Cuthbert’s 122-year-old water tower on Georgia 10 Places in Peril list

CUTHBERT — The 122-year-old Cuthbert water tower, the only water tower known to be located in the middle of a federal highway, is on the 2018 list of 10 Places in Peril in Georgia.

The list is produced each year by the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation.

“This is the Trust’s 13th annual Places in Peril list,” Mark C. McDonald, president and CEO of the trust, said. “We hope the list will continue to bring preservation solutions to Georgia’s imperiled historic resources by highlighting 10 representative sites.”

In addition to the Cuthbert tower constructed in 1895, the 2018 list includes:

— A.J. Gillen Department Store in Maxeys (Oglethorpe County);

— Bibb City Elementary School in Columbus (Muscogee County);

— Fire Station No. 2 in Rome (Floyd County);

— Fort Valley Freight Depot in Fort Valley (Peach County);

— Foster-Thomason-Miller House in Madison (Morgan County);

— Kit Jones Vessel constructed on Sapelo Island (McIntosh County);

— National Library Bindery Company in Atlanta (Fulton County);

— Olmsted Linear Park Properties in Atlanta (DeKalb County);

— Underground Savannah (Chatham County).

Officials with the historic preservation trust say the annual list is created to raise awareness about significant historic, archaeological and cultural resources in the state that are threatened by demolition, neglect, lack of maintenance, inappropriate development or insensitive public policy. The list can include buildings, structures, districts, archaeological sites and cultural landscapes.

Venues on the list have seen some preservation success. Roswell’s Mimosa Hall, former home of famed architect Neel Reid, was purchased by the City of Roswell. GTHP officials say Lyon Farm, one of the oldest houses in DeKalb County, will see stabilization work because of support from DeKalb County Watershed Management. A 1902 YMCA building in Columbus has been purchased by a local developer who intends to rehabilitate the property for mixed use.

In the case of Cuthbert’s water tower, which is located on U.S. Highway 82, the historic trust says its primary risk is from lack of maintenance. The tower hasn’t been used to supply water since the 1970s and now is primarily a landmark for Randolph County.

“Although it was repainted in 1999-2000, the update was cosmetic, and no repair work was done,” officials with the trust said on their website. “In addition to limited funds, the necessary repair and rehabilitation of the structure is made more difficult due to its location in the middle of a federal highway.”

The trust organization’s history of the tower says Walsh and Weidner of Chattanooga, Tenn., built it for the city of Cuthbert Water Works. It was engineered by M. F. Sullivan, and the contractors were Felton and Lyttle.

In March 1909, the trust notes, a tornado knocked the top of the water tower over into Rosedale cemetery, but the damage was repaired. When U.S. 82 was constructed through Cuthbert in the 1940s, the City Council told the federal government it didn’t have the funds to move the tower, so federal officials routed the roadway around it.