Southside Historic District

Southside is a neighborhood of Valdosta, Georgia, that grew as the city's largest African-American community from the late 19th century into the mid-20th century. Its streets first appear on an 1884 map, and most surviving houses date from the 1890s to the 1940s. They include shotgun, saddlebag, hall-parlor, Georgian cottage, bungalow and Queen Anne cottage types, mostly modest wood-frame buildings with little ornament. The district also holds churches such as St. Paul A.M.E., built in 1895, Dasher High School from 1929, the Art Deco Liberty Theatre, the 1952 Hudson-Dockett public housing, and commercial blocks along Ashley Street. In the 1930s and 1940s about 200 Black-owned businesses operated here, among them cafes, groceries, insurers and funeral homes. Grocer Thomas Hudson built a chain of stores here. The neighborhood was listed for its ethnic heritage, community planning, commerce and architecture. A 1980 overpass project split it, and only the eastern portion retained enough integrity to qualify.