Ringgold Commercial Historic District

Seven attached commercial buildings along Nashville Street, Ringgold's main street, make up this small downtown district in northwest Georgia. Three two-story stuccoed brick buildings, the Whitman Block, the McClain store and the Whitsett building, date from the 1860s and show Greek Revival influences such as pilasters and stone lintels. Four one-story brick buildings from 1917 to 1926 reflect a stripped classical approach, with brick corbeling and recessed panels. The buildings housed groceries, a drugstore, a bank, a shirt factory, the first telephone system and, from 1939 to 1959, the post office. Ringgold grew as a railroad town, was burned during the Civil War, and slowly rebuilt. The district was listed for its architecture and for its role in the town's commercial life. The mid-19th-century buildings are noted as unusual survivors in Georgia. Ringgold's historic downtown elsewhere has been lost or altered, leaving this block as the main surviving group.