With Thanksgiving just a couple of days away, I enjoy thinking back to the holiday during my childhood years. Since I grew up in Atlanta, we had a southern traditional meal with turkey, sweet potatoes, dressing, other side dishes and of course pie. My mom sometimes baked a cream cheese pound cake, two kinds of pie, and some chocolate chip cookies when she became a grandmother.

Lisa Lane in Dunwoody was named for two sisters in the Kirby family-Lisa and Lane. I received confirmation of this story from Lane, except her name is spelled Laine.   Laine Kirby Wood and her family grew up in a nineteenth century farmhouse on what is now Lisa Lane. 

The McDonald’s restaurant at 5220 Buford Highway was one of the earliest McDonald’s in Georgia. The June 23, 1961 Atlanta Constitution had a short announcement, “McDonald’s hamburger chain has announced the start of construction on its third Atlanta area restaurant unit, a $125,000 facility on the Buford Highway in Doraville, in its 265 restaurant chain covering 34 states.”

In 1945, Fischer sold the house and gardens to John W. and Frania Lee. John Lee died in 1951, but Frania continued to live there until 1959. Mrs. Lee then sold close to 50 acres to the Atlanta Diocese of the Catholic Church for $10. The home became D’Youville Academy, a convent and school for girls.  The name D’Youville came from the founder of the Sisters of Charity or Gray Nuns of Montreal, Marie Marguerite d’Youville.

Today I’m focusing on photos and documents related to the General Motors assembly plant in Doraville. On opening day, June 15, 1948, assembly line workers had a big surprise when a 1909 Buick came down the line. Jesse Lee Smith of Lawrenceville drove the vintage car that had been bought by his father and was still running just fine. Smith was a new employee of the plant, working in the chassis department. (The Eagle, Tucker Federal newsletter, March-April 1984)

Ida Wallace Carroll was the daughter of William R. Wallace and Nancy Wallace. William R. Wallace owned a water-powered lumber mill and produced fine furniture in Chamblee along Nancy Creek along what is now Chamblee Dunwoody Road.

John Ripley Forbes set up nature and science centers in over 30 states and 200 communities across the United States. He was instrumental in the establishment of the Chattahoochee Nature Center in Roswell and Dunwoody Nature Center. He is responsible for the John Ripley Forbes Big Trees Forest Preserve on Roswell Road next door to North Fulton Service Center in Sandy Springs.

The Brookhaven Little League played their games at Murphey Candler Park and started out with four major teams and six minor teams.  The President of the League in 1959 was Wilbur Sanders.  For $.15 in 1961, you could get a hot dog at the park.  The park started out with one field, but had three by 1969.   Nearby Keswick park was used on occasion for a game as the number of children grew. 

I’ve had this subject on my mind for a while because I went to Camp Chattahoochee, only one time and in the 1960s. The location of Camp Chattahoochee is now the Chattahoochee Nature Center on Willeo Road in Roswell.

A search of Atlanta newspapers doesn’t reveal much about the camp, but an ad appears in the 1965 Atlanta Constitution. Camp Chattahoochee is described as a camp for boys and Camp Greenbriar for girls both in Roswell Georgia. The have both day and boarding camp and the director is Horace Holden. I don’t recall the name Camp Greenbriar from my experience.

The first record of Morgan Falls School is January 1907, when the Atlanta Constitution reported Morgan Falls as one of two new schools opening in Fulton County. The other was on Stewart Avenue. 

Morgan Falls Dam was constructed to help supply electricity to the area. The same Atlanta Constitution articles states, “The county was aided in the construction of the Morgan Falls school by the company of that name with its secretary and treasurer, Forrest Adair, very instrumental in the work.”

As I mentioned in my August 28 blog post, I was a member of the safety patrols at Pleasantdale Elementary School during the 1969-1970 school year and went on their annual trip. We went by train to Washington, D. C. and then on to New York City. It was a lot of fun, not only visiting those cities which I had never been to, but spending so much time with school friends away from the usual school setting.

This week a new exhibit opens at DeKalb History Center, located on the first floor of the Historic DeKalb Courthouse. The exhibit is called “Home: The United Methodist Children’s Home” and tells the history through photographs, text and audio. The exhibit will be open Monday through Fridays from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm, Saturdays 10:00 am to 2:00 pm.  Admission is free, but donations are appreciated.

Decatur-based photographer Beate Sass took the photographs and conducted interviews for the exhibit, combining the two into a manuscript. Moira Bucciarelli assisted with interviews. Past residents, employees and volunteers of the UMCH were interviewed and recorded.

When Marissa Howard, Programs and Membership Coordinator at DeKalb History Center, sent this photograph to me, I thought perhaps it was a group of school safety patrol students. The group of students in the front have a sign that reads Morgan Falls, a former school in Sandy Springs I have written about before. The photograph is part of the Guy Hayes Collection in the DeKalb History Center archives.

I wondered if the groups of children may have been preparing to leave on the annual safety patrol trip by train to Washington, D. C. and in some years New York City also. I participated in the safety patrol at DeKalb County’s Pleasantdale Elementary School back in 1969 and 1970 but didn’t know the origins of the program or when it started. I also did not recall that it was associated with AAA, the American Automobile Association.

If you look closely, you will also see the name of two other Fulton County Schools at that time-Center Hill and Lakewood Heights Schools of Atlanta.  Several of the students are wearing badges and a few have on their safety patrol sash with the badge attached. There are quite a few suitcases.

Time zones did not become official across the United States until the Standard Time Zone Act of 1918. The line between Eastern and Central time zones divided Georgia, with approximately one-third of the state falling in the Central time zone. This caused confusion for Georgia railroads and Georgia businesses.

Between 1924 and 1963, the city of Brookhaven was a municipality known as North Atlanta. An 1872 Act for Judicial Incorporation, passed by the Georgia General Assembly, paved the way for Brookhaven to become the village of North Atlanta.   The act outlined the manner in which towns and villages in Georgia could incorporate. The act was repealed in 1939. 

North Atlanta was bordered by the city of Atlanta to the south and the city of Chamblee to the north, with a total area of seven square miles.  In 1924, the total population for the area was less than one hundred people, but by 1964 increased to over 13,350. 

Walking around the park, our tour guide pointed out stone features that were originally built as part of the Cotton States and International Exposition of 1895. The Exposition lasted 100 days, included 6,000 exhibits and hosted 800,000 visitors.

Woodie Malone was Mayor of Chamblee for thirty-two years, from 1948 until the year he died- 1980. He was born in Union, Louisiana in 1916. Malone was working as a barber and living at the Alamo Hotel in Pampa, Texas, according to the 1940 census records.

Advertisements for land in the Atlanta Constitution both in 1920 and 1946 list land on Balloon Road and Dunwoody Road, both described as being off Peachtree Dunwoody Road. In 1920, all local roads were dirt. Roads began to be paved in the 1930s as part of the Works Progress Administration.

A piece of the Balloon Road remains today. It is called Old Balloon Road, located to the east of the complex that includes Emory St. Joseph’s Hospital and the surrounding office buildings. It is no longer directly connected with Peachtree Dunwoody Road but does lead to Johnson Ferry Road.