National Register of Historic Places 8 28 202.pdf

NPS Form 10-900

United States Department of the Interior National Park Service

0MB No. 1024-0018

National Register of Historic Places Registration Form

(Expires 5/31/2012)

This form is for use in nominating or requesting determinations for individual properties and districts. See instructions in National Register Bulletin, How to Complete the National Register of Historic Places Registration Form. If any item does not apply to the property being documented, enter "N/A" for "not applicable." For functions, architectural classification, materials, and areas of significance, enter only categories and subcategories from the instructions. Place additional certification comments, entries, and narrative items on continuation sheets if needed (NPS Form 10-900a).

1. Name of Property historic name Community House other names/site number

2. Location street & number 1051 2 Ford Avenue EJ not for publication

�vicinitycity or town Richmond Hill state Geor ia code GA county _B_ry�a_n ____ _ code 029 zip code _3_1_3 _24 ___ _

3. State/Federal Agency Certification

As the designated authority under the National Historic Preservation Act, as amended, I hereby certify that this _x__ nomination _ request for determination of eligibility meets the documentation standards for registering properties in the National Register of Historic Places and meets the procedural and professional requirements set forth in 36 CFR Part 60.

In my opinion, the property ..lL_ meets __ does not meet the National Register Criteria . I recommend that this property be considered significant at the following level(s) of significance:

national statewide .JLlocal

Historic Preservation Division, Georgia Dept. of Community Affairs State or Federal agency/bureau or Tribal Government or/Oeputy SHPO Date

In my opinion, the property _meets_ does not meet the National Register criteria.

Signature of commenting official Date

Title State or Federal ag�/bureau or Tribal Government

4. National Park Service Certification

I hereby certify that this property is:

_ entered in the National Register

_ determined not eligible for the National Register

_ determined eligible for the National Register

_ removed from the National Register

_ other (explain:)

Si nature of the Kee er Date of Action

NRIS# SG100010792

Listed: 08 28 2024

National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10900 OMB No. 10240018 (Expires 5/31/2012)

Community House Bryan County, Georgia

Name of Property County and State

5. Classification

Ownership of Property (Check as many boxes as apply.)

Category of Property (Check only one box.)

Number of Resources within Property (Do not include previously listed resources in the count.)

Contributing Noncontributing private X building(s) 1 0 buildings

X public - Local District 0 0 sites public - State Site 0 0 structures public - Federal Structure 0 0 objects Object 1 0 Total

Name of related multiple property listing (Enter "N/A" if property is not part of a multiple property listing)

Number of contributing resources previously listed in the National Register

N/A 0

6. Function or Use

Historic Functions (Enter categories from instructions.)

Current Functions (Enter categories from instructions.)

DOMESTIC – institutional housing VACANT/ NOT IN USE RECREATION AND CULTURE - dancehall

7. Description

Architectural Classification (Enter categories from instructions.)

Materials (Enter categories from instructions.)

LATE 19TH AND 20TH CENTURY REVIVALS - foundation: BRICK Colonial Revival walls: WOOD - Weatherboard roof: ASPHALT SHINGLES other:

NPS Form 10900 OMB No. 10240018 (Expires 5/31/2012)

Community House Bryan County, Georgia

Narrative Description (Describe the historic and current physical appearance of the property. Explain contributing and noncontributing resources if necessary. Begin with a summary paragraph that briefly describes the general characteristics of the property, such as its location, setting, size, and significant features.)

Summary Paragraph

The Community House was built in 1936 as part of American industrialist Henry Ford’s (1863-1947) investment in the community, previously known as Ways Station. The two-story, wood frame, Colonial Revival Style building was designed by Savannah architect Cletus William Bergen (1886-1966) to provide home economics lessons and social training for white girls. The cross-gabled roof building is clad in lapped wood siding with brick gable end chimneys and a wraparound front porch. The building sits on a foundation of brick piers. The interior is a modified center hall floor plan with a rear gabled ell extension and reflects the Colonial Revival style with its bilateral symmetry, banded interior trim, and large fireplaces. Character defining features that reflect the building’s purposeful design and intention include a large second-floor dance hall in which to host community dances, numerous dormitory bedrooms with ensuite bathrooms, as well as a large lounge and dining room. Changes made to the building after the Carter Funeral Home purchase in the 1990s include a one-story chapel addition attached via a hyphen on the northwestern elevation and conversion of the industrial-type kitchen into a breakroom and storage room. The Community House remains in its original setting and is one of the largest buildings fronting Ford Avenue in the city of Richmond Hill. Despite its discontinued use as such in 1950, local residents and a historical marker continue to refer to the building as the Community House reflecting its feeling and association. The large two-story building continues to display its original design, workmanship, and materials

Narrative Description

SETTING

The Community House is prominently sited on Ford Avenue in the city of Richmond Hill on the eastern edge of Bryan County, southwest of Savannah (Photo 1). Richmond Hill, which was formerly named Ways Station until 1941, is south of the Ogeechee River in an area commonly called the Ogeechee Neck. Built in 1936, the building is set back from Ford Avenue on a lot that is largely flat and surrounded by an asphalt parking lot on the northeastern and southeastern sides.

