2009 Great America Main Street Top Ten Semi-finalist from the National Trust for Historic Preservation 2009 Excellence in Rehabilitation Award from the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation 2014 and again in 2021 Georgia Exceptional Main Street (GEMS) Community designation from the Georgia Department of Community Affairs, the highest designation awarded in the state 2017 Chairman's Award for Excellence in Historic Rehabilitation from the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation 2018 Downtown Excellence Award in Promotions from the Georgia Downtown Association 2018 Community Grand Award from the Georgia Urban Forest Council 2019 Live, Work, Play Community award from GeorgiaTrend and the Georgia Municipal Association Kelly Barnes Dam failure On November 6, 1977, the earthen Kelly Barnes Dam failed and released over 170 million gallons of water above the Toccoa Falls College campus. The failure killed 20 children and 19 adults. First Lady Rosalynn Carter visited Toccoa the next day. References External links of the City of Toccoa Main Street Toccoa website The 1977 Toccoa Flood Report of Failure of Kelly Barnes Dam Flood and Findings from the USGS Photograph of downtown Toccoa, 1941 from Kenneth Rogers Photographs, Atlanta History Center Toccoa's Historic Ritz Theatre Cities in Georgia (U.S. state) Cities in Stephens County, Georgia County seats in Georgia (U.S. state)