Fourth Street Day Care Center was a vision of Rev. Dr. J.H. Flakes, Jr. for many years. When the Christian Education building was erected in 1977, spaces for a day care center and a nursery were included. Thanks to Mrs. Robena Gaines-Flakes and Mrs. Eunice Patrick’s untiring efforts and many hours of dedicated work, the center was licensed and opened its doors in 1992 with Mrs. Flakes as director.    

Rev. Flakes had a desire to establish a child development center instead of a place to keep children. Rev. Flakes expressed pride in Mrs. Flakes and her staff, who over a period of time achieved recognition as the state of Georgia’s first day care center to receive the “Center of Distinction”.

Growth brought the need for a larger facility. Rev. Flakes assigned Deacon Franklin Douglass the task of procuring land close to the uptown area. In the process, Deacon Douglass discovered, working through the city with the cooperation of Friendship Baptist church, that the land at the corner of Sixth Avenue and Eighth Street was available. The Fourth Street Baptist Church acquired the site.

The Fourth Street Day Care Center opened its doors to the children of our community at 515 8th Street in August of 2004 with Mrs. Myra Lockhart as Director and Mrs. Robena Gaines-Flakes as the Child Care Consultant. The capacity of the center is 218 with 11 state of the art classrooms, a professional kitchen, and resource room. The center uses the “A Beka Curriculum”. Children ages six weeks to 12 years are accepted.