Black History Month: Saving a piece of Roswell history one board at a time
Roswell sign displaying a new chapter for Doc's Cafe, the city's first Black-owned business.
ROSWELL, Ga. - There are hundreds of pieces of wood stacked up in 3 storage containers in Roswell. Each piece of wood is part of the story of Doc's Café, Roswell's first Black-owned business.
The backstory:
Doc's Café was a restaurant and gathering spot in Roswell in the 50s. Members of the Groveway Community have endless stories about the good times at Doc's.
"Everybody knew everybody. We come in, we play our music. We had a pool table, I tried to shoot pool," said Mary Jackson.
Mary Jackson worked at Doc's when she was a teen. It was a place to grab a hamburger and fries and to hang out.
"We could go to Mr. Doc's, and we felt comfortable. We didn't have no harassment we just enjoyed ourselves," said Jackson.
96-year-old Pat Centers Martin lights up as she recalls the music and the dancing. She says she and her friends felt safe at Doc's.
"It was segregation, and there weren't that many comfortable places to go, but Doc's place," said Martin.
Over the years, time and progress took their toll. The building began to deteriorate, underwent renovations, and was moved due to a road-widening project.
Dig deeper:
Rather than demolish it, the decision was made to deconstruct it, then reconstruct it later to preserve a piece of the city's African American history.
"This is such an important part of Roswell's history in a very heightened period. We thought, what can we do to preserve and, in turn, celebrate and tell the story of Doc's Cafe as we move ahead?" said Steve Malone, Director of Recreation and Parks.
Historians and architects got to work. They evaluated the structure, assessed, and cataloged each piece as the building was taken apart.
"We didn't quite know what we would find or what the process would reveal. We were able to go in with this technology and create a 3D internal scan of the building so we could rotate that, view it from different angles," said Dena Bush, Historic Assets Manager.
Every piece was inventoried with historical and cultural significance prioritized.
What's next:
The next step is to salvage the pieces and turn them into something that tells the story of Doc's Café.
"We can take those pieces and re-interpret that according to whatever we want to develop as far as the design process," said Bush.
Gail Bohannon McCoy is the Director of the Groveway Community group.
She's been pushing for the preservation of Doc's for years. She doesn't want to see it turned into just a museum; she wants people to really feel what it was like to walk into Doc's Café.
"Make it feel like you had an experience as opposed to visiting it," said Gail Bohannon McCoy.
She says the history of Doc's must live on in a way that will help people understand what life was like in the Groveway community back in the 50's
"You had an experience when you went to Docs, you felt that love, you heard the music, and you could imagine people dancing and carrying on as they used to. Make it look like a welcoming place for everybody," said Bohannon McCoy.
What we don't know:
The location of the memorial to Doc's has not been decided.
Roswell sign displaying a new chapter for Doc's Cafe, the city's first Black-owned business.
The Source: This is a FOX 5 original report where Denise Dillon spoke with Roswell community members, Groveway Community Group and former Doc's Café employees.