“In the fall of 1938, the National Youth Administration, another governmental project launched because of the continued depression, began its Residential Project at Toccoa Falls. Before many months had passed, the Institute was filled to and beyond capacity with students. There were more than four hundred in attendance, most of them for twenty-one countries in Georgia. A fine Christian man was in charge of the Georgia division of the N. Y. A. While students were required to take vocational work, he also approved of their taking high school and Bible College subjects, as well.
“Since the school didn’t have to take everybody, the group attending was a fine, carefully picked set, containing some of the best students ever to attend the Institute. Toccoa Falls graduates were sought after by the business and industrial world to fit many important positions.
“Courses were offered in crafts, home economics, shop, agriculture, and radio. Four buildings of native stone were constructed by the N. Y. A. group for use in instruction in these fields. These were the shop building, which has since been destroyed by fire; the Agricultural building, which now houses the freezer locker; the Radio building, which was later converted into Ring Music Hall, which as since been destroyed by fire; and Gate Cottage, which was used as a Home Economic Center and as living quarters for staff members and some married students.
“Young men who graduated from the shop course had no difficulty in procuring jobs as machinists. Many went to work in the LeTourneau plant nearby.†Taken from Achieving The Impossible With God)
Students working with wood
Students in automotive shop
The four buildings of native stone constructed by the N. Y. A. group:
Shop Building, destroyed by fire
Agricultural building
Radio building, which was later converted into Ring Music Hall, destroyed by fire
Remains of Ring Music Hall
Gate Cottage, which was used as a Home Economic Center and as living quarters for staff members and some married students, and now houses a dining room, gift shop, and the entrance to Toccoa Falls. Read more about Gate Cottage (and the fire of January 12, 2009)