The Georgia Post Building Listed in the National Register
of Historic Places
ATLANTA (May 13, 2013) – The Georgia Post Building, located in Knoxville,
Crawford County, Georgia, was listed in the National Register of Historic
Places on May 1, 2013. The nomination was supported by the Crawford County
Board of Commissioners, which owns the building and the Crawford County
Historical Society, which leases the building. Nomination materials were
prepared by the preservation planner for the Middle Georgia Regional Commission.
The Georgia Post Building was built in 1928 to house the printing press
and editorial operations for The Georgia Post newspaper. Founded on January
1, 1922, by Crawford B. H. Moncrief (1889-1950), the weekly paper was published
from his house in its early years. In 1928 production was relocated to
this building, located on the same property as Moncrief’s house (no longer
extant). Historically, the front two-thirds of the building was used for
the newspaper and the rear one-third was separated by a curtain and was
the pressroom, kept warm so the inks would flow easier when printing in
cold weather. Circulation for The Georgia Post was primarily the county
seat of Knoxville, the larger nearby town of Roberta, and the surrounding
rural area of Crawford County. Publication numbers probably remained close
to its current publication of 3,000 copies. Crawford B.H. Moncrief published
the newspaper until his death on November 14, 1950. His widow, Annie L.
Culverhouse Moncrief, and daughter-in-law Anne Moncrief continued publishing
the newspaper. In 1954, the newspaper was edited in the home of Anne Moncrief
and printed in Butler in Taylor County. In 1959, the newspaper building
was sold to H.C. Walker and The Georgia Post sold to Homer C. Seagler in
October 1959. The Georgia Post is still published today in Roberta.
The Georgia Post Building was listed in the National Register at the local
level for its association with the publication of The Georgia Post newspaper.
As a small-town and county-seat newspaper, The Georgia Post served Crawford
County as a source of local news, society happenings, and legal ads. The
building is an excellent and intact example of a small-town newspaper office.
The building retains a high degree of integrity and retains its exterior
and interior character-defining features including exterior and interior
materials and floorplan.
Located in downtown Knoxville, less than one block from the historic Crawford
County Courthouse, The Georgia Post Building is a one-story, one-room,
frame, front-gable building. The exterior is unpainted weatherboard siding
and the foundation is fieldstone piers. A painted sign with “Knoxville
Journal cir. 1898” is above the front entrance, although the building has
only housed The Georgia Post newspaper. The interior is one large room
with a cast-iron stove in the center. The building retains its original
wood floor and beadboard ceiling. The walls are original beadboard and
some nonhistoric horizontal wood paneling. Changes to the building were
made in 2004 and 2005 and include installing a ramp at the front entrance
for ADA accessibility; replacing paneled-wood doors with antique wood-and-glass
doors; and replacing the original metal roof with a new metal roof. The
building sits close to the road with no sidewalk. Ornamental foundation
plantings and mature trees surround the building.
The National Register of Historic Places is our country's official list
of historic buildings, structures, sites, objects, and districts worthy
of preservation. The National Register provides formal recognition of a
property's architectural, historical or archaeological significance. It
also identifies historic properties for planning purposes and insures that
these properties will be considered in the planning of state or federally
assisted projects. National Register listing encourages preservation of
historic properties through public awareness, federal and state tax incentives,
and grants. Listing in the National Register does not place obligations
or restrictions on the use, treatment, transfer, or disposition of private
property.
The Historic Preservation Division (HPD) of the Georgia Department of
Natural Resources serves as Georgia’s state historic preservation office.
Its mission is to promote the preservation and use of historic places
for a better Georgia. HPD’s programs include archaeology protection
and education, environmental review, grants, historic resource surveys,
tax incentives, the National Register of Historic Places, community
planning and technical assistance.
The mission of the Department of Natural Resources is to sustain, enhance,
protect and conserve Georgia’s natural, historic and cultural resources
for present and future generations, while recognizing the importance
of promoting the development of commerce and industry that utilize sound
environmental practices.
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