Page 71 - Coffee County

When South Georgia College frst opened in 1906 as the Eleventh District Agricultural and Mechanical School, a whole new world of opportunity dawned for the citizens of Coffee and the surrounding counties. No longer would people have to brave the elements and travel long distances to receive an education. Post-secondary education had come to them, and the school that became known as South Georgia College would play a pivotal role in the southern Georgia region for over a century.

The Eleventh District Agricultural and Mechanical School later morphed into South Georgia College, and with the name change came expanded educational opportunities. Tens of thousands of rural Georgia residents who otherwise would not have had the chance to receive an education attended SGC and moved on to four-year institutions. They increased their earning power and standard of living, and made this region stronger economically.

As important as SGC was for the frst half of the 20th century, the campus lacked one important element. The college, which initially began as Powell, Peterson, and Davis Halls located on a drained swamp on the south end of Douglas, had grown. SGC had residential housing, athletic facilities, and recreation areas – all the resources one would expect to fnd at a large university. Except for one thing.

SGC did not have a foundation. Foundations play important roles in the operation of colleges and universities. Foundations and their members are vital resources that help institutions raise funds, offer leadership, and guidance on important issues, establish scholarships, support athletics, and assist with capital projects. A school without a foundation is working at a defnite disadvantage. In 1971, a group of business and community leaders decided it was time to bring a foundation to South Georgia College.

In the years following World War II, many communities engaged urban renewal projects to revitalize portions of cities and neighborhoods. Urban renewal arrived in Douglas in the early 1970s, and Wendell Sears, who worked with the City of Douglas at the time, was at the forefront of Douglas’s urban renewal efforts. He recognized that SGC needed to be included in the urban renewal project. One of the best ways to provide for the College’s future, he