46. DECATUR
(1.049 alt., 16,561 pop.), 6.5 miles east of Atlanta on US 29, is a
residential town of shady streets and many small, attractive modern
houses. Although the city limits of Decatur and Atlanta almost touch in
places, the older town has stoutly held its separate character and
withstood absorption into the metropolis where many of its citizens are
employed; Because it is the seat of DeKalb County, Decatur has a strong
flavor of local politics. The business section is dominated by the
dignified granite courthouse with its massive columns, and this square
is often filled with farmers, white and Negro, who have driven in from
the surrounding county lands. Here, side by side with the town
residents, they purchase supplies, discuss current political issues,
and exchange news of their own affairs.
DeKalb County covers an area of 272 square miles and has a
population of 86,942. Within its boundaries are eight incorporated
towns (Avondale Estates, Chamblee, Clarkston, Decatur, Lithonia, North
Atlanta, Pine Lake, and Stone Mountain), several unincorporated
villages, a section of Atlanta, and several residential suburbs of that
city. Because of this proximity to the large Atlanta markets, numerous
truck farms, poultry farms, and dairies are operated throughout the
rural section of the county. More extensive farm tracts are cultivated
in cotton, corn, and hay-producing crops. Although DeKalb County is
primarily an agricultural section, there are several well-developed
industrial enterprises, of which the principal ones are textile
manufacturing and granite quarrying.
The land now included in DeKalb County was ceded by the Creek
Indians to the United States through a treaty signed at Indian Springs
on January 8, 1821. The area was made a part of Henry County during the
latter part of the same year and was subsequently opened to settlement
by a land lottery. Small farmers poured into the region from North
Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia. Settlement was so rapid that
within a year the legislature deemed it necessary to create a new
county from a part of Henry. By an act approved on December 9, 1822,
DeKalb was created and named for Baron Johann DeKalb, a Bavarian-born
officer of the French army who had come to America with LaFayette and
had died fighting for the cause of American independence. In
establishing the boundaries of the new county, it was found necessary
to include small portions of Gwinnett and Fayette.
Fourteen days after the creation of DeKalb, the legislature named
William Jackson's house on what is now McDonough Road as a temporary
site for the election of officers and the holding of court sessions.
The county commissioners who were appointed by the legislature
purchased Land Lot 246 near the center of the county, and on July 28,
1823, the inferior court issued an order declaring that a county seat
would be permanently established on this site. The town was namedin
honor of Stephen Decatur, a distinguished naval officer of the War of
1812.
The county commissioners were also authorized to purchase land for
the site of a courthouse and a jail. Accordingly, a log cabin was
erected on the north side of the public square to serve as a temporary
courthouse. Another log structure served as the first jail; the
entrance to this building was a flight of stairs that led to the second
floor, the first floor being a sort of dungeon that could be reached
only through a trap door. Both these log buildings continued in use for
several years until better quarters could be established. A. brick
courthouse, built at the seemingly enormous cost of $5,100, was erected
in 1829 on the site of the present courthouse, where it stood until it
was destroyed by fire in 1842. A granite jail was erected in 1849.
Strict laws and customs governed the conduct of all public officers.
A sheriff upon taking oath of office was required to swear that he had
not since the 1st day of January, 1819, been engaged in a duel... in
this state." One justice, Walter T. Colquitt, opened every sitting of
his superior court with a prayer as he knelt on the; judge's bench.
But, despite the strong influence of religion and the customary strict
rules for daily conducts there were some who enjoyed their grog. Among
the first commercial houses was a grocery store where spirituous
liquors were also sold, chiefly corn liquor and brandy made of apples
or peaches.
Having formed their government and built their dwellings, DeKalb and
Decatur citizens set about the establishment of schools and churches.
The first school was the DeKalb County Academy, established under a
resolution of the general assembly approved on November 10, 1823. Since
all county academies at the time were considered members of the State
university system, the legislature provided financial assistance. On
December 26, 1823, a lottery was authorized by this body to raise
$3,000 for the academy, which was opened in Decatur during 1825.
