Shellman Historic District

Shellman, in Randolph County, Georgia, grew up around a railroad stop. The Southwest Georgia Railroad reached the area in 1859, and the depot was first called Ward's Station. The settlement was incorporated as Shellman in 1883 and became a prosperous cotton shipping and mercantile center. The historic district preserves that town: a dense core of one- and two-story brick commercial buildings, nearly all built after an 1894 fire, with corbeled cornices, arched windows and cast-iron columns. Around it are wood-framed houses ranging from small cottages and workers' saddlebag houses to substantial Victorian Eclectic, Neoclassical and Craftsman residences. Two regional firms, T. Firth Lockwood of Columbus and Denis and Denis of Macon, designed houses here. The wood depot, the railroad right-of-way, the churches, the cemetery and informal street-tree and yard landscaping complete the setting. The district was recognized for its planning history, architecture, commerce, landscape and the homes of the townspeople who shaped it.