Mystery Solved!

Tonia Owens and Russell Liner from the Information Desk of the Augusta-Richmond Public Library, suggested to Travis Hollaway that the church in the painting “Old Town Augusta” by Herbert Day might be Saint Paul Baptist Church and that seems to be the correct answer. Way to go Tonia, Russell and Travis!

Erik Montgomery, the Executive Director of Historic Augusta, put it all together for Mr. Clarke, the painting’s owner, and took the picture of the church as it is today. Here is part of his email:

The painting depicts the intersection of East Boundary and Telfair Streets.  The church in the painting is Saint Paul Baptist Church, a congregation that was founded in 1921 and that built the depicted building in 1926.  (Its original building was three doors down at the corner of East Boundary and Telfair in a converted house).  

The addresses of the buildings in the painting, from left to right, are as follows:

On the north side of Telfair Street…

7 Telfair Street – the shotgun house, demolished about 1953.

9 Telfair Street – the saddlebag house [with the center chimney], demolished about 1953.

11 Telfair Street – Saint Paul Baptist Church, still standing, but brick veneered after 1939 and before 1951.  The two entries in the corner towers have been converted into windows, and one central doorway now replaces the central window.

13 Telfair Street – the double-pen house with two chimneys, still standing 

Across Telfair on the south side, only one house is visible in the painting…

2 Telfair Street – the house with the gable-end chimney.

This was such a fun project! Thank you, Erik, for allowing us all to use our sleuthing abilities and thank you everyone who worked on it.

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