Richardson House, 9698 State Route 124, Braselton

Source document Quoted word for word from HABS GA-2414. Not written, edited or summarised by this site.

The Richardson House is a contributing historic resource in the existing Braselton National Register of Historic Places District and represents the early twentieth century modest residential dwellings being constructed in Braselton at that time. Constructed ca. this house is a good representative example of the bungalow house type with Craftsman elements. The bungalow house type was popular in all regions of Georgia between and both in rural areas and all sizes of municipalities. The Craftsman style was the most popular early twentieth century style in Georgia. The Craftsman style was a break with the popular revivals of historical styles and a movement toward the modern house.

Craftsman styles were built across the state in rural, small town, and urban settings from the through the The character-defining features of the Craftsman style included a low-pitched roof that is usually gabled but may also be hipped, widely overhanging eaves with exposed rafter tails, decorative brackets or braces at the eaves, porches with short square columns set on piers, and windows with a multi-paned sash over a large one-pane sash. The Richardson House is similar in its period of construction, construction techniques, house type, and stylistic ornamentation to many of the other historic vernacular residences in Braselton.

These houses were constructed during the early-to-mid period of the twentieth century using wood frame construction techniques, and they were built as bungalow house types with elements of the Craftsman style. RICHARDSON HOUSE HABS No. GA-2414 (Page 2) PART

Descriptive Information

The Richardson House is an 843 square foot residential dwelling sited facing south toward State Route 124 on a .58 acre parcel of land. The one-story house was constructed in a rectangular- shaped plan and measures approximately 26 x 37 x 26 x 37 . It is representative of the front gable bungalow house type constructed with Craftsman elements. The house is of wood frame construction with exterior walls clad with wood drop siding. Flat wood corner boards are located at the exterior corners. The gable end walls have vertically- oriented louver attic vents. The foundation walls are concrete block painted green with foundation vents at the east and west elevations. The front gable roof is clad with green asphalt shingles. The boxed eave has a moderate overhang.

The gable ends have a raking wood cornice with cornice returns. There are no gutters or downspouts on the house. Windows are single and paired six-over-six double hung wood sash and frames on the east and west elevations. The three windows on the south elevation (fa ade) are single and paired two- over-two horizontal pane double hung wood sash and frames. The window opening at the north elevation (rear) has been infilled with plywood. All windows have casings of flat boards at the jambs and heads. There are no shutters on the windows. There are two exterior doorways associated with the house. The front door is a single wood door with modern screen doors. The rear door is a single metal door with two horizontal glazed panes. There are two porches associated with the house.

A front projecting gable porch is at the south elevation. This porch is supported by three decorative metal posts. The porch foundation is concrete block and the floor is poured concrete with decorative brick trim at the edges. A three-quarter width rear porch is located at the north elevation. This porch has a shed roof with green asphalt shingles and is currently in a state of disrepair. The porch is being temporarily supported by two 2 x 4 boards and the flooring has been removed leaving only the brick foundation. A one-story one-bay portion of the shed porch at the northwest corner has been enclosed for additional interior living space. The house is sited facing south on a site that is relatively flat.

The historic vernacular residences in the district, including the Richardson House, share equal setbacks and feature informally landscaped yards with mature trees and grass yards. A 336 square foot historic outbuilding is associated with the house. Located to the rear of the house, this is a one-story rectangular-shaped outbuilding of wood frame construction with drop siding exterior walls. The front gable roof is clad with the same green asphalt shingles as the house. There are two windows on the fa ade, RICHARDSON HOUSE HABS No. GA-2414 (Page 3) one on either side of the modern aluminum storm door. The left window is a one-over-one horizontal sash metal window and the right window a single wood sash with six panes. The current condition of the Richardson House is poor to fair.

The house is not currently occupied, and appears to have experienced deferred maintenance, particularly related to the condition of the roof, exterior siding and rear porch. PART II. HISTORICAL INFORMATION The Richardson House was constructed ca. The architect and builder are not known. The building has a one-story rectangular-shaped plan and faces south towards State Route It was historically used as a single-family residential dwelling. The house is currently used as a residence, and retains the potential for continued residential use. The house has been owned by Braselton Hometown Properties since February Previous owners include Ralph and Rebecca Richardson, Wanda Richardson, and Ronnie Richardson. Braselton is located in southwestern Jackson County in northeast Georgia.