There are some low plantings next to the front porch, but the lot is otherwise free of landscaping. Architect Cletus Bergen designed the Colonial Revival style Community House for Henry Ford according to his specifications. The architect’s 1936 plans for the building are included in the appendix and referenced in the description as Attachments 1-7.

In the late 1990s, the Carter Funeral Home purchased the building for use as a funeral home. The new owners added a frame chapel addition to the northwestern elevation of the building connecting it to the historic structure via a gabled hyphen (Photos 1 & 4). Additionally, portions of the northwest and western edges of the original 3.6 acre parcel were sold to St. Anne Catholic Church (10550 Ford Avenue) adjacent to the Community House on the west, retaining 1.42 acres for the Community House and funeral home property. In December 2022, the City of Richmond Hill purchased the Community House from the Carter Funeral Home.

EXTERIOR

The exterior description of the Community House begins with the northeastern (front) elevation and continues in a counterclockwise direction around the building. Alterations and changes to the 1936 building are noted in the description.

References to the 1936 Cletus Bergen architectural drawings are included in the exterior description, and these drawings can be found in Attachments 1-4.

NPS Form 10900 OMB No. 10240018 (Expires 5/31/2012)

Community House Bryan County, Georgia

The northeastern (front) elevation - Attachment 1 This is the building’s primary façade fronting Ford Avenue (Photo 1). A set of concrete steps leads up to the front side of the wraparound porch and the centrally located main entry with a Greek Revival surround and sidelights (Photo 8). The one-story wraparound front porch is supported by evenly spaced square columns connected by a simple wood balustrade (Photos 1,9,10). Square pickets support the handrails between each column, and a line of dentils runs under the porch eave (Photo 8). Windows on this elevation are evenly spaced six over six windows. The two closest to the main entrance are original double-hung true-divided light wooden sash, and the northernmost window is a six over six single hung window installed 1997 when this side of the wraparound porch was enclosed to form an office. The second floor has five six over six double-hung true-divided light sash windows set over the four original windows and the front door on the first floor. All of the windows on the first and second floors have c.1995 inoperable shutters. The building has a central gabled dormer with a smaller six over six double-hung true-divided light window and a triangular pediment. The gable end brick chimneys are also visible from this elevation.

A c.1997 frame chapel addition (Photos 1, 2, 3, 4) is connected to the historic building via a gabled hyphen on the northeastern elevation, and the façade of the addition is set roughly even with the façade of the historic building. The chapel is a variation of the front gable church with a simple front-facing gable porch (Photo 1). The gabled hyphen connecting the chapel addition to the historic building is clad in wood siding and connects to the Community House via the wraparound front porch that was enclosed in 1997. The addition has four arched windows and paired front doors. A spire extends from the chapel roof.

The northwestern (side) elevation - Attachment 2 This elevation of the Bergen design is largely obscured by the 1997 chapel addition (Photo 2). In the open area at the center of the rear gabled ell wing there is a two-story metal fire escape/casket lift system installed c.1995, and a wooden ramp to the first story (Photo 3). Concrete stairs to the basement are accessed via this elevation as well. The first floor of the northwestern elevation in this area has four six over six double-hung true-divided light wooden sash windows. The second floor has a paneled wooden door accessed via the fire escape/casket lift and one six over six double-hung true-divided light wooden sash window over the projecting portion of the first floor. On the first floor of the southeastern side of this U-section, there are four roughly evenly spaced six over six double-hung true-divided light wooden sash windows and a wood paneled door on the south end. The second floor mirrors the first, with the addition of one more six over six double-hung true-divided light wooden sash window over the first-floor projection.

The northwestern elevation of the gabled ell wing has a brick stair with a metal handrail leading to a wooden paneled door set in a triangular pediment with a fan light (Photo 3). There are two window openings on either side of this entrance. The northern one is boarded and the southern one has a six over six double-hung true-divided light wooden sash window. On the second floor, three six over six double-hung true-divided light wooden sash windows are set evenly over the openings on the first floor. The gable is pedimented and there is a rectangular wood panel at the center.

The northwestern elevation of the 1997 chapel addition has five arched windows, and a set of double doors accessed via either an ADA ramp or a stair opening to the south (Photo 2). The double doors are covered by a small gabled roof. Both the stair and the ADA ramp have a simple wooden handrail and square pickets. Wood lattice infills the bottom of the ramp, and the brick pier foundation of the addition. The southwestern elevation of the 1997 chapel addition has three rectangular stained-glass windows; the central window is both slightly longer and wider than the other two (Photo 3).

The southwestern (rear) elevation - Attachment 3 Unlike the symmetrical fenestration of the front elevation, the windows on the rear reflect their more utilitarian purpose as this ell contains the bedrooms (Photos 4 & 5). The window sequence is interrupted by a wooden paneled door with a simple wooden ramp in the last bay.

NPS Form 10900 OMB No. 10240018 (Expires 5/31/2012)

Community House Bryan County, Georgia

The southeastern (side) elevation - Attachment 4 This elevation consists of three parts: the side gabled rear, the cross-gabled ell, and the front side gable (Photos 5, 6, 7).

The side gabled rear portion has a centrally located wood paneled door set into a triangular pediment with a fan light.

