THE LITTLE WHITE
HOUSE
Franklin D. Roosevelt
came to Warm Springs in 1924 in hopes of recovering from the
effects of polio. His love for the area and hopes for the Georgia
Warm Springs Foundation led him to build a small white clapboard
cottage on these pine scented slopes. The house was completed
in 1932 while F.D.R. was serving as Governor of New York. During
F.D.R.'s four elected terms as the 32nd President the cottage
became known as "The Little White House." It was designed
by architect Henry Toombs who also designed many of the Foundation
buildings. The cost was $8,738 including landscaping. The cottage,
garage, servants quarters and guest house are preserved much
like they were on April 12, 1945 when F.D.R. died of a massive
stroke as he was sitting for a portrait. The "Unfinished
Portrait" and many of F.D.R.'s personal belongings can be
seen in the cottage and in an adjacent museum.
During the busy
years between 1932 and 1945 F.D.R. only visited his beloved Little
White House on 16 occasions while he and the nation struggled
through the Great Depression of 1929 and then World War II. Many
of the solutions to the "people problems" that beset
the nation during his presidency came to F.D.R. as the result
of his association with the people of this area.
099-9 GEORGIA HISTORIC
MARKER 1995
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