Dalton Commercial Historic District (Boundary Increase)

Downtown Dalton's commercial core is a gridiron of mostly attached one- and two-story brick buildings centered on Hamilton Street, with the railroad forming its eastern edge. Laid out in 1846 around the Western and Atlantic Railroad Depot, the town became the Whitfield County seat in 1852. The district holds Italianate, Commercial Victorian, Colonial Revival, Art Deco and mid-century modern buildings, including the 1852 depot, the 1938 Wink Theater, the 1937 City Hall and the 1914 post office. This documentation added three areas on the north, east and west sides, bringing 33 contributing buildings on 5 acres into the original 20-acre district. It also reclassified many earlier noncontributing buildings after false facades were removed or they reached fifty years of age. The period of significance now runs from 1846 to 1955, covering the town's growth as a rail center and a hub of the chenille bedspread and carpet industry.