Decatur Waterworks

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2006.

From the record

“The Decatur Waterworks was a facility that obtained drinking water for the city of Decatur, Georgia, from the local Peachtree Creek and Burnt Fork Creek. Completed in 1907 and abandoned since the 1940s, the Waterworks have fallen into disrepair and are covered with graffiti.”
Wikipedia article Decatur Waterworks, CC BY-SA 4.0.

One of 56 National Register listings published here for DeKalb County · listed in 2006 · category: District.

Sources: the Wikipedia article · the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service

The listing

Address. 1400 McConnell Dr., Mason Mill Park, Decatur, 30033
When was it listed? March 2006
Category. district
Census division. Atlanta-Decatur
National Register reference number. 06000123 - the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.

Fires near this property

2 since 1993

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 2 fires within 5 miles of Decatur Waterworks in 1993, burning about 1 acre in total. None started naturally. 1 was recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause	Fires
Arson/incendiarism	1
Equipment and vehicle use	1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

Date	Cause	Size	Reported by	Name on the report
15 July 1993	Arson/incendiarism	under an acre	Georgia Forestry Commission	not named
9 March 1993	Equipment and vehicle use	under an acre	Georgia Forestry Commission	not named

Every fire recorded in DeKalb County

Storms near this property

31 since 1996

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Decatur, the town this property stands in, in 31 storm reports between 1996 and 2024: 11 hail, 9 thunderstorm wind, 5 flash flood, 3 lightning. The reports record 4 injuries. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

