{"nrhp_refnum":"78000991","name":"Old Market","other_names":["Slave Market"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"U.S. 1 and GA 24","address_restricted":false,"city":"Louisville","county":"Jefferson County","state":"GA","lat":33.00154577700005,"lon":-82.41126599499995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1978-02-17","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Commerce","Social History"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"An open-air, four-sided market shed with a pyramidal roof and cupola, standing on a mall dividing Broad Street (U.S. 1 Business) in Louisville, Jefferson County, Georgia. Research in the nomination places its construction between 1795 and 1798.","why_significant":"It is described as the only surviving structure of its kind in Georgia and one of very few in the United States. It served as the focal point of commerce in Georgia's first planned capital. Research shows it was a publicly owned, multi-purpose market for sheriff's and other official sales of land, goods and slaves, not a 1758 slave market as local tradition claimed.","narrative":"Open to the air on all sides, this wooden market shed sits in the middle of a mall that divides Broad Street in Louisville, Georgia. Four heavy posts per side hold up a shingled pyramidal roof topped by a cupola with pointed Gothic windows, and a bell hangs in the steeple. A cement floor and new roof were added in the 1950s, though many original timbers survive, reinforced with iron. Local tradition and a plaque date it to 1758, but the nomination's research places construction between 1795 and 1798, after the town was laid out in 1794. Newspapers from 1799 onward advertise sales held there. It was a public market where officials such as the sheriff sold land, town lots, furniture, household goods and slaves. Louisville was Georgia's first planned capital, and this is the only structure of its kind left in the state and one of very few nationwide.","period_of_significance":"1795-1798","architect_builder":"Unknown","architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"Condition marked altered; a cement floor and new roof were added in the 1950s, and original timbers remain but are badly rotted and strengthened with iron. Owned by the City of Louisville.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:41.098953-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_GA/78000991.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/78000991/21cbb3b0d3-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/78000991/21cbb3b0d3-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"Jud McCranie","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Old_Market,_Louisville,_GA,_US.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Jud McCranie</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Old_Market,_Louisville,_GA,_US.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/93208734","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Market_(Louisville,_Georgia)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q98547469"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/georgia/jefferson-county/old-market-78000991/"}