ABOUT

Harrisburg

Like many in-town neighborhoods in cities both large and small across Georgia, Harrisburg faces challenges that are very much the opposite of those faced by most suburbs. While roads, sewers and other infrastructure struggle to keep up with suburban development, underused urban infrastructure often is crumbling because there’s not the funding to repair it. And the populations are different two: Where - at least until recently - the suburbs were largely white and upscale, inner-city neighborhoods have tended to be poor and dominated by minorities.

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Unlike blight that has crept into many aging inner suburbs, however, the blight in Harrisburg is laced with assets - and therefore a great deal of hope. Prime among those are the historic canal, which has become a focus of downtown redevelopment efforts; abandoned brick mill buildings that can be re-purposed into housing and offices; and the entire neighborhood’s convenient location near the center of Augusta. It also helps that there’s a framework of lots, blocks and streets.

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Those assets were undermined by two factors. In the 1970s, the neighborhood was bisected by the Calhoun Expressway. Then, in the early 2000s, two textile mills along the Canal closed following years of declining employment.