa 1923

Even though hard economic times were already foreshadowing the Great Depression in Southwest Georgia, Brinson was still a thriving farm community in the early 1920s, when this typical Colonial Revival schoolhouse was built. It has been identified as the Brinson Consolidated School, and was probably an elementary school. Consolidation was not a concept static to just one decade, and counties often saw the value and thrift of consolidating small rural schools into a central location.

According to a 1998 Georgia Historic Preservation Division resource survey, the school was once a much larger H-form structure and apparently this wing was all that survived a fire [date undocumented]. The form also noted that Gordon Bower was the superintendent of Decatur County schools at the time. In 1969, the Brinson school was sold to a group of parents for the establishment of a private school and was home for many years to Oaks Academy.

Brinson United Methodist Church, 1901, Decatur County

The origins of this church can be traced to the Spring Creek Mission, organized in 1867. A crude log building served as the first church.  In 1871, the congregation adopted the name of Mt. Zion and a second structure of frame construction was built. The third and present building dates to 1901.

Brinson Family Historic District, National Register of Historic Places

Homer Hodges Brinson House, 1907, Brinson

Built by the second son of Simeon Brinson, Homer Hodges Brinson (1878-1944), this house was extensively remodeled around 1919 in the eclectic style typical of the era. Elements of the Craftsman,American Foursquare and Prairie styles are the most predominant influences.

Brinson Family Historic District, National Register of Historic Places

Simeon Brinson House, 1893, Brinson

This grand Victorian was built by Simeon Brinson (1847-1918), founder of the town that bears his name. In the 1870s, Simeon bought large tracts of land in the area and surveyed the area for a town in 1889, after the coming of the railroad. He served as a postmaster in the town’s early days and after it was incorporated in 1907 was its first mayor. The family owned the only bank in the town, as well as a cotton warehouse.

Brinson Family Historic District, National Register of Historic Places

Brinson Town Hall

Brinson was incorporated in 1907.