{"nrhp_refnum":"06000123","name":"Decatur Waterworks","other_names":[],"category":"district","location":{"address":"1400 McConnell Dr., Mason Mill Park","address_restricted":false,"city":"Decatur","county":"DeKalb County","state":"GA","lat":33.80781974450005,"lon":-84.30220968344005,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2006-03-15","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Engineering","Entertainment/Recreation","Landscape Architecture","Politics/Government"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A 42-acre historic district at 1400 McConnell Drive in Mason Mill Park, Decatur, DeKalb County, Georgia, containing a municipal waterworks built 1906-1907 and a park added with Works Progress Administration labor in 1939.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the complex is a good example of an early 20th-century city waterworks and an important public works project, significant in engineering, politics and government, entertainment/recreation and landscape architecture. Its stone park features reflect New Deal-era public works and a planned park landscape laid over an industrial one. It is treated as a historic vernacular landscape of local significance.","narrative":"Northeast of downtown Decatur, this 42-acre district preserves the remains of the city's water supply plant and a later public park. Decatur bought the land in 1906, and the waterworks was finished in late 1907 at a cost of about $46,500. It drew from Burnt Fork Creek and South Fork Peachtree Creek, and surviving pieces include a brick administration building, concrete water and settling tanks, a water tower, a pump house, an outfall and two breached dams. In 1939 Works Progress Administration crews added a stone bridge, a fountain, granite benches and picnic areas. The plant served the city until a countywide system was completed in 1942, then remained as a backup. The park closed during World War II and was not revived. The district was listed for its engineering, its role in local government and public works, its recreational use, and its planned landscape. Today the site is wooded, overgrown and unused, surrounded by modern housing.","period_of_significance":"1906-1955","architect_builder":"Unknown (the history names engineer H. T. Joudon and the contracting firm Walter and Wagner of Rome, Georgia, for the 1907 construction)","architectural_style":null,"criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Overgrown, wooded and not currently in use; the dams are breached and the reservoir area is dry. The administration building survives only as remnants.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:42.965102-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_GA/06000123.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/06000123/bd88d3717b-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/06000123/bd88d3717b-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Aurelius787","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Ruins.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Aurelius787</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Ruins.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/93207762","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decatur_Waterworks","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5248816"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/georgia/dekalb-county/decatur-waterworks-06000123/"}