McGaughey home was Serviceman's Shelter

Carroll and Effie McGaughey announced a house-warming party at their new summer home on Spruill Road in Dunwoody in 1939. The Dec. 30, 1939, Atlanta Constitution Society Events column included the announcement, using the alternate spelling of Spruell Road. The gathering was also in honor of their debutante daughter, Mary McGaughey. The couple would later make the Dunwoody home their primary home.

Carroll McGaughey was an electrical engineer and owner of McGaughey Electrical Company.  Effie McGaughey operated an antique shop called Backdoor Studios out of their Atlanta home on Lombardy Way.  The McGaughey’s had two sons, Carroll Jr. and Carrick, in addition to their daughter Mary.

When the United States entered World War II and Lawson General Hospital opened in nearby Chamblee, Effie McGaughey began thinking of ways to help recovering soldiers.  The McGaugheys turned their home from a social gathering spot to a place for relaxation and recreation for injured soldiers, the Serviceman’s Shelter.

Ethel Spruill and Elizabeth Davis describe the McGaughey place in their book The Story of Dunwoody. “Using a rustic building on the McGaughey property and colorful festive lanterns, church groups, community clubs, and Atlanta groups took turns at entertaining the boys and furnishing food and dance partners.” 

This 1945 photo of patients from Lawson General Hospital at the McGaughey home appears in The Story of Dunwoody, by Elizabeth L. Davis and Ethel W. Spruill.

By 1944 a group of Atlanta women including Effie McGaughey had organized a committee to plan parties for convalescing soldiers at various homes around Atlanta.  An article in the July 12, 1944 issue of The Atlanta Constitution titled Many Parties are Planned for Convalescent Officers describes the upcoming schedule of parties.  The following Friday evening a barbeque supper would be held at the home of Carroll and Effie McGaughey.  The guests would be entertained with swimming, music by the Tech band, and a movie shown on an outdoor screen. 

The schedule for the next two weeks includes parties on Habersham Road and another on Tuxedo Road in Atlanta, followed by a gathering at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Ryburn Clay on their Chattahoochee River country place known as Lazy River Farm.  The Clay summer estate was on what is now Clay Drive off Spalding Drive.

The McGaugheys place was for the enjoyment of all recovering soldiers.  One soldier from Lawson General Hospital who lost the use of his legs often got a ride to their home courtesy of the Red Cross.  Upon arrival, he would enjoy swimming in the pool. 

The Serviceman’s Shelter and use of the McGaughey’s swimming pool continued into 1946.  In August of that year they hosted veterans of both World War I and World War II, arranged by Veterans Hospital Number 48 in Brookhaven and financed by the Elks Club. (The Atlanta Constitution, August 16, 1946, Veterans Feted by Elks Group)

Effie McGaughey also helped during World War II by donating a movable kitchen in 1942.  The kitchen was operated by the Atlanta Red Cross Canteen Corps and was able to serve two thousand meals and forty thousand cups of hot coffee per day. 

1891 Atlanta, smallpox vaccine debate

Depending on when you were born, you may have a small circle scar on your upper arm as a reminder of your smallpox vaccine. In 1972, it was determined the vaccine was no longer needed and it stopped being administered to children

Looking through cemetery records, it is obvious that many deaths around the end of the nineteenth century and beginning of the twentieth century near Atlanta were due to smallpox. During the height of the Covid-19 pandemic and the discussions regarding vaccines, I found a similarity with discussions of smallpox vaccine from about 130 years earlier.

There were people on both sides of the smallpox vaccine debate in Georgia. A September 7, 1891, Atlanta Constitution column titled “Against Vaccination” featured a lengthy letter from a citizen strongly opposed to vaccination and Atlanta’s rule that students could not attend without vaccination.

The letter is followed by an explanation and opinion by Dr. J. B. Baird, secretary of the board of health. “The more the people become enlightened, the more they believe in it and know its worth, and if wanted of its benefits to humanity, thousands and thousands can be given.”

Nine years earlier Atlanta’s Superintendent of Schools, William Franklin Slaton, stated that every child in Atlanta schools was vaccinated against smallpox. When one student’s family asked for her not to be vaccinated, she was removed from school. (Atlanta Constitution, April 28, 1882)

A notice titled “Public Schools” on August 31, 1882, informed the public that the “Office of Superintendent, 75 E. Mitchell, will be open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. for the next three days. Persons applying for school tickets must bring certificate of vaccination.”

Whether the vaccine was required or even available to the small communities surrounding Atlanta, I do not know. I do know that smallpox was causing devastation to these communities.

At Nancy Creek Primitive Baptist Church Cemetery in Brookhaven, Solomon Goodwin was buried in 1849 and is believed to have died of smallpox. Goodwin was later reinterred on Goodwin land along Peachtree Road only to be later moved back to Nancy Creek Cemetery.(“The History of DeKalb County, Georgia 1822-1900, Vivian Price)

In Dunwoody, the Bennett-Rainey cemetery and Donaldson cemetery had their beginnings around the time of a smallpox epidemic. The Bennett-Rainey cemetery was referred to as a smallpox cemetery by Franklin Garrett, Atlanta historian who documented cemeteries in DeKalb County in 1931. (Atlanta History Center, Franklin Garrett necrology, 1931) Fannie Adams, Lonnie Adams, Maggie Adams, and Minnie Adams all succumbed to the disease around 1884 and 1885 and are buried at Bennett-Rainey Cemetery, a small, unmarked cemetery along North Shallowford Road.