When	Event	Place named	Harm	What the report says
June 2004	Lightning	Decatur	4 hurt, $25,000	The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that lightning struck and knocked over a large tree onto the Emory Wood Nursing Center on Oxford Road near Emory University. Four residents were trapped in the structure as a result and required hospitalization following the incident. One of the residents was wedged between a back wall and the tree where it had fallen on the nursing home. Later in the evening, all 38 residents of the home were evacuated. Lightning also struck a number of power lines and transformers in the area leaving a number of people without power during the evening.
July 2021	Lightning	Decatur	$20,000	The DeKalb County 911 center reported a house fire caused by lightning in the Manor Walk neighborhood.
September 2000	Flash Flood	Decatur	$15,000	The Atlanta Journal and Constitution reported that 3 to 4 inches of rain in a 2 to 3 hour period resulted in significant flooding. Forty-eight families had to be evacuated from an apartment complex on Memorial Drive in Decatur when water from Sugar Creek spilled over its banks and into the apartments. Flash flooding was also reported in Decatur. Road closures were required on Commerce Drive at Clairmont Road and College Avenue at Candler Road. On Electric Avenue, an unoccupied car was found with flood waters clear up to the roof. At Agnes Scott College in Decatur, East College Avenue was flooded as well.
August 2008	Thunderstorm Wind	Decatur	$10,000	The DeKalb County 911 Center reported that dozens of trees were down in the western part of the county near Decatur.
June 2019	Thunderstorm Wind	Decatur	$7,000	The DeKalb Emergency Manager reported trees blown down across the northwest portion of the county.
July 2005	Flash Flood	Decatur	$5,000	The DeKalb County 911 Center reported that several rounds of thunderstorms had dumped between four and six inches of rain across much of the county. Significant street flooding was reported in the Decatur area. Flooding was reported along both the north and south forks of Peachtree Creek in DeKalb county near the Fulton county border. The North Fork of Peachtree Creek crested at 13.4 feet at 1230 am EDT, which is 1.4 feet above flood stage. The South Fork of Peachtree Creek crested at 13.9 feet at 1230 am EDT, which is 1.9 feet above flood stage. Both branches of Peachtree Creek are in the western portion of the county as they flow into Peachtree Creek which continues into Fulton county. The main branch of Peachtree Creek rose to 19 feet at 115 am EDT, well above its flood stage of 17 feet. Several roadways, a golf course, and low lands along these creeks are flooded in these situations, but no serious damage resulted from this flooding.
November 1997	Flash Flood	Decatur	$5,000	no account filed
May 2005	Thunderstorm Wind	Decatur	$2,000	The Decatur Police Department reported that a number of trees were blown down.
July 2004	Thunderstorm Wind	Decatur	$2,000	A storm spotter for the National Weather Service reported that a number of large arm-sized, three-inch, branches were down, including several which had brought down power lines in the area. Power was out to a rather large area of the North Druid Hills and Decatur areas, including the North DeKalb Mall.
July 1997	Flash Flood	Decatur	$2,000	Nancy Creek was over its banks during the early morning hours. Minor street flooding was reported.
July 2024	Thunderstorm Wind	North Decatur	$1,000	A tree was downed on Longshore Cove .
July 2024	Thunderstorm Wind	North Decatur	$1,000	Tree down across road at intersection of Redan Rd and Holcombe Rd.
June 2015	Thunderstorm Wind	Decatur	$1,000	An Atlanta television news station reported a tree blown down at the Glenwood Elementary School in Decatur.
August 2014	Thunderstorm Wind	Decatur	$1,000	The DeKalb County 911 Center reported a few trees down across the county.
June 1999	Thunderstorm Wind	Decatur	$500	North Georgia Power company reported at least 3 trees were down.
April 2015	Hail	Decatur	-	The public reported quarter size hail fell for approximately 5 minutes in Decatur.
May 2012	Hail	Decatur	-	A Decatur Fire Department employee reported dime sized hail in downtown Decatur.
April 2009	Hail	Decatur	-	The public observed penny to nickel to quarter-sized hail in the Decatur area.
August 2005	Hail	Decatur	-	The Chief Meteorologist of Fox 5 television of Atlanta reported penny to quarter-sized hail.
June 2004	Heavy Rain	Decatur	-	The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that heavy rain had caused street flooding on Memorial Drive at Columbia Drive. Two cars were stranded in high standing water near the intersection, forcing officials to reroute traffic around the flooded area.
April 2003	Hail	Decatur	-	The public reported golf ball-sized hail in Decatur and Tucker.
May 2003	Hail	Decatur	-	The public reported penny to quarter sized-hail.
December 2002	Flash Flood	North Decatur	-	National Weather Service official river gage readings showed a rise of Peachtree Creek at Northside Drive from less than 10 feet to 17 feet in a 1 to 2 hour time frame. Flood stage is 17.0 feet. This was the result of rainfall up to 2.5 inches in 6 hours or less throughout this general area. Only minor nuisance flooding of low lying areas near the creek were observed, with no monetary damage reported. Nuisance flooding in low lying areas was also observed on Nancy Creek, which flows through the same general area.
March 2002	Hail	Decatur	-	The public reported nickel size hail.
May 2002	Hail	Decatur	-	The public reported quarter size hail.
June 2002	Flood	Decatur	-	An amateur radio operator reported street flooding during a thunderstorm. The rainfall rate was reported to be at least 1 inch per hour at the time.
June 2001	Lightning	Decatur	-	The Atlanta Journal and Constitution reported that two homes were struck by lightning and set on fire. The extent of damage was unknown and not reported. No injuries were reported.
October 2000	Flood	Decatur	-	The Decatur Champion newspaper reported street flooding on Trinity Place.
April 1998	Hail	Decatur	-	no account filed
July 1998	Hail	Decatur	-	no account filed
May 1996	Hail	Decatur	-	no account filed

Every storm recorded in DeKalb County

Map coverage status

No historic map-sheet match is published for this property yet. That does not mean no map exists. This record needs a coordinate-quality review before it can be joined to a sheet boundary. Browse the county's mapped places while that work is pending.

Listed places nearby

6 within 8 miles

Other National Register properties close enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties to their map sheets.

Property	Distance	Listed
Emory Grove Historic District	1.2 miles	2000
Steele-Cobb House	1.2 miles	1982
University Park-Emory Highlands-Emory Estates Historic District	1.4 miles	1998
Emory University District	1.5 miles	1975
Decatur Cemetery	1.9 miles	1997
Ponce de Leon Terrace-Ponce de Leon Heights-Clairmont Estates Historic District	1.9 miles	2014

Sources for this property

National Archives record	The nomination case file for reference 06000123 in Record Group 79.
Wikipedia article	Community-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA.
DeKalb County	All 56 listed properties in this county.

Provenance

Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.