Reconstruction was the term given to the period following the Civil War during which the United States set conditions under which the rebellious Southern States would be allowed back into the Union. Coming out of Reconstruction, the City of Atlanta was experiencing growing pains but one of the more positive results of Atlanta’s emergence as […]
Category: Stories of Atlanta
Posted inMain Slider, Stories of Atlanta
If you think you’ve seen this statue before, there’s an interesting reason why
If you think you’ve seen this statue before…you’re probably right.
Posted inMain Slider, Stories of Atlanta
His life might have been very different without his stepfather
Donn’s father was a well-respected mathematics and psychology professor. He was, in fact, the chairman of the mathematics department of an Oklahoma university. Unfortunately for Donn, he lost his father at the age of six months to Leukemia. The family moved to Atlanta, where Donn would graduate from Booker T. Washington high school. It was […]
Posted inMain Slider, Stories of Atlanta
Alvin York Slept Here
America’s entry into World War One required the country ramp up its training efforts in order to accommodate the thousands of conscripted servicemen who were joining the war effort. Sixteen temporary camps, or cantonments as they were known, were built at locations around the country. One of those camps was constructed on the outskirts of […]
Posted inMain Slider, Stories of Atlanta
He missed the bus but eventually got to Atlanta
I was following a thread on a message board recently in which the participants were discussing the question, “What makes a city a major city?” My first thought was that the term “major city” is one of those eye-of-the-beholder descriptions, a phrase that doesn’t really have a precise definition. Something akin to Supreme Court justice […]
Posted inMain Slider, Stories of Atlanta
He used his time at Fort McPherson to do something he’d always wanted to do
Leonard Wood was what some people would describe as an overachiever. Born in 1860, he lived for 67 years and, from the evidence of his life, it is clear that he was, at the very least, a motivated man. Wood began his adult life as a Harvard educated surgeon and he put that education to […]
Posted inMain Slider, Stories of Atlanta
It is inspiring how far some will go to get what they want
It was June of 2015 when we first told the story of a young Atlantan who wanted something bad enough to make it happen despite the odds against him. It is an inspiring story and one we thought worthy of a second look. I am probably not the only one who, at one time in […]
Posted inMain Slider, Stories of Atlanta
For Underground Atlanta the beginning was almost the end
Looking at photographs of downtown Atlanta in the late 1800’s one cannot help but be impressed with the number of railroad tracks that populated the area we now call The Gulch. By some accounts, at the height of Atlanta’s railroad history there were over 350 trains a day that traveled through the city. Atlanta was […]
Posted inMain Slider, Stories of Atlanta
After five decades, Benjamin Walker decides it’s time for a change
That almost everything was something else before it became what it is today is hardly news to anyone. Knowing that fact, however, does not make the observation of the evolution of a city any less fascinating. Such is the case with the subject of this week’s Stories of Atlanta. At its heart, this story is […]
Posted inMain Slider, Stories of Atlanta
It was a dangerous place to be and everyone knew it
It is often assumed that during the American Civil War, Atlanta was destroyed by fires set by the Union Army as General Sherman led his troops on to the sea. That is only partially true. Fire did inflict substantial damage on Atlanta, but many of those fires were set, not by Union troops, but by […]
Posted inMain Slider, Stories of Atlanta
Despite the distinction, we’re pretty sure his mother wouldn’t be proud
Say what you will about the man but he certainly found a way to get people to remember his name.
Posted inMain Slider, Stories of Atlanta
A devastating fire leads to a journalistic first
For one 24-year-old Georgia Tech student, following the sound of sirens coming from Peachtree Street proved fortuitous.
Posted inMain Slider, Stories of Atlanta
Imagine What Atlantans in the Early 1900s Would Think
Water has always been at the heart of any community, especially a landlocked one such as Atlanta.
Posted inMain Slider, Stories of Atlanta
It’s a small world after all for an Emory physician and a Grady Hospital Medical Director
A former medical director of Georgia’s largest hospital shares a connection with one of the hospital’s well-known physicians
Posted inMain Slider, Stories of Atlanta
It was a world premiere and it had to be shown in Peachtree Street’s most historic theater
There was no question which Atlanta theater would host the world premiere of Gone With the Wind
Posted inMain Slider, Stories of Atlanta
It’s not often that a condemned building gets to live on after it is demolished
Among the more recognizable features of larger buildings constructed in the early twentieth century were the ornamental design elements that often gave buildings their personalities. The material of choice for these elements was terra cotta clay, primarily because it was relatively inexpensive, lightweight and could be easily molded or sculpted. These eye-catching details often elevated […]
Posted inMain Slider, Stories of Atlanta
It may be the most unorthodox trade in all of baseball history and it happened right here in Atlanta
It wasn’t exactly the trade of the century but, in 1948, it did make baseball history
Posted inMain Slider, Stories of Atlanta
The 1st great scholar of black life in America, he was an author, an activist and an Atlantan
Above all of his accomplishments, he will be remembered as a tireless advocate for social justice.
Posted inMain Slider, Stories of Atlanta
An Atlantan pursues his dream only to discover it is, in reality, his nightmare.
It only took one year as a lawyer to convince an Atlanta attorney that his destiny was not the practice of law.
Posted inMain Slider, Stories of Atlanta
A popular Atlanta attraction was once just a place called home.
You might be surprised at what becomes of one man’s idea a a place to go to get away from it all.
