Ida Wallace Carroll lived to be 100 years old and was recognized as the oldest person in Chamblee in 1983. The plan was for her to be part of Chamblee’s75 year anniversary that year. She made it to 100 but died prior to the celebration.
The Atlanta Constitution reported “Mrs. Ida Wallace Carroll, the 100-year-old resident of DeKalb County who was honored last year as Chamblee’s oldest citizen, died Sunday. Funeral at Patterson’s Oglethorpe Hill and burial at Prospect.” (Atlanta Constitution, April 25, 1983, “Mrs. Ida Carroll, 100, oldest Chamblee citizen dies”)
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.
Part of Chamblee Tucker Road between Peachtree Boulevard and Buford Highway was once known as Carroll Avenue. A 1945 map of DeKalb County shows Lawson General Hospital and Naval Air Station Atlanta as located on Carroll Avenue.
Doris Brown, wife of Mayor J. W. “Dub” Brown, organized most of the 75th anniversary. A history of the area was presented on the occasion, which included the early presence of the Creek Nation in DeKalb County.
The 1983 event included a reunion of all graduating classes of Chamblee High School, an open house at city hall and the police station, a “gospel singing” at the Masonic Hall, a parade, antique festival, children’s play, street dance and a potluck dinner (which the newspaper refers to as a hobo meal). (Atlanta Constitution, DeKalb Extra, May 5, 1983, “Citizens passing saddens Chamblee birthday”)
The city of Chamblee was incorporated in 1908. The first application for a post office was for the name Roswell Junction and Ida Carroll was old enough to remember that name. The application was denied because there was already a town named Roswell, and it was believed that could be confusing. The name Chamblee was picked from a list of petitioners and belonged to a Black railroad worker, Wylie Chamblee.
The newspaper article says Ida Carroll spent all her life in DeKalb County and the past 75 years in Chamblee. She was the oldest member of the First United Methodist Church of Chamblee at the time.
She had memories of the Spanish American and World War I and would have been living nearby when WWI Camp Gordon was established in Chamblee. The camp was built in 1917 and continued to operate for a couple of years after the war ended.
She also recalled when President Theodore Roosevelt’s train made a brief stop in Chamblee in 1905. He was on his way to his mother’s childhood home in Roswell.
Carroll recalled going to the Cotton States and International Exposition in 1895 at what is now Piedmont Park. Her father supplied 1000 tables for the event.
Ida Wallace Carroll was born December 28, 1882 and died April 24, 1983 at the age of 100. She is buried at Prospect Methodist Cemetery in Chamblee.