Brick stairs with a metal handrail grant access to this door. There are two evenly spaced six over six double-hung true-divided light wooden sash windows on either side of this door. On the second floor, five six over six double-hung true-divided light wooden sash windows are located directly above the openings on the first floor. The gable is highlighted by a projecting eave around it. The middle cross-gabled connector has three slightly narrower and shorter six over six double-hung true-divided light wooden sash windows. The openings on the second floor are in the same position as those on the first. On the front side gable portion of the building, the wraparound porch continues onto this elevation. An Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ramp with a simple wooden handrail with square pickets was added in 1995. The bottom of the ramp is infilled with wood lattice. There is also a wooden stair leading to the porch. The stair leads to one six over six double-hung true-divided light wooden sash window and a wood paneled door. The brick chimney sits in the center bay with two six over six double-hung true-divided light wooden sash windows with non-operable shutters filling the rest of the elevation. The second floor features two evenly spaced six over six double-hung true-divided light wooden sash windows on either side of the brick chimney.

INTERIOR

References to the 1936 Cletus Bergen architectural drawings are included in the interior description, and these drawings can be found in Attachments 5-6. The interior of the Community House is arranged as a modified central hall Georgian House type with 18 rooms including a singular dance hall the second floor and a two-story rear gabled ell extension. The building was designed with a total of 13 bedrooms comprised of 11 dormitory bedrooms and two (2) bedroom suites all with closets and ensuite bathrooms.

Throughout the building, walls and ceilings are plaster. Sheetrock was used in the modifications made in the late 1990s for the walls of the chapel, the enclosed front stair, the first floor restrooms, and in the kitchen/pantry changes. The walls and ceiling in the second-floor dance hall are stained wood in a natural finish. The building’s original wood flooring is intact underneath carpet throughout. Most of the bathrooms retain original tile and fixtures. Original wooden interior window casings, door casings, baseboards, picture rail, crown molding, and transoms remain throughout the building. The lounge and the dance hall retain the original fireplace mantels.

First Floor - Attachment 5 The rooms at the northeastern (front) end of the building were designed as public spaces. Private spaces are located in the building’s (rear) and the gable ell extension.

Public Spaces The first floor retains Bergen’s central hall plan with the foyer flanked on the southeast by the lounge (Photos 13 & 14) and on the northwest by the dining room (Photos 25 & 26). A c.1995 office lies behind the Foyer, where a restroom was historically located (Office 1 on Photo Key, Photos 11 & 12).

The lounge retains its original footprint and materials. In the 1990s, the staircase leading to the second-floor dance hall was enclosed with sheetrock (Photos 13, 15, & 30).

On the opposite side of the hall, in the dining room, the fireplace was sealed in the 1990s, but remains visible (Photos 25 & 26). A pair of French Doors on the southwest end of the dining room open to the sitting area (Photo 25). The sitting area is a hyphen added in 1997 to provide access to the chapel addition (Sitting Area on Photo Key, Photo 27 and shown).

Also accessed from the sitting area is an office created by enclosing the northwest section of the wraparound porch. The office retains the original window, siding, brick chimney, and porch columns (Office 2 on Photo Key, Photo 28). The chapel has a large open interior lined with pews and two storage areas on the southwestern end (Photo 29).

NPS Form 10900 OMB No. 10240018 (Expires 5/31/2012)

Community House Bryan County, Georgia

The original large commercial kitchen was divided c.1995 into a break room (Photo 16) and small kitchen/pantry by the addition of a sheetrock wall (Photo 22). Adjacent and open to the kitchen the original pantry had a door leading into the dining room to the north. The door was removed and the opening to the dining room was sealed with sheetrock c.1995 (Photo 23).

Private Spaces As the building features a total of 13 bedrooms, representative photographs of the bedroom suites were taken in the second-floor suite, shown as bedroom 8 and living room 2 on the Photo Key (Photos 35-39) and representative photographs of the dormitory bedrooms were taken in the first floor bedrooms shown as bedroom 2 and bedroom 3 on the Photo Key (Photos 19-21).

Originally, the first floor had four dormitory bedrooms for the students (Photos 19, 20, 21) and one bedroom suite with attached bath and living room for the instructors (Bedroom 1 and Living Room 1 on Photo Key and Photos 35-39). The dormitory bedroom on the east was converted to an embalming room c.1995 (Embalming Room on Photo Key, Photo 17).

These rooms are accessed via a hallway, which grants access to the break room, formerly the kitchen (Photo 15).

On the east side of the building behind the now enclosed staircase, the original women’s restroom was converted into separate restrooms for men and women c.1995 (Restroom 1 and Restroom 2 on Photo Key). Approaching the rear of the building a hallway leads to a staircase according access to both the basement and the second story. The hallway turns to access the bedrooms along the rear gabled ell. The hallway extends the width of the ell with exterior access doors at each end (Photo 18).

The bedrooms along the rear wall remain intact. On the western end of the ell, the bathroom attached to bedroom 4 was converted into a small kitchenette c.1965 and the east wall was opened to connect the room to the restroom off of the kitchen (Restroom 3 on Photo Key).

