City/Town: • Cedartown |
Location Class: • Hospital |
Built: • 1955 | Abandoned: • 2022 |
Status: • Abandoned |
Photojournalist: • Gage Griffith |
Table of Contents
Cedar Hill School’s
Cedar Hill holds a significant place in the history of the Polk County community of Cedartown. Built in 1955 in a rural area, it operated for many years as a segregated high school. In the rural South, educating African Americans was often seen as a burden by local governments, and as a result, Cedar Hill was treated as Cedartown’s “hand-me-down” educational center. Students received a lower-quality education from underpaid teachers.
In 1961, the Georgia legislature repealed its school segregation law, and Cedar Hill admitted its first four White students for the 1962–63 school year. In 1970, Cedartown High School relocated to a larger building, leading to the closure of Cedar Hill High School as all students were transferred to the new facility.

In 1972, after a minor renovation and the construction of a new addition with more classrooms, the campus reopened as Cedar Hill Middle School, serving grades 6–8. It fulfilled this role for many years until 2001, when both Cedar Hill and nearby Purks Junior High School were closed and replaced by the new Cedartown Central Middle School.
Initially, the Polk School District proposed repurposing the facility as an elementary school for the west side of Polk County. However, it remained vacant until 2008, when it was transferred to the county hospital authority. Following extensive renovations, the former school was converted into Cedar Hills Senior Living, featuring 60 individual apartments, Monthly rents for an apartment started at $2,500. Today, the only remnant of the original school is the athletic field below Cedar Hill.
Cedar Hill Senior Living
Beginning in 2011, the Polk County Hospital Authority began divesting its properties, including the sale of its most profitable asset, Polk County Hospital, to Floyd Medical Center. Soon after, care and maintenance at Cedar Hill started to decline until the Hospital Authority sold the lease to Charter Senior Living, which took over daily management in 2017.
Under Charter Senior Living, numerous improvements were made, including new amenities such as a gardening program and a memory care unit for residents with dementia. On-site hospice services were also made available for those in need.
By 2021, the COVID-19 pandemic had severely impacted senior living facilities, and Cedar Hill was no exception. Struggling with staff shortages, rising costs for residents, and an increasing preference for in-home care, Cedar Hill Senior Living ultimately closed in 2022.
Gallery Below of Cedar Hill Senior Living
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