in situ

T H U R S D A Y , O C T O B E R 6 , 2 0 1 1D S E C T I O N

A L o o k B a c k a t M o r g a n C o u n t y

R E T R O S P E C T I V ET H E M O R G A N C O U N T Y C I T I Z E N

HistorySaving the Wallace Grove School

What, less than a century ago,served as one of the county's 100community schools for black resi-dents was holding trash.

More than that, the structure itselfwas in disrepair. There were holesin the building. The door and win-dows were boarded up. Ivy wascreeping from the ground, up thefront wall, between beaded boardand clapboard, and out of the top.

Wallace Grove Baptist ChurchPastor Tommy Chatman had adilemma on his hands: the church'skitchen was too small. While con-gregants could go outside to eat,Chatman was worried what they'ddo if it started to rain.

He looked outside the church – atthe old schoolhouse on the church'scampus.

"The deacons agreed to fix it sopeople could come in and eat,"Chatman said.

Understanding the structure wasmore than simply a shed, the churchpartnered with the Madison-Mor-gan Conservancy. Restoration of theWallace Grove School began inMarch 2011.

In 1901, W. P. Wallace donatedabout an acre of land for the con-struction of a school and church, ac-cording to information provided byChristine McCauley, executive di-rector of the Madison-MorganConservancy. Class was in session atWallace Grove school by the 1902-1903 school year.

"In the 1880s through about 1910,the Morgan County Board of Edu-cation was ordering that schools bebuilt in all these communitiesaround Morgan County," McCauleysaid. "The black schools hugely out-numbered...the white schools."

The church burned down in 1950and was rebuilt in the same place.Shortly before that, in 1948, whiteschools across the county were con-solidated into Madison. The 100-some-odd black schools remainedscattered in communities through-out the county until 10 years later.In 1958, the black schools werecombined into three – Bostwick,Springfield and Buckhead. And 10years after that, in 1968, the blackschools were again consolidated,this time into Madison – Burneyand Pearl schools.

The Wallace Grove School, like so manyabandoned buildings, was once home to junk.

See SCHOOL Page 2D

STORY BY KATHRYN SCHILIRO • PHOTOS BY ANGELINA BELLEBUONO AND CONTRIBUTED

Above: Wallace Grove

Baptist Church Pastor

Tommy Chatman stands

in the doorway of the

newly restored Wallace

Grove School. This

schoolhouse is the last

African-American

school still standing in

its original location in

the county. Right: This

is what the schoolhouse

looked like prior to the

six-month renovation.

The structure was in

desperate need of re-

pair.

Above: One of the

schoolhouses six

windows (above, left)

– the windows were

a donation, by the

way – provides a

view of Wallace

Grove Baptist

Church. In 1901, W. P.

Wallace gave about

an acre for the con-

struction of the Wal-

lace Grove School

and Church. Prior to

the renovation, the

old schoolhouse

(above, right) stored

items it seems no

one wanted to have

around, but no one

wanted to part with.

Above: Pastor Tommy Chatman

(right) stands in the doorway of the

restored Wallace Grove School with

his project partners: Christine Mc-

Cauley (middle), executive director

of the Madison-Morgan Conservancy,

and Wes Holt (left) of The Sunflower

Farm. Left: The piano now housed in

the Wallace Grove School was left-

over from cleaning out. Surprisingly, it

still plays. Far left: The last teacher

to teach at Wallace Grove School,

Emma Johnson (left), is pictured with

Anne Wallace-Walker, the grand-

daughter of W. P. Wallace, who do-

nated the land for the church and

school. Both were in attendance at

the unveiling last month.

NEWS & FEATURESOctober 6, 2011 Page 2D MORGAN COUNTY CITIZEN

# 398 NOTICE TO THE PUBLIC OF

ZONING REVIEWMORGAN COUNTY PLANNING

COMMISSIONA petition has been received fromSource of Light Ministries Inter-national in regard to a rezoningrequest for property located at1011 Mission Road, Madison,Georgia 30650. The purpose ofthe application is to rezone ap-proximately 1.28 acres from I-1(Light Industrial) to AR (Agricul-tural Residential).A public hearing will be held bythe Morgan County PlanningCommission on Thursday, Octo-ber 27, 2011, at 7:00 p.m. to re-view and consider arecommendation to the MorganCounty Board of Commissioners.The hearing will be held in theSecond Floor Conference Roomof the Morgan County Adminis-tration Building, located at 150East Washington Street, Madi-son, Georgia 30650.A final decision will be given bythe Morgan County Board ofCommissioners on Tuesday, No-vember 1, 2011, at 11 a.m. Thismeeting will be held in the Boardof Commissioners ConferenceRoom located at 150 East Wash-ington Street, Madison, Georgia30650.All persons with an interest in thisapplication should attend one orboth of these meetings. For fur-ther information, please call TaraCooner at 706/342-4373.Oct. 6

