Franklin Street-College Avenue Residential Historic District

Several blocks of intact historic houses in eastern Hartwell, Georgia, make up this district along Johnson, Franklin and Howell Streets and College Avenue. It holds 29 contributing and 9 non-contributing buildings, mostly one- and two-story frame houses and small one-story brick homes built from the late 19th century into the 1930s. The largest Victorian Eclectic houses cluster on Franklin Street, which bends where it once served as the main road toward Anderson, South Carolina. Bungalow/Craftsman houses, many tied to the Temple family of builders and architects, are concentrated on Howell and Franklin, while a few brick houses show English Cottage influence. A late-1930s WPA-funded community clubhouse also stands in the district. Residents ranged from working-class servants to a wholesale grocer, a merchant and farmer, and two county ordinaries. The district was recognized for its architecture, its record of early neighborhood development, and its social history, with a period of significance of 1854 to 1941. Ranch houses and small commercial buildings are the main intrusions.