Cole Town District

Cole Town is a neighborhood east of Newnan's business district that grew up around the R.D. Cole Company, a woodworking and machinery firm founded in 1854. The district covers about 54 acres and holds roughly 80 houses built from the mid nineteenth to the early twentieth century, ranging from mansions to shotgun houses. Most are wood-framed, many with sawn and turned detailing, and nearly every major American style of the period appears. Most land and houses were controlled or built by the Cole family for relatives and company associates, and the area housed workers, managers, officers and founders. Notable features include houses designed by Leila Ross Wilburn and Edward E. Dougherty, a brick-veneered concrete-framed house, a mid-1880s brick and timber factory, an early 1930s steel-framed factory, and an early concrete bridge on Salbide Avenue. Informal yards and street trees add to the setting. The site of the original Cole plant may also hold archaeological information.