Further aid from the State was limited, and the school was forced to
charge tuition and to function to some extent as a private institution.
Other academies were opened in the outlying sections of the county
during the 183o's.
As the county increased in population, many private schools were
opened, often by teachers and ministers in their own homes, but
financial difficulties made most of these short-lived. Tuition fees
were low; one statement submitted to a patron shows that the total
amount due was based on a charge of 5½¢ a day for each
pupil. It was not until after the middle of the nineteenth century that
efforts were made to provide more advanced courses. The Hannah Moore
Female Collegiate Institute was chartered on December 22, 1857, and was
opened soon afterward under the direction of the Reverend John S.
Wilson, first pastor of the Decatur Presbyterian Church.
The land had hardly been opened to settlement before missionaries
and evangelists began to organize congregations throughout the county.
The first Presbyterian congregation in Decatur was that of the Westminster
Church, which was formed on October 29, 1825, by a pastor from Gwinnett
County and incorporated by legislative action two years later, when its
name was changed to the Decatur Presbyterian Church. The Decatur
Methodist Church, now the First Methodist Church, was organized at
about the same time. The Baptists worshipped at the rural churches
except for a short time following December 7, 1839, when a few members
of the Hardman Church, two miles north of Decatur, seceded and formed
the Decatur Baptist Church. The church in town apparently proved
unsatisfactory, for two years later the meeting place was moved three
miles east of the city and the name was changed to the Indian Creek
Church. The Decatur Baptists continued to worship at the Indian Creek
Church or with the other denominations until the present Decatur
Baptist Church, now the First Baptist Church, was formed in 1861.
The congregations of the early churches were not long in erecting
houses of worship. The Decatur Methodist Church was built in 1826. In
order to hasten the construction of other religious, edifices, the
general assembly in 1832 passed an act authorizing the inferior court
to grant lots to the Presbyterian and Baptist congregations. The
Presbyterians soon availed themselves of this offer, but the Baptists
did not build their church until 1871.
The galleries of several early churches were set aside for the use
of Negro slaves, and contemporary sources show that many masters gave
them religious instruction. Although DeKalb was never a section of
large slave-holders, the 1850 census listed 2,942 Negro slaves, about
20 per cent of the total population.
Evidences of another form of servitude are found in the minutes of
the inferior court, which indicate that custom permitted the leasing at
public outcry of anyone dependent on the county for support. In 1846,
Old Suck or Sookey, a female pauper, was obtained in this manner for a
salary of $5.87 a month, the bidder being required to give her care and
food. Sookey apparently became more decrepit, for three years later the
bid was only $3.75 a month.
In 1845 Decatur was selected, alternately with Macon, as a meeting
place for the third district sessions of the State supreme court, which
had been established during that year. After ten years this honor was
bestowed upon Atlanta, which had grown rapidly about the terminus of
the railroad. For a time Atlanta's sudden development as a railroad
center caused DeKalb to lose much valuable land and many citizens, for
Fulton County was created from its area in 1853 with Atlanta as its
seat. Federal census reports show that the number of citizens decreased
from 14,328 in 1850 to 7,8o6 in 1860—a loss of almost half the
population in the county.
As a whole the citizens of this area were in favor of preserving the
Union, but with the secession of Georgia sentiment changed and the
entire county cast its lot with the Confederacy. Prior to this time
there had been only one military organization, the Volunteer Light
Infantry Company, formed in 1835. With the outbreak of the war,
however, extensive activity began. During the four years of conflict
the county produced ten companies with such names as the Murphey
Guards, the McCullough Rifles, and the Bartow Avengers. In all, 136
officers and 1,220 men marched off to battle from Decatur, and many men
joined companies from other sections of the State. The county was away
from the line of battle until 1864, when the western portion along the
Georgia Railroad was devastated during the Battle of Atlanta. Two major
generals, W.H.T. Walker of the Confederacy and James B. McPherson of
the Union, were killed within the boundaries of DeKalb on July 22
during the progress of that battle.
