Tag Archives: Irwinville Farms

Irwinville Farms Tobacco Barn, 1930s

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This is the last of the Irwinville Farms locations I’ll be sharing for a while. I’m hoping to document more the next time I’m in the area. This one is located near Jeff Davis Park and is another good example of the quality construction of the Irwinville Farms project. I really wish all the surviving structures of the project could be added to the National Register of Historic Places, or at least recognized locally. The families that have maintained them for nearly 90 years obviously appreciate them and I am grateful for that.

Irwinville Farms Tobacco Barn, 1930s

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This is one of my favorite Irwinville Farms barns. I don’t think all of the barns and houses were originally painted white, but in images from the project in the Library of Congress, many were. This may be one of just a couple that are still painted. These tobacco barns were built so well that there are still a few around today, nearly 90 years later. That’s amazing considering they were built to be used and they were given a lot of wear and tear in the labor intensive culture of tobacco harvesting.

Irwinville Farms Cooperative Association Store, 1938

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This storefront has been associated with Irwinville Peanut & Grain for many years, but it was built in 1938 as the retail store for the Irwinville Cooperative Association, an offshoot of the Irwinville Farms Project. It has been modified over time.

In her book Irwinville Farms Project: The Making of a Community (Yawn’s Publishing, Canton, Georgia, 2012), Joy Wilson McDaniel notes that the store cost $8,747 to build, and along with the Cooperative Office, “just about completed the construction work on the town of Irwinville...” [in regards to the Irwinville Farms Project].

Irwinville Farms Stock & Hay Barn, 1930s

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This stock and hay barn stands on a property which still includes an Irwinville Farms house. These amazing utilitarian structures were built for about $200 during the Great Depression as part of an economic rescue program designed to bring farmers out of the devastating downturn which began in 1919 with the proliferation of the boll weevil and continued until the start of World War II. A few of these barns remain today, in varying states of repair, but all should be considered of historical importance.

I’ve discussed Irwinville Farms extensively in the past and will be updating some sites I’ve already visited, as well as adding other examples from my archive.

Irwinville Farms Tobacco Barn, 1930s

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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.

Carver Farm, Irwinville Farms, 1936

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This home was built for the Carver family by the Irwinville Farms Project, an initiative of the Farm Security Administration. Because the houses were utilitarian and therefore quite small, most families outgrew them. A variety of expansions can be seen on most of the surviving Irwinville Farms houses today; the Carver house has a minimal addition at the rear but it’s still one of the best examples of the way houses were originally built on the project.

I’ve photographed the tobacco barn on the farm many times over the years, and it remains one of my favorites. It’s an iconic symbol of Irwinville Farms.

“The Farm Was Our Own: Memories of the Irwinville Farms Project” – A Short Film by Erin O’Quinn

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This is a wonderful tribute to the Irwinville Farms Project! Erin O’Quinn expertly blends archival photographs with the anthem of the Great Depression, Happy Days are Here Again, to set the context and has a great interview with Irwinville Farms resident Edward McIntyre.

 

Irwinville Farms House, 1930s

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Like most of the surviving Irwinville Farms houses, this one has been expanded and modified, but it’s still a great example.

Irwinville Farms Health Clinic, Circa 1938

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Women and children waiting to see the doctor, who visits the project once a week. Irwinville Farms, Georgia. John Vachon, photographer. May 1939. Public domain no known restrictions.

This Irwinville Farms Health Clinic was built to provide medical care for the people of the Irwinville Farms project. Dr. Herman Dismuke was the administrator at the clinic and was a well-loved area physician for many years thereafter. It has served as a home for many years. The vintage photograph depicts Irwinville Farms clients inside this building.

 

New Book on Irwinville Farms by Joy Wilson McDaniel

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Unless you’re from Irwin or a nearby county, you probably know very little about the Irwinville Farms Project. It was one of numerous resettlement communities overseen during the Great Depression by the Farm Security Administration (FSA) and the Resettlement Administration (RA). As today, there was much debate over the role of the government in dispensing what many considered welfare, but the FSA and RA were much more than that. They brought modern agricultural practices and equipment where there had been none, and they brought vaccines and health awareness in much the same way. In the process, they fostered a strong value system and sense of community that remains among descendants and survivors of the project.

Irwinville Farms: The Making of a Community is one of the best local histories I’ve seen in a long time, and not just because I’ve always been fascinated with the area, but because it goes beyond local folklore and hearsay to provide detailed statistics about all the farm families involved with the projects. Joy and  her son Gary McDaniel went to the Library of Congress while she was compiling the primary documentation for the book and sifted through and photographed three boxes full of original material related to Irwinville Farms.

The book also tells the story of the Jefferson Davis Historic Site, another project of the federal government during the Great Depression, and of the legendary Irwinville Farmers basketball team of the 1940s. Photos from the Library of Congress, as well as other rarely seen images, are well distributed throughout the book. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in the history of Irwin County, agriculture, or the Great Depression. It is very well done and quite enjoyable.

Irwinville Farms: The Making of  a Community is currently available for $30 plus $5 for shipping. To make a purchase, contact Joy at 770-345-2562 or by e-mail at joy_mcdaniel@comcast.net.

Son of sharecropper who will be resettled on the Irwinville Farms Project, Georgia. Photo by Arthur Rothstein, August 1935, Courtesy Library of Congress. This is Joy Wilson McDaniel’s brother, Bill Wilson.