Jackson County is the state s twenty-second county, created in from portions of Franklin County that was originally the home of the Cherokee and Creek Indians. Jackson County Following the end of the Revolutionary War, veterans and other pioneers began settling in parts of Franklin County, one of Georgia s original eleven counties, in As the population increased, citizens in the southwestern portion of the county made application to the state assembly for the creation of a new county. On February 11, Georgia Governor Jared Irwin signed the act creating the new county. The county was named Jackson for James Jackson, who was a Revolutionary War general and Georgia statesman.

Jackson served six years with the Georgia state forces and participated in the unsuccessful defense of Savannah in the Battle of Cowpens in and the recoveries of Augusta and Savannah He went on to serve in the Georgia Legislature after the war and was elected to the first Federal Congress, where he became one of the first Jeffersonians in opposition to Alexander Hamilton and the Federalists. He later served in the U.S. Senate before returning to Georgia to overturn the Yazoo Act that had sold Georgia s western lands to unscrupulous speculators.

He later served as Georgia s Governor from to Early Towns The first settlement in Jackson County was Groaning Rock in The town changed its name to Harmony Grove in and again to Commerce in The Native American community of Thomocoggan was renamed Jefferson after Thomas Jefferson and became the new county seat in following the creation of Clarke County from portions of Jackson County in Other RICHARDSON HOUSE HABS No. GA-2414 (Page 4) communities developed along the pattern of railroad lines in Jackson County, including Maysville in Arcade, Nicholson, Pendergrass, Talmo, Hoschton, and Braselton. Braselton Braselton was founded in following the marriage of William Henry Braselton, Sr.

to Susan Hosch on December 11, The Braselton s lived in Hoschton, Georgia on the Hosch family plantation for a number of years following their marriage. It was there that their first two sons, Henry and Green, were born. The Braselton family first began farming the present site of Braselton after the Braselton s purchased 800 acres of land near the Hosch home from Smith on December 8, The family lived in a log cabin on their property, where a third son, John Oliver, and two daughters, Belle and Lena, were born. Braselton Stores The Town of Braselton began when John Oliver Braselton, the youngest son of William and Susan, decided at the age of eight years old that he would become a storekeeper.

In John s father, William Braselton, built a small six-by-six foot structure to be his son s store. From this small building in the front yard of their house, John sold some foodstuffs including sweet crackers and sardines, snuff and tobacco, and rock candy to local farm hands. John sold a grand total of worth of goods and merchandise in his first year of business. After the first store was destroyed in by a runaway horse and buggy, a second larger store measuring 14 x 16 was constructed. This second store was large enough to have a window. 60) That same year, John invited his older brother, Green Braselton, to join the store. And by the oldest brother, William Henry, Jr. joined the business. They became locally known as the Three B s.

The house currently located in the overgrown lot on the northeast corner of State Route 53 and State Route 124 behind the Post Office was originally built as John Braselton s second one-room store. This building was later enlarged into a residence during the historic period. With their continued success, the Braselton s replaced the second store with a larger third store in measuring 22 x 50 . As business continued to increase, the brothers added twenty-two additional feet to this third store. The Braselton Brothers built their stores close to the junction of State Route 53 and State Route 124 and the Gainesville, Jefferson and Social Circle Railroad. The roads had been in place for some time prior, but the rail line had been built in and spurred growth in the area.

Local farmers had access to shipping and receiving large cargoes of agricultural goods. Before the completion of the railroad through Braselton, farmers used the freight station located in Hoschton, a town just south of Braselton. RICHARDSON HOUSE HABS No. GA-2414 (Page 5) In a side-track of the railroad was installed along what is today Wall Street behind the store. The brothers had erected a large 24 x 120 warehouse along the spur track to store merchandise that they purchased by the railroad car-load. Business continued to increase so the brothers erected a fourth store. Construction began on the new brick building on March 1, and was completed on September 1st of that same year.

