Neighborhoods of nearly identical shotgun houses were once common sights in Georgia towns and cities where a textile or cotton mill was present. The utilitarian housing was provided as a benefit of employment. Most have vanished in the past thirty years.
The elaborate parapet adds great character to this stunning commercial block, one of the nicest in any small town in Georgia.
Barnesville Commercial Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
This appears to be one of the most endangered commercial blocks in downtown Barnesville. It’s a typical commercial Victorian. Most historic buildings in Barnesville are in good condition.
Barnesville Commercial Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
I believe this was built as a bank and housed numerous other businesses over the years.
Barnesville Commercial Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
Barnesville was among the earliest towns in Georgia with a railroad presence, beginning with the Macon and Monroe Railroad [later the Macon and Western, one of Georgia’s three oldest railroads] in 1841. It thrived as an important transportation crossroads before the growth of Atlanta and a depot was built in Barnesville by 1852. The Central of Georgia later acquired the Macon and Western line and in 1912, the old depot was razed and this one built on the site. It opened sometime in 1913.
On 11 August 1938, President Franklin D. Roosevelt stopped here on his way to dedicate the Lamar Electric Cooperative in front of 50,000 people at the nearby Gordon Military College stadium. The Rural Electrification Administration was one of FDR’s most progressive programs and literally brought rural America out of the dark ages. It’s believed that this was the only such cooperative he dedicated personally.
The depot served until 1971, when the passenger train the Nancy Hanks made her last stop here. When the Southern Railway, successor to the Central of Georgia, planned to raze the depot in 1973, locals successfully lobbied to save it.
National Register of Historic Places
Thomaston Street Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
This Carpenter Gothic homestead is one of the oldest houses in Barnesville and has recently been restored by Claudia and Dennis Gallion. John Means was the namesake for the nearby village of Meansville and a prominent early settler of the area.
Thomaston Street Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
Thomaston Street Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
Thomaston Street Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
The overall effect of this house is Italianate, but the Colonial Revival features can’t be overlooked in the greater scheme of the architecture. In these contradictions, it’s typical of the eclecticism which exploded onto the American scene around the turn of the last century.
Thomaston Street Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
Vanishing Georgia: Photographs by Brian Brown 