Category Archives: Morven GA

Morven School, 1915

A marker placed by the Morven School Alumni Association in 2002 gives insight to the institution’s history: Home schooling prevailed in Morven District among early families. After 1865, small academies were supported by private means, with limited public funds. Morven Academy, founded by Dr. Robert Hitch, had local and boarding students for twenty years. Other small schools were merged with it to from the Morven School about 1900, located about two hundred yards to the east on Mill Pond Creek. It was replaced by the two-story brick building in 1914-15, financed by a bond issue. The north wing was added about 1923…In 1935-36 a one-story brick building to the south was erected…The high school closed in 1959…Alumni have worked to restore and adapt the buildings to community uses since 1995.

It has been nicely restored and now houses City Hall and government offices.

Morven United Methodist Church, 1907, Brooks County

Morven, Georgia

View from Railroad Street, looking east down Gordon Street to City Hall

Morven is the oldest community in Brooks County. Though the post office wasn’t designated as Morven until 1853, pioneer settlers had already established a store and post office in the nearby settlement of Mount Zion as early as 1826.

Morven Masonic Lodge

I believe this building also housed a general store at one time, on the first floor.

 

Old Post Office & Water Tower, Morven

South Georgia Railway Depot, Circa 1897, Morven

I’ve not been able to find much history regarding the Morven depot, but it appears to be in need of stabilization. It was built by the South Georgia Railway at the end of the 19th century. I hope the town can rally around it and restore it before it’s too late. S. W. Edmondson writes: …The center stake for the town of Morven is supposed to be under the depot. When I was a little boy, about 1941-42, I recall sitting on the depot platform with my grandfather Enoch Edmondson and Mr. Lester, the station master at the time when South Georgia Railway still ran a small daily train from Quitman to Adel, with stops along the way as needed. Mr. Lester had a huge mastiff dog who growled at me, inducing some fear in a little boy. My grandfather, who always carried a pistol, pulled it out and said he would not let the dog harm me as he would shoot it if it tried. That settled the matter. Charles R. O’Neal, Jr., added: My father. Charles R. O’Neal was the person who drove the survey stake under the railroad depot when he was a small boy. His father, C.R. O’Neal was the Brooks County Surveyor and was laying out the town of Morven in the late 1890’s or early 1900’s…We lived in Tampa when I was growing up and use to go to Morven to see my grandparents. It was a busy place during watermelon season.

In May 2016, Cindy Chappell and Linda Cooper wrote to say that the depot was being restored.

As of February 2018, the depot had been restored. Sadly, it was lost to fire on 11 April 2018.