The Canton City Council has approved a $110,540 historic preservation and restoration services contract for the historic Jones Building on East Main Street downtown.
In its proposal to the city, Lord Aeck Sargent of Atlanta noted the building’s three significant qualities: An open floor plan, high ceilings and “magnificent” heavy timber construction. “It is understood that the city desires, at a minimum, to restore the exterior of the building as the first phase in the process of selling and/or reusing the building in whole or part for public functions,” the architect says.
The two-story building was constructed in 1879 by the Jones Mercantile Co. and expanded in 1914 to its present, 45,850-square-foot size. Jones sold general merchandise – dry goods, hardware, furniture and groceries, according to a brochure of the Cherokee County Historical Society and Canton Tourism Council.
The store closed in the 1970s, housed county offices for a number of years and is now vacant. Canton is acquiring the building from the county as part of the agreement to have the county take over fire protection services from the city.
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