The Izora Smith Kent shotgun house is located adjacent to the Meeting Place on the Bowdon Area Historical Society property at 105 College View in Bowdon.

 

Mrs. Izora Kent and her late husband, Loyd Jackson, moved the two room shotgun house with its characteristic front porch to their property in 1981. The history of the house prior to that time has yet to be firmly established, though there is strong indication it originally stood beside the railroad tracks on Harmon Avenue near Dixie Street in Carrollton, Georgia.  When the City of Carrollton obtained that property, located near Mr. Jackson’s business, a little house believed to be our shotgun house, was moved. 

 

The shotgun house, one of the better-known house types in Georgia, is easily identified because it is only one room wide and two or more rooms deep.  It is a style of house built mainly for low income workers between the 1870s and the 1920s, and many trace its origins to African-Americans who adapted the design from their African culture.

 

Mrs. Kent died in 2010 and her sons, Jim and Joe, bequeathed her much loved little house to the Bowdon Area Historical Society.  After its move to BAHS, it was set up to serve as an example of life in Georgia in the early decades of the 20th century. The Izora Smith Kent House expands the Bowdon Area Historical Society’s ability to educate today’s citizens about lessons of the past.

 

A dedication ceremony for The Izora Smith Kent House was held May 22, 2011 at 4:00 pm. It is open for tours with a docent during Founder’s Day and on other days by request.