Barnesville Commercial Historic District

Downtown Barnesville, the seat of Lamar County in Middle Georgia, grew around a crossroads and a diagonal railroad line, and its historic core survives as a district of 53 contributing buildings. Most are one- to two-story brick commercial rows with shared party walls and uniform setbacks, many with ornate Italianate detailing such as pressed-metal cornices and decorative parapets. Standouts include the 1891 Jackson G. Smith buggy building, the 1905 M. W. Smith Building, the 1897 Presbyterian Church, the 1884 city hall and fire station, the 1913 Mission-style depot and the 1918 Colonial Revival post office. The district reflects the town's economy: Barnesville produced more buggies than any place south of Cincinnati, and cotton and knitting mills, warehouses and rail freight also shaped it. In 1938 President Franklin D. Roosevelt visited to start the first Rural Electrification Administration project. The period of significance begins with the 1826 town plan and runs to 1945, and only eight of the resources are noncontributing.