Preserving History: Georgia Register of Historic Places Continues to Grow

Preserving History: Georgia Register of Historic Places Continues to Grow
Georgia Historic Preservation Division

Five resources were newly added to the Georgia Register of Historic Places in May 2021. Nominations for these resources were approved during a May 21 meeting of the Georgia National Register Review Board, which is charged with evaluating National Register nominations from Georgia prior to their submission to the National Park Service for National Register of Historic Places listing. As Georgia’s state historic preservation office (SHPO), the Historic Preservation Division (HPD), housed in the Georgia Department of Community Affairs, administers the National Register of Historic Places program in Georgia.

The newly listed resources, the majority of which were nominated for their significance in ethnic heritage, are:

  • College Avenue Bridge, Stone Mountain, DeKalb County was constructed by African American master bridge builder Washington W. King in 1891. King was a prolific bridge builder in Georgia and Alabama until his death in 1910. This Town lattice truss bridge, now located in Stone Mountain Park after a move from Athens, Clarke County, in 1965, is one of only three extant examples in Georgia attributed to King. The Town lattice truss design was originally patented in 1820 by Ithiel Town. This bridge is one of only nine known extant Town lattice bridges in Georgia, and one of only 14 extant historic wooden covered bridges in the state.
  • Henry Alexander Hunt High School Gymnasium, Fort Valley, Peach County: In 1954, following a trend in Southern states to maintain a racially segregated educational system after the Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court Decision, the State Board of Regents funded the construction of a new campus for the Henry Alexander Hunt High School. This new campus included a gymnasium, which would become a focal point of the Black community in Peach County. The gymnasium is significant in the areas of entertainment and recreation, Black ethnic heritage, and social history as the first facility in the county that offered Black students and community an indoor space for athletic events, physical education, and other school and community activities, including basketball games, band practices and performances, dance team practices and competitions, graduation ceremonies, and a safe place for children to play on the weekends.
  • Springfield Terrace School, Savannah, Chatham County is an early 20th century “Model Country School” influenced by the Rosenwald Fund school program and designed by the Savannah architectural firm of Levy & Clarke. It is the county’s only surviving example of the once-popular one-story public-school building type constructed for the education of rural students living on the outskirts of the county’s incorporated areas. The school was an institutional and civic anchor for the surrounding African American neighborhoods it served from the time of its construction in 1926 until its closure in 1991.
  • Cornelia Commercial Historic District, Cornelia, Habersham County is a cross-rail town. In the late 19th century, Cornelia developed around pre-existing railroad tracks that brought industry and tourists to the city. Demonstrating the railroad’s importance to Cornelia is the centrally located depot. The district was a commercial center for Habersham County from the late 19th through the mid-20th centuries with buildings that are excellent representative examples of commercial building types built in small towns throughout Georgia during this time.
  • Savannah Water Works Pump House, Savannah, Chatham County is a late 19th century industrial facility representing Savannah’s innovative use of emerging technologies in municipal water distribution. Savannah developed a city-wide plan seeking to promote the welfare of its citizens through the construction and use of the most advanced technology available and to provide clean water to all. The red brick, Romanesque Revival-style building has an engine room, boiler room, three-story square tower, and a cylindrical chimney stack. Arched window and door openings, arcaded corbel tables, the tower with parapet, and the extensive use of terra cotta detailing are elements of the style represented here.

For photographs and additional information on these resources, click here.