Second Floor - Attachment 6 The second floor mirrors the separation of public and private spaces in the same format as the first floor. The second-floor hallway retains a distinctive arched plaster ceiling (Photo 34). There is a rear staircase that provides access to all three levels of the building at the point where the north-south and east-west hallways intersect (Photo 40).

Public Spaces On the north end of the building, the dance hall, accessed from the staircase off of the lounge, is an expansive room that runs the full width of the building from east to west (Ballroom on Photo Key, Photos 31 & 32). The room retains its stained wood-paneled walls and ceilings, exposed wood trusses, and two stone fireplace mantels. An exit was created in the western corner of the dance hall c.1995 to provide access to an exterior casket lift installed c.1997 (Photo 3).

Leading from the dance hall is a hallway providing access to restrooms designed to be used by guests attending community dances. The women’s restroom remains intact (Restroom 4 on Photo Key, Photo 33). The men’s restroom was converted to storage/mechanical use c.1995 (Storage 5 on Photo Key).

Private Spaces The second floor has seven dormitory bedrooms for students with attached bath and closet (Bedrooms 5-7 and 9-12 on Photo Key, Photos 19, 20, 21) and one bedroom suite with living room (Bedroom 8 and Living Room 2 on Photo Key, Photos 35-39). The dormitory bedroom and bathroom sequence remains unaltered with the rooms retaining their original features. In a manner similar to the change to bedroom 4 directly below on the first floor, the bathroom attached to bedroom 11 was converted into a small kitchenette c.1965 and the east wall was opened to connect to bedroom 12.

NPS Form 10900 OMB No. 10240018 (Expires 5/31/2012)

Community House Bryan County, Georgia

Basement - Attachment 7 The basement can be accessed from either the first or second story via the rear staircase (Photo 40). It has not been altered since c.1945 when the boiler was converted from coal to gas. An original metal fire door is in place on the southwestern wall to the rear staircase. The space does occasionally suffer from flooding (Boiler Room on Photo Key, Photo 41).

INTEGRITY

The Community House resides prominently in its original location on Ford Avenue in Richmond Hill. A view of the building from the road continues to convey the original Cletus Bergan design of the building with the 1997 chapel addition being distinct enough to be clearly differentiated from the historic building. The clear viewshed contribute to the resource’s integrity of setting. The majority of the materials used to build the Community House inside and out are still present.

Similarly, the workmanship of the original building is allayed through the original materials and the original Cletus Bergen design. Inside the building, the lounge, dining room, dormitory spaces, and dance hall continue to reflect the original plan for which the building was purposefully designed. The Richmond Hill community retains a sentimental feeling and strong association between this building and the Fords. Feeling and association are evidenced by the retention of the name “Community House” despite more than fifty years of private ownership, and the regular inclusion of this building on history tours by the Richmond Hill Historical Society.

NPS Form 10900 OMB No. 10240018 (Expires 5/31/2012)

Community House Bryan County, Georgia

8. Statement of Significance

Areas of Significance (Enter categories from instructions.)

SOCIAL HISTORY

SOCIAL HISTORY: WOMEN’S HISTORY

Period of Significance 1936 to 1950

Significant Dates 1936 - Construction of Community House 1947 - Henry Ford’s death 1950 - Clara Ford’s death

Significant Person (Complete only if Criterion B is marked above.)

N/A

Cultural Affiliation

Architect/Builder Bergen, Cletus William (1896 – 1966) - Architect

Period of Significance (justification) The period of significance for the Community House begins when the building was constructed in 1936 and extends as it was used as a community resource through Clara Ford’s death in 1950, marking the end of the Ford era in the Richmond Hill community.

Applicable National Register Criteria (Mark "x" in one or more boxes for the criteria qualifying the property for National Register listing.)

X A Property is associated with events that have made a significant contribution to the broad patterns of our history.

B Property is associated with the lives of persons significant in our past.

C Property embodies the distinctive characteristics of a type, period, or method of construction or represents the work of a master, or possesses high artistic values, or represents a significant and distinguishable entity whose components lack individual distinction.

D Property has yielded, or is likely to yield, information important in prehistory or history.

Criteria Considerations (Mark "x" in all the boxes that apply.)

Property is:

A

Owned by a religious institution or used for religious purposes.

B removed from its original location.

C a birthplace or grave.

D a cemetery.

E a reconstructed building, object, or structure.

F a commemorative property.

G less than 50 years old or achieving significance

NPS Form 10900 OMB No. 10240018 (Expires 5/31/2012)

Community House Bryan County, Georgia

Criteria Considerations (explanation, if necessary)

Statement of Significance Summary Paragraph (Provide a summary paragraph that includes level of significance and applicable criteria.)

The Community House is significant at the local level under Criterion A for Social History due to its association with Henry Ford's (1863-1947) investment in and development of the Ways Station community (renamed Richmond Hill in 1941).

