Hammond School was located at 300 Johnson Ferry Road, where Mt. Vernon Towers is today, at the intersection of Johnson Ferry and Mt. Vernon Roads.
The earliest school on record in the community was established in 1851 on Sandy Springs Methodist Church property. Records show that a one-room school across the road from the church burned in 1897. (“Sandy Springs Past Tense,” Lois Coogle)
Following the fire, the community worked together to build a two-story school at 300 Johnson Ferry Road. It may have been known locally as Hammond School but is first referenced by that name in the Fulton County School records in 1904. (Fulton County Schools Archives, Hapeville, GA)
Read moreLisa Lane in Dunwoody was named for two sisters in the Kirby family-Lisa and Lane. I received confirmation of this story from Lane, except her name is spelled Laine. Laine Kirby Wood and her family grew up in a nineteenth century farmhouse on what is now Lisa Lane.
Read moreThe first record of Morgan Falls School is January 1907, when the Atlanta Constitution reported Morgan Falls as one of two new schools opening in Fulton County. The other was on Stewart Avenue.
Morgan Falls Dam was constructed to help supply electricity to the area. The same Atlanta Constitution articles states, “The county was aided in the construction of the Morgan Falls school by the company of that name with its secretary and treasurer, Forrest Adair, very instrumental in the work.”
Read moreWhen Marissa Howard, Programs and Membership Coordinator at DeKalb History Center, sent this photograph to me, I thought perhaps it was a group of school safety patrol students. The group of students in the front have a sign that reads Morgan Falls, a former school in Sandy Springs I have written about before. The photograph is part of the Guy Hayes Collection in the DeKalb History Center archives.
I wondered if the groups of children may have been preparing to leave on the annual safety patrol trip by train to Washington, D. C. and in some years New York City also. I participated in the safety patrol at DeKalb County’s Pleasantdale Elementary School back in 1969 and 1970 but didn’t know the origins of the program or when it started. I also did not recall that it was associated with AAA, the American Automobile Association.
If you look closely, you will also see the name of two other Fulton County Schools at that time-Center Hill and Lakewood Heights Schools of Atlanta. Several of the students are wearing badges and a few have on their safety patrol sash with the badge attached. There are quite a few suitcases.
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