IMAGES OF OUR PAST - THE BASHINSKI - CLAXTON - DAVIS - ACOSTA HOUSE - 705 BELLEVUE AVE. DUBLIN, GA. ERECTED CA. 1907

 "Izzie" Bashinski was born on September 6, 1875, to Louis Bashinski, a Prussian native, and his bride, Sarah Long. Izzie graduated from Mercer University, where he roomed with Carl Vinson, a future long-serving and powerful Georgia congressman. He moved to Dublin in 1906 to capitalize on the rapid growth in the markets in Dublin. First, Izzie formed the Yellow Pine Lumber Company and then helped to found the Dublin Navigation Company to aid in the transport of timber into Dublin along the Oconee River. By the end of that year, Izzie married Miss Helen McCall, of Buena Vista, Georgia.

On one of their vacations to Europe, the Bashinskis found and fell in love with the architecture of Italian homes. Upon their return, the couple hired Charles E. Choate, a well-known and prolific Sandersville architect, to design their dream home. The front of their Bellevue Avenue home is one of the most ornate homes along Dublin's grandest avenue. The inside of the home was as grand as the exterior. In the rear of the home, the Bashinskis designed a sunken garden area, complete with a water fountain and Lombardi Poplar trees, which thrive in northern Italy. The home was the scene of many grand parties, including a dinner in 1908 to host Georgia Governor Joseph M. Brown, on whose staff Bashinski served. The Bashinskis loved to take European vacations. They once scheduled a trip back to America. At the last moment, they changed their minds. Their reservations were aboard the HMS Titanic.