George Adolphus, Sandy Springs postmaster
George Adolphus became postmaster of the community which would become Sandy Springs in 1934. The post office name officially changed to Sandy Springs in 1941. The name Burdal began in 1925 when the post office was located at Burdette’s Grocery on Roswell Road. The name Burdett was combined with another prominent family name, Dalrymple. (National Archives, U. S. Appointment of Postmasters)
Adolphus was born in 1886 in Michigan. In 1907 he was in a train accident while working as an inspector for the railroad. He lost his left leg in that accident.
Following the train accident, Adolphus decided to change careers. He attended Meridian Male College in Mississippi and was educated to become a minister. However, he had a few other careers before he worked as a minister. In 1910 he worked as a railroad telegrapher and in 1922 he is a grocer, both while living with his parents on Crew Street in the 2nd ward of Atlanta. In between those dates he met and married wife Kate.
Finally in 1930, Adolphus began his career as a Methodist minister while living on Crew Street. But in 1934, he made the move to the country, bought a five-acre farm in Burdal and became postmaster. There he built a nine room, two story home for his family on Carpenter Drive. (Atlanta Constitution, June 30, 1942, “One-legged man builds home; used to walk 10 miles a day”)
Top photo, George Adolphus on a ladder in front of the home he built on Carpenter Drive in Sandy Springs. Bottom photo, George Adolphus and wife Kate. Both photo appeared in the June 1942 Atlanta Constitution.
The home is described as “The gabled pine structure stands high atop a shady hill overlooking his field of corn and beans and yams and potatoes, his scores of chickens and the big playhouse he made for the neighborhood children who come to spend weekends with Adolphus and his wife.”
Adolphus didn’t let his injury slow him down and was known for his cheerful outlook. The Atlanta Constitution newspaper recommended a visit to Adolphus’ post office in the “tiny village” of Sandy Springs if you needed to be uplifted.
During World War II, George and Kate Adolphus’ son George Jr. was in the Navy overseas and their son James was an instructor in antiaircraft technique at Camp Stewart.
George Adolphus operated the Sandy Springs post office until 1955 when Benjamin Woodruff took over. After retirement, he moved to Palm City, Florida and was a minister of a different denomination, Baptist. He died in 1959 at age 73. (Miami Herald, August 28, 1959, Retired Baptist minister dead”)