Franklin’s oldest commercial building has a new owner and is currently being restored.
Robert McMillan, a business owner in Woodstock, Georgia, bought the Talbott building on West Main Street in 2019 for $375,000.
“I was visiting and saw that it was for sale,” McMillan said. “I called the owner, who was then Bill Talbott, and he said the price is the price and it wasn’t going down. I liked it and bought it in July.”
McMillan always intended to have it restored.
“I bought it to keep it,” he said.
Restoration of the brickwork is currently underway, a project close to McMillan’s heart since his great-great-grandfather was a mason who came from Scotland to Milledgeville, Georgia in 1868.
“I liked that old building because of the brick and the history,” he said. “It was built about the same time that my great-great-grandfather got into the brick business.”
McMillan Brick was a booming business until the Great Depression hit. It remained in operation until 1940. A tiny piece of the building pays homage to his relative.
“If you look at the front of the building, at the top right-hand side, you’ll see one brick that kind of sticks out,” he said. “That’s intentional. That’s from my great-great-grandfather’s brick company
McMillan plans to rent the ground floor as office space and put an office for his software development company, ScotCro, on the second floor.
“Most of it’s original – pine floors, the staircase, the floor and ceiling joists,” he said. “It’s a neat building. My goal is to keep it as original as possible.”
McMillan was able to incorporate 93 original bricks.
“They were in the back of it,” he said. “Somebody had made a small patio out of brick. I dug down two inches into the dirt and found the patio.”
Those 93 original bricks are now in the front wall.
“I’m very excited about it,” said Barbara McRae, local historian and Franklin’s vice mayor. “Having someone invest lovingly in the future of our town while being mindful and caring about its history is a morale booster in a very difficult time. It really is an important part of our town.”
McMillan’s mother lives in Franklin, and he said he may retire here someday.
According to the 1996 Macon County Historical Survey, the building, known as the Johnston-Porter building, was constructed in 1887 with a dry goods store and a drug store occupying the first floor, while the second floor housed the original offices of The Franklin Press.
The Press occupied this office through the late 19th century, when W.A. Curtis was editor, according to McRae’s research.
In a news item, the editor wrote, “The Press has some very pleasant neighbors now. Mr. S.E. Bryson is occupying a room on the same floor, Mr. Porter has moved his goods to his new store in the same block, and in a few days, Gaston & Moore will move into the new Johnston store, directly under our office.”
The Johnston-Porter building is the oldest surviving commercial structure in downtown Franklin, McRae aid. Enterprises it has housed include Smith’s Drug Store, which eventually moved down the street (evolving into Perry’s Drugstore) and the American Legion, which was located in the building in 1946.
Jackson Johnston built the west side of the building in 1887 and sold the eastern half of his lot to R.L. Porter, who built a similar structure, attached to Johnston’s half.
From old photographs, the building appears to have originally had large, two-over-two sash display windows and recessed entrances.
The eastern side remained in the Porter family for many years, eventually going to Baldwin and Liner, who sold it to Henry D. West in 1946. At the time of that sale, according to the Press, it housed the Dryman Feed and Grocery on the main floor, and apartments upstairs. In 1994, Stephen Finch purchased the Porter half of the building and did considerable renovation. For a while, his parents, Emerson and Jane Finch, operated an antique mall in the building. Today, it houses the law office of Russell Bowling.
In 1999, Dan and Barbara Hazazer and Bill Talbott purchased the Johnston side and restored it. The structure is still occupied by Talbott Realty.