Baker and Baker Village in the Early Years
Since there seems to be some interest in Baker's early years, I thought
I'd pass this along. First, Baker Village and Baker Village School
(later known as just Baker) were built in the early 1940's to house and
school military families/dependents (Baker Village was a Government
Housing Project and patrolled routinely by military police); this was
brought about due to the heavy influx of personnel at Ft. Benning in
support of the war effort. I was one of the early military brats to
attend Baker and entered the 4th grade there in 1943 (my step-father was
sent overseas with the 82nd Airborne Division and my mother, brother,
and I had returned to Columbus from Fayetteville/Ft. Bragg, NC). I
might also mention that we lived at 110 Fletcher Ave........I've noticed
that many of you have made reference to that address. Fletcher Ave was
a part of Benning Park (I suppose it still is) and in those days, there
were no paved roads.......it was country. Cows, horses, chickens, etc.
were a common sight in the area. Our house on Fletcher had all the
country amenities.........outhouse, water well off the back porch,
fireplaces for heat and a wood stove in the kitchen for cooking and
heating bath water. I remember very well walking to school on those
unpaved roads and how nice it was when I got to the Baker Village area
because those streets were paved (and yes folks, it was uphill both
ways).
We attended the Benning Park Baptist Church many of you seem to remember;
It was a wooden structure originally. Some of the family surnames in the
area back then included Copeland, Redmon, Godwin, Blomberg, Brooks,
Cumming, Luke, Levesque, Puckett, Leslie (my step-father), McSwain, and
Shepherd. Perhaps a few of these families were still there when you later
arrivals came upon the scene. If so, I'd be very interested in your
recollections. Guess I've rambled on long enough but thought I'd share
with you some of thoughts on what was going on in that area some 54 years
ago (My God! Its really been that long hasn't it).
Britt Ware '53
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