Legends and Lore…What Do You Know

About the History of Gwinnett County?

George Bagwell

Gwinnett Tourism Awareness ProgramDecember 3, 2008

QUESTION:

For what was the Runaway Bride’s

house used in 1935?

ANSWER:

A temporary schoolhouse after

Duluth School burned.

“They overlap enough to convince me that the

foundations, at least, are true. You know how quickly rumors change. Word of mouth can distort truth in a very short

space of time. But that does not change the essence of the

story.”

Four Step Test for Credibility(adopted from Cite a Site)

Who

…is the author.

What …is their authority.

Where

…is the source.

When

…did this originate.

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46

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48

Q.E.D.

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2. Along what geographical

feature are 12 Gwinnett schools

built?

HINT: Creekland MS, Dacula

ES, Mill Creek HS, Osborne MS, Duncan Creek ES, Ft. Daniel

ES, Freeman’s Mill ES, Peachtree Ridge HS, Hull MS, Duluth MS,

Norcross HS, Peachtree ES

ANSWER: The Eastern Continental

Divide…running from Fort Daniel to

Fort Standing Pitchtree

3. What is the connection

between Shiloh HS and Gone With the

Wind?

HINT: Think of the

Promised Land

ANOTHER HINT: Think of Thomas

McQuire

ANSWER: Shiloh was the first

stop for the Hebrews, in 1200

B.C., in their Promised Land.

Margaret Mitchell frequently visited the Promised Land

plantation.

5. How did Rockbridge ES earn

its name?

HINT: There is also a

Rockbridge ES in DeKalb County.

ANSWER: At the border

between Gwinnett and DeKalb there is

a rock bridge crossing in the summertime,

across the Yellow River.

6. Where was Hull ELEMENTARY

located ?

HINT: Named after

Richard Hull, as in Hull Middle School.

ANSWER: Hull Elementary School

was a six room school for African-American

students located in western Gwinnett…prior to integration in 1966. It was located on the Hill in

Duluth.

7.

HINT:

ANSWER:

8.

HINT:

ANSWER:

9. How close did GCPS come to

being the home school district for

the capital of Georgia?

HINT: Railroad Survey of

1835

ANSWER: A site near the

Atlanta Athletic Club was a finalist in the Railroad Survey of 1835 to determine the terminus of the

railroad from Chattanooga.

10.

HINT: The Creek Indians

didn’t like the Cherokee Indians.

ANSWER:

11. What were the names of the

consolidated high schools that

opened in 1958-59?

HINT: Geographical names were

chosen…Central Gwinnett was one

of them.

ANSWER: Central Gwinnett, South Gwinnett, North Gwinnett…

and West Gwinnett.

12. Why was there no East Gwinnett

HS opened in 1958-59?

HINT: Dacula is in East

Gwinnett…

ANSWER: …and was

supposed to be included in the

attendance zone for Central

Gwinnett. The community took

legal action to stop this.

17. What could have Collins Hill HS

been named?

HINT: Another school now

has this name.

ANSWER: Peachtree Ridge HS would have been a

good name. Collins’ Hill is a

part of the Peachtree Ridge.

19. Prior to desegregation (in 1966), where did African-American

high school students attend

school in Gwinnett?

HINT: It is still a school

today.

ANSWER: Hooper-Renwick

School, in Lawrenceville currently is

adjacent to the GIVE Center.

20. What was the first GCPS to win a

state athletic Championship?

HINT: The town took it’s

name from Decatur, and

Atlanta.

ANSWER: Dacula School won

boys basketball championships in

1930, 1945, and 1975. The Dacula girls won

a basketball championship in

1954.

21. What was the first GCPS to compete for a

national athletic championship?

HINT: …it wasn’t

Parkview HS.

ANSWER: Duluth School won

the 9th Congressional district boys basketball

championship, and would have gone to the nationals in the

1930s…

24. What was the major obstacle in

Duluth to the 1937 school

consolidation?