Henry Ford and his wife Clara Bryant Ford (1866-1950) adopted Ways Station as a community partly due to the area’s agricultural potential and partly in order to exercise Henry Ford’s “great vision” (Werling 2000, 61). Henry Ford employed members of the community in his local timber operation and experimental agricultural ventures and built buildings with the intention of improving the community’s standard of living. From its construction in 1936 through Clara Ford’s death in 1950, the Community House provided the white residents of Richmond Hill with a space for specific Ford approved, programs and recreational activities. The Community House is also significant under Criterion A for its association with Social History: Women’s History as it was purpose built by Henry Ford to convey opportunities for young white women to improve their socioeconomic status as adults. Young white women were the target audience of the domestic and societal training that took place at the Community House, reflective of the values and gender roles of the white demographic present in the South in the 1930s and 1940s and geared toward the “cult of domesticity,” a prominent 19th century ideal designed to limit women’s sphere of influence to home and family (MacKethan 2011).

Narrative Statement of Significance (Provide at least one paragraph for each area of significance.)

CONTEXT

Henry Ford is known for making a significant impact on the American economy in the early-20th century. He introduced the automobile assembly line, increased production of motor cars, and raised employee wages. Ford was also a generous philanthropist. An interesting contrast occurs when comparing Ford’s modernization of the automobile industry to his concerns associated with a modernizing society (Warnock 2009, 79). Ford harbored a fondness for nostalgia as is evidenced in his creation of Greenfield Village, an 80-acre museum in Dearborn, Michigan featuring an idealized version of the American past (Swigger 2014). Ford’s interest in workforce productivity and efforts to influence society came together in Richmond Hill Georgia. For many years, Ford had been involved in the lives of his employees, in Richmond Hill, Georgia he became involved with an entire community (McCaskey 1988, 26).

Ford was invested in ensuring the workers in his factories conformed to the idea of an ideal American citizen. This was in Ford’s view, white Anglo-Saxon males who adhered to the standards he deemed to be appropriate and productive. Ford was also fiercely anti-union and antisemitic (Little 2023). He dictated what his employees were allowed to do in and away from the workplace. Ford expressed his ideas and opinions in several ways. He established the Ford Sociological Department to oversee the behavior of Ford factory employees outside of the workplace and implemented an Americanization campaign to facilitate the assimilation and integration of its immigrant workers (Loizide 2004, chapter 5).

He purchased a newspaper, The Dearborn Independent, and published a series of editorials espousing his views, many of which targeted people of Jewish faith (Benson Ford Research Center 2024). Called “The International Jew: The World’s Foremost Problem,” Ford eventually published a formal apology to the Jewish community in 1927 and terminated publication of the paper (Benson Ford Research Center).

To encourage involvement in his programs, Ford devised incentives. For example, in 1914 he introduced the five-dollar day plan (Loizide 2004, 55). Ostensibly to reduce turnover and increase production, Ford raised wages and adopted a 40-hour workweek at his automobile manufacturing facilities. At the time, this five-dollar per day wage was more than double the wages of manufacturing employees who averaged $11.01 per week (US Dept of Labor 1945, 3). However, to receive

NPS Form 10900 OMB No. 10240018 (Expires 5/31/2012)

Community House Bryan County, Georgia this wage, workers were required to avoid vices such as gambling and drinking alcohol and participate in a variety of social standards viewed as ideal by Ford. These standards included practicing personal hygiene, wearing suitable attire, and a submitting to a review of how they spent their time outside of work (Wilson 2013). The Sociological Department employed men to investigate the workers to ensure they were adhering to the conditions of the five-dollar day plan (Loizide 2004, 58). The standards were constructs that Ford believed made American citizens most productive and would thereby make his workers more productive (Loizide 2004, 66-90). In addition, to increasing worker productivity at the factories, Ford believed that the increased wages workers were earning would engender a desire for better things.

Increased wages were a means to obtain better things and thus obtain a better standard of living (Loizide 2004, 64).

Ford disapproved of modern music such as jazz and modern dances such as the Charleston. He “believed that the American music industry was in serious need of reform” (Warnock 2009, 83). Ford, “used folk music and dance to further his crusade of nostalgia” (Warnock 2009, 100). In the early 1920s the Ford’s purchased and renovated the Wayside Inn in Sudbury, Massachusetts and hired dancing instructor, Benjamin Lovett (1886-1952), to teach those old-fashioned dances in the Inn’s ballroom (Warnock 2009, 86). Lovett served as Ford’s dancing master for the next 20 years and later taught dance at the Community House (The Henry Ford). Ford even wrote his own version of a proper dance manual. “‘Good Morning’: After a Sleep of Twenty-Five Years Old-Fashioned Dancing is Being Revived by Mr. and Mrs. Henry Ford” (Warnock 2009, 83).

Ford donated funds to causes he believed would be beneficial to society and particularly advocated funding for programs that would inculcate self-subsistence. He subsidized health care costs for working-class patients and their families at a Detroit hospital but made sure that the patients would still bear a portion of the costs, “There are plenty of hospitals for the poor. There are no hospitals for those who can afford to pay only a moderate amount and yet desire to pay without a feeling that they are recipients of charity” (Philanthropy Roundtable 2024). In Georgia, for example, Ford donated nearly four million dollars in support of the Berry School in Rome, founded by Martha Berry to train boys in farm and industrial skills (McCaskey 1988, 26). In partnership with Dr. George Washington Carver (1864-1943), Ford fully funded several schools to educate African American youths (Warnock 2009, 92). Implementing and imposing certain social standards was part of Ford’s particular brand of philanthropy, which was a form of paternalism where he believed he was possessed of the knowledge and resources to improve the lives of others.

