{"nrhp_refnum":"93000941","name":"Downtown Douglas Historic District","other_names":[],"category":"district","location":{"address":"Roughly bounded by Jackson St., Pearl Ave., Cherry St. and the Georgia--Florida RR tracks","address_restricted":false,"city":"Douglas","county":"Coffee County","state":"GA","lat":31.506993253500042,"lon":-82.85044064473789,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1993-09-09","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Community Planning and Development","Politics/Government","Architecture","Commerce","Transportation"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A historic central business district in Douglas, Coffee County, Georgia, laid out in 1854 and built up mainly from the 1890s through the 1920s. It contains 62 contributing resources, including commercial, governmental, railroad-related and residential buildings.","why_significant":"The district is the intact historic downtown of Douglas and the county seat. It is significant for its architecture, commerce, community planning, government and transportation. Its 1854 grid plan around the courthouse square, the shift of commerce toward the railroad after 1895, and its landmark buildings show how a small Georgia county seat developed.","narrative":"Downtown Douglas, the seat of Coffee County, Georgia, is preserved as a compact business district of about 76 resources, 62 of them historic. The town plan was laid out in 1854 as a grid centered on the courthouse square. Commerce moved south toward the rail lines after the railroad arrived in 1895, and most buildings date from the 1890s through the 1920s. Attached brick storefronts line Peterson Avenue and Ward Street. Landmarks include the 1910 Union Banking Company building, the first in the region with a reinforced concrete frame, a 1940 Moderne theater, a 1940 Art Deco courthouse designed by William J. J. Chase, and a 1925 post office. A c.1907 depot, a former tobacco warehouse and the rail lines record the railroad's influence, while the Queen Anne Peterson House and nearby homes show where business leaders lived. The district reflects growth driven by naval stores and tobacco, with a period of significance of 1854 to 1942.","period_of_significance":"1854-1942","architect_builder":"Chase, William J. J.","architectural_style":"Italianate, Queen Anne, Classical Revival, Italian Renaissance, Bungalow/Craftsman, Moderne, Art Deco, Folk Victorian","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"The c.1907 railroad depot is described as vacant, with its windows protected by plywood. Many other buildings remain in commercial, government, theater and residential use.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:43.342859-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_GA/93000941.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/93000941/79e3a92a45-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/93000941/79e3a92a45-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Bubba73","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Downtown_Douglas_Historic_District_(08).jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Bubba73</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Downtown_Douglas_Historic_District_(08).jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/93207620","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Downtown_Douglas_Historic_District","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q27957769"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/georgia/coffee-county/downtown-douglas-historic-district-93000941/"}