The Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation has named the Crown Mill Store to its 2012 list of places in peril.

“That may sound like a bad thing, but it’s actually good because it gives it a lot of attention and will make it easier for us to help restore it,” said Dalton City Administrator Ty Ross.

The Hamilton family donated the store to the city two years ago. And the council approved a $12,000 repair for the roof earlier this year.

“That was the first thing to be done to stop the leaking. But it needs a wholesale renovation, which will be much more expensive,” Ross said.

City officials estimate fully restoring the building, including the roof work, will cost $190,000 to $200,000.

“We don’t have a funding source for that yet,” Ross said.

Ross said the city has been talking with the Whitfield-Murray Historical Society about how to best use the store.

“The discussions have focused on using it to show the evolution of the bedspread industry to the carpet industry and basically making it a bedspread museum,” Ross said.

The store was built in the late 19th century and served as the company store for Crown Mill workers for decades.

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