By 1925, Ford was looking for land between Charleston, South Carolina and Brunswick, Georgia upon which to base an experimental farm. Ford sought a suitable environment for growing goldenrod which he, along with Harvey Firestone (1868-1938), believed could serve as a domestic substitute for imported rubber. By 1935 he had selected acreage in Georgia on the Ogeechee River (Warnock 2009, 91). The experimental farm expanded from growing goldenrod to include the cultivation of soybeans and sweet potatoes, along with cash crops such as iceberg lettuce. Ford eventually owned over 85,000 acres on both sides of the Ogeechee River which included the town of Ways Station, Georgia (Sullivan 2022).

The location on the Ogeechee River was ideal due to its combination of a suitable agricultural environment and a community where Ford would be able to implement his “great vision.” At the time of Ford’s land acquisition, Ways Station was “one of the most impoverished places in Georgia” (Sullivan 2022). The intent of the “great vision” was to break the chains of poverty and ignorance through a paternal form of social engineering (Werling 2000, 61-65).

As the farming operation expanded, Ford increased his local investment. He began implementing his vision by constructing non-agricultural buildings in the community (Fenwick and Isaacs 2019, 19). To facilitate his building program, Ford erected a sawmill c.1930 along the Savannah, Albany, and Gulf Railroad. The sawmill utilized local timber and employed local laborers. Having a sawmill under his control advanced the construction of the buildings Ford planned for the community.

NPS Form 10900 OMB No. 10240018 (Expires 5/31/2012)

Community House Bryan County, Georgia

In addition to the subject of this nomination, the Community House, Ford built approximately 292 buildings in Richmond Hill (Fenwick and Isaacs 2019). These buildings were erected to provide the type of environment that Ford intended as means to improve the lives of the local community. Among the buildings were 207 houses for his employees. According to the 2019 survey, 102 of those houses remain extant.

Among the non-residential buildings Ford erected for the purpose of improving the social situation of the community are:

• Martha-Mary Chapel, 10550 Ford Avenue (1936), a nondenominational Protestant chapel (extant),

• Industrial Arts and Trade School, 120 Constitution Way (1938), an educational facility for young white men to learn practical trade and industrial skills. The gymnasium is the only extant building remaining on the complex,

• Ford Kindergarten, 11460 Ford Avenue (1941), an early childhood educational facility (extant),

• George Washington Carver School, 16525 Ford Avenue (1939), a multi-building campus for African American children with a school building, a teachers’ dormitory, a machine shop, and its own school busses. The gymnasium is the only extant building remaining on the complex,

• Courthouse Annex, 9930 Ford Avenue (1938), used by the local government as a place for elections and local meetings (extant),

• Richmond Hill Commissary, 10770 Ford Avenue (1941), built as a grocery store for the community (extant),

• Ford Bakery, 10750 Ford Avenue (1941), a bakery from which the community could purchase baked goods

(extant), and

• Fire Station, 10425 Ford Avenue (1940), a rural fire-fighting station (extant).

After Henry Ford’s death in 1947, ownership of Ford’s Richmond Hill properties passed to the Ford Foundation which had been founded in 1936 by Henry Ford and his son Edsel (1893-1943). The Ford Foundation’s mission aligned with Henry Ford’s philosophy by supporting “scientific, education and charitable purposes, all for the public welfare” (Ford Foundation 2023). The Ford era of ownership for Richmond Hill ended with the death of Clara Ford in 1950. The Ford Foundation began the process of selling the Community House and all other Ford properties in Richmond Hill to the International Paper Company and the sale was completed in 1952.

SOCIAL HISTORY

The Community House is significant under Criterion A for Social History at the local level due to its association with Henry Ford’s investment in and development of the Ways Station community in the 1930s and 1940s. Ford hired Savannah architect Cletus William Bergen (1896-1966) to design the 18-room Community House which was completed in 1936. The Community House was specifically designed and built to serve as a place to implement Ford’s “great vision.” Directly through the purpose designed rooms, the Community House provided a place to convey instruction in home arts, domestic science, etiquette, and dance with the intention of expanding the horizons of young white girls of the community and thereby improving their ability to achieve a higher socioeconomic status (McCaskey 1988, 31).

The building included a large industrial size kitchen designed to accommodate instruction about cooking and proper nutrition, a large dining room where lessons in table manners and serving etiquette could be conducted and a lounge to demonstrate etiquette for entertaining and receiving guests. Live-in instructors were provided with a suite of rooms consisting of a living area, private bedroom, and bathroom. The students, who came for two-week stays, slept in dormitory style bedrooms with ensuite bathrooms. Live-in instruction gave the Ford-hired educators at the Community House the ability to supervise hygiene, dress code, and the young women’s free time in accordance with Ford’s ideas of proper social standards.

