Abstract:
This document details Nashville, Georgia and the early urban planning efforts to establish West Avenue as its central, impressive thoroughfare, anchored by the 1898 brick Berrien County Courthouse. This vision of a "Grand Avenue" was reinforced by the strategic placement of significant institutions, including the First National Bank and Farmers Bank at its intersection with Davis Street, and critically, the new Nashville Public School at its far end, designed with its entrance facing eastward towards the courthouse. The construction of the First Baptist Church in 1917 further solidified this intended character. However, the concept began to wane with a series of architectural and planning decisions, such as the symmetrical-destroying 1938 courthouse addition, the school's 1907 annex moving its main entrance away from West Avenue, and new businesses failing to align with the grand vision. Ultimately, the "Grand Avenue" dream was "eliminated" in 1973 when the city closed and sold much of West Avenue to the First Baptist Church for an Education Center, leaving only a fragmented and transformed street today.