HINT: Cotton was king!

ANSWER: Duluth did not want

their tax dollars used to fund education in

the poorer sections of Gwinnett in those days…Snellville in

particular!

25. Who shot the school

superintendent in the early 1900s?

HINT: Another school superintendent.

ANSWER: The Lawrenceville

School Superintendent

shot J.A. Bagwell, the Gwinnett

School Superintendent.

27. Near which school was Barbara Jane Mackle buried

alive in 1969?

HINT: She was buried

alive in a box and kept alive for

ransom.

ANSWER: Berkeley Lake ES,

in 1968.

28. During one year in the 1990s, which school was located in the city with the highest

per capita income in the WORLD?

HINT: They all had lake

front homes.

ANSWER: The City of

Berkeley Lake was a retirement community.

29. What is the basic geologic structure near

Chesney ES (near Gwinnett Place

Mall)?

HINT: Could their mascot be the Sand Crabs?

ANSWER: The “valley” was a

huge sand pit.

30. Which two Bond Referendums failed? For what

reasons?

HINT: Football was not

king!

ANSWER: A referendum in the 1970s would have

purchased the land where Gwinnett Place Mall is located…for a

community stadium….and in

1990…because of…

35. Why is Buford an independent school district?

HINT: Lawrenceville City was also until the

1940s.

ANSWER: These two cities represented the

militia districts in Gwinnett…two in

one county is a no-no.

36. How were several school buildings built

between the World Wars?

HINT: FDR to the rescue…

a Democrat!

ANSWER: The Works Program

Administration (WPA) built at least Bethesda School, and Duluth School (replaced in 1970.)

37. What “unusual” event

occurred in the fall of 1953, at two

schools, at least?

ANSWER: Someone shot a

16mm color film at Duluth School (Nov. 4,

1953) and possibly Sugar Hill, Suwanee,

Grayson and/or Harmony Schools.

39. For what was the Suwanee Bus

Barn originally used?

HINT: They didn’t win any

championships.

ANSWER: It was the

gymnasium for Suwanee School…and the home to at least one concert.

40. What is donkey basketball?

HINT: Not quite as good

as selling ice creams.

ANSWER: Participants played

basketball while astride, and riding,

donkeys. It was used as a fund

raiser in the 1960s.

41. How is the geology of the land around McConnell MS related to that

of the State of Maine?

HINT: Don’t take this

question for granite!

ANSWER: A geological

“thread” of granite runs along the

Appalachians to the state of Maine…Stone Mountain

included.

43. What is the oldest school

building in the district?

HINT: Opinions vary.

ANSWER: Some of the

buildings remain from 1931 at

Bethesda School and Dacula School.

45. Which “cluster” took legal

action in 1958 to prevent

consolidation?

HINT: Actually, three

considered…and one followed

through.

ANSWER: Duluth and Lilburn thought about it…

but Dacula followed through.

46. What is the “real” name for

Peachtree Elementary School?

HINT: The answer lies in Bolton, Georgia…and in Question #

2.

ANSWER: Pitchtree

Elementary School. Named after a fort that stood at the confluence of the Chattahoochee

River, and Pitchtree Creek.

47. Why are there several “mills” in

the area?

HINT: Freeman’s Mill,

east of the Alcovy; Woodard’s Mill on

Ivy Creek; the Dutch Mill in

Duluth.

ANSWER: A natural “fall” line occurs in this area…associated with the Eastern Continental

Divide…and earthquakes. Water wheels in grist mills work best near a

water fall.

48. Should Creekland MS be

grouped in the Mill Creek cluster?

HINT: Think Native

Americans, not water.

ANSWER: ANSWER: A Creek Indian A Creek Indian

village was located village was located “dangerously” “dangerously”

close to the close to the national boundary national boundary with the Cherokee with the Cherokee

Indians.Indians.

Legends and Lore…