'Gaining Momentum': Start-up Organization Focusing on Future of Winder

It's 5 p.m. on Friday in 1972 and the whistle blows. Hundreds of workers leave the manufacturing plants and head toward town to visit the banks, the restaurants and the stores before heading home to chores, church and community activities over the weekend.

Neighbors are visited, goods are purchased, the latest new gadgets are admired in downtown store windows and a visit to the drug store for an ice cream cone at the soda fountain is quite a treat. 

Cut to 2011. There are some changes come 5 p.m. Workplaces for those who are fortunately employed are left behind for the weekend. There are still dinners to be consumed and ice cream is available at a drive-through window. But one notices abandoned buildings with "for rent" signs. A community favorite restaurant has closed for good. The historic buildings in the downtown area seem empty, while the highway mass-merchant businesses claim the attention and convenience of consumers along their route.

This could be the description of thousands of small towns across America.

As manufacturing has lost its stronghold in our country, communities have struggled to keep their balance, often taking decades to realize that decline in population due to job losses has affected their town negatively and that steps need to be taken to re-group and re-evaluate plans for the future.

Fortunately for one Barrow town, Partnership Winder has emerged to help residents businesses, and area entrepreneurs collaborate and gain focus on goals for the future of Winder and Barrow County.

Helen Person, Mace Strickland and Gwen Hill are the founding members of the group. Their first official meeting after several informational gatherings was held June 3 and was attended by 12 people. Follow-up meetings have resulted in increased numbers in participation from residents, and the numbers keep growing.

On June 3, the start-up group adopted its vision and mission statements and bylaws. Committees are working to develop a slate of nominees for election to the first board of directors and to develop plans for a membership program, as well as create a fund-raising program. In addition, committees will generate a work plan consisting of goals and objectives.

"Our goal is to benefit businesses through networking and community visibility," Helen Person said. "Winder needs to embrace its new identity as a gateway for other areas of the state."

Another of Partnership Winder's goals is to revive the Main Street network, which lost its funding in 2010 due to government budget cuts.

"We want to use the Main Street design model because it is set up to help small towns find new life within their historic context," Person said.

More than 100 Georgia towns and cities are part of the Georgia Main Street/Better Hometown network. Nearby cities such as Jefferson, Madison, Toccoa, Commerce, Milledgeville, Eatonton and Covington are among those that have been part of the internationally-recognized Main Street program administered through the National Main Street Center in Washington, D.C., for most of the 30 years of the program’s existence.

The purpose of the Main Street model is to help cities redevelop their core commercial corridors that were largely abandoned beginning in the late 1950s as suburban shopping malls drew the American public and their dollars outside of the downtown districts.

Main Street is a local self-help program that has provided a model for success in the adaptive re-use of former department stores, industrial sites, schools and large houses as today’s restaurants, event centers or other urban commercial or residential uses.

"Many of the historic structures in Winder are the best built in the area,” Person said. “For those of us that have lived here for generations, they remind us of how far we’ve traveled since our early days. But for visitors and new residents to our cities, those buildings represent putting down roots in an established community. They show others that we’re here to stay.”

The historic Barrow County Courthouse and former Barrow County Jail in downtown Winder were designed by South Carolina architect James J. Baldwin. Both were completed in 1920 and are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The courthouse will soon be undergoing a restoration funded by SPLOST, while the jail is now home to the Barrow County Museum operated by the Barrow County Historical Society. Winder’s downtown commercial district is one of four historic districts designated on the national register.

"Response from the community towards the new program is favorable and local media is showing interest in our activities,” Person said. "We are gaining momentum. Everyone needs to have a voice in this. We invite and encourage input from our citizens, businesses, and government.”

The more involvement we have from all areas of Winder, the stronger partnership we can create,” Person continued.

If you are interested in becoming involved in Partnership Winder, call Helen Person at 678-429-7668 or e-mail HelenPerson@windstream.net, Gwen Hill at gwenh1@windstream.net, Mace Strickland at macel@windstream.net or Todd Saxton at todd@coreexcellenceinc.com.

Watch for a new Facebook page to be up soon.