Gillespie-Selden Historic District

Southwest of downtown Cordele, this neighborhood of roughly 42 acres grew from about 1890 as a community for African-American residents, many of them railroad laborers. Its low-lying site beside the tracks was considered undesirable by white settlers, and segregation led residents to build their own schools, churches, stores and a hospital. Most buildings are one-story wood houses in modest types such as saddlebag, pyramid cottage and bungalow. The centerpiece is the Gillespie-Selden Institute, begun around 1902 by Dr. Augustus Clark and his wife, Anna, of St. Paul Presbyterian Church, with northern Presbyterian donations. It grew to include a hospital, nursing school, dormitories and an administration building, and merged with the Selden Institute of Brunswick in 1933. The school closed in 1956, and the campus now offers day-care and community outreach. Four early 20th-century churches anchor major intersections. The district is recognized for its ethnic heritage, education, medicine, religion, community development and architecture.