The Donaldson cemetery, adjacent to Donaldson-Bannister Farm, includes the grave of Nuty A. Donaldson who died in 1883. She was the daughter of original owners William J. Donaldson and Millie Adams Donaldson. On her marker are the words “died from smallpox.”

Smallpox began over 3,000 years ago according to cdc.gov. History tells us that Spanish Explorer Hernando de Soto brought smallpox to Mexico in 1520. The first smallpox epidemic in New England occurred in the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1635.

Native Americans of Georgia were hit hard by smallpox outbreaks in 1735 and 1759.

Dr. Edward Jenner’s discoveries in 1796 led to a vaccine. Concentrated efforts by the World Health Organization to eradicate smallpox began in 1959. By 1966, smallpox was considered eliminated in North America and Europe. The Intensified Eradication Program began the next year and in 1980 the World Health Organization declared smallpox eradicated.

The November 25, 1974 Atlanta Constitution carried the headline, “Within a Few Months Smallpox Will Have Been Wiped Out.” They reported that 43 countries had outbreaks of smallpox in 1967 and that number had been reduced to four countries in 1974.

Lawson General Hospital Dental training, Co. G, MDTS

Glenn H. Curtis

I’m pleased to share the history of Glenn H. Curtis, who spent time training in the MDTS (Medical Department Technicians School) at Lawson General Hospital in Chamblee, Georgia during World War II. Curtis received dental training at Lawson between December 1942 to February 1943.

MDTS began at Lawson General in 1942 and continued into 1945. MDTS started out with 50 people being trained as laboratory technicians, 50 in dental training, 125 in medical training, 125 in surgical training, 50 in x-ray training. The full name of the training program was Medical Department Enlisted Technicians School. In 1943, the numbers had increased in each area, including 106 dental trainees. The website of AMEDD includes history of the Army Medical Department and includes data of the various Medical Department Technician Schools across the US during WWII.

In addition to treating patients at Lawson General Hospital, men (and women with the Red Cross) were being trained to provide medical and dental care to injured soldiers. Lawson reported their students trained through “lectures, demonstration, and by actually performing over and over again the various procedures. Performance of the procedures, under close supervision, is the most important part of their training.”

Glenn Curtis’ son Gary Curtis shared memories and history he has gathered about his father’s WWII service. Glenn was born Jan. 28,1920. His WWII registration card shows he was 21 years old, working as a driver for Hanna Market in Rochester, New York.

As far as his time at Lawson General Hospital in Georgia, he didn’t share much about his service. He did talk a little about Georgia Tech and could sing the school fight song. He said he enjoyed his time in school in Georgia and at Jefferson Barracks, MO, where he was sent next.

The dental training he received would eventually be used to identify victims in aircraft training crashes in the U.S. I can only imagine that this would be difficult and stressful work, with a lot of sadness and emotions.

Dental section, Day class, MDTS Lawson General Hospital February 1943

Loren Brown, a childhood friend of Glenn Curtis from Rochester, New York was also in the MDTS program at Lawson. Brown’s fiance Lois Howell and Curtis’ girlfriend and later wife, Mildred, and Curtis’ sister Joyce Curtis visited the two men in Chamblee. They stayed in a cottage at the nearby W. O. Pierce Dairy. Visitors to patients and staff of Lawson General Hospital and trainees of MDTS usually stayed in nearby homes. There were no hotels in Chamblee at the time.

Lois Howell facing camera and Mildred Curtis facing the cottage at Pierce Dairy Farm, where they stayed on a visit to Lawson General Hospital in Chamblee during WWII.

Loren Brown stands in front of the W. O Pierce Dairy Farm in Chamblee. Brown and his friend from Rochester Glenn Curtis were in the medical training program at Lawson General Hospital.

Glenn Curtis and Mildred became engaged during her visit and they went to a jeweler on Peachtree Street in Atlanta for a ring.

While at Jefferson Barracks, MO, Glenn Curtis was injured playing baseball. Baseball teams were popular at bases across the country. Curtis is documented as being at O’Reilly Hospital during the last part of 1943 and his son believes this may have been a result of the injury.

Glenn Curtis and his brother Robert registered on the same day in Rochester, New York in January 1942. Robert Curtis served with the Army in France. Glenn would like to have served overseas, but either due to his injury or the timing of his training, he remained in the U.S. Every person who served either in the states or overseas was crucial to the cause.

After the war, Curtis opened an Amoco gasoline station near his home in Rochester. He later worked for the post office, retiring after 17 years. He also operated an antique store with his wife.

