Georgia adds five buildings to National Register of Historic Places

Oct. 8—ATLANTA — Georgia has added five new listings to the National Register of Historic Places, including the 1238 Professional Building, Columbus, Muscogee County; Columbus Coca-Cola Bottling Company, Columbus, Muscogee County; Ruben Gay Place, Fayetteville vicinity, Fayette County; Maxeys Historic District, Maxeys, Oglethorpe County; and Dixie Cotton Mills and Mill Village Historic District, LaGrange, Troup County.

Listing nominations are in line with the Historic Preservation Division's mission to promote the preservation and use of historic places for a better Georgia. As of Sept. 14, Georgia has 2,305 listings comprising 90,277 resources in the National Register of Historic Places.

Ruben Gay Place, Fayette County — The Reuben Gay Place contains the extant resources of what was once a large farmstead and contributes to the understanding of the broad patterns of history that shaped the African American experience in rural Fayette County. The Reuben Gay Place was purchased by a formerly enslaved person, farmed by him and his descendants, and served for 140 years as a center of the African American community in Inman.

The Ruben Gay Place was listed in the National Register of Historic Places on July 5. The nomination was sponsored and prepared by the descendants and relatives of Reuben Gay Sr.

Dixie Cotton Mills and Mill Village Historic District, Troup County — The Dixie Cotton Mills and Mill Village Historic District, located approximately one mile east of downtown LaGrange, comprises a mill complex and mill village constructed between 1896 and the 1940s. The district represents Georgia's late 19th- and early-20th-century development of manufacturing mills with associated mill villages. The mill complex includes a row of five historic warehouses, an office building, a transformer house, and a modern smokestack.

Dixie Cotton Mills and Mill Village Historic District was listed in the National Register of Historic Places on July 29. The nomination was sponsored by the city of LaGrange, and nomination materials were prepared by Ray, Ellis & LaBrie Consulting LLC.

Maxeys Historic District, Oglethorpe County — Maxeys Historic District is a rural community and agricultural center that developed around the railroad line between the late-19th and early-20th centuries. After the arrival of the Georgia Railroad in 1847, the small town began to prosper as a center of commerce for the surrounding agricultural-based economy. The district is an example of a railroad strip town whereby the railroad tracks run through the center of town. The main road parallels the tracks, with commercial and residential development oriented directly to the tracks. As the town's early economy relied on the railroad and the distribution of cotton and other farm produce and supplies, the town plan naturally focused on the railroad.

Maxeys Historic District was listed in the National Register of Historic Places on Sept. 2. The nomination was sponsored by the Maxeys Historic Interest Group, and nomination materials were prepared by Lydia Joffray of the Northeast Georgia Regional Commission.

1238 Professional Building, Muscogee County — Built in 1949, the 1238 Professional Building is located in downtown Columbus, several blocks east of the Chattahoochee River. The building, which was designed by Wilbur D. Talley, is a good representative example of an International-Style building. Character-defining features include a flat roof without eaves terminating flush with the wall plane, smooth wall surfaces, and large expanses of windows. Ideals of simple forms and self-expressive materials are evident in the composition of the main façade, which is broken into two horizontal segments. On the upper level, ribbon windows are grouped together to form a large expanse of glass nearly flush to the exterior wall plane, while dark green marble panels topped with steel framed windows give the effect of a visual recess of the building's lower-level façade plane.

1238 Professional Building was listed in the National Register of Historic Places on July 1. The nomination was sponsored and prepared by the building's owner.

Columbus Coca-Cola Bottling Company, Muscogee County — The Columbus Coca-Cola Bottling Company, an early and intact Coca-Cola Bottling Company facility, played an important role in the industrial and commercial activities of downtown Columbus. This franchise was owned and operated by Columbus Roberts Sr., a grocer originally from Beulah, Ala., who set up shop in the rear portion of a downtown Columbus drugstore and began bottling Coca-Cola in 1902, shortly after securing one of the earliest bottling franchises in the state. The first year of operation, the plant bottled almost 2,000 gallons of syrup, nearly doubling the quota required in its contract, and delivered these bottles across the region via a single mule-drawn wagon. Production quickly expanded and in 1905, Roberts moved his operations to this newly constructed three-story brick building on Sixth Avenue. Over the next several decades, bottling production continued to increase and technologies advanced, and by 1932, the plant was producing 86 bottles of Coca-Cola per minute and its delivery fleet had grown to 12 trucks. This growth and increased distribution necessitated a larger warehouse space and easy access to the plant's bottled stock, resulting in the two c.1928 additions.

Columbus Coca-Cola Bottling Company was listed in the National Register of Historic Places on Aug. 22. The nomination was sponsored by 1147 LLC, and nomination materials were prepared by Ken Henson.

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