SPOTLIGHT
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SPOTLIGHT |
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| Golson Lee Hook was born January 10, 1909, the second of six
children born to Linton Leonidas Hook and Annie Elizabeth Erwin Hook
between Roswell and Alpharetta in the area known as Rock Mill. Following
the death of his wife, a daughter and two sons, in 1919 Linton Hook moved
his family into the home of his sister, Mary Hook, a schoolteacher who
lived on Roswell Street in Alpharetta. Three years later, upon the death
of his father, Golson became the man of the household, finding work in the
fields of and around Alpharetta. | ||
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Golson Lee Hook was born January 10, 1909, the second of six children
born to Linton Leonidas Hook and Annie Elizabeth Erwin Hook between
Roswell and Alpharetta in the area known as Rock Mill. Following the death
of his wife, a daughter and two sons, in 1919 Linton Hook moved his family
into the home of his sister, Mary Hook, a schoolteacher who lived on
Roswell Street in Alpharetta. Three years later, upon the death of his
father, Golson became the man of the household, finding work in the fields
of and around Alpharetta. |
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On November 10, 1939 Golson married Hazel Catherine
Anderson, daughter of Joseph Lawson Anderson and Maggie Ola Weatherford,
and began work with McDougal Construction Company where he learned the
construction trade and moved to Marietta, Georgia, honing his skills while
completing projects for Bell Aircraft (now Lockheed), Lawson General
Hospital and Robbins Air Force Base. After the birth of a son, Andy, Golson moved his family to Charleston, South Carolina where he led a construction crew for the U S Navy in their dry docks. Afterward, returning to Marietta, he and Hazel continued their family with the birth of a daughter, Brenda. In 1946, at the urging of friends, in particular Isaac Newton "Uncle Bud" Thompson, Golson and his family returned to Alpharetta where, at the request of members of the Alpharetta Baptist Church, he undertook his first contract to build a residence for their pastor that still stands today on Academy Street across from the church. From 1946 until 1949 Golson owned and operated the Alpharetta Motor Company at the corner of Main and Marietta Streets (where Hardee's is now located), adding a second son, Jere, to his family. He sold this business when sporadic building became a full time endeavor, building a barbershop for Hoke Wallace, one for Richard Blalock, an office building alongside the Post Office on Main Street, the original Dairy Queen and a home for his family at 75 Roswell Street that remains today one of the most beautiful locations in the city. He opened the Alpharetta Builders Supply on Milton Avenue and from 1956 until 1960 constructed 62 homes, building in the East Belle Isle, Carolwood, Brookfield and East Wieuka areas of north Atlanta, Sandy Springs and Roswell. He built homes on Canton, Thompson, Academy , Roswell and Marietta Streets in Alpharetta, six homes in Manning Estates and thirty-seven homes on the north side of Mayfield Road, across from the Alpharetta Elementary School, and along HookRoad and Jere Drive. In 1960 Golson purchased twenty acres from the Upshaw family located on the south side of Mayfield Road, between the elementary school and Milton High School, constructing forty-five single family residences that eventually became the Meadowbrook subdivision. In 1962 he built twenty-nine apartment units on Myrtle Street in Roswell. Due to illness in the mid sixties Golson retired temporarily from construction, purchased a grocery and convenience store on Alpharetta's Main Street and began a collection of Coca Cola bottles from locations around the world. Golson again became active in the construction business in the seventies, this time with his son, Jere, building twenty homes in Roswell's Gant Quarters, Chaffin Ridge Court and a dozen in the rural Alpharetta area, including Chantilly Drive and Bethany Court. Throughout his life Golson was an active community leader, serving on the Alpharetta City Council, working with planning commissions and in the Alpharetta First Methodist Church where he served as Sunday School Superintendent and on the church board and building committees. Golson retired completely in 1979, continuing his bottle collection that eventually became one of the largest collections in the United States and led to the publishing of Golson's Unique and Varied Bottles, a booklet featuring his collection that gained him some national recognition and remains today on the collector's desired list of Coca Cola memorabilia. After a lengthy illness, Golson succumbed to cancer on December 14, 1985 with his wife and children at his bedside. Modest to the end of his accomplishments, Golson Hook's legacy and contribution to the phenomenal growth of Alpharetta in the mid twentieth century was providing affordable homes for those who might otherwise be unable to own, oftentimes accepting second mortgages to assist the new homebuyer. Today more than two hundred and forty homes, office buildings and apartments stand as individual monuments to the foresight, will and determination of Golson Lee Hook, oneof Alpharetta's true pioneers of the mid twentieth century. |
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