Category Archives: –COOK COUNTY GA–

West Berrien Elementary School, 1954

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This schoolhouse looks to have been built in the 1950s or 1960s and has been abandoned for a long time. GHSBP confirms, and elaborates: …The school opened in 1954 as West Berrien Elementary, a consolidation of Jordan and New River elementary schools, and part of Berrien’s vast building program under the Minimum Foundation Program. West Berrien was renamed in 1988 to Northwest Elementary after taking in Enigma’s students. No gym was ever built on campus, so basketball teams continued to play home games in Enigma.

Northwest closed its doors in 1994, the year after a new middle school built to be a consolidated middle school opened in Nashville. One wing of Northwest was uprooted and moved to Nashville to be additional room at Berrien Primary School.

(Minimum Foundation helped fund schools throughout the state in the 1950s. Despite being built by different contracting firms, they all have a pretty similar look.)

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Chaserville Mall, Cook County

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Chaserville is a crossroads community in northeastern Cook County.

Crossroad Church, Cook County

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I’ve also seen this referenced as Crossroads Primitive Baptist Church. The adjacent cemetery is quite large, with many older graves.

St. James A.M.E. Church, Circa 1922, Adel

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St. James African Methodist Episcopal Church was established in the 1890s and built their first home on West Fifth Street. John Caesar is thought to have been the first pastor. Other pastors were F. D. Hightower, J. W. Hall, A. R. Cooper, B. Gay, and J. E. Brown.

The church bought this lot on North Maple Street in 1922 and built the present structure around that time. C. W. Harris was pastor at the time.

Renovations were made in 2002, under the leadership of Reverend Jasper Drew.

Gable Front House, Adel

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This is another example of the popular utilitarian gable front form. It required only basic carpentry skills and as a result, numerous variations were built. This one is adjacent to St. James A.M.E. Church and may have had some connection.

Mount Pleasant C.M.E. Church, 1910, Adel

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Mt. Pleasant Christian Methodist Episcopal Church was organized in 1891, but the names of the organizers are unknown with the exception of the first Pastor who was a Reverend Home. Early services were held in an arbor and a simple church building was constructed soon thereafter. In 1910, during the pastorate of J. H. Davis, the present church was erected. It’s one of the oldest African-American congregations in Adel.

Gable Front Cottage, Adel

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This could also be identified as a shotgun house, though it’s slightly larger than most examples of that form.

Tobacco Barn, Cook County

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This is located in the Pine Valley community.

Merchants & Farmers Bank, 1905, Sparks

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Jim Cottingham shared this historic photograph of three gentlemen outside the Merchants & Farmers Bank circa 1905. His grandfather, W. T. Cottingham, is pictured at left.

Telephone Company Building, Sparks

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This was originally built for the local telephone company and housed its offices and switchboard. It has also been home to the Masonic lodge and the Woodmen of the World. I believe it dates to the last decade of the 19th century.