Artist Addison Niday has recently restored some Coca-Cola murals in Lincolnton, so this old Pepsi mural on the Anderson & Sons building, likely dating to the early 1960s, was a nice complement to his other work. I think restoring these old murals is a great idea, especially in small towns, where they bring bright color and memories of the past back to life in a big way.
Lincolnton Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
A Georgia historic resources database identifies this as a peach warehouse, which utilized adjacent railroad tracks for shipping. I don’t know if it was built for that purpose, but if not, it was certainly a warehouse of some type.
Lacking a history of this structure, I’m going to guess that it was a grocery or general store. The recessed entrance is a common characteristic of buildings of this era and use.
The “corner entrance” store was a common style of commercial architecture in early 20th century Georgia. It was also a popular form for banks, and at least one resource survey identifies this as having been a bank early in its history.
This Victorian block may have originally been a wholesale grocery business; a fading mural on the side identifies it as such. It’s right across the street from the historic courthouse.
Tifton Commercial Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
This has always been a favorite Tifton building of mine. R. L. Brown writes: This building was known as Tiff’s Garage. See photo in the Arcadia Publishing’s book on Tifton. The overhang has been removed.
I have an antique postcard of this structure and there are significant enough differences in the facade to require further investigation. A narrow green Ludowici Tile awning [for lack of a better word] wrapped around the top of the building and decorative medallions on the windows weren’t originally present. Also, the windows themselves appear wider on the postcard. This has to be one of the finest commercial garages, in an architectural sense, surviving in South Georgia, if its identity can be confirmed.
Tifton Commercial Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
This was originally home to the Tifton Telephone Company. Later, it housed the Georgia Peanut Commission, before their move to a site beside Interstate 75 several years ago. The brickwork is some of the best in Tifton.
Tifton Commercial Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
R. B. Tucker, Sr., graduated second in his class at the Bear Automotive School in Rock Island, Illinois, and owned and operated this franchise in Ocilla for many years. Bear was one of the first national automotive repair chains, and is still in existence, I believe.
Riding through Ocilla as a kid, those two yellow signs with the happy bears really got my attention.
This was likely a cotton warehouse. As I’ve said before, these often overlooked structures are important landmarks in the agriculturally focused communities they served and we should learn as much about them as we can.
North Main Street passes through the historic commercial center of Wadley. According to Ken Krakow’s Georgia Place Names, it was first known as Bethany, then Shake Rag. Incorporated as a town in 1876, Wadley was named for William Morrill Wadley (1813-1882), a New Hampshire native who came to Georgia as a young man. He worked as a blacksmith during the construction of Fort Pulaski under the command of Robert E. Lee and was appointed superintendent of the public works on Cockspur Island. He was later involved in significant building and engineering works and briefly served, unofficially, as supervisor of Confederate railroads. From 1886 until his death, he served as president of the Central of Georgia Railway.
Vanishing Georgia: Photographs by Brian Brown 