Sunday, November 27, 2022

Dunwoody Baptist Church 1944

 Here we have a mint condition program from Dunwoody Baptist Church.  The service is for honoring Youth in the Armed Forces.

On the front cover, written in pencil, is the name Harvey Spruill.  A Spruill (not Harvey)  owned the land where the current Dunwoody Baptist Church is located. But in 1944, the DBC was around he corner, on Chamblee Dunwoody Road.  HERE is some history of Dunwoody Baptist Church.  The DBC website doesn't mention much about the church history prior to the 1960's.  


Not much information on Harvey Spruill anywhere, but I am sure someone can fill us in. Harvey Spruill is listed on the back cover as serving in the Army, stationed in California.  Perhaps Harvey was at this service, or someone grabbed a copy for him and put his name on it. The penmanship of Harvey's name on the front cover leads me to believe someone wrote his name on it.

In the program is the name Dr Arva C Floyd.  Arva does have some interesting history. See HERE for an interview  with Arva's son, also named Arva.  Look on the back of the program and you'll see Pvt Arva Floyd stationed at Ft Bragg, NC.  This matches with the last link above:

Q: You graduated in '41, before Pearl Harbor, but what happened to you? What were your plans? FLOYD: My plan was to go to college, which I did. I went to a junior college which was attached to a part of the institution of Emory University. I was 16-plus when I graduated. Then I was expecting to be called up, it was what every young man of his salt expected to have happen in those days. I was allowed to get through my two years of junior college, and was drafted immediately thereafter, in April of '44. Q: What were you looking at doing, while you were in junior college? What were your courses? FLOYD: In those days, as you know, one did a very general liberal arts education with a good deal of math and science involved. I took three or four chemistry courses, a couple of physics courses, two or three math courses, history, and German. Q: When you were drafted in '44, what did you do? FLOYD: I went to artillery basic training at Fort Bragg. From there, I went to infantry OCS (Officer Candidate School) at Fort Benning. Upon commissioning, I was sent to a couple of training assignments. Then, we moved from those into a division which was being reconstituted to go into the Pacific Theatethe 93rd Division. Then the bomb was dropped and the war ended, and I was sent to the army of occupation in Austria. 

Other surnames recognizable to the Dunwoody area in the program include Spruill, Pitts, Martin, Donaldson.







Saturday, November 26, 2022

North DeKalb Cultural Arts Dunwoody

 Added in 1989 to the old Dunwoody Elementary School, this site hosts a library, the Spruill Arts Center, and the Stage Door Players.






The Original DES Dunwoody Elementary School

5339 Chamblee Dunwoody Road has hosted many facilities the past 50 years.  Currently its the site of the North DeKalb Cultural Center.  Why it is not yet called the Dunwoody Cultural Arts Center is a mystery. It should be renamed to reflect its owner (City of Dunwoody).  At this site you'll find the Spruill Center for the Arts, Stage Door Players, and the Dunwoody/DeKalb library.

If you've ever been inside the Spruill section of this building it's easy to see it is a former school, Dunwoody Elementary School.  The Stage Door Player area was the school's auditorium.  The library was added to the former school in 1989 (same time as adding the Cultural Arts component).  

The address is 5339 everywhere except the city's GIS site. showing it as 5349


























Friday, November 25, 2022

Carey Spruill Plowing in Dunwoody

 Today's look back in time bring us Mr. Carey Spruill and Shorty working a field.  The year is around 1971. Can you identify the building in the background?  It is the clue to the road/lot.  Let me know in the comments. These photos from the original negatives (yes, I have the negatives)






Sunday, April 24, 2022

Lemonade Days Dunwoody Early Years

 Many events were aligned with Lemonade Days in the early years.  5K runs, home tours, concerts, and more

Below is a 4 page packet seeking sponsors of the 2001 event.  Note the dates include two weekends. The event was not yet at Brook Run Park.


Front Cover






In 2000, the first year of Lemonade Days, the DPT organized a home tour.  Homes damaged in the 1998 tornado were featured.  This rare Lemonade Days booklet contains before/after photos of the homes included in the tour.











Year four (4) is at Brook Run, but on a much smaller scale.  DeKalb County still controls the parks at this time, not the City of Dunwoody.  The Brook Run theater plays host to concerts over the weekend.  After years of neglect by DeKalb County and the City of Dunwoody (the theater was in bad shape when Dunwoody won a court battle taking control of the parks, and the city council voted to not fund improvements for the theater.  It's gone, and so is its history.  It was replaced with a few bags of grass seed and some saplings.), the theater was demolished in 2016.  The whereabouts of the theater's stained glass windows is a mystery.  Last we heard the windows were placed in crates and hauled to an unknown storage location.

Below is a rough draft letter to then Commissioner Elaine Boyer, requesting use of Brook Run.












Dunwoody Lemonade Days Shirt History DPT

 The Dunwoody Preservation Trust holds an annual fundraiser here in Dunwoody called Lemonade Days.  The event has grown significantly since the early years.  








Bonus shirt (not LD)

Bonus Shirt



NOTE: Dun Pres trust NOT mentioned on the 2011 shirt