Ford was a strong believer in thrift as a means to improve family conditions (Loizides 2004, 9). At the Community House, girls were provided instruction in household management. Subjects taught included food safety and preparation, proper hygiene, and budgeting. Ford maintained these subjects were integral to the formation of a healthy and productive American family ideal. “Promoting ‘healthy’ family relations was one of the goals of Ford’s sociological project” (Loizides 2004, 162). By introducing etiquette, basic housekeeping, and nutrition, these girls were made aware of the social mores

NPS Form 10900 OMB No. 10240018 (Expires 5/31/2012)

Community House Bryan County, Georgia of a higher standard of living than that to which they had been previously exposed. By hiring professionals to provide lessons for these young girls, Ford intended girls’ societal positions would naturally become elevated. The family as a unit would benefit from the edification as the young girls became mothers and wives who would in turn improve the lives of their husbands and children and thereby improve the lives of the community as a whole.

Notably, Ford did not expect the young white women who were educated at the Community House to deep clean or scrub any part of the building; that work was reserved for Black women hired from the local area (Lee 1951). Black women were paid to clean the Community House, but young Black women were not invited to participate in the home economics training there. Similarly, neither Black children nor their parents were invited to participate in the dance classes or attend the dances held at the Community House (McCaskey 1988, 31). In Ford’s opinion, a Black person could not be the type of ideal American his comprehensive social program sought to create (Crafton 2023).

Proper etiquette and dancing were believed by Ford to be outward signs of inner morality, which according to this philosophy made people more productive and healthier (Werling 2000, 64). Another example of Ford’s intention to improve the social standing of the community was his request for Bergen to include a large dance hall on the second floor of the building. Dancing lessons were part of the Community House curriculum. Henry Ford disapproved of the modern dances becoming popular in the early-20th century such as the Charleston and the Black Bottom and sought to promote dances that he viewed to be more morally acceptable such as square dancing, the quadrille, and the waltz. Hosting “traditional” dances was an appropriate form of community entertainment that deterred people from destructive habits such as drinking (Long and Long 1998, 5). Ford paid both Ebba Thomson of Savannah and long-term Ford dancing instructor Benjamin Lovett and his wife to teach dance at the Community House.

Dances were not exclusive to the residents of Richmond Hill and groups of other white youths from Savannah and other local counties were invited to participate (McCaskey 1988, 31). Music for these dances was provided by the Ford Early American Orchestra (Warnock 2009, 95). The local high school paper “The Ways Courier” enthusiastically reported when they saw instruments arriving by train that the Community House would soon be hosting a dance (Warnock 2009, 97).

Since the young white men of Richmond Hill were not invited to participate in the home economics training, these dances were the primary way they interacted with the building (Lee 1951). Also, Students from the local high school held band practice in the building (Warnock 2009, 99). Dance lessons learned by the young women at the Community House inspired adults to form their own dancing club (Warnock 2009, 93). In addition to dances, the white residents of the community had access to this dance hall for local parties, and many local wedding receptions were held there (Lee 1951).

The dances held at the Community House are fondly remembered by the local community. In 2022, Miriam Stevens recounted that her earliest memory of the Community House was attending her seventh-grade dance in the dance hall (Stevens 2022).

SOCIAL HISTORY: WOMEN’S HISTORY

The Community House is significant under Criterion A for social history: women’s history due to the role it played in the lives of girls in the community. Specifically, the young white women of Richmond Hill were the target audience of the domestic and societal training that took place at the Community House. While Ford intended the programs to be a means to improve the social standing of the young women of Richmond Hill, the programs were geared toward the “cult of domesticity,” a prominent 19th century ideal designed to limit women’s sphere of influence to home and family (MacKethan 2011).

A family ethic dominated prescribed gender roles in the cult of domesticity. The concept demanded a man as the head of the household who earned enough income working outside the home to support a woman and children inside the home.

Women then had the time to perform unpaid labor in the home, such as cooking, raising children, and entertaining guests (Rose 1993, 321). These gender expectations did not account for the necessity of low-income households needing multiple family members to earn a wage outside of the home, reinforcing the expectations of middle-class norms for women’s domesticity (Rose 1993, 322).

NPS Form 10900 OMB No. 10240018 (Expires 5/31/2012)

Community House Bryan County, Georgia

Ford practiced this ideal in his factories where Ford denied the five-dollar day wage to men whose wives worked outside of the home. In addition, the programs were reflective of the values and gender roles of the white demographic present in the South in the 1930s and 1940s. Henry Ford’s nostalgic conceptions of gender aligned well with the hyper gendered South, where “the difference between male and female roles was especially sharp” (Gilmore 2001, 771).

Before Ford began implementing his vision, Ways Station lacked any formal instruction in nutrition, dance, or etiquette.

The intention of the instruction held at the Community House was to facilitate the ability of the participants to marry into more affluence from which they came. As married women they would practice a “family ethic,” staying home cooking nutritious meals, maintaining a middle-class home, and entertaining guests (Rose 1993, 321). As Ford did not expect the participants in the Community House programs to conduct extensive cleaning tasks, African American women from the area were hired for this work. Freeing them of cleaning tasks furthered the expectation that these young white women were being trained to marry men with enough income to free them from work outside the home and the ability to hire someone else to perform menial cleaning tasks (Lee 1951). The Richmond Hill community perceived a difference in behavior and health of these young women before and after the training (Long and Long 1998, 4).

