Grovetown Is Rebuilding Its Town Center One Robinson Avenue Address at a Time

"Grovetown's never had anything like this before." The person booking events at the new Grovetown Depot told WJBF in July that first-time visitors keep saying it, usually right after they mention the smell of fresh paint. The comment is about one room. It also describes the whole stretch of E. Robinson Avenue around it, where the City of Grovetown spent the past year building, moving and buying property to create a place for people to gather downtown.

The city built the Depot as an event facility that it operates itself and rents to the public. At the Depot's ribbon cutting in December 2025, Mayor Gary Jones said that "the citizens appreciate when you have public functions that they can participate in," and called the building "another facility where we can all come together as a community and hold events." Each Robinson Avenue address follows from that idea.

The Depot Is New Construction With an 1879 Face

Grovetown's first depot opened in 1879. The original building had been gone for 42 years when plans to replace it got serious in 2015. Those plans grew out of conversations that started years earlier. The building that opened at 104 E. Robinson Ave., at the corner of Railroad Avenue, is a new one-story structure designed to look like the original. It is a $3.2 million project, according to The Augusta Press.

Getting there took a while. The Augusta Chronicle reported in July 2024 that contractor bids for the depot-inspired community center were due that August. In May 2025, a city weekly report projected completion that fall. The ribbon cutting took place Saturday, Dec. 20, 2025. Mayor Jones, Mayor Pro Tem Eric Blair and Councilmembers A. Richard Bowman, Dr. Sylvia Martin and Ceretta Smith signed the invitation. Martin had pushed for the rebuild for a long time. "When I walked in, it took my breath away," she told The Augusta Press.

Inside, the clearest link to the old railroad town is a display of the uniform worn by train conductor H. Clay Hardy. The rest of the building is a modern event space, with a full sound system and projectors.

What the Depot Has Hosted So Far

The City Council approved use policies and fees for the Depot on Dec. 8, 2025. Public rentals started March 2, 2026, and the building rents Monday through Saturday. By July, it had hosted baby showers, birthdays and retirement parties, and weddings were on the books.

The city has used it too. Its first months of events show what kind of building it was meant to be:

• A Chamber committee meeting on Jan. 22, 2026
• A Senior Valentine's dance on Feb. 14, 2026
• An off-site city budget meeting on Feb. 20, 2026
• The city's first Mother's Day Brunch on May 2

That mix of business meetings and a dance for seniors fits the mayor's description of a shared room that any group in town can use.

The Museum Traded Two Floors for a Parsonage

The Depot invitation included a detail that was easy to miss. In its list of overflow parking spots, it named "the Grovetown Museum (now at 202 E Robinson Avenue)." For years the museum had been at 106 E. Robinson Ave., next to City Hall.

City officials started explaining the move in April 2025. They told WRDW that the old space had become cramped and that a new location would be more visible, with room for rotating displays. Public Information Officer Jordan Johnson was more specific with WJBF in July 2026. "The old location was two levels, it wasn't very accessible to our folks with disabilities, and also we were outgrowing it," he said.

The new home is a building with its own history. It used to be the parsonage for the United Methodist Church next door and is more than 100 years old. The city "snagged it up when it became available," Johnson said. Staff moved the artifacts in March 2026, and the museum opened with a ribbon cutting and open house on Saturday, March 28. A wildflower garden next door gives it the full name: the Grovetown Museum and Wild Flower Garden.

Here's what's on display inside:

• A scale model of the old Poole Store, which Johnson said "brings a lot of folks back who use to hang out at that store"
• Artifacts tied to Paul Hamilton Hayne, one of the city's earliest residents
• Material on Charles Clifford, one of Grovetown's founders
• A tribute to Charles Lord, the former city historian who Johnson said was "absolutely instrumental in getting the Grovetown Museum off the ground"

Exhibits are more spread out than they were at 106, and the city hopes to change displays by season.

Four Addresses on One Street

The city's moves add up when you list them in order along the road:

Three of the four rows are city decisions. The fourth is a local couple's.

The Private Bet at 587

Gil and Tracey Rowland started Southern Fired Foods as a food truck. In July 2026 they opened a permanent shop at 587 East Robinson Ave., farther east on the same road, in a building that used to be an animal clinic. They turned it into a takeout-focused restaurant built around a wood-burning oven for Neapolitan-style pizza.

So far it is the only new private business on Robinson Avenue that local news has covered this year. Grovetown's other recent restaurant opening, Yummy Pho, opened at 284 Meridian Drive in Gateway Square Plaza, next to Cold Stone Creamery. Both are recent arrivals, but only one chose the old town street the city is investing in.

What the City Hasn't Decided Yet

The rest of the street's future is still open, and the public record says so plainly.

The old museum building at 106 is still called "Old Museum" in the city's Sept. 25, 2026 weekly report, which notes that staff cleaned its first floor. The report doesn't name a new use. A building next to City Hall, a few doors from the new Depot, is empty and being cleaned, with no announced plan.

The city also bought several parcels on East Robinson Avenue and Johns Street from the sellers for $795,000, according to a City Council record. That record doesn't say what the land is for.

The longer-range framework was also on the table this year. Grovetown's 2016–2026 comprehensive plan described City Center districts meant to keep a small-town scale. A February 2026 City Council agenda proposed adopting the 2026–2031 update. The full text of the update wasn't available for this post, so it's unclear what it says about Robinson Avenue.

The holiday calendar is open too. As of Oct. 3, the city's only public event listed for October is the 4th annual Cruisin' for Christmas Car Show, from 9 a.m. to noon on Saturday, Oct. 24. It's held at Liberty Park, not on Robinson Avenue. Admission is free, and proceeds buy Christmas gifts for local children. No holiday events have been announced yet for the Depot, the museum or the garden.

Before You Go

• Booking the Depot: Rentals run Monday through Saturday. Call (762) 328-2782 to check dates.
• Visiting the museum: The city's spring 2026 newsletter lists hours as Wednesday through Friday, noon to 4 p.m., with free admission, and says those hours apply "for the time being." Older listings from before the move give different days, so call the city at 706-863-4576 before you go.
• Parking for big events: For the Depot opening, the city sent overflow parking to City Hall, the Grovetown Park and Ride, the Municipal Court, Clifford Memorial Presbyterian Church, Frank Wilson's Equipment Center and the museum.
• Dinner on the way home: Southern Fired Foods is at 587 East Robinson Ave. and is set up mainly for takeout.

At Tonda Booker Real Estate Group, we keep track of what happens to buildings like 106 E. Robinson and the city's new parcels because those decisions shape the part of Grovetown you live in. If you'd like to talk through what the changes downtown could mean for your street, Let's Start a Conversation.