In the 1920s, the United States, along with much of the rest of the world, was experiencing dramatic change. Post World War I prosperity caused the nation’s wealth to more than double between 1920 and 1929. Droughts, boll weevil infestations, and industrial advancements were causing family farms to fail and rural residents to move in large numbers to the nation’s large cities, according to the DeKalb History Center.
An exhibit now on display at the center tells the story of how this historic backdrop led to the creation of one of DeKalb’s cities. “Avondale Estates, Haven of Health and Happiness” tells of how Black Georgians, many of whom recently returned from the war, were moving to Atlanta, presenting a perceived threat as they competed for jobs and changed the social structure.
“During the 1920s, White suburban neighborhoods rose in popularity. Access to automobiles became affordable and people could choose to leave the city,” a panel in the exhibit states, “Many left urban environments to escape what they saw as unfavorable conditions and found cleaner, safer surroundings in new suburbs where they would raise their families….Avondale Estates was planned as a solution—the perfect escape.”
Real estate developer George Francis Willis in 1924 purchased a town known as Ingleside along with the neighboring 950-acre Candler Farm. Within a year, the combined properties became the city of Avondale Estates, and in 1925 Avondale Estates became the smallest incorporated city in the United States.
“Unlike most communities in Georgia, Avondale Estates did not grow organically. It was planned from the beginning and developed all at once,” according to the exhibit, which adds that Willis hired engineers, architects, and landscapers to create his dream city.
“The land that was to become the ‘seat of an ideally perfect social and political life’ was segregated with racially restrictive covenants which prohibited the sale or lease of…
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