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  dacula
 DACULA, GEORGIA
Est. 1891

Dacula is located on the Seaboard Railroad , approximately six miles east of Lawrenceville.  It dates back to 1891 when the railroad was being constructed, and the contractors selected it as their temporary camp.

In it's earliest days it was known as Hoke, and a post office was established in this name to honor a railroad official, but the railroad refused to have the town continue under that name.  John W. Freeman, the first postmaster, suggested the name "Dacula" as a combination of "Decatur" and "Atlanta" and that name stuck.

Mr. J. W. Hamilton, born in Gwinnett County November 7, 1847,  was the first settler of the town.  He built the first house, a small wooden building, in 1891, around which Dacula grew.

The owner of the first drug store was Dr. Samuel L. Hinton.  After his death in 1918, Dr. William T. Hinton and Dr. Benjamin V. Wilson assumed the duties of caring for the citizens of the town.

In 1905 Dacula was incorporated, with Dr. S.L. Hinton as its first mayor.  Since then the following men have been mayors of Dacula:  A. M. Wilson, L. C. Mauldin, Beverley Ambrose, G. F. Pharr, K. E. Taylor, Claude Hinton, Otho Pharr, J. W. Hamilton, and Taylor Whitley.

The highway from Athens was graded in 1928 and paved in 1931.  A modern brick city hall was erected in 1935 at a cost of $2,500.

Chinquepin Grove was the only school in the area until the Dacula Public School was built.  The first principal of that school was W. A. Davis.  A new brick building was built in 1910, and additional buildings of rock were added later.

The Hebron Baptist Church was organized July 2, 1842, and a house erected on the Davenport place, known later as the Loveless estate.  Two years later, John Wood gave the church three acres of land  where the second building was built.   The building still in use in 1959 was erected in 1881, with additions following. (Update - the Hebron Church is now an enormous complex, spanning about a block at the corner of Dacula Road and Fence Road).

The charter members were John Wood, A. J. Wood, L. A. Wood, Sr., H. M. Wood, William Richardson, Mr. and Mrs. Sanford Goodwin,  Elizabeth Wood, Susannah Wood, Elizabeth H. Wood, Emily H. Moore, Nancy Reed, Mary B. Sammon, Polly A. Green, and a slave by the name of Marcouri Richardson.

Mt. Zion Baptist Church was first discussed at the home of Levi Loveless on July 8, 1853.  On August 3, 1853 the church was organized  with the following ministers acting as presbytery:  S. B. Churchill, William Haslett, Fielden Maddox, John I. Davis, Burrell Higgins and William B. Richards.  James Flowers served as clerk.  The founding members were Levi Loveless, Americus Jennings, Mary Jennings, James Flowers, Minerva Flowers, Marinda J. Flowers, William P. Williams, Joel Johnson, Matilda Johnson, Isaac Petty, George Petty, Sister Williams.

A building was erected in 1854 and remodeled in 1910.  A new building was started in 1940. 

Although not in Dacula proper, the following  historic churches are southwest of Dacula along the Alcovy River:

Two acres of  land for Alcova Baptist Church was purchased in 1828 from Caleb Higgins, with the officers of the church being William Richardson and Joel Higgins.  No records of the church prior to the Civil War are available.  It was reorganized in 1868, the charter members being Easter Smith, Mary Hogan, Polly Green, Mr. and Mrs. Joshua Arnold, Betsy Davis, Amanda Davis, Jane Davis, Letitia Davis, Jackson Green, Marion Smith,  Judge Hogan, General Davis, and Joel Davis.   Rev. A. K. Tribble was the first pastor after the reorganization.

In 1867 Martin's Chapel Methodist Church was organized by a group of Martin families who lived three or four miles east of Lawrenceville.  The charter members were Mr. and Mrs. Elisha Martin, Mr. and Mrs. John M. Martin, Mr. and Mrs. J. M. Martin, Mr. and Mrs. Isaac Coleman, Mr. and Mrs. Job V. Smith and Mrs. Mariah Adams.  The chapel was erected in 1874.

Ewing's Chapel Baptist Church was organized November 6, 1908 with the following charter members:  N. G. Pharr, P. C. Fowler, John Hall, Sarah Pharr, Frances Fowler, Ella Higgins, Lula Givins, and Eliza Hall.  The building was erected the same year.  The first pastor was Rev. John W. Fowler, who served in the years 1908-1911.

Ebenezer Baptist Church is in the Harbin's District not far from the Gwinnett-Barrow County line.  It was organized in 1847 with 48 members, the number increasing to 307 by 1911.  The first pastor was S. B. Churchill.

Appalachee Baptist Church (African American). Link to church history.  See more pictures of Dacula at the Gwinnett County
PHOTO ALBUM!

Sources:
History of Gwinnett County, 1818-1960, Volume II, by James C. Flanigan, copyright 1959


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