In the 1920’s Washington was experiencing a building boom. A number of new homes erupted all over town. Grandview, East Main and Springdale Park saw were transformed by new growth. One of those eager to build was grocery store owner, Benjamin Adams Willingham. In 1920 he hired carpenter Lem Pope to build a fashionable Craftsman-style bungalow for the Willingham family on the corner lot of Spring Street and Springdale Park. It would be their home for two decades. The Willinghams were active members of the Episcopal Church of the Mediator. B.A. Willingham worked on the Georgia Railroad prior to opening a grocery store in Washington. His grocery store was a casualty of the Great Depression. He sold out to A&P in the late 1920’s and then spent many years as an administrator for the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Characteristics of the Craftsman-style home, first popularized in the early 1900’s in Southern California include, exposed beams & woodwork, ample windows, sloping roof with overhanging rafters & typically painted brown.