Page 12 - MGA_Today_Spring_2016
P. 12

By Lee Greenway

  Digging Into One of Middle Georgia
        State’s Historical Treasures

Ebenezer Hall
If anyone had any doubt as to the truth of the
     old saying, “It’s a small world,” Cochran           Dig into the history of Ebenezer Hall,
     resident and Middle Georgia State University    currently undergoing a $250,000 renovation into
 alumnus Barney Hendricks could lay that doubt       office and meeting spaces for the Middle Georgia
 to rest. When World War II began, Hendricks – 18    State University Foundation, and one uncovers a
 years old at the time – left what was then known    precis of the history of central Georgia. Originally
 as Middle Georgia College and volunteered for       constructed in 1890, the house is the sole
 service in the Army Air Corps. He was sent to       surviving structure of New Ebenezer College, the
 Miami, Fla., for his basic training and assigned a  Baptist institution that would eventually become
 roommate. When next he spoke with his mother,       Middle Georgia State’s Cochran Campus.
 he mentioned his new roomie’s name and got a
 startled “You don’t mean it!” in response.              In its 126 years, Ebenezer Hall has served as
      Turns out that in the 1920s, the mother of     everything from a president’s residence to an
 Hendricks’ new roommate had once shared a           overflow dorm, from guest
 room with Hendricks’ own mother – in                house to dining hall.
 Ebenezer Hall.                                      When Margaret Cook
                                                     shared a room in
                                                     Ebenezer with

Ebenezer Hall in early 2016.

JESSICA WHITLEY.

12 MIDDLE GEORGIA STATE UNIVERSITY
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