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Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Museum needs new home, seeks old house
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
It was the home of Duluth’s first female mayor.
The Victorian-style manor also served as a children’s clinic when the town didn’t have a hospital. Doctors would perform tonsillectomies and other operations. Alice Harrell Strickland - the mayor of Duluth in 1922-1923 - occasionally assisted.
“People know that home,” said Judy Wilson, president of the Duluth Historical Society. “Descendants have been born there. People have been in and out of it, and they know its grounds. If we don’t preserve it, it will be gone.”
The 108-year-old Strickland house sits on three acres about a block north of Duluth’s historic downtown. Strickland’s granddaughter, Alice Ziegler, owns the house. Her son lives in it. It’s listed for sale for $3.5 million, and Wilson’s group is interested.
A city-owned house located on West Lawrenceville Street serves as the historical society’s current museum. The 1940s granite-style cottage will be torn down next year when the area is turned into a mixed-use development. So the historical society needs a new home.
Wilson told me the Strickland house - where babies were delivered and sick children received care - is the ideal place to store and display vestiges of the past. She noted that the refurbished house has parking space for school buses, plenty of “old-growth” trees and an attached building that could be used for offices.
But like many things, it takes money to make it happen. The society, with the help of city officials, plans to apply for grants. A fund-raiser is under way - the Duluth Historical Society Strickland House Fund. An account has been set up at Gwinnett Community Bank.
Then, there’re the dogs.
Replicas of about 25 labs, bulldogs and other breeds have been decorated by local artists and displayed about town. The canine art will be auctioned off to the highest bidder at 7 p.m. Oct. 5 at the Red Clay Theatre. Proceeds benefit the historical society. (For more info, visit www.dogsdaysofduluth.com.)
Initially, the historical society wants to lease the property, an arrangement that would give them more time to acquire it. Metro Atlanta is notorious for demolishing buildings, not preserving them. Wilson doesn’t want the Strickland house to suffer such a fate.
“We are already losing so much of our history with buildings being torn down for renovations,” she said. “If we don’t save this piece of history, it will also be gone.”
Just like everything else.
For more information, please contact the Duluth Historical Society at 770-476-0335. Rick Badie updates his Gwinnett blog Monday through Friday. Readers who want to discuss the topics he writes about may post comments online (www.ajc.com/gwinnett) or contact Badie directly. He may be reached at 770-263-3875 or email: rbadie@ajc.com.
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