Atlanta: Ain’t No Stoppin’ Us Now

This is a paper I wrote after visiting the Atlanta History Center in 2005. I wrote it as an assignment for Dr. Paul Hudson, renowned for his expertise in time capsules. It explains the uniqueness and pride of my city.

The “Metropolitan Frontiers” Exhibit at the Atlanta History Center is a very interesting, and vivid look into the history of the only city I have ever known as my home. The pictures that are presented are of the historic spots I have walked through, and waited for the bus by, throughout my entire life. While it was amazing to see how so many things have changed, yet so many others are still the same.

The exhibit presents Atlanta’s history in time periods. It starts off with Atlanta during the Civil War and describes the importance of the railroad in the influence of our city’s future. It then goes into the racial influences on the city during the early 20^th century. Finally, it goes into the booming suburban metropolis, which is seen in today’s Atlanta. The exhibit puts emphasis on the railroad as the underlying driving force of the rapid expansion of Atlanta economically, geographically, and progressively. Without the railroad, Atlanta would have never been established as the commercial hub of the Southeast.

During the Civil War, Atlanta was the munitions hub for the Confederacy and brought commerce to the city, due to the ability to transport goods through extensive rail lines. Advertisements could be found all over the battlefield; “Made in Atlanta”, or “Shipped from Atlanta”. This made the small railroad city of Atlanta a target for the Union Army. When the Confederacy surrendered on September 2, 1864, eighty-one boxcars of explosives were blown up by Confederate troops for fear the Union Army would use their own weapons against them. This act caused most of the fire damage that had often been blamed on General William Tecumseh Sherman of the Union Army. General Sherman burned down buildings that could be used by the Confederacy including the Union Depot but spared all religions sanctuaries including The Shrine of the Immaculate Conception which is currently located near the Capitol.

When transportation progressed to automobiles and streetcars, viaducts and interstate highways became a necessary part of the progression of Atlanta’s growth. The increased traffic flow was relieved by building viaducts. Viaducts are bridges created by raising the street level above the railroad tracks. These viaducts in effect created large open spaces underground, and some of these have become the mall of Underground Atlanta. Upon examination of the map of Georgia’s rail lines, it is easy to see that the interstate highways follow along with the previously established railroad lines. Interstate highways allowed individuals to travel to Atlanta, thus improving interstate trade, and increasing the accessibility of Atlanta.

Atlanta became an airmail center in 1925 when the Atlanta Airport was built on Candler Field. This attracted even more business to Atlanta, which in turn attracted more people to the city. The Airport was later renamed in 1971 after the death of former Atlanta Mayor, William B. Hartsfield. After the death of Mayor Maynard Jackson, the airport was again renamed as Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in 2003.

To introduce the world market to Atlanta, it was advertised through a series of Expositions. In 1881, the International Cotton Exposition, held in Oglethorpe Park, aimed to persuade mills from the North to relocate to Atlanta, and to promote textile industries. A few years later, Oglethorpe Park was purchased and developed as Exposition Mill which manufactured cotton.

In 1895, the Cotton States and International Exposition was held in what is now known as Piedmont Park. This exposition is the most historic because it endorsed Henry Grady’s progressive “New South” movement and brought recognition to Atlanta as a transportation and commercial center. The allowance of Booker T. Washington to recite his “Atlanta Compromise” speech at this exposition was intended to show northern Americans that Atlanta was progressive in race relations as well. The worldwide publicity provided by this exposition would later lead to the migration of national and regional headquarters of many companies’ to Atlanta.

The tactics of these expositions worked. Many textile mills moved to Atlanta creating industrial complexes and small mill towns along the rail lines. One such complex was the Fulton Bag and Cotton Mills which have now been restructured as loft apartments for the growing population of Yuppies in Atlanta. The surrounding area, known as Cabbagetown, was created to house the Mill workers. Many people attracted to this area for jobs and housing, were from the northern Appalachian foothill region of the North Georgia Mountains. These cheaply constructed two-story shotgun houses have recently been the target of prime Atlanta real estate. The majority of the original Appalachian families in this area have been steadily relocated or, been forced to sell due to the outrageous increase in property taxes. The resulting community is slowly blooming like a beautiful up-and-coming neighborhood.

On the other side of the tracks, Atlanta’s first planned suburb was constructed by Joel Hurt who also built one of Atlanta’s first skyscrapers known as the Equitable building. This first suburb, called Inman Park, includes some of Atlanta’s most beautiful and expensive homes. To connect Inman Park to the downtown business district Edgewood Avenue was built along with the city’s first electric streetcar to facilitate the commute into the city. Many areas developed in a circular pattern around the city from Inman Park to West End and from Grant Park to Ansley; the growth of the city’s population expanded the city limits in all directions and is still creeping its way further and further out.

During reconstruction, African Americans were employed to help in the reconstruction process as well as assist in the various mills throughout the city. This turned unskilled labor into skilled industrial labor and supported, as a foothold, to break low paying wage barriers.

Booker T. Washington recited his “Atlanta Compromise” speech at the Cotton States and International Exposition September 18, 1895. This speech gave blacks encouragement towards segregation. He believed that with the relief of racial tensions, both blacks and whites could progress as separate entities. Washington also believed that vocational education would give blacks economic security, which he argued contained more value than having a political or social advantage. A year later the Supreme Court ruled in favor of segregation.

The area from Decatur Street (which runs parallel to the railroad tracks) to Auburn Avenue exposes a living example of the black business district of Atlanta. The history of the “Sweet Auburn” area shows how Atlanta was divided into two separate cities. With the city being completely segregated, African Americans opened their own businesses including barber shops, life insurance agencies, and banks. These businesses were built for African Americans, by African Americans.

