Railroad Office Buildings An interesting mix of railroad office buildings can be found around the state, in small towns and big cities. At Tennille in middle Georgia stands a fine old building that once housed the general offices of the Wrightsville & Tennille Railroad. The 1903 structure was designed by regionally prominent architect Charles E. Choate. A large portion of Macon City Hall was originally erected in 1837 by the Monroe Railroad & Banking Company as its offices. The building became the city's municipal offices in 1860. Between November 18, 1864 and March 11, 1865 it served as the temporary state capitol. The last session of the state legislature under the Confederacy was held here. The undercapitalized Monroe Railroad entered bankruptcy in 1845 and was sold. Its rail line became the Macon & Western Railroad and later the Central of Georgia's Macon-Atlanta line. Built in 1856, this impressive Greek Revival building in Savannah housed the administrative offices of the Central of Georgia Railroad. Known as the Gray Building for a time and later as Kiah Hall, it is now Savannah College of Art and Design's SCAD Museum of Art. Inscription on underside of the portico. (Cropped image. Complete photo is online here at Library of Congress). The Central of Georgia built this red brick building in Savannah in 1887. It was designed by Alfred S. Eichberg and Calvin Fay. Now known as Eichberg Hall, it houses Savannah College of Art and Design's architecture and interior design departments. This photo of the building was made not long after its completion. (From: Fruits of Industry. Central Railroad of Georgia, 1895. Online at Internet Archive here.) Next to Eichberg Hall is the old entrance gate to the Central of Georgia's former shipping yard and warehouse complex. Farther down the sidewalk is the Central's Savannah passenger station, now Savannah's Welcome Center. The 2-block-long Atlanta office of Southern Railway stands alongside the city's "railroad gulch." The structure once had a huge rooftop sign made up of letters spelling out "Southern Railway." It faced Terminal Station to attract the attention of the multitudes entering and leaving there. More photos. Canopy over Spring Street entrance to Southern Railway building. Built in 1899, the Grand Opera House in Brunswick remains a downtown landmark; today it's better known as the city's historic Ritz Theatre. Also in the building were the general offices of the Brunswick & Birmingham Railroad, a predecessor of the Atlantic Coast Line. (Click here for a larger photo from a higher viewpoint.) The offices of the Atlanta, Birmingham & Atlantic Railroad were once in this building at Walton and Fairlie streets in downtown Atlanta. AB&A sign on Fairlie Street facade. The Albany yard office of the Central of Georgia, built in 1926, still stands near the old Union Depot. Among the many railroad office buildings no longer in existence is the Georgia Railroad headquarters, which stood near Augusta's Union Station. The photo above shows the building in the 1960s, with a corner of Union Station in the background on the right. Both buildings have been gone for several decades. (Georgia RR General Office, Augusta GA 1967. Photo credit: George Lane, SSAVE. Some photo rights reserved; see this link at Creative Commons. For source photo, see this page at Flickr.) On Broad Street in Augusta was the Georgia Railroad Bank. In 1881 it leased its railroad operations to others. (Library of Congress). Another view of the bank. It too is gone. (Note: Heavily cropped photo. Complete photo is online here at Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.) The building on the right housed the Georgia Railroad Bank agency in Atlanta. It was destroyed in the Civil War. (Library of Congress). Zoomed-in view of bank sign. RailGa.com. Georgia's Railroad History & Heritage. © Steve Storey Railroad History | The Depot List | Locomotives On Display | Odds & Ends | Sources & References | Home