A five-bedroom Victorian house south of Georgia's capitol was in severe disrepair until an Atlanta couple saw its potential. Then they learned it was built around 1900 by South Atlanta postmaster and civil rights activist Luther Judson Price.
The structure was built in the mid-19th century as the waterworks for the city of Macon. In a news article from 1874, the building was mentioned as “an old moss-covered building." By the early 20th century, it was abandoned until it became an antique shop in 1934 where people would buy wedding presents and birthday gifts.
Located at the corner of Jesse Hill Jr. Drive and Auburn Avenue, in the heart of the Sweet Auburn District, once known as the richest stretch of Black real estate in America, the three-story Atlanta State Savings Bank building still stands. But it has been boarded up for decades. Some want to preserve the historic building.
A preservation organization said the home will get a share of $3 million in grants being distributed to 33 sites and organizations nationwide that are important pieces of African American history.
The five homes were donated to Historic Columbus, and three of them previously belonged to Historic Westville, a living history museum that relocated from Lumpkin to Columbus a few years ago.
The Imperial Hotel was built in 1949 and operated as an exclusive rest place for African American travelers. It was also one out of 10 hotels listed in an African American Tourist Guide known as the Green Book.
The damage was limited to the back porch of the historic house, where suffragist Susan B. Anthony lived in the 19th century. The Rochester Fire Department is investigating the source of the blaze.
Thousands of babies were born in a red bungalow that is still standing, though battered, in an African American neighborhood in Camilla, Ga., called the Hill. The historic building’s significance as a place of refuge for Black mothers and babies during a time of segregation and its current fragile state have landed the center on the list of the country’s most endangered places.
The old and rusted Roxy Theatre has been hiding in plain sight for decades near downtown Macon, but those who know its past are building a new future around it.
