Floyd Ellis Cross identified this as the home of Annie Lou Woods.
Woods House, 1920, Midville
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Category Archives: Midville GA
Howard Academy & Freedmen’s Courthouse, Circa 1870, Midville
I tentatively identified this as the Midville Grammar School. It has most recently been used as the Midville Voting Precinct and is what appears to be a good state of preservation, at least outwardly.
Floyd Ellis Cross shares the amazing history of the building: This Academic building was completed about 1870 by Union General Howard of the Freedman’s Bureau for a school for newly freed Negroes. The ground floor was established for a grammar school for ALL races; 2nd floor was for a Freedman’s Court using federal resources and primarily paid negro masons and laborers to construct. When the Federal troops were withdrawn from Georgia in about 1876, the White Masonic community united to expel blacks from the Howard Academy and, established The Midville Grammar H.S. on the ground floor and seized the 2nd floor for use as the White Masonic Lodge# 541. Many years later I discovered stored KKK ‘uniforms’ in a closeted trunk in the facility meeting room.
First Baptist Church, Midville
This congregation was organized in 1877 by Reverend James M. Cross and Francis A. Jones.
Midville United Methodist Church, 1939, Burke County
This church was organized on 18 March 1876. I believe the present structure is an expansion and remodeling of the original wooden church building, dating to 1878. From 1932-1939, Ralph Herman Sandeford oversaw the modernization.
Masonic Lodge, 1918, Midville
Midville Lodge 521 has served as the home to the local Masons for over a century. It is also used as the city hall.
Joseph Ellie Cross House, Midville
Floyd Cross writes: This was the home of Joseph Ellie Cross & family; He was the Masonic leader in 1913 when the 1st lodge was built which later became the Bank of Midville & now the city hall. In Sept. 1939 he & most of his family were killed in a horrific auto & log truck collision at the Hopeyoulikeit intersection near Statesboro. His wife was paralyzed in the accident & received specialized care in the house until her demise in about 1960.
Milton Coleman’s Take Out, Midville
This was a neighborhood grocery store, according to locals. Floyd Cross adds: Originally this was a Country Store for sharecroppers on nearby farms. It was built by Evans Knight. Later it became a grocery that sold primarily beer & a little kerosene & gas, in a “dry” county. It was known as Milton Coleman’s Take Out.
Midville High School
This was likely built in the 1910s or 1920s.
The keystone arch displays the letters M H S.
Hannah Garbutt Rountree House, Midville
Drew House, Midville
Jennifer Drew writes: This house has always belonged to the Drew Family. My name is Jennifer Drew and I plan to restore this house. I have already started clearing it out and am extremely excited about it. It was always my Dad’s dream to restore the old “Drew” house and I promised him before he passed away that I would try my best to see it done. Thanks to the help of many locals, such as Steve Bunn and Charlie Rackins, it is coming together nicely.
