Griffin Regional Welcome Center: Gateway to History, Commerce, and Culture
Broad Street Entrance
Griffin Welcome Center- View from Broad St. Looking North East
Stop by and pick up a Brochure or two
Welcome Center Gift Shop
The Griffin Regional Welcome Center hosts the Griffin‑Spalding Chamber of Commerce, the History of Griffin Museum, the Griffin Archives, the Griffin‑Spalding Art Association Gallery, and the General Store & Gift Shop. Conference rooms are available for rent, and admission to the Museum and Gallery is free. The center is open Monday through Friday, 8 a.m.–5 p.m. The building, originally erected in 1899 by the late Mr. B. R. Blakely, Sr.—a prominent local entrepreneur in agribusiness, banking, and wholesale distribution—was strategically positioned near the Dixie Highway and the Central & Southern Railroad Depot, making it a vital marketplace and shipping hub. Griffin Grocery Company, one of the region’s first cold‑storage warehouses, drove commercial growth, later adding a flour mill and expanded storage that linked the building to the adjacent Union Depot at Eighth and Broad Streets. Although the depot was demolished in the mid‑1970s, the Griffin Grocery Company Building remains the sole surviving landmark of that era. The restoration adhered to the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Rehabilitation of Historic Buildings and, together with the Streetscape Program, has spurred downtown revitalization and attracted further investment. The facility spans 19,700 sq ft. Renovation costs were covered by the Department of Transportation’s Transportation Enhancement Activity (TEA) and the City of Griffin.
