Lavonia Housing Authority Compiles Book of Historic Photos

A book, featuring the history of the Housing Authority in Lavonia, Canon and Carnesville is now part of the Lavonia archives.

At their regular meeting Monday evening, Lavonia Housing Authority Director Ricky Whitworth presented Mayor Ralph Owens and the City Council with the book he said was compiled after he and his staff discovered a cache of old photos in storage several years ago.

“We were going through some old files and we ran across some old pictures that really intrigued me,” Whitworth told the mayor and council. “We started digging more and the more files we looked in, the better things we found. I found myself spending more and more spare time trying to organize these photos and put these files together.”

Whitworth said he got the staff as well as Housing Authority Board members involved sorting through and compiling the photos, that Whitworth said date back to 1950.

“All of the developments started here in 1950 and we have progressive pictures going forward,” he said. “They started out pretty basic and some people today might think they’re pretty basic, but for 65 years we’ve provided housing to people who otherwise would not have had place to live.”

In addition to the historic photos of the Housing Authority, the book also recognizes past and present board members.

“A lot of folks donated a lot of their time,” Whitworth said. “This is a board that you don’t get paid for because it’s against HUD law, but a lot of people have served for years, including Starr Whitlow who was here 47 years, Cal Andrews over 40 years, Ruth Davis 20 years, Fred Burton over 20 years, that’s a lot of time for somebody to spend on a board.”

Whitworth said the book also contains historic photos of the Housing Authority complexes in Canon and Carnesville.

“We represent three cities, Lavonia, Carnesville, Canon,” he said. “They always support us too. I call Lavonia, they’re always there. I call Carnesville same thing. I call Canon, same thing. So we wanted to feature those cities as well. So I got a picture of all the city councils from Lavonia, Carnesville, Canon.”

Whitworth then presented the book to the mayor and city council.  Copies of the book will also be presented to the Cities of Canon and Carnesville.