A Bombing in Montreal…The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in DeKalb

The history of one of the first known Church of Jesus Christ Latter-day Saints Mission in DeKalb County 

By Marissa Howard, Programs and Membership Coordinator

On the night of November 2, 1908, dynamite exploded in the Montreal School building, which the Church of Latter-day Saints used for service. 

Montreal, located in what is today the Northlake Area of DeKalb County, was a small rural community of about 50 inhabitants. In 1892, the Montreal Manufacturing Company aimed to establish a company town along the Seaboard Railroad Line. The manufacturing plant and company town never came to fruition, but the small community of rural farmers living there became known as Montreal. Montreal Road remains today, connecting Northlake and Clarkston. 

George Washington Bragg, a convert to Mormonism, came to this area with his family from Elbert County, Georgia, and established a prosperous farm. Shortly after, in 1908, Bragg, his son-in-law G. C. Scarborough, and Elders Henry A. Pace and John A. Stock established an LDS Meetinghouse using the vacant Montreal School building. The former school was on land owned by Postmaster John J. Richardson, who was not Mormon, but his wife was. 

Photograph of LDS Missionaries serving the Mississippi- Southern States Mission between 1906-1907. Henry Alexander Pace (Pictured 3rd from left) was one of the missionaries serving Montreal in 1908. Identified from L-R: John William George; Orrin Roland Williams; Henry Alexander Pace; Alfred Leonard Broderick. 

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. “Henry Alexander Pace.” Henry Alexander Pace | Church History Biographical Database, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Accessed 6 Mar. 2025.

Neighbors were not kind. After the first meeting, an unknown person set dynamite using an intricate web of wires and detonated it at the four corners of the building. Although only half the bombs detonated, the building exploded. The missionaries associated with the new meetinghouse promptly left that night. 

This bombing did not come out of nowhere. Public threats were made about the meetinghouse – with Richardson in the crosshairs since it was on his property. Richardson recounted, “It had been threatened that after the first meeting was held the building would be burned to the ground, but as I had it insured against fire and not against dynamite, the latter mode of destruction was used, presumably to keep me from getting the insurance.”  Even those community members who were not associated with the church were receiving “black hand” letters, including Richardson warning him to leave by the first day of January 1909. Additionally, Richardson claimed that an unknown individual, hiding on his property that night, poisoned several of his animals. The threats continued. In late November, a barrage of gunshots rang out into the night from all directions. The newspaper reported the gunfire lasted 20 minutes, and somewhere between 50 and 100 shots must have been fired. George Washington Bragg’s daughter, Carrie B. Christensen, recounted those nights. “Father and the neighbors had to guard our home day and night until he could make arrangements to move to another territory. One of the newer members who helped guard our home was killed at this time (William Oscar Talton) from an accident that was thought to be sabotage.”

William Oscar Talton was working on a boiler on Richardson’s property when it exploded, killing him instantly. 

No one was brought to justice for the bombing. In an account by Milton Chandler Akin, Jr., his father, Bud, thought he knew who had done it because of the dynamite.  The two Mormon families left DeKalb and moved to Buchanan, Georgia. After establishing a new church there, it too was destroyed by fire in 1912. The church was rebuilt, but the Bragg and Scarborough families left Georgia for good, settling in Idaho. 

Mormonism was growing in the South. An early LDS church was established in Atlanta in 1908 in the Washington-Rawston neighborhood. Mormonism sparked strong opposition, often with violence. Reverend Moore, pastor of Harris Street Presbyterian Church, commented publicly in 1913 that Mormonism was “the greatest evil of the present day” and said “drastic measures should be taken for its suppression.”  Despite all of this, the LDS church continued to grow, and by 1925, a brick building was built at the corner of Boulevard and North Avenue. In 1952, the LDS Church built an even larger chapel at 1450 Ponce De Leon Ave in Druid Hills. This congregation remains there today. 

The Atlanta Georgia Temple in Sandy Springs, dedicated in 1983, was the first temple built in the Southeastern United States. 

Sources and More Information 

Montreal School Subject File, DeKalb History Center Archives

Family History of Carrie Bell Bragg Christensen, Ancestry.com.

“Mormon Church Blown to Pieces”, The Atlanta Journal, Nov 3, 1908. 

“Mormon Church was Destroyed,” The Atlanta Constitution, Nov 4, 1908.

“Made it Warm for the Mormons,” The Ocala Evening Star, Nov 5, 1908.

“Owner of Wrecked Church Now Fears More Dynamite.” The Atlanta Constitution, Nov 10, 1908. 

“Farmers Driven From DeKalb,” The Atlanta Journal, November 12, 1908.

“Dynamite Outrage to Be Investigated,” The Atlanta Journal  Nov 23, 1908.

“Town Gripped by “Black Hand”,” The Atlanta Journal, Nov 25, 1908. 

“Statements False Say Montreal Men,” The Atlanta Journal , Nov 30, 1908.

“J.J. Richardson Answers Card,” The Atlanta Journal, Dec 3, 1908. 

“Man Torn to Pieces,” The Atlanta Constitution, Feb 3 1909. 

“Mormon Church, Near Buchanan is Burned,” The Atlanta Constitution, March 16, 1912.

“Mormons Make an Invasion of Atlanta,” The Decatur Daily (Decatur, Alabama), October 15, 1913.