An article in the February 18, Atlanta Saturday Evening News entitled The Wonderful Progress of 3 Young Men described the new store as having every modern convenience and is the most substantial up-to-date and prettiest storehouse in northeast Georgia. This article also described the building as follows: This handsome new brick store is 60 x 95 feet, with 14 feet walls and a basement 30 x 60 feet. The main floor is divided into three departments one for dry goods, notions and shoes; one for millinery and clothing; one for groceries and the basement for heavy groceries. It has a solid plate glass front of 60 feet with iron columns made at the Winder Foundry and Machine Works, which firm had to compete with a large plant in Evansville, Ind. to secure this contract for furnishing the columns.

The entire building, including basement, is lighted by acetylene gas, requiring 730 candles. This is the brightest light known and makes this large store, with its different departments, a thing of beauty when lighted up at night. The building also has two handsome and well arranged offices, one of them being the private office. The dry goods department is one of the prettiest store rooms in Georgia, being 36 x 60 feet. The Millinery and Clothing department, 20 by 60 feet, is a model of beauty and artistic design. The grocery department 30 x 36 feet, is equal in appearance to most stores and is fitted with heavy groceries. Mr. Baker, who superintended the building of this magnificent store, can afford to feel proud of the construction and workmanship, as it cannot be surpassed.

1 By the time this new brick store was constructed, the business had expanded from candy to dry goods, notions, shoes, millinery, clothing, and groceries. Already the largest building in Braselton, the store was expanded to square feet in with the addition of a three-story building to provide additional space for the store and offices. By the Braselton Brothers Store housed the store as well as the local post office, the offices and freight depot of the Gainesville Midland Railroad, the local express office, Braselton Bank Company, Braselton Chamber of Commerce, a wholesale general merchandise company known as the Braselton Commission Company, and space for over 500 bales of cotton in the warehouse section of the building. By the Braselton Mercantile Company was doing 1 Leta G. Braselton.

Treasured Memories of the Braseltons 3B s ; Atlanta, Georgia: The Conger Printing Co., Inc., 61. RICHARDSON HOUSE HABS No. GA-2414 (Page 6) per year in business and the company motto was Dealers in Everything. 2 With the rise in the automobile, the Braselton Brothers slogan changed to It will pay you to drive miles to our big store and save money. By additional businesses included undertaker, barber shop, filling station, garage, planing mill, and blacksmith. Also during the and the brothers added two additional one-story masonry sections to the side of the original building. The first section (now the middle section) housed the Super Market department and the second section (now the far left section) housed the Furniture and Appliance departments.

Agriculture Agriculture has played a dominant economic role in Georgia s history for more than 250 years, beginning with the settlement by General James Oglethorpe and the English colonists in Early crops that were grown include corn, silk, indigo, and rice. Cotton and tobacco became the primary crops after the Revolutionary War, with cotton soon dominating agricultural production following the invention of the cotton gin by Eli Whitney in in Savannah. By there were farms in the state producing some bales of cotton. Cotton continued to dominate production after the Civil War, with more than bales produced in Braselton was one of the richest and most fertile farming sections of Georgia during the late- nineteenth and early-twentieth century.

Crops grown in the region included corn, pea-hay, sugar cane, and cotton. William Henry Braselton, father to the had been a successful farmer during his lifetime, and the brothers continued that success. They continued to produce crops on their farm of acres and produced on average anywhere from 700 to 800 bushels of wheat, 150 to 200 bales of cotton, and thousands of bushels of corn per year. 3 They produced and distributed hundreds of tons of their own private label brand of fertilizer known as the BBB brand. Industry The presence of the railroad spurred industrial development to take advantage of the agricultural production of the area. In the Braselton Brothers had constructed the large rolling mill to the south of the store on the west side of State Route 53.

