There is a building in downtown Atlanta that is more than meets the eye. A treasure trove of Atlanta history, this building has generated over 100 years of stories. Built in 1906, the Candler Building is a 17-story high-rise meticulously constructed to the specifications of Coca Cola magnate Asa Candler and architect George Murphy. It […]
Category: Stories of Atlanta
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An all that glitters is not gold lesson
“Why did Constantinople get the works? That’s nobody’s business but the Turks.” At least, that was the opinion of the band “They Might Be Giants” when they sang about changing the name of the city of Constantinople to Istanbul. I only mention that because this week we’re taking a look at the names of some […]
Posted inStories of Atlanta
Once upon a time
What is it about stories? Myths, legends, folk tales, fairy tales, tall tales, sagas, yarns, it doesn’t matter what type of story. We are captivated by all of them. We always have been. It probably has something to do with the fact that a good story skips the brain and goes right to the heart. […]
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This should come as no surprise to anyone
If you had to pick just one occupation that people throughout the ages would recognize as a job, what would you pick? Yeah, us too. This week’s story is about those who work for a living. More accurately, it’s about those who worked for a living in 19th century Atlanta. This topic came about quite […]
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In its day, it was a really big deal
At the corner of Peachtree and Carnegie Way there is an entrance to the Peachtree Center MARTA station. It hasn’t always been there, of course. Over one hundred years ago on that very same spot stood the Hotel Aragon, a six-story, 125-room establishment that opened for business in 1892. By all accounts, it was a […]
Posted inStories of Atlanta
Ever taken a wrong turn in Atlanta
If you’ve lived in Atlanta longer than about a day and a half, chances are pretty good that you have discovered navigating Atlanta’s road system can be a bit challenging and I’m pretty sure you didn’t need me to tell you that. I’ll never forget my first day driving in Atlanta as someone from another […]
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This demolition was a tad ironic
The hubbub began back in 2012 when an application was submitted that would lead to the demolition of a building located at 771 Spring Street. The building in question, the Crum and Forster building, had been constructed around 1926 and it served as the Atlanta location of the the Crum and Forster Insurance Company. The […]
Posted inMain Slider, Stories of Atlanta
The hallowed ground of Atlanta’s notable citizens
With all of the books, documentaries and tours, you would think that there was nothing new to be learned about the final resting place of Atlanta’s notable citizens. But if you happen to be a regular viewer of our stories, you already know that there is always more to the story. When you think about […]
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The sum of its parts
It is natural for any city to brag a little about itself … but in Atlanta, boosterism is a way of life. That, however, does not change the fact that there are many things about Atlanta that are worth bragging about. I guess we were just in a little bit of a reflective mood this […]
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The dragon that reaches out and grabs you
It was the childhood drowning of his older sister in a river near Gloucester, Massachusetts that sparked Roger Babson’s life-long interest in finding a way to control the effects of gravity. So motivated was he, that Babson wrote an essay titled “Gravity – Our Enemy No. 1.” Speaking of his sister in the essay he […]
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Sort of a milestone
With the posting of this week’s story, we reach a milestone, of sorts. When we first started the Stories of Atlanta, we really didn’t have a plan. We just had all of these facts about the City of Atlanta that we found interesting and, with the thought that others might also find them interesting, we […]
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For a woman of her time, she took the road less traveled
Rebecca was older than Atlanta. By the time the tiny railroad terminus had been carved out of the north Georgia wilderness, she had lived for 3 years and, by the time she reached the age of 7, Rebecca was lucky enough to be given a seat on the very first passenger train to leave the […]
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The Measure of a Man’s Character
Our story this week is about Atlanta-born Walter White. On the surface, it is the story of a man who found his calling, applied himself and eventually took a place on the national stage. But in reality, this story is much more than a chronicle of a man’s career path. Walter White was born in […]
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Given our history, it’s not surprising how things turned out
One of Atlanta’s first nicknames was The Gate City and, like the city itself, the nickname originated because of the railroad. That sort of thing happens when you become one of America’s premier railroad hubs. Today, though, it can be difficult to visualize the extent of the railroads’ effect on downtown Atlanta. Union Station, […]
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Everybody knew her but nobody ever met her
It is safe to say that the era of the grand department store is a thing of the past. It was wonderful while it lasted but, as they say, nothing lasts forever. It was the department store that helped to lead the way into the salad days of the post WWII boom and then went […]
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He called it the way he saw it
The old saying “a penny for your thoughts” is, by current standards, too expensive. We are living in a era where seemingly everyone is “on the record” about…everything. We blog, vlog, tweet and post about whatever thought enters our head. In the opinion of some, we’ve gone a little too far in sharing our pontifications. […]
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Seek and ye shall find, right?
The flood of movie stars visiting Atlanta in recent years not withstanding, Atlanta has had a long history of entertaining visiting luminaries, dignitaries, politicians and a host of other individuals who Atlantans generally wanted to be seen with.
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They would have rung a bell if only they’d had one
Consider the question of fire in the early days of Atlanta. How would anybody who wasn’t immediately affected by the fire know that there actually was a fire? I’m not talking about the “big” fire that resulted from Sherman’s occupation but the everyday, commonplace fires that were all too frequent in a city built largely of wood.
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It was an actual proposal
It is a common occurrence for cities to change the name of streets and Atlanta is no exception to that practice. With the passage of time, the old street names mean less to the newer generations than to previous generations and there is a natural desire to want to honor the contributions of more contemporary individuals.
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A small remnant of antebellum Atlanta
Mathew Brady is known as one of America’s first photographers. It was Brady who personally financed and oversaw the effort to photographically document the Civil War. At his own expense, he hired a team of photographers who traveled with various Union armies and together those photographers produced over 10,000 plates; a body of work which […]
