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IC's Hometown: Douglasville, GA


ironchapman

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Alright, here's some pics I took recently of my hometown, Douglasvill, GA. Rather than waste my time on the sprawlopolis that it has become where most of it's 25,000 people live, I have decided to focus on the County Courthouse (built in 1999, I believe) and on the town's oldest part, the Broad Street area near the train tracks. Many of the facades of the buildings on Broad Street can be traced back to the 1890's and early 1900's.

The Douglas County Courthouse

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Up Close:

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The East Wing:

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A Confederate Veterans Monument:

Actually, this is to commemorate all veterans o any war, but it was placed by the Sons of Confederate Veterans.

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The Base of the Monument:

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Broad Street

Looking Down Broad Street:

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Looking Up Broad Street:

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The Shell of a Building Behind Broad Street:

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Part of City Hall:

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The General Store:

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The Second Floor of the General Store Building:

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Gumbeaux's Cajun Cafe:

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O'Neal Plaza

In the center of the Broad Street area, you'll find O'Neal Plaza. It was named for an old mayor of Douglasville. This is where the fountain is.

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The "Famous" Fountain Downtown:

Arguably the city's most recognisable area (until Arbor Place Mall, that is).

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"Snowdrift Perfect Shortening":

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Looking Up an Alley Near the Fountain:

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Well, there it is, part of my (apparently) long-awaited tour of Douglasville. I might try out my camera on other places throughtout the city, but this is it for now.

What do you guys think? :)

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The courthouse is a nice facility, been there a few times years ago - but it is on such an isolated side of Douglasville. I wish they built it in downtown, certainly there is enough room there.

But Gumbeaux's is a great place to eat.

I like the courthouse, too.

I think the reason it is not in a more accesible place is because they people of Douglasville wanted to save the old Courthouse for another purpose (in this case, a museum about Douglas County). The old courthouse was the traditional site for the county's courthouses since the first one was built there in the 1870's.

I love Gumbeaux's, too.

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Very cool, ironchapman.

It has always interested me that in Douglasville (as in many towns) you see some of the nicest older homes built right next to the railroad tracks. I guess this is because in the old days a lot of city life and commerce centered around the train depot?

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Very cool, ironchapman.

It has always interested me that in Douglasville (as in many towns) you see some of the nicest older homes built right next to the railroad tracks. I guess this is because in the old days a lot of city life and commerce centered around the train depot?

That's one of the reasons why. Also, the aera around the railroad tracks is typically the oldest part of these towns, but that is because of the reason you suggested.

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Unless you've been there, you probably wouldn't think it's such a village after you see the Highway 5/Douglas Blvd. portion of it. :P

You have to understand that I call everything a village thats smaller than a sizable city. Its something I picked up from a European friend. :D

I've been to Douglasville a few times since I have a very good friend from there but it was a while ago and I remember nothing about the area.

Very cool, ironchapman.

It has always interested me that in Douglasville (as in many towns) you see some of the nicest older homes built right next to the railroad tracks. I guess this is because in the old days a lot of city life and commerce centered around the train depot?

Thats what fascinates me about the train depots and the train itself. They must have been a commercial "lifeline" to these small communities. It always makes me think about "Little House on the Prairie" :blush:

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Douglasville seems like a charming town, despite being on the verge of being eaten by the blob that continues to gobble up North GA. ;)

The courthouse is cool. It's good that the old one was preserved. I know of at least one case in which a historic courthouse was demolished to construct a new one, which is a good example of hideous modernism.

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The courthouse is cool. It's good that the old one was preserved. I know of at least one case in which a historic courthouse was demolished to construct a new one, which is a good example of hideous modernism.

Actually, in an odd twist of fate, the old courhouse was the ugly modernist building you speak of. They demolished the one from the early 1900's to build it in the 1950's, I think. In the mid-90's, they began construction on the nice one you see today.