The rolling mill, known as the Enterprise Flour and Grist Mill, was one of the earliest fully-operating rolling mills in northeast Georgia and survives today as a rare representative example of an early-twentieth century steam- powered rolling mill in Georgia. According to the article in the Atlanta Saturday Evening News, the rolling mill had the capacity to produce 50 to 75 barrels of flour and 300 bushels of meal per day. The brothers sold their products under the labels of the Three B s and Fast Flyer. 4 Following the construction in of the railroad spur along Wall Street described above, the Braselton Brothers constructed a Cotton Gin along the siding during the early The gin 2 Ibid, 76 3 Robbie L. Bettis. Passing: Stories through the history of Hoschton and Braselton, Georgia.

Auburn, Georgia: NHB Publishing, 82. 4 Ibid, 82 RICHARDSON HOUSE HABS No. GA-2414 (Page 7) contained a complete Murray suction ginning system and had the capacity to gin some bales of cotton per season. 5 The ability to ship cotton directly from Braselton made it possible to keep more money in the community rather than pay dealers in Gainesville, Jefferson or Athens to process the cotton. This led to an expansion of the family businesses and an overall increase in wealth for the Braselton family and residents. The Braselton Brothers played the central role in bringing the new technology of the telephone to Braselton in the early-twentieth century. In the brothers partnered with Judge R. B.

Russell of Winder to purchase an existing telephone system from Hoschton that had begun there in The Hoschton Telephone Company headquarters with its plug or drop system switchboard were later transferred to a small two-room house in Braselton in The telephone service grew from just five subscribers in the early to some 230 by 6 Braselton Incorporated Braselton was incorporated on August 21, with Braselton as mayor.

The town limits were defined as follows upon incorporation: The inhabitants of the territory, embraced within the limits of one half of one mile in every direction (except the southern limits herein after described) from the center of the crossroads of what is known as the Hog Mountain and Hurricane Shoals public road, and the Gainesville and Monroe public road, said crossroads being near the store of Braselton Brothers, in the county of Jackson, and the southern limits on the southeast shall run south. 7 Shortly after incorporation, the Braselton Brothers paid for the construction of a high school in (though the school was destroyed the following year during a storm). Braselton continued to grow during the with the construction of more housing and commercial buildings.

The next year, was one of the worst years for the Braselton Brothers. Not only did the cotton market crash in Georgia and the south, but a tornado swept through Braselton destroying the brand new school, the rear fourth of the brick store, and the old frame store, among other buildings in town. In addition to the loss from the physical destruction caused by the tornado, the Braselton Brothers lost from customers unable to pay their bills at the store. While the financial losses from the cotton crash and tornado were devastating, the Braselton Brothers would recover, not only due to their continued tenacity but also with help from many 5 Braselton, 61 6 Ibid, 75 7 Angela Gary and Jana Adams. Our Time and Place: A History of Jackson County, Georgia.

Jefferson, Georgia: Main Street Newspapers, Inc., RICHARDSON HOUSE HABS No. GA-2414 (Page 8) people from bankers to their customers. When the time came to pay their loans to the banks, the bankers told them not to worry and sent to help with repairs to the store. In addition, many of their customers sent money, usually in nickels and dimes. All told, they received some in gifts to help rebuild their damaged store. But in true 3B fashion, the brothers did not spend any of this money on the store, but instead donated it toward the rebuilding of the school that had also been destroyed by the tornado. The depression in the posed little threat for the local economy because the agricultural products were comprised of staples rather than luxuries.

The Braselton Brothers businesses continued to thrive during this period as their customers came from surrounding counties. As in most agricultural areas, the local businesses extended credit through the year and were paid when the crops were sold. Braselton did better than most communities in this endeavor because the Braselton Brothers charged much less than other merchants for this carrying fee. When most Georgia merchants were charging to carry a sack of flour worth the Braseltons were charging their customers The net result was that more people came to Braselton to transact their business rather than going to other nearby towns of similar and even larger size. In Braselton was a thriving town in northeast Georgia.

