CANTON, Ga. - Canton officials are putting City Hall up for sale.<br>
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The former residence that has served as the home of Canton city government for the past six years will go to the highest bidder as the city gets ready to move into a bigger space downtown.<br>
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Edgewater Hall, an 80-year old Georgian Revival mansion overlooking the Etowah River, once was owned by the Coggins family and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.<br>
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"It was a great investment for the city, but we've outgrown it," Mayor Cecil Pruett said.<br>
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But buyers won't find a "For Sale" sign on the front lawn where A.L. Gus Coggins once viewed his 350-acre Crescent Farm estate, which attracted national and international visitors in the early 1900s. The mansion was completed in 1922.<br>
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The city recently voted to advertise the sale and accept sealed bids for the house and its surrounding 11 acres. The property was recently appraised at $1.6 million by Georgia Real Estate Evaluations Inc. of Canton.<br>
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Canton's economic development director Melanie Whitt said the home could be a bed-and-breakfast or a special events facility.<br>
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City officials will use the money from the sale to buy their new home, the 77-year-old First Baptist Church of Canton, located just off the town square. The congregation is moving to a new church.<br>
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The Coggins house was sold in 1926 and has been owned by U.S. Rep. Robert S. Wood and Judge Marion T. Pope, its last private owner. He lived in the house during the 1960s before selling it to Cherokee Federal Savings Bank.<br>
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