The Old Methodist Annex

This building is at Anderson and Atlanta Streets.  Now it is Governor Roy Barnes' lawyer offices.  Before that it was Office Sales and Service owned by Miss Carpenter.  Before that, the original and longest owner was the First Methodist Church, it was their Annex.

In the early-mid 1940s when it was built, I was about 5 years and lived about a block away in the Clay Homes.  As they built it, when the workers would go home in the evenings about ten of us kids were appear and play in the building.  Now, at building sites there are fences to keep kids like us from invading the "in-progress" things, but not then.  I remember Mike Hobby fell through the floor at one spot and landed on a nail which went into the bottom of his foot.  My daddy, the local witch doctor cleaned it for him and soaked it in probably alcohol, although it seems he might have cleaned the wound with kerosene.

I don't think his parents ever found out.  They told him not to go near the building site.

I remember once going to a magician's show on the ground floor of the Annex.  Another time a man had as many young boys as he could find and gave us  a talk about patriotism.  Then he told us to be police volunteers for the  community.   He said he was going to issue us a nice sliver badge that said something like JUNIOR U.S. MARSHALL which would give us a lot of authority.  He collected money for the cost of badges, apparently, parents were told to provide us kids with money for this.  After he got the money, he said he would be back with our badges and left with our money.

That was the first and last time we saw him.