In addition to the store, the Braseltons were operating the warehouse for cotton, cotton seed, and fertilizer; the rolling mill and gin; shops; filling station; marble yard; depot; post office; private bank; and the high school. 8 While cotton production was declining during the late and Braselton residents transitioned from agricultural to manufacturing jobs. Textile mills, manufacturing plants, and poultry dressing plants moved into the area. Poultry production began in the county around and has increased tremendously over the past forty years such that Northeast Georgia has become one of the nation s leading poultry-producing regions.

Following the end of World War II, the importance of Braselton shifted from a regional agricultural business center to that of a more regional shopping center. Braselton was an established mid-point between Gainesville and Winder, which resulted in commercial traffic moving through the town. Braselton became a convenient shipping and mercantile center for produce and goods during the mid twentieth century. Following the establishment of the large regional shopping malls, the Braselton commercial core slowly started to decline. As late as the Braselton Brothers Store still housed a grocery, hardware, furniture, appliance, and dry goods store. Today, the Braselton Store houses several retail stores including the Braselton Tile Company and Braselton Antiques Shop.

Despite the changes to the Braselton commercial core, the town has grown both physically and economically in more recent years. Having expanded its boundaries, major attractions and companies located in Braselton, turning the once rural farming community and commercial center into a thriving residential and manufacturing area in northeast Georgia. These major 8 Braselton, 92 RICHARDSON HOUSE HABS No. GA-2414 (Page 9) attractions and companies include Chateau Elan, a acre resort and winery; the Panoz Motor Sports Group and Panoz Auto Development Company that builds the handmade Panoz Esperante sports car; the International Motor Sports Association; the Mayfield Dairy Visitors Center; and Haverty's Distribution Center. PART III.

SOURCES OF INFORMATION Braselton , New Georgia Encyclopedia: (January The Braselton Historic District; National Register of Historic Places Registration Form, on file at the Historic Preservation Division of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources. Braselton, Leta G. Treasured Memories of the Braseltons 3B s ; Atlanta, Georgia: The Conger Printing Co., Inc., Braselton, Leta G. Yesterday and Today: The Braselton Family Album. Atlanta, Georgia: The Conger Printing Co., Inc, Cotton Ginning and Rural Life in Georgia. A booklet from the Georgia Agrirama (the State Museum of Agriculture) and Westville Historic Handicrafts, Inc. Dak, Mary Braselton, ed. Ancestors and Descendants of William Henry Braselton. Gainesville Litho Company: Gainesville, Georgia, Elrod, Frary.

Historical Notes on Jackson County, Georgia: Jefferson, Georgia, Gary, Angela and Jana Adams. Our Time and Place: A History of Jackson County, Georgia. Jefferson, Georgia: Main Street Newspapers, Inc., Georgia s Living Places: Historic Houses in Their Landscaped Settings, on file at the Historic Preservation Division of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources. Harris, Tina, ed. Portraits of a Southern Place: A Pictorial History of Early Jackson County, Georgia. Jackson County Historical Society: Commerce, Georgia, Jackson County , New Georgia Encyclopedia: (January Jackson County Tax Records; Jackson County Administrative Center Steward, William C. Gone to Georgia: Jackson and Gwinnett Counties and their Neighbors in the Western Migration. Washington, RICHARDSON HOUSE HABS No.

GA-2414 (Page 10) Tilling the Earth: Georgia s Historic Agricultural Heritage, on file at the Historic Preservation Division of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources. White, W.E., ed. The Early History of Jackson County, Georgia. Atlanta PART IV. PROJECT INFORMATION This HABS documentation was completed as mitigation for the National Register of Historic Places listed Braselton Historic District that is being negatively impacted by the Intersection Realignment of State Route 53 and State Route Project Number TSAPO-S006-00(782), P.I.N. HP Jackson County, Department of the Army (DA) Permit Application Number The measured drawings were prepared by Jihan Stanford, preservation architect with Lord Aeck Sargent, Inc.

The photography was produced by David Diener, director of graphics and photographer with New South Associates. This report was prepared by Glen H. Bennett, preservation planner with Lord Aeck Sargent, Inc. These records were prepared in RICHARDSON HOUSE HABS No. GA-2414 (Page 11) Sketch Plan: Delineator: Jihan Stanford Location Map: