Commerce Commercial Historic District

Downtown Commerce, Georgia, originally the post village of Harmony Grove, is preserved in a nine-acre district of brick buildings dating from about 1850 to 1938. Most are attached one- and two-story stores with upstairs offices, many decorated with recessed squares, triangles, corbelling and pilasters. Some storefronts are cast iron made by a local foundry, and the Babcock Building has an upper facade of decorative cast concrete block. The 1910 Opera House has large round-arched second-floor windows. A brick and frame Presbyterian church from 1912 shows Romanesque Revival features, and three brick industrial plants, including the Blue Bell complex, reflect the town's manufacturing growth. The district was listed because the town became a major regional distribution center after the railroad arrived in the 1870s, taking the name Commerce in 1906. Its irregular street plan, shaped by converging wagon roads and the rail line, also sets it apart from the typical Georgia gridiron.