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(rshsdepot) Elberta, GA
WR council votes to buy train depot, country store
By Travis Fain
Telegraph Staff Writer
WARNER ROBINS - The city will own some new old buildings after the council
voted Monday to spend $30,000 for the old Elberta train depot and a country
store.
The two buildings, now located at the Houston County Fairgrounds, will be
moved near the city's welcome center at the corner of Watson Boulevard and
Ga. 247. The city's convention and visitor's bureau wants to hold periodic
farmers markets and craft shows with the buildings as a backdrop.
The city also will get a railroad switch tower and lights for its $30,000 to
complement the caboose already at the welcome center, which sits next to
railroad tracks. A third building, an old Warner Robins home called the
Parker House, also is included, though city leaders aren't sure what they'll
do with it. The city also will get most of the items inside the buildings,
many of which are antiques.
Mayor Donald Walker and Councilman Terry Horton said they negotiated the
deal Monday morning with owners of the Houston County Fairgrounds, which is
for sale. Horton said the purchases will inject some history into Warner
Robins, which has very little in the way of old structures.
The city was founded in 1942, after the Wellston Air Depot was built just
outside of the city. The depot eventually became Robins Air Force Base, and
Wellston - once a town of some 50 people - changed to Warner Robins and grew
into a city of almost 50,000.
The Elberta depot is believed to have been built in 1918 and was located
near what's now the corner of Elberta Road and Ga. 247. The country store -
named Mildred's Country Store - was at the corner of U.S. 41 and Todd Road,
Walker said.
The city will pay moving costs for the buildings, which Walker estimated
between $10,000 and $15,000. Another $20,000 to $25,000 will probably be
needed to paint the structures and fix them, Horton said.
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The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org
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