Scott Candler This is Me

Education

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1. 1. Biography of Scott Candler - DeKalb County Public Library

   www.dekalblibrary.org/branches - [Cached]

   Published on: 2/25/2004   Last Visited: 7/14/2008

   Biography of Scott Candler
   
   Scott Candler, Sr. was the most prominent DeKalb County citizen in the middle years of the 20th century.Known as "Mr.DeKalb," he played the key role in creating the economic and social infrastructure that defines Georgia's second largest county today.
   
   The marriage of his parents represented a union of the two best-known and wealthiest families in the county: the Candlers and the Scotts.
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   Born in Decatur in 1887, Scott Candler was graduated from Davidson College in North Carolina and received a law degree from Atlanta Law School in 1912.He was a classroom teacher and practiced law briefly until the outbreak of World War I. He enlisted in the U.S. Army and saw action in France with the 82nd Division.He was awarded the Order of the Purple Heart, was twice given the Silver Star for bravery under fire and received five decorations for his participation in several major battles.
   
   His political career began after the war with his election as Mayor of Decatur, a job he held for 17 years.In 1939, he was elected as the County Commissioner of Roads and Revenues and held that position until 1955, exercising sole control over all of the county's financial operations.In 1951, the Atlanta Journal wrote of his authority that in DeKalb, "the county is Scott Candler, and vice versa."
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   During his 16-years as commissioner, the county enjoyed its most significant period of growth; to accommodate the burgeoning expansion, Mr. Candler oversaw the paving of some 400 miles of road.
   
   In the 1940s, the county outside Decatur was rural, dotted with small farms and dairies.To help spur county growth and avoid being swallowed Atlanta and its expansionist-minded Mayor William B. Hartsfield, Mr. Candler directed the construction of a large water system extending from the inlet on the Chattahoochee north of the county line to the Panthersville and Redan communities in the southern end.
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   In 1940, Mr. Candler purchased an abandoned World War I training camp and built the runway that would become DeKalb-Peachtree Airport.One year later he leased it to the Navy for use as a World War II training base.The lease paid off the construction costs, and the Navy made significant improvements that raised the profile of the airport in the years after the end of World War II.
   
   Mr. Candler proposed and promoted the Fulton-DeKalb Hospital Authority, allowing indigent DeKalb residents to use the modern, comprehensive facilities at Atlanta's Grady Hospital.He built a county-owned cannery during World War II so that residents could preserve food themselves, and the facility provided assistance to low-income residents for more than three decades after the war ended.He was responsible for the establishment of sewer service and garbage collection for residents.In addition, the number of fire stations grew from one to nine during his years in office, and he built the DeKalb Police Department into the second largest law enforcement organization in the state.
   
   Mr. Candler was always a strong supporter of libraries, and during his administration county financial contributions to the library system quadrupled.He was a long-time member of the DeKalb County Public Library board and also served as its chairman.
   
   From 1955 to 1959, he was Director of the Georgia Department of Commerce, an agency created to draw new industry to the state.And in 1959 at the age of 73, he became the first general manager of Stone Mountain.Over the next four years, he planned the creation of a park there and arranged for the resumption of work on sculptor Gutzon Borglum's incomplete Confederate carving on the mountain's face.
   
   Mr. Candler was a long-time activist in the Georgia Democratic Party, a trustee of Davidson College and Agnes Scott, the organizer and original scoutmaster of the first Boy Scout troop south of the Mason-Dixon Line and a Sunday School teacher at Decatur Presbyterian Church for more than 40 years.
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   Scott Candler and Miss Trotti
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   Scott Candler presents Indian stone hatchet to Library Director Louise Trotti.

2. 2. www.dekalblibrary.org

   www.dekalblibrary.org/board-of - [Cached]

   Published on: 7/21/2008   Last Visited: 7/21/2008

   Scott Candler

3. 3. www.winnonapark.com

   www.winnonapark.com/reminiscin - [Cached]

   Published on: 11/3/2007   Last Visited: 11/3/2007

   Scott Candler, former Decatur City Commissioner and mayor, was also a classmate of Breen's.