-David Crowder, WRGA News-
Pictured: The Rome Clock Tower in Rome, Ga., was one of 28 statewide winners at the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation’s 49th annual Preservation Awards ceremony in Marietta on April 25. (Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation photo)
A restoration project in Rome receives statewide recognition.
The Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation presented 28 awards recognizing the best of preservation in Georgia during its 49th annual Preservation Awards ceremony in Marietta, and Rome received the pinnacle award—the Marguerite Williams Award.
“It’s given to the project that is shown to have the greatest impact on historic preservation in Georgia,” said Rome City Clerk Joe Smith. “That project is our clock tower project. They deemed that the most worthy project over the past year.”
The clock tower project was a special-purpose, local option sales tax project.
“The 2023 citizens SPLOST committee received a presentation from the city and placed it on the referendum,” Smith said. “Then the voters of Rome and Floyd County approved that package. The city then went to work right away to bid, find a contractor, and go to work on that project. I’ve heard nothing but positive remarks from that project. It’s both a preservation and a restoration project. There were some structural issues, as well as cosmetic. The clock tower has a 150-plus-year history, and I think it has a bright future ahead of it. I hope the whole city is proud.”
Built in 1871 as the city’s first water reservoir and topped in 1872 with its signature clock and bell, the tower had suffered from decades of structural movement and water damage.
The SPLOST-funded project preserves one of the city’s defining landmarks at a moment when the community is still grappling with the fire that devastated the historic Floyd County Courthouse.
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