A lovely gift from Allison. She writes…
My dad and I have been going through old family home movies, and I found a few choice vintage images from his growing up in Decatur, taken by my grandfather. I hope you enjoy these scenes from our city in the 1940s!
Check out that streetcar!!
This is the coolest thing ever! I wish we still had trolleys! There was no traffic on that corner! And those cheerleading outfits! Wow! Thank you, Allison, for sharing and your grandmother was beautiful.
tremendous! thanks for sharing
So amazing to see! Thanks for sharing.
Thank you so much for sharing! Am forwarding immediately to my mother who grew up in Decatur in the 40’s. I can now better see her and my grandmother catching the trolley to go downtown to Rich’s.
What a true gift to the community. Outstanding. Thank you for sharing. Bring back the streetcar!
wunderbar. thanks!
but why would people share a trolly to get around town when they could each drive alone in their cars? weird.
That’s awesome Allison. It was a big deal to have a color home movie camera in the 40s. Can you tell us locals the names of your grandfather and father?
My grandfather was saddled with the gigantic name of merriwether flournoy Adams but everybody called him Bubber (really). He was a radio and early tv engineer in the area. In fact, some of other footage I did not include in that video is of wsb’s first tv transmission tower!
My dad is Doug Adams (DHS class of 54 – go bulldogs!). He grew up in the house in winnona park where I live now but he and my mom moved to Rabun gap ga in 1965, and that is where I grew up.
Loved this. Sent it over to my mom. Your dad must have known my uncle, Richard Penn (DHS ’54). He has passed away but my mom, Catherine Penn Chastain (DHS ’57) talks about taking the street car downtown to Rich’s. Her dad worked for WGST and my mom remembers my grandmother taking her on “the last street car ride”. Many thanks for sharing! Would love to see more of these.
Amy, my dad said he reconnected with Richard via email shortly before he died . He was going to try to come to their 50th DHS reunion.
Wonder if he knew any of my family that lived on Hilldale from 1945 onward. The Holt family.
B, he is trying to remember. He wants to know which side of Shadowmoor on Hilldale – east or west? =)
PS. He is LOVING this.
🙂
East side of hilldale. White House and Becky, Mike, and Tony were the children then.
Wonder if he knew any of Holt family that lived on hilldale from 45 onward.
Wow. This is so neat to see! Thanks so much for sharing, Allison.
Wow! Can’t wait to share with my father. Thanks for posting!
Great! My dad drove one of those street cars! In fact I have a short piece of street car track that dad got when they removed the tracks from Oakview Road. Great video. Thanks for sharing.
I’m so glad folks are enjoying this footage! And that it is bringing back memories and connections for so many. Happy Boxing Day!
Priceless, thank you for sharing. I couldn’t help but notice the beautiful trees on McDonough!
This is awesome!! A true historical treasure–and makes me think that it really would be great to have a theatre downtown again!
Loved that movie theatre too. What a great find. Thank you for sharing. I’d love to see WSB’s tower too. My husband and I both have worked at WSB over the years and there are a lot of TV people who live in Decatur. Maybe you can share that?
Stay tuned! Working on some things …
🙂
Like totally super awesome. Loved the WP cheerleaders and streetcars.
My grandfather was foreman of the shop. They also had streetcars with steam engines. When they transitioned to busses, he would test drive them in our neighborhood ( not the regular route ) and give me a ride. Do you remember the Stone Mountain Express. And do you remember how the seats would reverse and you could face the other way. My father drove street cars and busses. He often got written up in”Two Bells”, the little newspaper they had in those little metal sleeves on the busses.
Dad says he remembers all that – pretty much the entire trolley reversed. Lights on both ends or something like that! And he remembers “Two Bells,” too.
Thanks for sharing. We lived near the old children’s hospital, Scottsh Rite
and my other grandfather owned the little grocery store between Wilson’s ice cream and the dry cleaner’s across from A&P. The trolleys “reversed” near there nearFayetteville Rd./ East Lake.
Check out our little touch of heaven on the Alabama coast”
Really lovely. Enjoyed seeing the glimpse of Winnona Park school. Loved the cheerleaders. Loved the old and new coming together here.
Trolleys, sigh. Who paid for them? Were they self-sufficient or subsidized?
Women wore hats and gloves. Men wore belts and fedoras. Cheerleaders wore mid-calf length dresses and showed off their……….cheering!
The Trolleys were owned by Georgia Power. A great way to use their electricity! My dad worked for them and then MARTA for 42 years. He went from driving the streetcar all the way to the rail system we have today.
Here’s a bit of history about the streetcars: http://railga.com/oddend/streetrail/atlantastr.html
This has been picked up by 11Alive. Good work everyone.
http://www.11alive.com/news/article/317258/40/Vintage-film-depicts-1940s-Decatur