Manget tells some history of Camp Gordon and Naval Air Station Atlanta as well as aviation history for DeKalb County. He explains that at one time DeKalb County had three airports, Gunn Airfield, DeKalb Peachtree, and Stone Mountain

A grand opening ceremony was held at the new Briarcliff Village on Thursday, March 25, 1965. A full page ad in the March 24, 1965 Atlanta Journal announced the new shopping center with details about the 26 stores and services. The ad describes Briarcliff Village as “set amid an intimate courtyard.”

At one point, there were one hundred fifty dairies in DeKalb County.  The 1939 map (which I have shared in previous blog posts) in the book A Century in North DeKalb:  The Story of the First Baptist Church of Chamblee 1875-1975 shows thirty-three dairies in the North DeKalb area including the Wright Dairy.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) was a government program created by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1935 to help the country during the Great Depression by providing jobs. It was part of a group of policies, programs and projects known as the New Deal. Many public works projects were part of the program, as well as projects in the arts. Over 8.5 million people participated in the WPA.

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)

According to documents in the DeKalb History Center archives, Pearidge refers to an area of Tucker between Lawrenceville Highway and North Druid Hills Road, Burnt Creek and north to the railroad. Several farms were in the area, including the 250-acre R. F. Sams Truck Farm and the Honea dairy farm on Montreal Road.

According to ancestry.com. Greenville Henderson was born in South Carolina in 1792.. He married Nancy Ann Barnett in 1813 in Morgan County, Georgia. He was also known as Major Greenville Henderson, having fought in the War of 1812. His father fought in the Revolutionary War.

The land of Greenville Henderson extended from the area of Henderson Mill Road and Henderson Road to where Northlake Mall and other commercial businesses are located. He is said to have accumulated 2000 acres.

This past week a new exhibit opened at the DeKalb History Center to celebrate 200 years for DeKalb County. I was fortunate to attend the opening night event, a “Birthday Bash” for DeKalb County complete with birthday cake and the opening of a 1997 time capsule held at the DHC home in the historic DeKalb Courthouse at 101 E. Court Square in Decatur.

The bicentennial exhibit, as well as other exhibits, are open Monday through Friday 10:00 am until 4:00 pm and Saturdays 10:00 am until 2:00 pm.

DeKalb History Center archives includes history on several elementary schools from the county, including Evansdale Elementary on Evans Woods Drive in Doraville. Jim Cherry, Superintendent of DeKalb County Schools from 1947 until 1972 requested a brief history of the schools he supervised and the Evansdale one is in the archive.

According to the school history of Evansdale Elementary, it opened in September of 1967 with an enrollment of 650. The following year enrollment was 720 and in 1969 enrollment grew to 788.

R. L. Mathis started the dairy back in 1917. According to his obituary in the April 13, 1992 Atlanta Constitution, he started with five cows and a horse and buggy. In a March 13,1980 Atlanta Constitution article, “Country Fresh-Raw Milk and Rosebud,” Mathis told of visiting his uncles’ dairy when he was about 13 or 14 and not loving the work. However, when his father died a few years later Mathis went into the dairy business out of necessity.

There were many dairies in DeKalb County in the 1930s and 1940s and a large portion of those were in Chamblee. According to A Century in North DeKalb: The Story of the First Baptist Church of Chamblee, there were 200 dairies in DeKalb County. DeKalb County was the largest producer of Grade A milk in the south and had more dairies than any other Georgia county.

A map of Chamblee dairies in 1939 shows thirty-three dairies.

According to history at dekalblibrary.org, the bookmobile first came about around 1940 as part of Roosevelt’s Work Progress Administration (WPA). Maud Burrus put books in the back of her car and visited readers in small towns and farms throughout the county. Louise Trotti followed in Maud Burrus footsteps and became the first supervisor of bookmobile services.