Most students who have ventured from campus to the downtown Statesboro area might have noticed the large sign announcing your arrival to the Blue Mile.
We had the opportunity to speak with Keely Fennell, the president of the Blue Mile Foundation, to speak about what the long term plan is as well as some of the changes that have already been made and that we can look forward to when we return for the Fall 2021 semester.
Big Picture:
The goal with the Blue Mile project is to revitalize the Blue Mile and the surrounding areas through five focal points: housing, parks, arts, infrastructure, and economic development. These points helped the Blue Mile project win 1 million dollars in 2019 in America’s Best Community competition which is being put to finance the changes going on in the downtown area.
HUNTINGTON â In 1869, rail tycoon Collis P. Huntington, who played a successful â and highly profitable â role in construction of the long-dreamed-of Transcontinental Railroad, came to the rescue of the all-but-bankrupt Chesapeake & Ohio.
The little railroad desperately needed new capital to rebuild the damage it had suffered during the Civil War and push its tracks westward from Richmond, Virginia, to the Ohio River, where passengers and cargo could readily be transferred between the railroad and the riverboats that traveled the Ohio.
The C&Oâs board of directors turned for help to Huntington, who made them an offer they couldnât refuse. He said he would gladly supply the new funds needed â if he was made the railroadâs president. The board quickly agreed.