Tower trail opens Friday

From staff reports

After months of planning and even more months of waiting, the first segment of what Hogansville is calling a “Tower Trail” will open officially Friday.

A ceremony is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. at the trail head, next to the tennis courts of Hogansville Elementary School and within sight of the historic water tower.

The city has been working to get the trail, which eventually will connect to Oak Street, for several years. A $10,000 state parks and recreation trail grant was awarded several years ago, but property acquisition and construction have taken a while. Construction and some final touches, including signs giving the history of the tower, finally are complete.

The trail will give Hogansville its first hike-bike trail and eventually provide a pedestrian connection between the school and Oak Street. A local arts group has adopted the tower as part of its name – the Tower Trail Arts Festival – which will hold its first event to promote arts in local schools next spring.

The trail gives Hogansville a chance to point out other nearby historic sites. Signs near the trail give the history of the unique water tower, which was built in 1916 and originally part of the John Hines cannery.

Also noted is the school gym, built in 1935 by the Works Progress Administration. The amphitheater next to the school was built in 1939 with locally quarried granite and built as a National Youth Administration project. According to historians, local youth and textile workers idled from a strike helped build the amphitheater in a natural depression on the school property.

Construction of the trail also was funded by the Hogansville Charitable Trust and a “friend of the city,” according to planners.