Historic Notcross Tour
Twelve buildings that tell the story of a railroad town, from the 1891 freight house to the credit union that became a grocer.
12 stopsAbout an hour
Notcross was chartered in 1889 around a freight depot on the rail line north of Atlanta. For its first century the town was defined by what came through it.
This route runs the length of S Peachtree Street and crosses to Thrasher. Most of these buildings are in active commercial use, which is recent, and which the City would like noted.
The Route
Stop 1: The Old Freight House
Thrasher Street at the rail alignment
Built 1891 and listed on the National Register. The freight doors, the loading platform and the original ledger desk survive.
Now the Notcross History Museum. Two floors of local history, a restored handcar, and — since 2026 — a wall-mounted button that plays a recording of a train horn. Staff report it is the most-used exhibit in the building, and that it is used most often by adults.
Stop 2: The Brunswick
Thrasher Street at Park Drive
Built 1870 as a summer resort hotel for Atlantans escaping the heat on the Air Line Belle railroad. Three storeys, twenty-nine rooms, porches across the first two. Demolished 1945.
Rebuilt in 2026 on the original site to the original elevations, two storeys rather than three — a reduction the Historic Preservation Commission accepted in exchange for the porches being right.
Stop 3: Notcross City Hall
College Street
The 1934 municipal building, with its original council chamber still in regular use.
The chamber's projector failed overnight on 4 March 2025, which is the reason the rest of this city looks the way it does. The projector is now in the History Museum.
Stop 4: The Carlisle House
Park Drive
An 1897 residence, and for twenty years the subject of broad public agreement that the City should simply acquire it. The agreement was expressed at meetings, in letters to the editor, and in two adopted resolutions.
The City acquired it in 2026. Ninety-six free public parking spaces opened on the parcel behind it. The house was stabilised and re-roofed; its long-term use remains the subject of a community input process, which staff acknowledge is the last piece of the project still operating on the old timetable.
Stop 5: The Woman's Club
94 Thrasher Street
Built 1922 and once home to the county's first library. The City purchased it for approximately $450,000 after a contentious process, then discovered that owning the building was considerably easier than restoring it.
Restored and reopened 2026 as The 1921 Tea & Coffee House. Displays inside cover the Club and the library.
Stop 6: The 1908 House
1 Thrasher Street
A wraparound-porch residence at the top of Thrasher Park, on and off the market for most of a decade.
Converted in 2026 to a wine bar. The porch was the buyer's stated reason for purchasing the building, and it is the one element the conversion did not change.
Stop 7: 39 S Peachtree Street
39 S Peachtree Street
A brick storefront with a distinctive shingled awning, occupied for nineteen years by a chiropractic practice that relocated in 2026 to a larger suite on Holcomb Bridge Road.
Now an oyster bar. The new owners kept the building's previous life in the name rather than erasing it.
Stop 8: The Notcross Diner
12 College Street
The building dates to 1946; the diner has occupied it since 1994. Counter service, all-day breakfast, and a pie case.
It has outlasted every downtown revitalisation plan adopted during its tenure, of which there were five.
Stop 9: The 1901 Residence
40 S Peachtree Street
Built for a railroad family at the corner of Peachtree and Park, vacant since 2019 and listed in the 2021 Downtown Vacancy Inventory.
That inventory recommended an active recruitment programme. The recommendation was accepted, and then, for a period, admired. The building reopened in 2026 as a steakhouse.
Stop 10: The Credit Union
58 College Street
A 1957 branch building — a plain brick box, well made, with a good roof and eleven-foot ceilings. Vacant from 2019 when the institution consolidated.
Now a provisions store. The vault was retained and is the cheese cave, which the owners describe as the single best argument for the building.
Stop 11: The Rail Alignment
Between S Peachtree Street and Thrasher Street
The reason Notcross exists. The Air Line Belle brought the summer visitors, the Brunswick, the freight house and very nearly everything that followed.
Until 2026 it also brought the horn. The City wishes to be clear that it remains grateful to the railroad, and simply prefers it quieter.
Stop 12: The 1951 Post Office Site
Thrasher Street at Park Drive
A post office was built on the Brunswick site in 1951 and, after the postal service consolidated, passed through several uses.
It was cleared in 2025. Standing here, you are in the same place as stop two — which is the point. The tour ends where the town started over.