Last week: What should be done with Canton’s vacant historic buildings?
There’s a piece of real estate in downtown Canton that contains a former cotton mill and an old grammar school. Neither building is in great shape, but both hold a lot of history.
The city got the land in a swap with the Cherokee County School District in March. But anyone who’s familiar with restoration knows that it will be a costly undertaking. Last month the school district approved a deal with the city’s Downtown Development Authority under which the authority will act as a broker in the sale of the property.
The county’s historical society has been raising funds and awareness to preserve the monuments.
Last week we asked readers if the buildings should be torn down? Preserved? Or maybe a little of both?
Here are some of your responses:
The Canton mayor and council have compounded bad judgment with bad business. The Cherokee County School District had deemed it economically unfeasible to convert Buildings A and B into habitable operating structures. Canton has enough underutilized "historic structures" in its downtown. It needs people. Canton should reverse the deal with the school system and let them demolish these relics and build viable structures that will keep people in downtown Canton. They should then take the land on the reservoir they traded to the school system and build a riverfront park for all city residents as outlined in the master plan for the Hickory Log Creek Reservoir. — Bob Rush
Make shops and restaurants out of them. Canton needs some cool places to eat. Make it like Woodstock. — Amanda Abernathy
Preservation of course! I would like to see businesses in these buildings. Lawyer’s, County Offices (like in the old Courthouse) small business that only need small office space. I think that would be the least need of remodeling. At the Canton Grammar School I would like to see an open to the public class room done in the style of when the building was opened, 1914. And at the former Canton Cotton Mills office a room opened to the public that would show pictures of the Old Mill and maybe what an office would have looked like then.
As a volunteer at the Cherokee County Arts Council we encourage visitors to go see the old sanctuary of the old Methodist church which now serves as a stage for events. — Mary B. Fleckner
An elder care facility. — Rusty Cohen
Rentable event space. — Andrea Daniels
— Mark Woolsey for the AJC
A shooting outside an Atlanta high school football game last week brought to light an issue that some parents face just about every Friday night: What can be done to keep my kid safe.
Atlanta Public Schools Superintendent Meria Carstarphen says the larger issue is a failure to give students hope.
Two people were injured Aug. 4 after police say two groups of young men confronted each other outside the Grady - Carver football game that Friday night. An 18-year old student was was shot in the back and a 52-year-old woman was injured when stray bullets hit her in the ankle and grazed her head.
Carstarphen says Atlanta can change the circumstances that led to the shooting—and a similar shooting last year during the Mays-Carver football game—but it will take concerted action by people and institutions throughout the city.
If you’ve been to a high school football game in the last few years, you’ll see a lot of people milling about outside the facility. Whether they are fans or trouble-makers is hard to determine. Even though it’s a school event, it is open to the public.
In the short term, Carstarphen says that will include changes like a more visible police presence at events and a “fan civility” policy. But longer term, she is calling for community conversations to seek specific solutions — and for the resources to teach students and families skills to build better lives and avoid violence.
We’re asking readers for their opinion. What do you think needs to be done to keep high school sporting events, specifically football games, safe?
Send comments to communitynews@ajc.com.
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