Originally a dormitory/apartment for unmarried teachers, this was a private residence for many years. It’s been recently restored.
Teachers’ Building, Ocilla
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Category Archives: Ocilla GA
Tobacco Barn, Ocilla
Gus Walters Garage, Ocilla
Doree Jones writes: If I am not mistaken, my Uncle Gus Walters owned and ran this shop way back in the 50’s-60’s…I spent quite a few afternoons there when I was young drinking Ne-Hi’s and eating moon pies, watching the dirt daubers build their nests. It was later known as Joe Rogers Auto Parts.
Update: As of 2017 0r 2018, this building has been demolished.
Mobley House, 1924, Ocilla
Trish Lilly Jones reached out to share her good memories of living this house in the 1980s. It’s one of my favorite houses in Ocilla, and I’m grateful to all the others who have shared their own memories.
Deborah Player wrote: “This Craftsman Bungalow looks like Lily and Arthur Mobley’s house on South Irwin Avenue in Ocilla. They lived next to my grandparents, T. O. and Georgia Paulk. Both of my parents–William H. Player and Jacquelyn Paulk Player–were born and raised in Ocilla, and I’m probably related to just about everyone in Irwin County. My three sisters (Dianne, Marilyn, Pam) and I (Debbie) have wonderful memories of visiting Ocilla from Mississippi. We road bikes all over the place, walked to the drug store to drink a milkshake and read comic books, got a hair permanent at the beauty shop in the bank building, perused what 50 cents could buy at the dime store; shopped for clothes and shoes at Harris’ Department Store, went to church on Sunday, but mostly walked to go swimming at Cumbee Park. I can’t remember the date but my grandparents sold their house on Irwin Avenue and moved to a new brick home across from the swimming pool on Park Street, which made us very happy. When I attended University of Georgia I spent weekends with my great-aunt, Ann and J. T. Steed. A few years ago, I screen-printed all of my favorite Ocilla landmarks using Google Maps, which makes me homesick to view them–just like your web site. Thanks for providing me a trip down memory lane.”
Elly Motes: “Johnnie and Elly Motes owned this home in the mid 1980s. Was a great place to live.”
Stefan Roberts writes: “My grandmother actually sold the house to the Motes in Mid to late 1985. The Motes were employed with Flintstone, transporting mobile homes. They lived there until Flintstone went bankrupt and they moved on. My Grandmother , Mrs. Thelma Roberts, bought the home and moved from our farm to town, after the sudden death of husband in January 1980. She rented the apartment out back to a school teacher. It was a big change for her after living in the country most all her life. After five years in town she sold the house to the Motes and moved Back to her home at the family’s farm on the five bridge road, where our family has lived since the late 1700’s.“
Irwin County Courthouse, 1910, Ocilla
Built for just under $53,000 by the Falls City Construction Company, the Irwin County Courthouse is the most architecturally significant public building in the county. The seat of Irwin County was moved from Irwinville to Ocilla in 1907, but the de facto courthouse remained in Irwinville until the present courthouse was completed. [This is a rear view, as the structure was under renovation when the photograph was made.]
National Register of Historic Places
Elmer Paulk Farm, Ocilla
Bob Billotte writes that this has always been known as the “Home Farm”. Amazingly, it’s located in town.
It was originally owned by Elmer Paulk and remains in the family.
Paulk-Steed House, Ocilla
This eclectic Neoclassical landmark is one of Ocilla’s best-loved houses.
A. S. Harris Department Store, 1953, Ocilla
The byline on the front awning said it all. A. S. Harris Department Store was “Irwin County’s Trading Center” for much of the twentieth century. Many of my Irwin County friends remember buying school clothes here, but more than that, this was a “cradle to the grave” sort of store, where everything from baby clothes to funeral attire could be found. Martha Jo Felson Katz shared this history: My grandfather, A.S. Harris opened the store in 1907. For 93 years, it was the cornerstone of our little town. He married my grandmother Ida Bank Harris from Baltimore, Maryland, in 1910 and she moved to Ocilla where she loved, lived and died there. We grew up working in the store. My grandfather started the First State Bank, built the Community House, and owned several other buildings on the main street. He helped my mother and father open Felson’s next door to A.S.Harris’s. Abe died in 1947 and in 1952, the old store was torn down, and the new one built in the same location. We built a red brick building on Cherry Street as a temporary building while the new one was being constructed. It seems like the end of an era now with all of our family there gone.
I never shopped here, but I knew Mr. Harris from meals shared at the Fitzgerald Elks Lodge with my parents. He and his wife, Esther, were two of the nicest people around. I have good memories of them.
Mt. Olive A. M. E. Church, Ocilla
This is one of Ocilla’s most historic Black congregations. Notably, Dave Prater (1937-1988), of the famed soul duo Sam & Dave, sang in the church choir here in his youth. The seventh of ten children, Dave and his brother J. T. were members of the gospel group the Sensational Hummingbirds before Dave moved on to secular music. Dave grew up in Ocilla and his mother, Mary Pressley Prater (1902-1997) was a longtime member of Mt. Olive.
Karen P. writes: “This church is located on 7th Street, just east of the former railroad track that virtually separated the town by race. This was a grand building with a small balcony. My 87 year old mother remembers that it was a white church purchased by the African Methodist Episcopal congregation and moved to this site...”
Ocilla Public School, 1936
A two-story brick school house and two-story brick teacher’s home were originally located on this lot. Two dormitories for students who lived in the county and went to school in Ocilla during the week were also located here. None of those structures survive. The original school taught grades one through eleven, and as the student population grew, the teacher’s house was converted for use as a grammar school. By the early 1930s, these buildings weren’t large enough to accommodate increasing numbers of students and in 1933 they were demolished to make way for the present structure. Lauren Parrott, of Fitzgerald, was the architect. The Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) began the project and it was finished by the WPA. While the new school was being constructed, classes were held in the courthouse, city hall, and Methodist and Baptist churches. The school was built between 1934 and 1936. For its first twenty years, it housed the elementary and high schools. By 1952, a new high school was built a few blocks away and this became the elementary school. It served that capacity until 1987.
National Register of Historic Places