If you bookmarked this page, please click here to go to the current www.artsdouglas.org site. Thanks!

History of the Cultural Arts Center

On the National Register of Historic Places
The Roberts-Mozley House ~ 104 years old in 2005!

In 1886, one hundred years before the Douglasville/Douglas County Cultural Arts Council purchased this elegant, late Victorian period home, Colonel/Judge W.T. Roberts exchanged wedding vows with Emma Quillian, daughter of the Reverend J.C.B. Quillian. Reverend Quillian was one of the early settlers of Douglas County, and the property's original owner. after the death of Reverend Quillian, Colonel Roberts bought the land from his mother-in-law and work on the two-story Greek Revival home began March 21, 1901.

With its air of neoclassical architecture, the low sweeping line of a grand front porch, and an entrance of stained glass doors, the house reflected the prominent social status of Mrs. Roberts and the Colonel. His political career included several terms as Mayor of Douglasville and Solicitor General of two county courts before his election to the Georgia State Senate in 1911. after his election, Colonel Roberts moved his family to Washington, D.C. where he served in the U.S. Department of Marketing during the Woodrow Wilson Administration. The house changed owners many times after the Roberts family moved, but its "political" future and social standing in the community continued.

In 1927, Mrs. T. N. Mozley bought the eleven-room estate which remained in her family until 1971.
T.N. Mozley was selected to serve as Mayor of Douglasville in 1936, an honorable position filled by his son, harold, ten years later. Harold was thought at the time to be the youngest mayor ever elected in the U.S.

Walter Turner purchased the house in 1978. He is responsible for beginning its restoration. he sold the property to the Douglasville/Douglas County Cultural Arts Council on September 16, 1986.

The Roberts-Mozley house is one of the few early structures remaining in Douglasville which embody the characteristics of a period style. As a result, and with its history of prominent residents, the building has been placed on the National Register of Historic Places by the U. S. Department of the Interior.

more than one hundred years after the Colonel wed Emma Quillian, the past of this elegant home is vibrant and alive in the dark stained heart of pine that dominates the great foyer, staircase, and the forgotten tradition of a "courting bench." Fireplaces, warmed by the soft colors of tortoise shell tiles, welcome the community of Douglasville and Douglas County, where social events and service to their community became a way of life for W.T. Roberts and the T.N. Mozley family.

Special thanks to Judy Vergamini and Helen Catron for their contributions
to the history of the Roberts-Mozley Home.