“ To preserve all of this and to save it for future generations not only preserves our story, our personality, who we are. It inspires future generations to continue to save and preserve.” ~ Julie Smith, mayor of Tifton
By the 1980s, nearly 40 % of Tifton’ s downtown remained vacant, housing only dust, pigeons, and discarded material, as the city seemed to outgrow this aspect of its development and turned its attention to burgeoning suburban areas.
Not content to allow their downtown area to go the same direction many other small towns’ historic communities had, the city government partnered with developer Harold Harper for what at the time was a controversial project to kickstart their effort to revive Downtown Tifton— the revitalization of the Myon Hotel, a cornerstone of the downtown community established in 1906 that had sat vacant and abandoned for many years.
Through a public-private partnership, the city and Harper purchased the building, splitting ownership of the property down the middle; while the City of Tifton renovated one half to become its new City Hall, Harper repurposed the other half running along Main Street into retail or housing space.
While the renovation effort took a few years, Tifton’ s efforts received national recognition, even winning awards for the passionate push to restore the old building.
Following that success, the city set its sights on another pillar of the downtown strip, entering into a second public-private partnership to revive the Tift Theatre, which, like the building sitting at the corner of First and Main, remains a keystone in the Downtown Tifton community to this day.
Harper’ s investments into Tifton didn’ t stop at the Myon— the developer earned the moniker of“ Godfather of Tifton” for his extensive investment into breathing new life into Tifton’ s historical downtown buildings, including the Wilton Arms hotel, a sister hotel to the Myon that has been refitted as apartment buildings.
Indeed, the Harper family as a whole remain ardent advocates of Downtown Tifton’ s history and culture, continuing his efforts to revitalize the area through projects like the renovation of the pair of brick warehouses at the corner of Tift Avenue and Second Street, which now house apartments and Italian restaurant Fresco Italiano.
“ To preserve all of this and to save it for future generations not only preserves our story, our personality, who we are,” Julie Smith, mayor of Tifton, said.“ It inspires future generations to continue to save and preserve.”
The effort to restore Downtown Tifton has persisted since that first proposal to revitalize the Myon, creating ripples throughout the community as other parts of Tifton’ s history are brought into the modern age.
Vacant structures filled up with new businesses, bringing commerce back to downtown. Dilapidated buildings were revitalized and transformed key facets of the larger community, like the former post office becoming the Tifton-Tift County Public Library or an abandoned gas station along U. S. Highway 82 being transformed into the Business Development Center and Tifton Welcome Station. And Tifton’ s growth outside of the city’ s center has persisted, only bolstered by the increased development to downtown.
“ Between those two buildings, we’ ve ended up with what you see now— and it’ s ongoing,” Smith said.“ Every day, it’ s restoration, it’ s focusing on downtown, it’ s maintaining our history and our personality of who Tifton is and what Tifton is.”
Not every building vital to Tifton’ s history has been preserved, but the city’ s local government has made more of an earnest effort to maintain or restore the historical structures and locations around their community since the revival of Downtown Tifton.
Both the downtown area and its larger community continue to grow and progress, with the city boasting thriving agricultural and tourism industries, supporting a population of over 17,000 and counting, and pushing for developments that will breathe new life into old cornerstones of Tifton and build new pillars for the community moving forward.
The Friendly City has certainly been through some ups and downs since Henry Tift first established his sawmill, but it has never stopped growing— and it doesn’ t seem like it intends to any time soon.
JANUARY 2026 | TiftonScene 13