Baconton Commercial Historic District

Baconton's commercial district sits in the middle of town beside the north-south railroad tracks. The town began in 1869-1870 when the railroad arrived, and its first wooden business houses were gradually replaced by brick buildings beginning in 1902 with Jackson Supply Company's two-story store on Walton Street. Adjoining one- and two-story brick stores along Walton and North Railroad Streets share a contiguous sidewalk beneath metal awnings, and they display brick corbelling, arched windows and cast iron storefronts. The district also includes a large brick warehouse, the Bacon and Jackson pecan cracking plant of 1919, a former hotel and a bookkeeper's house, both now residences. It was listed for its role in agriculture, architecture and commerce: pecans have been shelled, stored, processed and sold here since at least 1919, and the district once held stores, banks, a post office and doctors' offices. Some storefronts are now empty, and the depot was demolished in the 1970s.