{"nrhp_refnum":"97001558","name":"Lilly Historic District","other_names":[],"category":"district","location":{"address":"Roughly bounded by CSX RR tracks, and Church, Montezuma, Third, and School Sts.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Lilly","county":"Dooly County","state":"GA","lat":32.148321235000054,"lon":-83.8777358909992,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1998-01-05","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Community Planning and Development"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A historic district covering most of the small railroad town of Lilly in Dooly County, Georgia, founded around 1902 along a new rail line and incorporated in 1907. It includes 32 contributing and 12 noncontributing resources on about 60 acres.","why_significant":"The district is an excellent example of a Georgia cross-rail town, with a gridiron street plan and a commercial district beside the tracks. Its houses, commercial buildings, depot, churches and school reflect styles and types common in early 20th-century Georgia, including Greek Revival, Queen Anne, Colonial Revival and Craftsman.","narrative":"Lilly is a small railroad town in Dooly County, Georgia, and this district takes in most of its historic core. The brothers John, Frank and Robert Lilly founded it around 1902 as the rail line arrived, and it was incorporated in 1907. Streets follow a gridiron plan tied to the tracks, with the commercial area beside the rail corridor, a layout described as a cross-rail town type common in South Georgia. Most downtown buildings date from after a 1920 fire that destroyed much of the business district. The district also holds about 25 houses along Church and Montezuma streets, a c.1902 board-and-batten depot, Baptist and Methodist churches built in 1905, and a two-story frame school from 1912 now used as an arts center. Local builder Perry G. Busby built the Baptist church and many early houses. The district was recognized for its architecture and its community planning, and its period of significance was amended to end around 1939 because the town grew little after the fire.","period_of_significance":"c.1902-1946 (amended at listing to end c.1939)","architect_builder":"Perry G. Busby, local builder (Lilly Baptist Church, 1905, and many turn-of-the-century houses)","architectural_style":"Greek Revival, Queen Anne, Colonial Revival, Bungalow/Craftsman","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Many buildings remain in use: city hall, post office, churches, and houses. The 1912 school has been rehabilitated as a community arts center.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:43.324481-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_GA/97001558.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/97001558/cb67c74d98-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/97001558/cb67c74d98-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Bubba73","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lilly_Historic_District,_Lilly,_GA,_US_(04).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:Lilly_Historic_District,_Lilly,_GA,_US_(04).jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/93207838","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lilly_Historic_District","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q55616871"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/georgia/dooly-county/lilly-historic-district-97001558/"}