Schools were even established as segregated institutions. These schools still exist today as Clark Atlanta University, Morehouse and Spelman colleges for the African Americans and Agnes Scott College, and the Georgia Institute of Technology initially for whites.

In 1903, W.E.B. Du Bois disagreed with Washington and voiced his opposition in his book, The Souls of Black Folk, “Of Mr. Booker T. Washington and Others”. Du Bois believed that segregation was not the answer. He insisted on civil rights, political power and lobbied for higher education of the black youth. As a professor at (Clark) Atlanta University, Du Bois created the “Talented Tenth”, which included educated youths determined to intellectually fight for civil rights and political power.

April 26, 1913, a fourteen-year-old white girl named Mary Phagan was murdered at the National Pencil Factory where she was employed. The initial suspect, a black janitor named Jim Conley testified that the supervisor of the factory, a Jewish man named Leo Frank, was the culprit. Leo Frank was convicted and sentenced to be hanged. The governor, John Slaton, altered the sentence to life-in-prison. In August 1915, a mob broke Frank out of prison and took him to Marietta where he was lynched. Shortly afterward, the Ku Klux Klan was reinvented and found a home in Atlanta. The first Grand Wizard lived just outside of town in Stone Mountain. This part of the exhibit was unsettling. The display case included the uniform for the Women of the Ku Klux Klan, and large posters advertising rallies and meetings. To the left of the display is a picture that was covered. Under the cloth, I was informed by my mother, was a man hanging from a tree. I did not care to stay in this part of the exhibit any longer.

Atlanta’s icons include Gone with the Wind, the Atlanta Braves, the Fox Theater, and my personal favorites, Coca-Cola Bottling Company, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and a series of news and television stations launched by Ted Turner.

Gone with the Wind, written by Margaret Mitchell, a former reporter for The Atlanta Journal was published on June 30, 1936. The novel spread worldwide and won Ms. Mitchell the Pulitzer Prize in 1937. This book has circulated all over the world telling the story of Atlanta and the Civil War. Gone with the Wind has been published in several languages including Japanese, Dutch, French, Russian, and several others. It has become the world’s second best-selling book next to the Bible. Margaret Mitchell’s home, a small run-down apartment, still stands as a point of interest in the downtown area off of Crescent Avenue.

Atlanta has established several major league sports teams including the Atlanta Braves baseball team, Atlanta Hawks basketball team, Atlanta Falcons football team, and the Atlanta Thrashers hockey team. These games bring entertainment to Atlantans and visitors from other states. The Atlanta Braves which began in Boston moved to Milwaukee, and then moved to Atlanta, is the oldest continuously running baseball team in major league baseball. The team was purchased by Ted Turner in 1967. Famous players of the team include Dale Murphy, Hank Aaron, and Babe Ruth.

The Fox Theater is a fabulous landmark off of our infamous Peachtree Street. During Franklyn Delano Roosevelt’s presidential campaign, FDR gave a coronation speech in which he discussed his plan to correct the economy as “persistent experimentation”. Originally built as the Yaarab Temple Shrine Mosque in the late 1920’s the Fox Theater has evolved into a nationally acclaimed theater and one of Atlanta’s intensely protected landmarks.

In 1886, Dr. John Pemberton, a pharmacist from Atlanta, concocted a tonic from cocaine and caffeine and called it Coca-Cola. Although cocaine is no longer a key ingredient, extensive advertising launched Coca-Cola as one of America’s most popular fountain drinks. Old Coca-Cola advertisements are still easily found throughout Atlanta. Coca-Cola is probably Atlanta’s most popular icon and is not only found throughout the country but throughout the world as well.

Atlanta is also the birthplace, home, and crypt of the world’s most infamous non-violent civil right’s leader, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Dr. King was elected leader of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in 1957. Originally located off of Auburn Avenue, the headquarters of the SCLC is now held in a building built by Geyer & Geyer at the corner of Edgewood Avenue and Randolph Street. Dr. King is also the youngest man to receive the Nobel Peace Prize at age thirty-five.

Ted Turner is the most powerful economic icon of Atlanta. Ted initially started his television broadcasting systems with Turner Broadcasting System (TBS). He started the first twenty-four-hour news station Cable News Network (CNN), and the first twenty-four-hour cartoon station, Cartoon Network. Much of Americans turn to CNN or Headline news for their daily news information. Mr. Turner launched a number of other stations including Turner Classic Movies, and Turner South. Mr. Turner (who was married to Jane Fonda), had bought the Atlanta Braves and used his television networks to air their games so that Atlanta could watch even their out-of-town games, which helped to keep fan support of the team. Ted Turner had great pride in Atlanta and used his businesses to his advantage in order to promote Atlanta as the greatest city in the southeastern United States.

In 1990, Atlanta was elected to house the 1996 Summer Olympic Games. If Atlanta was not known to the world already, it was recognized now. The 1996 Olympics brought people from around the world to experience Atlanta in person. Along with tourism, came a lot of money pouring into the city, and Atlanta drastically emerged as the place to be; to work and make money.

The railroad sparked Atlanta’s success and Atlanta’s spirit kept it progressing. The Phoenix is a perfect symbol for Atlanta. After the civil war, Atlanta emerged from the ashes and was reborn as a rapidly progressive city that, to this day, has yet to lose steam. Atlanta’s history is the soul of the city. I have taken for granted many historic aspects of the city; the “Metropolitan Frontiers” exhibit tied everything together to help me to realize that I am a product of Atlanta. The pictures, images, and artifacts brought life to the events of the past. From the commercials of Turner South, “this is my south”.