Below is the timeline of Glenn Curtis’ service:

Army Air Forces Technical Training Command St. Petersburg, Florida, Nov. through Dec. 1942

Lawson General Hospital, Chamblee, GA, Co. G, MDTS, dental, Dec. 42 to Feb. 1943

Army Air Forces Station Hospital Chicago, IL, March to June 1943

25th Training Group Squad C, Jefferson Barracks, MO, July to Oct. 1943

O’Reilly Hospital, Springfield, MO, end of 1943

Return to 25th Training Group, Jefferson Barracks

18th Replacement Wing, Salt Lake City, Utah, Feb. 1944

Walker Army Air Force base in Victoria Kansas, where his wife may have joined him until he moved on.

Worked at Pressed Steel Car Company, McKees Rocks, PA, a rail car manufacturing company that produced tanks during WW2.

3706 Army Air Forces Squad H. Sheppard Field TX, July 1945 to Sept. 1945

1060 Army Air Forces Squad E Sept thru Jan or Feb 1946

Thank you to Gary Curtis, who reached out and shared this history and amazing photos of his Dad and his time at Lawson General Hospital.

Oglethorpe University train station

This photograph of the Oglethorpe University train station includes a view of Hermance Stadium in the background. The station was located directly across from the Peachtree Road campus in Brookhaven. Photo from the Philip Weltner Library Oglethorpe University.

The September 20, 1916 Atlanta Constitution newspaper announced the opening of Oglethorpe University railroad station. The Cross Keys flag stop closed when Oglethorpe University Station opened.

Students rode the engine, Air-Line Belle, to attend the newly opened Oglethorpe University Station in Brookhaven. Oglethorpe University Station was also home to the new Oglethorpe post office, and the offices of Silver Lake Park Company.  (Atlanta History: A Journal of Georgia and the South, 1995, Paul Hudson)

In an interview with James Magbee, who grew up on Peachtree Dunwoody Road, he recalled the old granite Oglethorpe University station. He remembered that young men from Buford commuted to Oglethorpe University aboard the Air-Line Belle.

The Oglethorpe University post office application shows the location as Land Lot 273, six miles south of the Chattahoochee River and one a half miles south of Nancy Creek, recorded here as Nancy’s Creek. The Chamblee Post Office was two miles away, Atlanta post office ten miles and Dunwoody six and a half miles according to the application.

Albert Martin of the pioneer Goodwin family also recalled the granite depot across the street from the university. Martin remembered that the depot building was home to Pierce Antiques in the 1960s and 1970s. When the Brookhaven Marta station and track were built, the old depot was demolished.

An advertisement for Pierce Antiques which appeared in the 1960s Atlanta newspapers.

Another view of Oglethorpe Station. Photo from the Philip Weltner Library at Oglethorpe University.

Lord family farm at Mt. Vernon Road and Wickford Way, Dunwoody

Not far from the crossroads of Mt.Vernon Road and Chamblee Dunwoody Road was the home of George Washington Lord and Dicey Ann Wade Lord. George Washington Lord was born in 1852 in Madison County, Georgia.   Dicey Ann Wade (full name Dicey Ann Sarah Frances Wade) was born in 1856 in the Oak Grove community of Fulton County, which is now part of Sandy Springs. 

George and Dicey Lord married in 1875 and had twelve children. Sometime before 1900, they moved their family to the Shallowford District of DeKalb County, or Dunwoody. They established a home and farm in the area where Mount Vernon Road and Wickford Way intersect.  Their neighbors were the Cheeks to the west and the Warnocks to the east. 

Three of the Lord children married members of another early Dunwoody family-the Mannings.  Margaret Adella Lord married John Manning, Effie Elizabeth Lord married Starling Manning, and William Alexander Lord married Mary Angie Manning.  These children each owned land in the same area along Mount Vernon Road, then known as Lawrenceville Road or Norcross Road.

In The Story of Dunwoody by Ethel Spruill and Elizabeth Davis, some of the memories of Fannie Mae Lord were shared through daughter-in-law, Cletis French Jackson.  Fannie Mae Lord was one of the other children of George and Dicey Lord.

When Fannie Mae grew up in Dunwoody, she attended the old Dunwoody School, located where the Dunwoody Library and Spruill Center for the Arts are today.  It was the only school in the area, sparsely populated with farmhouses. 

She remembered the day the boiler at the Cheek cotton gin exploded on the southeast corner at Mount Vernon Road and Chamblee Dunwoody Road.  It was November 21, 1920, the day before Thanksgiving.  Her brother-in-law, John Manning died from injuries during the explosion. 

William Edward Jackson was visiting his sister in Dunwoody in 1906 when he met Fannie Mae Lord.  Jackson worked for the Southern Railway as a switchman.  He rode the Roswell Railroad to visit his sister and later to visit Fannie Mae Lord.   Southern Railway had taken over operations of the Roswell Railroad at this point.  

Fannie Mae and William did most of their courting while on buggy rides.  They married in 1910 and had eight children.  At one time, they lived in a home where the first Austin Elementary School was located on Roberts Drive.  According to ancestry.com, in 1959 they lived in a home on McDonough Street in Roswell.  The home was known as Sleepy Hollow.