Rossville Mayor Teddy Harris joins the Rossville Public Works department, led by Director Mark Harris, in hanging the city’s new banners
The City of Rossville is launching a banner project of "brighter colors for a brighter future."
"For far too long, the City of Rossville has been associated with abandoned buildings and boarded up windows," officials said. "But now, change is on the horizon as local leaders and community members are actively working to improve the perception and appearance of the city they love.
"If you’ve driven down McFarland Avenue or Chickamauga Avenue in the past week, you likely noticed the new, brightly colored banners lining both sides of the street. These banners aren’t just meant to add color and personality to downtown Rossville, but they represent a much larger vision that started over four years ago."
In February 2017, Elizabeth Wells, Sally Morrow, Susan Wells and Margaret Smith began leading Rossville through the Thriving Communities Initiative, a program developed by the Thrive Regional Partnership. The program was facilitated by Bridge Innovate and initially funded by utilizing a grant from the Lyndhurst Foundation. Thriving Communities is a program intended to build economic and community development resources in struggling towns and cities.
Ms. Wells, along with a group of volunteers, elected officials, and Public Works staff first set their sights on reviving the community park around the “Rossville Duck Pond.” The group raised $125,000 in donations of materials and labor to complete the phase 1 rehabilitation of what is
now known as John Ross Commons. Donors for the project included Tennessee American Water Company, the Barn Nursery, EPB, Edwards Sod Farm and Yerbey Construction.
Since that initial project, more recent phases have included improvements to the fencing around the ponds, new sidewalks and a solar-powered speaker box that narrates the history of John Ross with the press of a button.
Over the next few years, Ms. Wells worked to get Rossville successfully designated as a Federal Opportunity Zone and included in Georgia’s Rural Tax Credit program. These programs provide significant tax benefits for anyone willing to invest in property and start or relocate a business inside designated areas of the city.
In 2019, Susan Wells was appointed the interim director of the Rossville Downtown Development
Authority, a board made up of community members and local business owners focused on
revitalizing Rossville’s downtown area. Ms. Wells resigned her post in December 2021 and the Rossville City Council confirmed Tobey Hill as the new executive director.
The RDDA is currently active and holds public meetings on the first Tuesday of every month at the Rossville Public Library. All these contributions have amounted to millions of dollars of investment into Rossville over the past four years, and many more millions of dollars worth of proposed projects planned for the coming years.
The final chapter of Rossville’s Thriving Communities program was the development of city-wide street pole banners that were meant to pay respect to the city’s industrial past and begin to restore community pride among residents and business owners. The RDDA worked with several local graphic designers, including the final design that was created by Tianna Weaver, to bring the spirit of Rossville to life through a series of eight banners that will now decorate the city’s downtown corridor for years to come.
"While there is still much work left to do before Rossville will realize its full potential, thanks to the
contributions of Ms. Wells and a multitude of other community leaders, Rossville is well on its way to a brighter future," officials said.