Market on Madison

Named for the streets that converge here, Five Points was the center of the historically black commercial district, an empire built by father and son team, Clayton Dudley and Herbert Horatio “Hub” Dudley, along East Jackson Street and the Five Points area of downtown, which contained professional offices, a theatre, hotel, cafes, laundries, groceries, and retail stores. Originally, the main entrance into downtown was Telfair Street. Lawrence and Madison Streets also intersect here.

Daniel Cummings built this anchor of the black merchant community before 1908. Original businesses included a drug store, grocer and cobbler, while the upstairs contained professional offices. The second story of the neighboring building to the left was the first black movie house. Herbert "Hub" Dudley opened Thomasenor's Beauty & Barber Shop here in 1934. It also housed a bathhouse, and was the original location of Dudley's Shoe Shop, which Richard Baker purchased in 1965. Noted features include a variety of designs in its cast concrete façade and a “ghost mural” featuring Pabst Blue Ribbon, a reminder of the building's later years as a local dive bar. Today, residential lofts call the Cummings Building home.

According to local lore, this small barred enclosure located in an alley behind the former eatery on Madison Street was once a holding cell that has been around for almost 200 years. Other stories claim it was an entrance to the basement of the hotel that once stood here. Tell us what you think using #DublinGA at @VisitDublinGA on Facebook, Twitter, & Instagram.

J.B. Burch built this three story building to house mercantile stores and professional offices in 1913. After housing a harness and buggy business, it was incorporated into the New Dublin Hotel as additional guest rooms. The New Dublin Hotel once occupied the corner of S. Jefferson and E. Madison Street.

Dublin’s first permanent post office was built in 1912 in response to the booming cotton-based economy. The post office remained at this location until 1936, after which the building served as a federal courthouse, county office building, then pawn shop. Renewed interest in Dublin’s historical buildings led to its re-use as a residence and restaurant. Finally, in 2013, local businessman Jeff Davis restored the building to its original condition.The revolving door, with two hinged sections, is unique to Dublin. The brick is laid in a Flemish bind pattern of alternating short long sides of the bricks. Since this technique utilized more bricks, it was more expensive and generally reserved for more important or prestigious buildings. Two griffins support the original exterior lamp posts. The interior features domed ceilings and giant expanses of windows. The zero-mile marker post from 1939, still found at the corner of the property, indicates where the center of Dublin has long been perceived to be. Davis was a recipient of the 2013 Marguerite Williams Award for Excellence in Historic Preservation for his work restoring The Old Post Office.

Once the heart and soul of the Dublin cotton market, this building and the warehouse on the north side on Madison breathed life into a formerly dormant town. Laurens County set an all-time county cotton production record in 1912 and led the state from 1911 to 1913. Confederate President Jefferson Davis paused at this spot during his flight from Richmond in 1865, approximately three days before his capture further south in Irwinville. This corner was also the site of the first Coca Cola Bottling plant in Dublin.

Built in 1914 during the cotton boom, Southern Exchange Bank overlooked the cotton markets of Dublin. The front façade is faced in marble.