# 408NOTICE TO DEBTORS AND

CREDITORSState of Georgia,County of Morgan

All creditors of the estate of EARLDOCKERY, late of MorganCounty, Georgia, are hereby no-tified to render in their demandsto the undersigned according tolaw and all persons indebted tosaid estate are required to makeimmediate payment to me.This 30th day of September,2011.EARL DOCKERYc/o Tiffany Jones EllenbergAttorney at Law, P.C.204 Thomason StreetMadison, Georgia 30650(706) 342-4406Oct. 6,13, 20, 27# 411

CITATIONGEORGIA, MORGAN COUNTYESTATE NO. G11-013IN RE: PETITION OF DALE R.and BRENDA L. PUNTERVOLDFOR TEMPORARY LETTERSOF GUARDIANSHIPESTATE OF BLYDE L. GRIF-FITHS, MINOR

DATE OF SECOND PUBLICA-TION, OCTOBER 13, 2011TO: KAYLA P. GRIFFITHS andTHE FATHER OF BLYDE L.GRIFFITHS

You are hereby notified that a pe-tition for the appointment of atemporary guardian has beenfiled regarding the above-namedminor. All objections to the Peti-

tion described above either to theappointment of a temporaryguardian or the appointment ofthe petitioner(s) as temporaryguardian(s), must be in writing,setting forth the grounds of anysuch objections, and must be filedwith this Court no later than 14days after this notice is mailed, or10 days after this notice is per-sonally served upon you, or tendays after the second publicationof this notice if you are served bypublication. All pleadings must besigned before a notary public orGeorgia probate court clerk, andfiling fees must be tendered withyour pleadings, unless you qualifyto file as an indigent party. Con-tact probate court personnel atthe below address / telephonenumber for the required amountof filing fees.*** NOTE: If a natural guardianfiles an objection to the temporaryguardianship, the Petition will bedismissed. If a natural guardianfiles an objection to the appoint-ment of the petitioner(s) asguardian(s), or if a parent who isnot a natural guardian files an ob-jection to the petition, a hearingon the matter shall be scheduledat a later date.MICHAEL F. BRACEELLPROBATE JUDGEBy: CAROLYN SMITHSR. DEPUTY CLERKP.O. Box 857, 149 E. JeffersonStreetMadison, GA 30650706-343-6500Oct. 6, 13

LEGAL ADVERTISING

In the early part of the 20th century – the1910s and 1920s – the philanthropic goalof Sears, Roebuck & Company CEOJulius Rosenwald was to construct school-houses for rural African-American com-munities. Georgia was the recipient of 244of those schools, according to McCauley,and not a single one of those was in Mor-gan County.

"I think that that's significant because ifwe needed help educating our children, hewould have been who we would've gone toand said, 'Would you help us buildschools?'" McCauley said. "But we obvi-ously didn't need the help. We were obvi-ously doing it on our own."

McCauley, in an effort to unearth otherturn-of-the-century schoolhouses forblack students in the county, met with anumber of locals well-versed in the exis-tence of these schoolhouses, people likeGeraldine Cooper. In fact, she and Coopersat in her office for hours, she said, pour-ing over the list of 100-plus schools to de-termine whether the school was held in achurch or in its own schoolhouse and, ifso, whether the schoolhouse was stillstanding.

"And none of them (the schoolhouses)still existed," McCauley said. "So...we arepretty darn sure that this (the WallaceGrove School) is the last one (standing inits original spot)."

That's why it's important."The opportunity to show people what

school was like at the turn of the century,"McCauley said of the Wallace GroveSchool's significance in the county. "Youknow, you had to walk to school. You did-n't have a lunchroom. You brought whatyou were going to eat for lunch and it laidaround all day... It was really a differentway of life. Kids now can come and see andget an inkling of what it might be like."

