1842 home of family that supported Confederate war effort, sent 6 sons to fight is lost to suspected arson fire in Morrow, just below Atlanta

Remains of the three homes, including Napier at far right (Civil War Picket photo)

A stately mansion that belonged to a businessman who was a major financial supporter of the Confederate war effort and sent six sons to battle was lost in a recent suspected arson fire in a suburb of Atlanta.

Built in 1842, in Macon, Ga., the Greek Revival home of slave holder Leroy Napier Jr. was sent in pieces in 2007 north to Morrow, where it was the anchor of a 19^th-century style commercial town square called Olde Towne Morrow, more recently The District.

The development lasted a couple years before going bust, but city officials hope it can still be revitalized, despite the loss of the Napier home and two other empty and historic structures in the fire that occurred late last Friday or early Saturday. The homes were moved to the site at a cost of up to $200,000 each, according to reports.

The city on Wednesday announced that three juvenile boys have been arrested in the fire, which apparently started in one building and spread to the others. A few other structures escaped damage.

Morrow zoning administrator Martha “Marti” Tracy told the Picket this week the city approached Macon several years ago when it learned the Napier house might be demolished to make way for an expansion of Central High School. It purchased the home for $1 and brought it up I-75 to Morrow, which is just south of Atlanta.

The home had lost two of its wings and a basement when it was moved from its original location to Napier Avenue in Macon in the 1920s, according to Clayton News Daily. It maintained its distinctive appearance while it was turned into an apartment building in Macon.

“This large, columned house is similar in architecture to the Napier-Small house on Rogers Avenue in Macon. The Napier brothers, Skelton and Leroy, built these almost identical houses thought to be designed by Elias Carter,” said a 1971 application for the mansion to be placed on the National Register of Historic Places. Skelton’s 1846 home is still in Macon and is a private residence.

The Napier home while is had businesses at Olde Towne (City of Morrow)

In 1861, Col. Leroy Napier Sr. made a large investment in the Confederate loan fund, subscribing $58,000 in bonds.

Six of the seven sons of Napier and his wife Matilda were in the Rebel army. Leroy Napier Jr., a West Point grad and former member of the U.S. cavalry, was a captain in the Napier Artillery organized in Macon in the early days of the Civil War and later was adjutant for the 10^th Georgia Infantry.

The elder Napier’s son-in-law, Stanford B. Chaille, served as a surgeon for the Confederate Army of Tennessee and at military hospitals in Macon and Atlanta.

In the 1870s, he gained prominence for studying a yellow fever epidemic. “A national figurehead, Dr. Chaille was spokesman for the establishment of community sewerage and drainage systems, street paving, pure water supplies and mosquito control,” according to Tulane University in New Orleans.

The Napier house years ago in Macon (City of Morrow)

The Napier home underwent some repairs and restoration after it was moved to Morrow, with its original chandeliers in place. “They used real wood to restore the columns out front,” said Tracy.

It housed two businesses in the early days of Morrow’s Olde Towne: A pound cake store and an art studio. For a while, there were businesses in a few other spots in the development.

The district near Southlake Mall collapsed during the economic downtown in 2008-2010 and amid questions about its operation and oversight. That squashed dreams of the city making millions from retail and possible hotels and condominiums, as officials told Clayton News Daily in 2007.

Napier home and another lost in the fire (City of Morrow)

The city had tried multiple times to sell the property at a loss, with one of the latest attempts reported by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution back in 2019 at a listing price of $1.6 million.

There had been problems with vandalism at the site before the fire.

Officials say they plan to move forward with the 16-acre project and would like to rebuild the lost homes.

“Two of the buildings in The District were under contract, and architectural plans are being reviewed for two others even as new requests for commercial space are being processed by the City,” said City Manager Jeff Baker in a statement. “This is a devastating setback just as we’ve begun to turn the corner and fill the long-vacant spaces at The District.”

A prayer vigil for unity is scheduled for Saturday morning in The District, 1065 Olde Towne Morrow Road. “The word that comes up is sad. We are grateful that no one was hurt in the fire," said Tracy.

Other buildings at The District. They were not hit by the fire (City of Morrow)

On a side note, Morrow was the home of William Fuller, the conductor who led the pursuing party in 1862's Great Locomotive Chase in north Georgia.