Ellaville Schley County Georgia History

10/24/2026

May 1950…

10/23/2026

Feb 1950 THE ATLANTA JOURNAL…

10/21/2026

And now we know the year…Spring of ‘49. School photo is a few years later.

09/27/2026

In the original 1932 history of Schley County book by Mrs. H. J. Williams, she tells us that the first residential dwelling in the new town of Ellaville was built by "Dr. J. W. Sears" on the corner of Oglethorpe and Church St near the depot. The initials were transposed. He was Dr. William Joseph Sears. His granddaughter was Ellaville's beloved and perpetually smiling Mrs. Bessie Lou Lightner, who gave piano lessons at the Ellaville school for many years on College St and played piano for the Baptist Church. Her father was Dr. William David Sears, son of William Joseph, who for decades in the early 20th century had a drug store in the building that is the chapel for Way-Watson Funeral Home. The "Church Street" mentioned above is now Wilson Street. Church St used to run from the Methodist Church on Broad around the corner at now Wilson St and continue to Oglethorpe St. William J. Sears was an early organizer of the Baptist Church and it was built adjacent to his house on the lot which is now the Ellaville Senior Center. The newer Baptist Church was built c1912.

A detailed biography of Dr. William Joseph Sears can be seen at https://thegagenweb.com/gaschley/migrate.htm

The blue house (Charles Crisip home) on Broad would have been built very soon after the Sears home as it too is approaching it's 170th birthday. Don't forget to read all the guesses and conversations in the comments sections of the last few posts on these subjects.

09/27/2026

Trivia Question: So far, Jimmy Harrison is winning on a technicality. The Lawhorn house he mentioned just across the tracks on the left on Andersonville Rd was part of Pondtown, and was the home of Robert Burton who sold the land (150 acres) that was to be laid out and sold by lots as the city of Ellaville, with the town square as it’s center. My use of the term “city limits” was a bit too ambiguous. The city limits have been changed a bit over the years I think. One sign south used to be at S. Broad St and Calloway Dr near the cemetery in the 1950s. There was/is one known house in the new town of Ellaville c1860 that was considered to be “the first dwelling house to be built in town”. Let’s go with that. We’ll tighten up the city limits. (And on another note mention that the train tracks came through in the mid-1880s). Also, regarding other houses that have been mentioned, the Arrington Victorian house on N. Broad was built circa mid-1890s by the brother of A. A. “Lon” Arrington of Arrington’s Dry Goods, where the Pizza place is now. That brother, Henry Thomas Arrington, was almost 20 years older than “Mr. Lon”. Henry Thomas and their father Henry Crawford died 3 months apart in the summer of 1895. Regarding the houses north of the blue house on N. Broad, the next one north was built in 1908 by Emmett Duncan, uncle of Raymond, the editor of The Ellaville Sun. Right past the Arrington house is a vacant lot that was the site for decades of a house built c1900 by Edgar L. Bridges. His brother, Dr. B. L. Bridges, at about the same time built the one next door north, the recently renovated Phillips house. The Bridges brothers owned and operated the drug store that is now Gill Drugs. The brick house next north was built c1930 by C. C. Williamson (former mayor and prominent businessman who married the daughter of A. A. Arrington). The trivia question house is decades older than these few houses (except for the blue house).

09/27/2026

Weekend trivia…take a guess: What’s the oldest house still standing within the Ellaville city limits?

09/26/2026

McCrory home across from the Ellaville Baptist Church until circa mid-1960s.

09/02/2026

Neil and the Snyder boys' daddy. The apartment mentioned in the article was the west side portion of current day Carol Streetman house before renovation. That street (Andersonville Rd) was named Church Street in the 1950 census.

08/31/2026

Kairos PeMo’s Coffee Shop building in background, windmill is in the city park. Circa 1910.

08/28/2026