An "on-and-off process," the restorationof the Wallace Grove School took aboutsix months, Chatman said. The pastorhimself had the skills and crew to handlethis project – construction is what he doesduring the week. This fact came in espe-cially handy when addressing the frontwall, infested with ivy.

Using a true preservation technique,Chatman and his crew took off the woodpiece by piece and numbered it; when theyfinished restoring it, they were able to putit back correctly.

While Chatman was prepping the site,McCauley went about gathering dona-tions. The first item she went after wastrue-sized wood.

"Wood in 1901 was a different dimen-sion than it is today," McCauley said. "Atwo-by-four today is not actually a two-by-four."

"It's actually three-and-a-half (inches) byone-and-a-half (inches)," Chatman said.

McCauley knew that Champion Lumberin Shady Dale would cut wood to "truesize," so she approached them for a dona-tion. She told them what they needed – bigsills, rafters, clapboards. The owner toldher, "I'll see what I can do. Ask Tommy tocome down here."

Chatman did, and Champion donatedthe whole load of wood.

"That kind of started us off," McCauleysaid.

Local churches and organizations fol-lowed with cash donations and businesses

took part by giving materials and loaningequipment.

"It was very nice," McCauley said. "It re-ally was an amazing collective effort."

With no electricity or running water, therestored Wallace Grove School was de-buted at an event held by the church onSaturday, Sept. 17 and, for some of the 60or so visitors who happened to be WallaceGrove School alumni, the schoolhouse wasexactly as they remembered it. Amongthose in attendance were Emma Johnson,the last teacher that taught at WallaceGrove School, andWallace's grand-daughter, AnneWallace-Walker.

"I'd say theywere in awe, justamazed," Chatmansaid. "Everybodywas amazed."

The SunflowerFarm's Wes Holtattended the eventand sat next to arepresentative ofthe state HistoricPreservation Divi-sion. According toHolt, the represen-tative said she wasshocked at howquickly therestoration cametogether, that typi-cally somethinglike this takes 10years.

"I went to churchhere the Sundayafter our celebra-tion," McCauleysaid. "I think thebiggest thing, and Ididn't really knowit through theprocess, (was that)Tommy's faith thatthis was going tohappen is whatmade it happen.His faith is very,very strong."

While therestoration of theschoolhouse iscomplete, the con-gregation of Wal-lace Grove BaptistChurch and theMadison-MorganConservancy arestill looking forpictures of or doc-uments from theWallace GroveSchool. There hasbeen remarkablylittle documenta-tion of the schoolthey've found. Ifyou can contributeto their collectionof Wallace Grovearchives, pleasecontact ChristineMcCauley at (706) 342-9252 or cmc-cauley@mmcgeorgia.org.

SCHOOL from Page 1D

Many local businesses andorganizations came together to make therestoration of the WallaceGrove School possible. Thelist of contributors, according to Madison-Morgan Conservancy Executive Director ChristineMcCauley, includes...

Madison-Morgan Conservancy: Gave cash,organized workdays andarranged all donationsMorgan County Landmarks: Gave cashThankful Baptist Church:Gave cashChampion Lumber:Donated woodSocial Circle Hardware:Donated beaded boardGreat Estate Landscaping: Donated 50bales of pinestraw andloaned a sod rollerRuark Farms: Donatedtwo pallets of sod and soldthree moreFranklin Restoration: Donated six windowsSunflower Farm: Donatedfurnishings and labor, organized work days andloaned a bulldozerMadison-Morgan Cultural Center: Donatedtwo period desksPlainview BaptistChurch: Gave cashIndian Springs BaptistChurch: Gave cashMorgan County Roadsand Bridges: Cut theroads prior to the celebration

"Wallace Grove School issuch an important historicresource for MorganCounty," McCauley writesin email correspondence,"and we were honored tohave been involved in sav-ing the building."

Top: About 60 people turned out for the unveiling of the newly restored Wallace Grove

School on Saturday, Sept. 17. Middle: Current county Superintendent Dr. Ralph Bennett

(left) talks to former school administrator Alfred Murray at the event. Above: Helen

Miller, seated at the teacher’s desk, gazes outside.

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