The Barnesville, Georgia City Hall
Canon EOS 6D, 28-105mm f3.5-4.5 EF lens
On October17, 1884, sparks from a passing train ignited bales of cotton stacked beside the tracks behind the Summers Cotton Warehouse. The resulting blaze decimated downtown Barnesville, Georgia, consuming 33 businesses and several residences.
The town quickly rebuilt, including a new fire station at Forsyth and Jackson Streets, with town offices on the second floor and the jail in the rear.
In 1866, a blacksmith named Jackson G. Smith had begun manufacturing buggies in Barnesville. His business grew, and other companies were also formed to build buggies and peripheral equipment such as harness and wheels. By 1900 nearly 9,000 buggies per year were being built in Barnesville, more than anywhere else in the south. Unfortunately, the buggy industry gave way to the automobile around 1910.
As time passed, the fire station and jail were moved to other locations and the building on Forsyth Street was fully occupied by city offices. In 1932 the city clock was moved to the bell tower of City Hall, completing what surely must be the funkiest city hall in the entire United States. Totally fitting for a town once known as the "Buggy Capitol of the South," and which hosts an annual Buggy Days Festival each September.
Just a block farther along from City Hall, at the intersection of Forsyth and Main Streets, is the office and commissary of Jackson G. Smith Barnesville Buggies. Currently they're selling cell phones.
Times change.
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(Photograph copyright David B. Jenkins 2020)
Soli Gloria Deo
To the glory of God alone
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