Warrenton Downtown Historic District

Warrenton's downtown is a compact commercial district built around the Warren County courthouse square in east central Georgia. Its one- and two-story brick storefronts, many from the 1870s and 1880s, show Italianate influence in recessed entrances, cast-iron columns and corbeled brickwork. Later buildings add Commercial, Colonial Revival, Art Deco and International styles. Landmarks include the 1939 Colonial Revival post office, the Masonic Building, the 1936 Art Deco Knox Theatre and early gas stations. The 1909-1910 courthouse was heavily expanded in 1999 and no longer counts as a contributing building. The district was listed for its architecture, its role as the commercial and governmental center of the county, and its intact Augusta-type county seat plan, in which the courthouse sits beside the main street. Growth followed the Augusta-Milledgeville stage road and the arrival of the Macon and Augusta Railroad in the 1870s. The period of significance runs from about 1870 to 1951.