This New Deal schoolhouse was built circa 1935 and served as the Garfield School until consolidation in the 1950s. It was later used as storage for the Acme Pecan Company. There is a larger building adjacent to this property, built circa 1945, to accommodate more students. I believe it’s still standing. This was photographed several years ago and there’s now a residence in front of it.
Unusual for Georgia jails in its “domestic” appearance, the old Effingham County Jail was built on the northwest corner of the courthouse square in 1935 to replace a simpler wood frame structure that was located at the corner of Pine Street and Early Street. An early project of the New Deal agency known as the Public Works Administration, the jail was designed in the Colonial Revival style by Savannah architect Walter P. Marshall, with the jail hardware done by Dalton’s Manly Jail Works. As was customary for the time, the structure housed the sheriff’s family on the first floor and inmates on the second floor.
At at time when Georgia had come under national scrutiny for the abysmal condition of its jails, the Effingham County Jail was seen as a positive development. The editor of the Springfield Herald wrote, in part: …the placing of the jail building was very cleverly done by the architect to give the best orientation, thus providing sunlight to all rooms and cell blocks…and that the County Commissioners are to be highly praised for their efforts in making this modern jail a reality, and it will do much toward the true prison ideal of making a prisoner a better citizen after his or her incarceration instead of a resentful or unruly person.
Hubert Carr (1895-1986) was sheriff when the jail opened and served in that capacity until 1960. His wife Hattie and daughters Louise, Dorothy, and Juanita all lived in the facility. The National Register of Historic Places nomination gives insight into how different sheriffs were in the past and gives insight into the matronly role of their wives, often overlooked: Sheriff Carr ordinarily allowed homeless people or domestic violence victims to spend a night in the holding cell, and Hattie, the sheriff’s wife, cooked breakfast for them the next morning. Mrs. Carr cooked all the meals for the prisoners in addition to her family’s meals. She provided two prisoner meals a day, which consisted of such foods as black-eyed peas, eggs, gravy, rutabagas, lima beans, cabbage, biscuits or cornbread and usually some kind of meat for each meal. She also provided baked goods, like sweet bread. Hattie washed the prisoner’s clothes in addition to her family’s clothes, took phone messages for the sheriff, and, occasionally, watched the prisoners when the sheriff was out on rounds. In her daughter Louise’s words, “She was the person who held everything together.”
The Carr sisters became familiar with the prisoners. Juanita, the youngest daughter, who was six at the time the family moved into the jailhouse, remembered playing baseball in the yard while prisoners acted as umpires by calling out plays from the windows on the second floor. Juanita also remembered becoming friends with one of the Black, female prisoners. All the sisters remembered one particular prisoner who sang hymns, like “The Old Rugged Cross.” He was kept at the jail for several months, and the girls became very attached to him. There were also family parties and significant occasions, like weddings, held at the jail. In Louise’s words, “We never thought about it being a jail. It was just home to us.”
A new jail was completed in 1993 and since that time, the old jail has been a part of the Effingham Historical Society’s Museum and Living History Site.
National Register of Historic Places
The Vienna School, as it was known upon construction, was the comprehensive education facility for the city’s white population. An early project of the Works Progress Administration (WPA), it was built in the English Vernacular Revival style, to replace an earlier two-story wooden school on the site. Bert Gregory notes that his grandmother, Marywood Gregory, was up early nursing her son Alton on Christmas morning when she saw the old school on fire. She woke up the others in the house and they called the fire department to the scene.
As is evident on the cartouche, the school was first called the Vienna School, but was later renamed the Jenkins School in honor of the superintendent who was instrumental in getting it constructed.
Vienna Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
The old post office in Cairo was built during the New Deal and has the characteristic architecture of the era. While some post offices of the time were built in the Neoclassical Revival style, this one is Stripped Classical, meaning, essentially, a “flatter” interpretation of Neoclassical.
An Art Deco patriotic shield is located above the entryway.
A mural by Paul L. Gill, entitled “Products of Grady County” was originally located in the post office but is now in the Grady County History Museum, just down the street.
Cairo Commercial Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
This structure, built of local stone by the Works Progress Administration in the 1930s, marks the entrance to the limestone cave which gives the community its name. Two million gallons flow daily from the source, which has been a landmark since long before the establishment of the town in 1832.
In 1931 Dr. J. B. Rolater deeded the cave and 29 adjacent acres to the people of Cave Spring for use as a public park. In the early days local residents were allowed to tour the cave for free, while tourists were charged ten cents.
Rolater Park Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
This historic Mauk School was built by the Works Progress Administration in 1936 to replace a smaller schoolhouse that had served the the community for a number of years. The architect is unknown, but the school is almost identical to “Floor Plan No. 5 – Five Teacher Community School” from the Rosenwald Fund. The school appears to be well-maintained today.
National Register of Historic Places
For many years an old wagon sat beside this barn, surrounded by trees. I think I have a photo of the wagon somewhere but never got a good shot of the barn. I had just noted the loss of another Irwinville Farms barn I’ve photographed for many years when this came into view, as if to make up for that loss.
When word came recently that my old elementary school was being demolished, I was already expecting it but it still brought a rush of emotions. This is where I spent most of my life from the 1st through 7th grades.
Ben Hill, like many Georgia counties, had a city and county school system well into the late 20th century. Lynwood was the county school. During my lifetime, it was officially known as Ben Hill County Elementary School.
The structure has been vacant for quite a few years and has been deteriorating. There are dozens, if not hundreds, of old schoolhouses like this wasting away all over Georgia.
A few counties have successfully put theirs to use, but that’s the exception, not the rule. People always ask why a place like this is torn down and not put to good use. The answer is never simple, and can be attributed to numerous factors, including political calculations, lack of funding, and the absence of a community effort.
In the case of Lynwood, a recent explanation arose of the need for a traffic roundabout on the adjacent state highway. The roundabout was poorly planned, as it’s being built at a low point in a natural wetland, but it will be…I’ll just miss my old school on the hill.
Following are a few shots of the auditorium I made just before the deconstruction was complete.
Stage
Auditorium
Seats
The newer of the two schools still standing in Crowell, this is now used as the community center. It was built by the WPA in the early 1930s.
Savannah High School traces its origins to Chatham Academy, a school chartered in 1788. During the Great Depression, this campus was built by the Public Works Administration around the foundation of a hotel whose developers went bankrupt. It was said to be the largest public school building in the United States at the time.
The school was integrated relatively early, in 1963, by twelve African-American students. In 1997, Savannah High relocated and this campus became the Savannah Arts Academy.
Ardsley Park-Chatham Crescent Historic District, National Register of Historic Places