Local oral histories indicate that residents believe the instruction in which the young white women participated had an effect on them. Statements such as, “The training helped to make them fine young ladies,” and “they can associate with the highest-class people,” are a common thread in these accounts (Gill 1951). Richmond Hill community members believed this training was important for garnering these young women opportunities for greater social advancement both within and outside Richmond Hill that they otherwise would not have had. Not only did other Richmond Hill residents feel the young women’s health was better, but they also believed that these young women were able to improve their economic situation by marrying wealthier young men than they otherwise would have (Long and Long 1998, 4-5).

While Henry Ford was exercising an experiment to determine if implementing his ideas would improve people, the community benefitted in the form of opportunities that would not have been available to them without Henry Ford.

Constructing a community building of the design, size, and scale of the Community House during the Depression would have been infeasible in the impoverished town of Ways Station. Overall, the residents of Richmond Hill appreciated Ford’s benevolence. The Community House became known as the “cultural center of Richmond Hill” (Long & Long 1998, 4).

Beginning with its construction in 1936 through Clara Ford’s death in 1950, the Community House played an especially large role in the lives of the young white girls of Richmond Hill and the community at large.

Developmental history/additional historic context information (if appropriate)

History of the Community House In 1936, Ford hired Savannah architect Cletus Bergen (1896-1966) who had designed Ford’s personal residence, Richmond Hill Plantation (NRIS# 78000966) to design the Community House. Although Ford required Bergen to make many changes during the process of building his home, he was evidently impressed with Bergen’s work overall, because he hired Bergen to design the Community House with a similar plantation feel. Specifically, Ford wanted the design of the Community House to be based on Cottenham, a sea island cotton plantation in Bryan County that was demolished in the 1930s (McCaskey 1988, 31).

Cletus Bergen was a Savannah-born architect who attended the Georgia Institute of Technology for his architecture training. He was one of Savannah’s most influential and prolific architects in the 20th century. Many other influential architects trained in his Savannah office (ArchiveGrid). Bergen worked in a variety of styles, as seen in Savannah and the surrounding area. The renovation of the Thomas Gamble Building on Bay Street (4 East Bay Street) in Savannah, and the

NPS Form 10900 OMB No. 10240018 (Expires 5/31/2012)

Community House Bryan County, Georgia

International style Drayton Arms Apartments (NRIS# 13000826) funded by the Federal Housing Administration in Savannah are attributed to Bergen.

Following Henry Ford’s death in 1947, the Ford Foundation, which Clara Ford was in charge of, controlled all of the Ford properties in Richmond Hill, including the Community House. Previously, educators employed by Ford operated the Community House under the direct supervision of the Richmond Hill manager. Residents of Richmond Hill could still reserve the building for local functions, and they continued to organize periodic dinners and dances. However, the community used the building less often between 1947 and 1950 (McCaskey 1988, 49).

After Clara Ford's death in 1950, the Ford Foundation was run by Henry Ford II, who was Henry Ford’s grandson and Edsel, Ford’s oldest son. Henry Ford II began the process of selling all of their properties in Richmond Hill (Ford Foundation 2023, Lee 1951). Amber Lee was still working as the hostess of the Community House in 1951, overseeing the use of the building as essentially an inn exclusively for the use of potential buyers examining the Ford Foundation properties in Richmond Hill (Lee 1951). The International Paper Company, which operated under the name Richmond Hill Enterprises, Incorporated, purchased all of the Ford owned land and buildings in 1952 (Bryan County Deed Book 3E, Folio 251).

In 1956, Mr. Gilbert Verney of Monadnock Paper Mills, Incorporated purchased all the buildings Henry Ford had owned in Richmond Hill, including the Community House, from the International Paper Company (Bryan County Deed Book 3I, Folio 15). Verney sold his Richmond Hill properties to the Pemrich Corporation in 1959, and the Community House lot specifically was titled to the president of the company Marc Levine (Bryan County Deed Book 3L, Folio 194). The building continued to function largely as a rooming house for these companies until its sale to Clyde and Herman England in 1965 (Bryan County Deed Book 3X, Folio 25; Stevens 2022).

Clyde England, lived in the Community House with his two sons, Greg and Gary. England’s idea was to live with his sons in a portion of the building and convert the main rooms on the first story to a pub or tavern. However, the building was too close to the Martha-Mary Chapel and England was unable to secure a liquor license (Neidlinger 2022).

England rented a few rooms to a limited number of people, and the physical evidence in two bathrooms converted to kitchenettes remain showing this use (Stevens 2022). On the first floor, the three rooms and utility closet on the northern end of the rear ell of the building were split from the rest of the house with a door. This area became an apartment rented to Jimmy Wright, who stayed there after England sold the property in 1972 (Neidlinger 2022). The alteration of a bathroom to a kitchenette on the second story dates from this c.1965 period as well, and that area served as an apartment for a soldier and his wife (Stevens Interview). England also converted the original coal burning boiler to an oil burning system at this time. England sold the property to Robert and Alieze McGrath in 1972. They lived in the house with their nine children (Stevens 2022). The McGrath’s held extended-family holiday celebrations in the dance hall space. The McGrath family did not make any substantial changes to the building during their ownership, which ended in 1995 when they sold the property to Sanford L. Carter Sr. (Stevens 2022).

Sanford L. Carter used the Community House as a funeral home. Carter Funeral Home built a chapel for the funeral home's use in 1997.