Here's the old one:

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Cool pics , IronChapman . Are 5 and I 20 always congested , even during non rush hour ?

Tides

Nope, usually, it's smooth sailing (so to speak) down them. Usually the congestin isn't that bad all the way out here even during rush hour because we are about 20 miles out from Atlanta. I-20's usually relatively smooth inless its rush hour.

Hi-way 5's biggest cause for traffic is the traffic lights, which are frequently long on red, short on green, and have been known to be out of sync at times.

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As someone who's life has been literally entwined in the growth of D'ville, I would like to thank ironchapman for the great photos of the town. The city has worked really hard for many years trying to make Downtown Douglasville a desirable place for residents and businesses.

Not too many years ago, downtown was not nearly as attractive as it is now. O'neal plaza (former location of family owned o'neals department store) has become the cornerstone of downtown; before it was just a through street. Once City Hall moved in, they closed the street and turned it into the plaza with landscaping and fountain. With various facade and sidewalk projects, much of downtown has followed suit.

Of note: the primary reason that the new courthouse was located where it is relates back to the fact that it is the Douglas COUNTY courthouse and the county wanted to locate it there to hopefully stimulate some growth in that area. If it had been the choice of the city, the courthouse would have been downtown.

For anyone who enjoys the look of downtown Douglasville, there are tons of small towns on the outskirts of ATL with great, little known, downtowns like D'ville... some others include Carrollton (great square with shops, restaraunts adjacent to rail line, also big plans for old train depot, eventually) and Acworth (a Main Street City with quaint shops and restaraunts including the only one in ATL that might serve better cajun than Gumbeaux's - Henry's Louisiana Grill)

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Actually, in an odd twist of fate, the old courhouse was the ugly modernist building you speak of. They demolished the one from the early 1900's to build it in the 1950's, I think. In the mid-90's, they began construction on the nice one you see today.

Here's the old one:

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I like how they stuck "The Old...." on this building. Very clever :thumbsup:

Douglasville looks like a cool place. It looks more like the rest of GA than an Atlanta suburb.

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Douglasville looks like a cool place. It looks more like the rest of GA than an Atlanta suburb.

The advantage that several of Atlanta's older suburbs (when you think of date of incorporation) like Douglasville have is that many of them were cities of at least nominal size before they were absorbed by Atlanta, so they have a slightly different feel from what we have become accustomed to as a typical Atlanta suburb these days. this usually means their older sections are walkable. Douglasville, for example, was an important stop on the railroad between Atlanta and Birmingham, so people began to build up the little area known as "downtown" according to standards of the time (it was in the 1880's).

Some other good examples of these "older suburbs" are Decatur, Marietta, Carrollton, and Roswell.

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Douglasville looks like a cool place. It looks more like the rest of GA than an Atlanta suburb.

Not quite, in my opinion. I lived in Douglasville in the 70s, and Douglasville has been engulfed by more suburban development. It's not like it is a detached city area from Atlanta. It's a part of the suburban mass. Chapel Hill Road, Douglas Boulevard, Highway 5, etc. are basically suburban shopping centers, restaurants, homes, etc. The Arbor Place Mall is a cool mall. It's one of the best malls in metro Atlanta, in my opinion.

I have a feeling that many people have this idea that the Douglasville is detached from the rest of the built-up area. Much of this idea, in my opinion, has to do with the fact that the drive along I-20 does appear to show a 1.5-2 mile break in development between Lee Road and about two miles west of Fairburn Road. Much of the reason for that, though, is because of the rock quarry and rocky ground in that little spot of Douglas County. Around this area, it is connected by subdivisions.

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  • 3 months later...

One of the best things, since we're talking about the I-20 Drive, is the absense of really big ad billboards that seem to litter I-75 in Cobb. You can enjoy the scenery a little more.

The Ads start back again though when you head Westward into Carroll County, right before you get to GA 61. They seem to make up from lost milage there, one right after the other.

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