Darrell Bennett writes: The gym wasn’t green at the time the school was in use. After the consolidation, the gym was used by the community. It was at this time it was painted.
North Cook Elementary School Gymnasium, Lenox
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Tag Archives: Georgia Institutional Architecture
Stewart-Webster Hospital, 1950, Richland
The cornerstone of the hospital is dated 1949 but I understand it wasn’t completed and occupied until 1950. It was sponsored by the Richland Lions Club and Dr. J. T. Phillips was the hospital authority chairman. This is just one of numerous rural hospitals that have closed in recent years, leaving many without accessible major medical care. The politics around the issue go back and forth, but when your county loses a hospital, that’s irrelevant. This particular hospital served two counties.
Richland Elementary & High School, Circa 1933
According to Mac Moye, the first school on this site was built in 1888-1889. The second school was built in 1901 and burned in 1931. This structure was built and occupied by 1933. Much of the identification and background on Richland comes from Mac, an excellent local historian who also serves as Stewart County Manager.
Richland Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
Furlow Grammar School, 1914, Americus
The Furlow Female College originally stood on this site and after being closed was used as the first public school in Americus, beginning in 1880. It was replaced by this structure, known as the Furlow Grammar School, in 1914.
My friend Joan Holloway shared this treasure and if I understand her correctly, this photograph is Mrs. Glenn’s First Grade class, dressed for what Joan called “Tacky Day”. She notes she was the girl standing in the front row, with white gloves. Joan notes: I attended first and second grades at Furlow. I started after my sister was born in Savannah in October 1944. Mrs. Glenn was my teacher. Then the next year 1944-45 I was in Miss Klebe Kemp’s second grade. The summer of 1945 we moved back to Savannah. Note all the open windows-air conditioning wasn’t known back then..
We were living in Americus in Sep 1943 but the school didn’t want me to be enrolled until I “grew some more.” The next school year my mom was expecting and we returned to Savannah in order for my grandmother to help my mom after she gave birth to my sister. (In those days women stayed in bed for about 30 days after they gave birth.)
I actually attended 38th Street School here in Savannah until mom and baby could safely ride the train home. Furlow School then let me transfer in when we returned to Americus.
Americus was a great little town. I have lots of fond memories of living there. We first lived at 201 East Hill Street. My favorite thing to do there was walk barefoot in the soft red clay after a summer rain. It would be so much fun to feel soft, cool clay squishing up between my toes again! The following day my brother and I would stand in our then hardened footprints.
I really enjoy your photos of Americus. The Lee Street House was the second House we lived in there. Did you know that house has 3 backyards! During the war four families lived in it. The Lees and Hendricks lived downstairs and my family (Thomas) and a young childless couple lived upstairs. I think their name was Hollis. They were crazy about my little sister and she called him “Holly.”
Two old aunts of a well-known war reporter lived next door (to your right as you look at the house). I remember he was married in their backyard and I watched the ceremony from a window. It was the first wedding I ever “attended.”
Americus Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
Savannah Powder Magazine, 1898
Designed at the behest of Mayor P. W. Meldrim by Eichberg & Witcover, the architects also responsible for Savannah City Hall, the municipal powder magazine was built by John R. Eason. On average, it provided safe storage for 96,000 pounds of black powder and 8,500 pounds of dynamite. The 15-acre property originally contained a keeper’s cottage, as well.
Abandoned since 1963, it’s the last surviving municipal powder magazine in Georgia. Because of its fortress-like construction, including 3-foot-thick walls, it’s considered the sturdiest structure in Chatham County. This has insured its survival over the years, but today its future is uncertain.
Though concealed in overgrown woods, it is located in a busy and rapidly growing area of the city.
Homeless people have been known to use the facility for shelter and there always seems to be some amount of debris inside.
A Powder Magazine Park Commission was created by Tommy Holland to explore viable alternatives for the preservation of the property, and after years of neglect, it appears serious work is being done to move forward. Mr. Holland notes that the Savannah Powder Magazine Facebook page is the best source for updates on the project.
Precinct House, Undine
I believe the precinct houses are called courthouses in this area.
Dismuke & Willis Sanitarium, 1914, Ocilla
Ocilla’s first hospital, with 20 beds, was opened by Dr. Herman Dismuke* and Dr. Gabe Willis in 1914. It originally featured wrap-around porches. Jamie Wilcox Lovett and Cindy Griffin note that this was built by their great-grandfather, Robert Toombs Woolsey. It was made obsolete by a newer facility in the early 1930s and is now a private residence.
*Dr. Dismuke was the most beloved physician in Irwin County during his lifetime. He delivered thousands of babies, promoted modern health and sanitary practices through his work with the clinic at Irwinville Farms during the Great Depression and served as the county doctor.
Sandra Crouch Irons writes: My grandfather, Thomas A. Crouch, purchased this building to house his wife and family which included 7 children the first of which was born in 1898 and the last in 1911. I’m not exactly sure as to when he purchased the sanitarium, but I do have photographs of my father, Joseph P. Crouch, outside the back porch when he was about 12 which would have made the date around 1923. The sanitarium was never replaced around the 1930s because the Crouch family lived there. I am aware that my grandfather remodeled some of the interior, but the exterior remained basically the same until it was sold somewhere around the late 1980s/early 90s. I lived in and grew up in this house from 1954, when my father retired from the Marines and moved back to Ocilla, until I went to college in 1965. My husband, Stephen Irons, our daughter, Jennifer, and I continued to visit my parents and Aunt Joree who continued to live here until the house was sold.
Martin Institute Mural, Jefferson
This mural in downtown Jefferson commemorates the Martin Institute, a coeducational center of learning first established as the Jackson County Academy in 1818. The name was changed around 1860 upon the bequest of a large monetary gift by the late Inferior Court Judge William Duncan Martin. The original home of the institute was burned in 1883 and replaced by the structured depicted here in 1886. The school’s reputation reached far beyond Jefferson; U. S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Joseph Rucker Lamar was but one of its distinguished alumni. The Institute served the community until 1942, when it was the victim of an arsonist who turned out to be the son of the Jefferson Police Chief.
Old City Hall & Fire Station, 1910, Griffin
Griffin’s old combination city hall and fire department is presently being restored.
Griffin Commercial Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
Savannah City Hall, 1906
This is one of the most monumental works of Hyman Wallace Witcover, who designed several other Savannah landmarks, including the Chatham Armory, the Scottish Rite Temple, and the Knights of Pythias Castle Hall, among others.
Savannah Historic District, National Historic Landmarknat