This elementary school, built by Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company soon after they opened a factory in Rockmart, is typical of other schools of the era. It is no longer in use. The Rockmart plant of Goodyear Tire & Rubber was responsible, for many years, for the production of the giant balloons used each year in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.
I’m so excited to be able to share this photograph, which was shared by my friend John Brown. He made the shot circa 1995. It’s the old Oliver School and was lost to fire a few years after the photograph was made.
Oliver was one of about 40 white schools in Screven County surveyed by M. L. Duggan for the Georgia Department of Education in 1916. The steeple or bell tower was a design element present only in the larger schools of the county, including Capitola, Douglas Branch, Gilgal, Harmony, Rocky Ford, and Sylvania. At the time of the survey, W. S. Brown was teacher and principal, and Miss Fannie Ryon was his assistant. There were 10 grades and 62 students, with a 32-week school year. The school was valued at $3000 and was noted to be in very good condition.
The original building is a one-story Spanish Mission Revival structure [not pictured due to inability to access] built in 1920; the two-story annex (above) was added, in sections between 1930-1933 and 1948-1950. Gary McDaniel writes: The front 1/3 of the two story annex was added sometimes after WW II, about 1948-50. My Dad, Willard McDaniel, was a carpenter on the add-on. In recent years, it has served as the campus for the Transitional Alternative Prep School.
In addition to an annex behind the original schoolhouse, the campus of the old Glenwood High School has a slightly more modern auditorium built in 1951.
National Register of Historic Places
The oldest masonry jail in Georgia, Greensboro’s ‘Old Gaol’ is distinguished by its English spelling, which seems fitting considering the structure’s appearance. Locally quarried granite was used in construction, which was patterned after European citadels known for their harsh conditions. The downstairs cells were dark and catacomb-like, reserved for particularly unsavory characters. Such prisoners were chained to the walls with absolutely no creature comforts, including heat or ventilation. Non-violent criminals were placed upstairs, where conditions weren’t much better, but at least allowed for outside light. A trap-door gallows is also present. The jail served Greene County until 1895, when a more modern jail was constructed.
Greensboro Commercial Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
In the late 19th century free public libraries were a relatively new concept but Macon Mayor S. B. “Daisy” Price wanted to open such a facility that would be free to all (white) citizens of his growing community. The library formally opened on 7 January 1900 and was named for Mayor Price, who had died on 22 November 1899. The structure’s entrance originally faced Orange Street and featured a turret but a renovation and needed update by the Civil Works Administration re-oriented the library and moved the entrance to 1st Street.
Macon Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
I’m excited to be able to share this historic photograph of the Science Building of the Mercer Institute, predecessor of Mercer University in Macon. It was graciously shared by Lamar Sanders, who took it in 1970. Almost certainly the work of builder/architect David Demarest, the Greek Revival structure served as the Penfield Village School after Mercer moved to Macon, but was badly damaged by a fire in 1977 and eventually demolished.
Built by the Civilian Conservation Corps and the Cornelia Kiwanis Club with Tudor influences, the Cornelia Community House is one of the largest such gathering places I’ve encountered in Georgia.
David S. Cuttino, Jr., was the architect. It is the centerpiece of a 33-acre public park and was formally dedicated in May 1937.
It’s unusual in that the rear of the building holds much more architectural interest than the front.
National Register of Historic Places
This is one of two courthouses in Georgia designed by the Knoxville, Tennessee, architectural firm of W. Chamberlain & Company. The other is in Berrien County. Franklin County was one of the first counties created in Georgia after the Revolutionary War, dating to 1784. Carnesville has been the county seat since 1806.
National Register of Historic Places
In March 1909, the Lavonia Woman’s Club sought funding from Andrew Carnegie and the approval of a town council for the construction of a library. Carnegie pledged $5000 for the construction and the council promised $500 per year for the purchase of books and upkeep for ten years. petitioned Mr. Andrew Carnegie and the town council for the erection of a building to house what would eventually become known as a library. Mr. Carnegie granted $5,000 for erection of a building with the council providing $500 a year for ten years for books and upkeep. The facility, now part of the Athens Regional Library, still serves the city.
For many years, the architect of the library wasn’t known, but according to a document entitled “Georgia’s Existing Carnegie Libraries”, John Garland Longstreet (1849-1918), the son of Confederate Lieutenant General James Longstreet, was responsible for the design. This was apparently unknown to those who compiled the nomination of the structure to the National Register of Historic Places. It’s one of the most architecturally impressive Carnegie libraries surviving in Georgia.
National Register of Historic Places
Thousands of auditoriums, community houses, and gymnasiums, among myriad other public-use spaces, were constructed as projects of the New Deal during the Great Depression. Many survive and remain in use today and have often been the center of entertainment in communities which otherwise have few such resources. The Warrenton site was a project of the Federal Emergency Administration to replace an earlier structure that burned. Glen Miller was one of numerous prominent Big Band-era personalities who performed here. The gymnasium hosted the high school basketball teams until a new school was built in 1981. The Augusta firm of Merry & Parsons was responsible for the design. It is presently known as the Warren County Cultural Center.
Mike Baker noted, via our Facebook page, that it may have been known for a time as the Baker Memorial Gymnasium, as well, stating that a granite marker bearing that inscription is located in a yard nearby.
National Register of Historic Places