Atlanta nonprofit celebrates 120 years of care thanks to Rhodes Furniture founder

When my great-great-grandfather Amos Giles Rhodes moved to Atlanta with less than $100 in his pocket, he had no idea the impact he would have on senior care that now spans 120 years. 

Originally from Henderson, Ky., Rhodes came to Atlanta in 1875 while laying crossties for the L&N Railroad — a post-Reconstruction time when Atlanta, a city of 20,000 people, was becoming the leading city of the “New South” and preparing to surpass Savannah as Georgia’s largest city. In 1879, he founded Rhodes Furniture, which paved the way for his success, prominence and generosity in the community.

Knowing he was a charitable man, officials from the hospital of the Atlanta Circle of the King’s Daughters and Sons, a philanthropic organization that cared for patients deemed to have “incurable diseases,” approached him and asked for money to repair the roof of its building at 42 Church Street — now Carnegie Way; the 1929 Rhodes-Haverty Building downtown, also named for him, would coincidentally be located around the corner — in Atlanta. 

Rhodes refused, stating that the building was in such disrepair that he wouldn’t sink a dollar into it — but instead, he donated land and money for a new building, which opened in 1904 at the corner of Boulevard and Woodward Avenue in Grant Park — the same year he built the historic Rhodes Hall, which we can still tour today.

Though it’s been through many changes, the home eventually became A.G. Rhodes, one of the state’s first nursing organizations and now one of Atlanta’s oldest nonprofit organizations. 

Today, A.G. Rhodes serves more than 1,100 seniors each year at its three locations throughout metro Atlanta, including its flagship location still located in Grant Park, its Cobb location that opened in Marietta in 1992, and its Wesley Woods location near Emory University that opened in 1997. As one of only a few nonprofit nursing home providers in the state, A.G. Rhodes serves some of our community’s most vulnerable seniors, many of whom are uninsured, underinsured and underserved.

I have vivid memories of visiting A.G. Rhodes with my parents and siblings when I was a child. I remember walking the halls of the home on Boulevard with my mother, greeting the residents as if we all knew each other as family. My father was the chair of the board of trustees, and my mother was the president of what is now the board of advisors. Shortly before my father died, I had the honor of being elected to replace him as the board chair. My sister currently serves as a trustee; my brother and a long line of cousins and other family members have remained involved in advancing the mission of A.G. Rhodes in various ways. 

Since its humble beginnings and throughout the last 120 years, A.G. Rhodes has been a family-inspired operation. But that approach extends beyond the Rhodes relatives. Some of the organization’s current staff members started working at A.G. Rhodes more than 20, 30 and even 40 years ago and have become like family to the many residents and their family members who depend on and trust A.G. Rhodes for compassionate care. 

With a long and strong reputation, A.G. Rhodes is taking bold steps to model a better way to provide nursing home care, especially for those in our community living with dementia. Thanks to our $37 million “Legacy of Care” capital campaign launched in 2021, this spring, we will unveil a transformed campus at our Cobb community. This community will include a new building specifically designed for people living with dementia and renovations to the existing building, which will allow each resident to have private rooms. 

Like most nursing homes across the country, most A.G. Rhodes residents rely on Medicaid funding, which doesn’t cover the true cost of care, let alone private room accommodations, so nursing homes don’t typically have the funds for this kind of major capital improvement. But thanks to the generosity of the Greater Atlanta community, which has long supported A.G. Rhodes’ efforts to improve nursing home care, this project is yet another way A.G. Rhodes continues to enhance the quality of life for its residents.

I often think about my great-great grandfather’s intention when he donated the land and funds that launched A.G. Rhodes. He was a philanthropic man who supported many causes, but he couldn’t have known the impact he would have or the legacy he would leave. But the story of A.G. Rhodes is like that of many other great Atlanta institutions; one person’s generosity has the power to create a ripple effect of unlimited progress. As we celebrate 120 years at A.G. Rhodes, I think our story is still just beginning.