Dewey City Historic District

Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, October 6, 2025

1. Dewey City Historic District Marker (side 1)

Click or scan to see
this page online

Touch for directions.

South,

South,

Wiregrass.

Region,

America,

Hemisphere,

World,

Anglosphere.

Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, October 6, 2025

2. Dewey City Historic District Marker (side 2)

Culture,

Colonies,

America,

South.

From the National Register Nomination prepared by Denise P. Messick, 6/2008:
The Dewey City Historic District is an intact historically African-American residential neighborhood west of downtown Thomasville in southwest Georgia.The District is significant at the local level as an important early through mid-20th-century

Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, October 6, 2025

3. Dewey City Historic District Marker

African-American residential neighborhood in Thomasville. It is significant in the areas of community planning and development and black ethnic heritage as a good example of a planned subdivision established during an era of housing segregation. The district is a distinguishable entity that has remained a stable African-American neighborhood since its inception, with primarily single-family, owner-occupied houses. Migration from farms to jobs in Thomasville drew new residents. Periods of significant growth occurred in the 1920s and after World War II. Residents included laborers, domestics, yardmen, and railroad workers. The district is also significant in the area of education, because the neighborhood schools were highly regarded both for academics and athletic teams. Some families boarded their children in the neighborhood to attend the schools. In 1950 Douglass High School became the first black school in the region to have a gymnasium.
The district is also significant in the area of education for its association with the Dewey City/Douglass School campus. In the 1896 case of Plessy v Ferguson, the U.S. Supreme Court established

Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, October 6, 2025

4. Dewey City Historic District Marker

Looking west across North Martin Luther King Junior Drive from West Calhoun Street.

the “separate but equal” doctrine, which would be used for decades to allow legal segregation of schools. The doctrine enabled African-American neighborhoods to support and embrace their own schools, sports teams, and rising stars.
The district is significant in the area of architecture, because it contains representative house types popular in working class and middle class neighborhoods in Georgia from the early to middle 20th century. Examples of gabled wing cottages, shotgun houses, pyramid cottages, bungalows, American Small Houses, and ranch houses are all present. Most have few stylistic details, although some Craftsman elements are evident on bungalows. Wood is the most common exterior siding material. Brick was typically used for foundation piers and chimneys. Common changes include closed-in porches, artificial siding, and other replacement materials. The district once had several small stores and businesses, but these buildings either no longer exist or are now used as residences.
Shotgun houses are one room wide, and two to three rooms deep, with no hallway. A front porch typically provides outdoor living space.
The gabled

Paid Advertisement

wing cottage (also known as the gabled ell) consists of a gable-front at one end of a recessed wing that is parallel to the facade, forming an "L" or a "T" in plan view.
The pyramid cottage is one of the simplest housing forms in early 20th century Georgia. It consists of a square main mass with four main rooms and no hallway, and a steeply pitched pyramidal roof.
The most common house type in Dewey City is the bungalow. Popular in Georgia mostly between 1910 and 1940, the character-defining features of the bungalow include a low-pitched roof with wide overhangs, irregular floor plan, and an overall rectangular shape. Craftsman elements, such as exposed rafters, roofline brackets, and front porches supported by heavy stone or brick piers, are often present.
By the 1940s, a house type identified in Georgia as the American Small House began to be seen in large numbers. These have minimal detailing, and the smallest ones just met the minimum Federal Housing Administration (FHA) standards for house size. In Dewey City these were popular after World War II.
It was during the late 1950s and early 1960s that a number of small houses in Dewey City were constructed from concrete masonry units. Many of these "block houses" were reportedly built by Alajay Inc., owned by Otis Johnson. Johnson had been owner of a nearby lumber company and was once mayor of Thomasville. He employed black workers, such as Alvin Griggs of Dewey City, in the construction of these homes. He also used African-American contractors. When Johnson saw that low-income homeowners could not afford the maintenance on wood houses, Alajay switched to building in concrete block.

Excerpt:  The Dewey City Historic District is a 110-acre historic district in Thomasville, Georgia which was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2008. It is an intact historically African-American neighborhood.

(By Rev. Arthur L. Jones)  Excerpt:  Dewey City is a single neighborhood made up of four historic plats. Its origins date back more than 140 years. Geographically, the neighborhood extends from Culpepper Street to Felix Street to North Martin Luther King Jr. Drive to Wolf Street. After the conclusion of the Civil War, newly freed slaves looking for property they could purchase and build homes on came to Thomasville. Dewey City was made available exclusively for them.