Groundbreaking at Rosa Parks Square marks start of $2.5 million renovation

With the sun beating down and the sharp, white facade of Macon City Hall as a backdrop, current and former county officials sunk shovels into a mound of hot dirt Thursday afternoon at the groundbreaking ceremony for Rosa Parks Square — a renovation project 50 years in the making. 

The vision for the park dates back to the Urban Development Authority’s plan in 1978 for the “Macon Civic Plaza,” according to Alex Morrison, county Director of Planning and Public Spaces and board member of the Friends of Rosa Parks Square.

Sandwiched between City Hall and the Macon City Auditorium, the square is the largest green space in downtown Macon.

Macon-Bibb Mayor Lester Miller acknowledged the city’s first Black mayor, C. Jack Ellis, and former Macon mayor and Georgia House Representative Robert Reichert for providing the foundational groundwork in developing the space.

The vision for Rosa Parks Square began when Ellis attended Rosa Parks’ funeral in Detroit and felt inspired to honor the civil rights activist in Macon. 

“The vision lived, and now it’s going to be reality,” Ellis said as he thanked the current and previous administration for keeping his vision alive. “I feel very honored and just thankful that this is happening.”

While in office, Reichert doubled the size of Rosa Park Square by converting two county owned parking lots into grass in 2012.

“It was 10 years ago in the Macon Action Plan that this green space got elevated to being of major importance for the community,” said Morrison, who was project leader for the Macon Action Plan. “We wanted to make sure that this was a place that could be a focal point for events, for gatherings and, critically, for protest.”

Early last month, the Macon-Bibb County Board of Commissioners selected a local, Black-owned construction contractor, Stafford Builders & Consultants, Inc., to carry out the $2.5 million renovation project.

The renovation will add benches, a stage, a memorial wall, picnic tables and additional trees.

“Rosa Parks was probably one of the first people that I can remember as a little boy when I first started getting my introduction of what our history has been like in the past,” Walter Stafford, CEO of Stafford Builders & Consultants, said. “To be standing here today in her honor, to support something like this for our community, it means a very big deal to me.”

The Public Works Department will prepare the area for construction, and Stafford will begin work in two weeks. The project is set to be completed in spring 2025. 

“This moment is monumental,” Friends of Rosa Parks Square Board President Andrea Cooke said. “It’s not just about a physical transformation, but a renewed commitment to equality, social justice and public space for everyone to enjoy and to protest when it’s needed.”