Category Archives: Sylvester GA

Golden Seed & Feed, Sylvester

Hillhouse-Davis House, 1898, Sylvester

Missy H. Johnson writes: According to my grandfather, Dr. H.G.Davis, Jr., his father traded their family farm for this house, and they moved into it when he was 10 years old. My great-grandmother, Lillian Wingate Davis, operated a dairy in the back yard.  The top photo is present-day (2018) and the other image dates to 2012. It’s so wonderful to see this restoration.

 

The Fair Store, Sylvester

The Fair stores were a small chain in Southwest Georgia.

Sylvester Commercial Historic District, National Register of Historic Places

C. W. Hillhouse House, 1891, Sylvester

Now home to the Worth County Historical Society Museum and referred to as the Historical Society House & Museum, this was the first house built by C. W. Hillhouse in Sylvester. It’s the second-oldest house in the city. Originally located on the corner of Isabella and Franklin Streets (where CVS is now located), it was moved to its present location around 1904. C. W. Hillhouse’s granddaughter, Theresa Hillhouse Harris, who was very active in the local D. A. R. chapter and the historical society deeded the home to the Worth County Historical Society upon her death.  Many thanks to Lynn R. Fowler for sharing the story of the house.

First Baptist Church, 1920, Sylvester

Though begun in 1900, this church didn’t take on its present appearance until a complete remodel in 1920. The congregation dates to 1891.

Bank of Worth County, 1915, Sylvester

Art Sutton writes about the history of this building long after it served as a bank: After the Bank of Worth County moved to their new location, two of the major stockholders of the bank, Dr. J.M. Sutton and James Rouse formed Worth County Broadcasters, Inc. and started Worth County’s first radio station, WOGA, “WOrth county GA”. The station’s studios and offices were located in this building. The station’s 185 ft tower was located on Highway 256 (Scooterville Highway) at the city of limits of Sylvester. The station began operations in December 1963 at 1540 on the AM dial. It was a daytimer, only authorized by the Federal Communications Commission to operate from sunrise to sunset with 1,000 watts. The station had a variety music format and was very popular with local citizens but the station had limited financial success. In 1975, an Albany minister purchased the station and changed its format to religious then in 1979, Irv Feldman of Booneville, Mississippi relocated to Sylvester and returned local programming to the station. The call sign was changed from WOGA to WRSG for “Radio Sylvester Georgia” While Feldman likely built the station’s advertising revenues to their highest level ever, FM radio stations outside of Worth County were deeply eroding the audience levels of WRSG and other South Georgia AM stations. The station was sold once more before it left the airwaves and the license was cancelled by the FCC. I began my career in radio broadcasting at WOGA in 1977 at the age of 15. Now, 34 years later, I remain in the business and own a Toccoa, GA based group of radio stations operating in northeast Georgia, western North Carolina and upstate South Carolina.

Sylvester Commercial Historic District, National Register of Historic Places

 

Pinson-Gammage House, 1898, Sylvester

Mary King Givens writes: This house was built in 1898 by John McPhaul* for T.J. Pinson. It remained in the Pinson family until 1939 when it was purchased by the D.L. Gammage family and continues to be owned by my family. At the same time John McPhaul built a home for T.J. Pinson’s brother, Jesse W. using the same house plan. This house is located in the same block on Isabella Street as our home.

*- John McPhaul, a native of North Carolina, was the founder in 1877 of the nearby town of Poulan.