Third District A & M School-Georgia Southwestern College Historic District

Eight brick buildings, a triangular front lawn and a small quadrangle form the historic core of Georgia Southwestern State University in Americus. The campus began in 1906 as the Third District Agricultural & Mechanical School and later became a state normal college and then Georgia Southwestern College. The first phase of construction ended in 1956. The Wheatley Administration Building, built in 1918 after a fire destroyed the original 1907 academic hall, anchors the apex of the lawn with a columned portico and dome. Smaller Colonial Revival and classical buildings angle off on either side, including dormitories, a gymnasium and an alumni center. The layout resembles other Georgia A & M schools, and the campus drew on plans by architects Haralson Bleckley, T.F. Lockwood and Crawford Wheatley, with grounds planning credited to horticulturist P.J. Berckmans. Interiors have changed over time, but the exteriors remain largely intact, preserving the early twentieth century campus design.