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THOMASVILLE (MCT) — Thomasville officials are moving forward with an effort to designate a part of downtown as a historical district.

The City Council recently approved a Historic Preservation Grant that will allow for a study to be conducted on a section of Randolph Street, between Colonial Drive and Carolina Avenue, as a potential historic district designation.

"I think cities, and Thomasville is no different, have a great interest in preserving our history and our heritage," City Manager Kelly Craver said. "It is a study, a planning grant, to find out whether another section of our downtown area meets the criteria of a historic district. This would be the sign to tell if this would qualify."

The Historic Preservation Commission asked the council for $2,600 in matching funds, since the state would only cover 40 percent of the $6,500 project cost.

The commission submitted the grant application in February and was awarded $3,900 on April 21.

According the Craver, the city will take the $2,600 out of the Mayor and Council budget and appropriate it to the commission.

"The Salem Street Historic district was designated in 2006 as a National Register historic district and the historic downtown business district was named to the National Register of Historic Places in 2005," said Charlotte Sears, chairperson of the Thomasville Historic Preservation Commission. "Designation of that section of Randolph Street, between Colonial Drive and Carolina Avenue, would carry National Register designation throughout the heart of Thomasville."

The funds will be used for preparation of a National Register nomination and the search for an architectural historian to research and document the history of the properties, as well as to prepare the formal nomination to the National Register Advisory Committee.

Among the properties included are Memorial United Methodist Church, the Lambeth-Hinkle House, and the former railroad depot.

Also to be included is a building believed to be a part of the earliest existing furniture factory in Thomasville, the Standard Chair Co., on the first block of W. Colonial Drive.

This will be the fifth grant that Thomasville has received for historical preservation efforts.