After the war more farmers began to settle on the DeKalb County
lands, and by the end of the century the county had more than regained
the population lost as a result of the creation of Fulton. The
courthouse that had been completed in 1847 was too small to house the
increased number of county officers and the accumulation of records.
Consequently this building was torn down in 1898 and replaced by
another two years later. This courthouse served the county until 1916,
when it was destroyed by fire. The present granite, edifice, the fifth
in Decatur, was erected I9I7-18 at a cost of $110,000.
Although the county was getting back its lost population, the town
grew very little until after the first decade of the new century. In
1900 Decatur, overshadowed by Atlanta, had a population of only 1,418.
The only public school was the poorly equipped DeKalb County Academy,
which had become a grammar school called the Decatur Male and Female
Academy. During the following year Decatur citizens voted to tax
themselves for educational purposes. In organizing their public school
system they took over the old academy and began its operation under
their own board of trustees in January 1902.
Since Decatur had no public high school, pupils in the upper grades
were dependent upon such private institutions as Agnes Scott Institute
and the Hillyer School. They also sent their sons to the Donald Fraser
School, which had been opened in 1889 by Donald Fraser, pastor of the
Decatur Presbyterian Church, and operated as a prominent boarding and
day academy for boys of all ages. In 1909, when the owners saw that
many of the younger pupils were attending the public school, they
decided to close their academy; but upon the request of patrons they
promised to continue operation until a public high school could be
opened. It was not until I912, however, that the city board of
education consented to maintain a high school, and this was upon the
condition that 64 boys and girls attend and pay a fee of $6 a month.
The required patronage was quickly secured, and the public high school
was opened in September of that year in the Donald Fraser building.
Even as late as 1907 the streets of Decatur were unpaved, the stores
were of the old-fashioned general-merchandise type, and the school
system possessed only one building. The town was lighted with
electricity, but it was not until that year that water works were
constructed. The period of greatest civic improvement started in
1911, when 35 citizens organized the Decatur Board of Trade, now supplanted
by the DeKalb County Chamber of Agriculture and Commerce. That body
immediately undertook the modernization which soon made Decatur
desirable as a residential town. As a result, the population began to
increase rapidly and rose to 6,150 in 1920.
In order to further their civic enterprises the Decatur citizens
voted on November 17, 1920, to change their established system of
political administration by electing five commissioners, who in turn
would choose a city manager. This meant a reversion to the original
commission form of government which had been superseded in 1882 by the
mayor and council-type. On January 3, 1921, the commissioners held
their first meeting and elected P. P. Pilcher as city manager. The
continued growth of Decatur and the consequent improvement in financial
conditions soon enabled the commissioners to build a new city hall,
construction of which was begun in 1925 and completed in 1926.
In 1922 the DeKalb County Centennial Association was organized to
commemorate the founding of the county. During the celebration on
November 9 great crowds in Decatur watched the presentation of an
historical pageant and listened to an address of Charles Murphey
Candler, a prominent citizen. The Decatur Public Library Association
was formed on February 6, 1925. Its members immediately set about
acquiring books through gifts and subscriptions and opened a small
library on April 13. The number of volumes has increased from a few
hundred on the opening date to 17,000 at the present time. The
association maintains not only the main library on the second floor of
the city hall but four branches, two in the county and two in town
including the one in the high school auditorium building. A traveling
librarian, in an automobile fitted out for carrying books, extends the
service of the association to remote sections of the county.
Since 1938, the DeKalb County Chamber of Agriculture and Commerce
has sponsored an annual Harvest Festival, held near Decatur. Each fall
pageants, addresses, produce exhibits, and livestock shows attract
citizens, farmers and business men, from all sections of the county.
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