By Elliott Brack
Editor and Publisher, GwinnettForum
MARCH 10, 2023 | Back when Gwinnett was just beginning its growth in the 1960s, Realtors were not so numerous in the county as they were later. Jim Hood of Lawrenceville, who died in Monroe last week, had a “catbird seat” to watch Gwinnett grow, as he was in real estate since 1964.
He told me in 2007: “Back then, there was no Board of Realtors, which only started in 1970, when we had only six people in the business in the entire county. At the end of 2022, NAMAR (National Association of Metro Atlanta Realtors, the successor to the Board of Realtors) in Gwinnett had 6,033 members!
When the Board of Realtors began in 1970, the late Boyd Duncan was its first president, and two years later, Jim Hood headed the organization. (See list of past presidents by clicking here.) Jim was also later president of the statewide Georgia Association of Realtors.
In the 2007 interview, Hood remembered when Gwinnett had about 40,000 residents: “There were no shopping centers as we came to know them. The first McDonalds in the county was in Lawrenceville on South Clayton Street.”
Then something happened to stimulate growth, as Jim remembered: “It was in 1964 when Gwinnett joined the Atlanta toll-free telephone area. Some living in Atlanta found it to be a beautiful, quiet and charming place to live and they said ‘This is just the place for us.’ Since then Gwinnett’s population has doubled about every ten years since that secret leaked out.”
Hood
ood said back then “By and large, newcomers have been welcomed into Gwinnett with open arms. But newcomers created the need for more and wider roads, shopping, water, natural gas, schools, parking, athletic facilities…to make this a better place for themselves and their children. Therefore, it’s been the non-natives that caused the growth of the county.”
He added: “Some of us were in business before most people in Gwinnett came to the county, while others went into business here because of the newcomers.”
Though not a developer but someone who majored in real estate sales, Jim had a warm spot in his heart for those working in development. “How about a little slack for the developers, builders and Realtors who provided what the county needed so that newcomers could join the people who made up this great county? After all, the developers take the financial risk to provide products, and without their risk, this growth of people wouldn’t be here! By the way, would you want a bankrupt developer to build your house? What’s wrong with developers making money?”
Then he said: “Most of us are glad most of you (newcomers) are here. Just remember, we were here first, and you owe it to the next generation of new Gwinnett residents to be as kind and accommodating to them as we were to you. We were born here, and to us, Gwinnett’s always been home.”
Hood listed three reasons for Gwinnett’s long-term growth:
- Gwinnett has its own water intake in Lake Lanier.
- Growth of substantial modern highways feeding into Atlanta, led by former Sen. Steve Reynolds.
- Building of a two-way feed to supply water for residents all around the county. In 1974, water was running dry in Snellville because of the one-way feed. The county built a 48 inch water feed line around the eastern part of the county, and a 30 inch main around the western portion, providing water from two directions, resulting in adequate supply for the county.
Jim Hood: (1938-2023): May you rest in peace.
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
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