In 1895, Atlanta put its best foot forward for all to see with the Cotton States and International Exposition. It was a coming out party of sorts for Atlanta and designed to show the world that Atlanta had moved past its pre-civil war mentality and had taken its rightful place as the leader of the […]
Category: Stories of Atlanta
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The return of “Uncle Billy”
In November of 1864, having occupied Atlanta for a little over two months, William Sherman left the city to continue his march to the sea. About three miles out, he paused briefly and gazed back at Atlanta. Years later he wrote of that moment, “Behind us lay Atlanta smoldering and in ruins, the black smoke […]
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Off we go
It seemed like a good idea but, after the outsider gave his speech, it became a great idea.
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The Dragon from Below
Roger Babson is the founder of the Gravity Research Foundation, an organization with the stated purpose of studying, understanding and, ultimately, harnessing the force of gravity. it was the childhood drowning of his older sister in a river near Gloucester, Massachusetts that sparked Babson’s life-long interest in finding a way to control the effects of […]
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Aunt Geekie’s gift
In her more than two-decades-long opera career, Atlanta-born Mattiwilda Dobbs performed to acclaim on stages around the world. Along the way, she made history time and again, although, never on stage in Atlanta. It’s the story of a much-delayed hometown debut in this week’s Stories of Atlanta.
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$5
Five dollars does not go very far these days in Atlanta – or most other places, for that matter. But, there was a time not so very long ago when five dollars could buy a lifetime of memories. One of those times is the subject of this installment of Stories of Atlanta.
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Gift from France
The Woodruff Arts Center complex is home to some of the City’s premiere arts organizations. The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Alliance Theatre, and High Museum of Art all reside within its walls. The artistic theme continues on the Center’s grounds with other works of art situated around the campus. Amid these is a piece with a […]
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A bold move
Unlike today, where name-calling is a political sport, calling someone a traitor in 1848 apparently meant something. People were actually offended. Consider the example of Georgia Supreme Court Associate Justice Francis Cone, who used the word “traitor” when describing Little Alex…and to Little Alex, that was going too far. Fair warning, it doesn’t end well […]
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Rules, regulations and fines
It’s pretty easy to imagine the amount of difficulty the newly chartered City of Atlanta experienced trying to bring the rule of law to a community that, since its inception, essentially had no laws. Atlanta, in its early days, was little more than a rowdy, frontier, railroad camp and, in the minds of many of […]
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Man of the house
When George moved from his home in Alabama to the City of Atlanta, he was only 16 years old but, none the less, he was acutely aware that the responsibility for the well-being of his mother and his 5-siblings rested squarely on his shoulders. Amid the fervor and chaos of an Atlanta recovering from the […]
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His honor, the saloonkeeper
Following the granting of an official charter by the State of Georgia, the City of Atlanta was obligated to elect a city government. If the number of fistfights that broke out in the city are any indication, Atlantans apparently felt very passionate about the person who should hold the title of Atlanta’s first mayor. The […]
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GA Tech night school
Coming out of Reconstruction, the City of Atlanta was experiencing growing pains but one of the more positive results of Atlanta’s emergence as an up-and-coming city was the founding of the Georgia Institute of Technology. Georgia Tech had been founded in 1885 as part of a plan to build a Southern industrial economy. At its […]
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The Penny Problem
One of the most sought-after attributes in our fast-paced, never enough time lives is convenience. As with the mousetrap, create something truly convenient and the world will beat a path to your door. The microwave oven, overnight shipping and drive-thru windows come to mind and, if you think about it, you’d probably agree with the […]
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The 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 […]
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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 […]
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World War I Cotton
Asa Candler is widely known for building the Coca-Cola Company from a soda fountain syrup to a household name. He is not particularly known for his involvement in the cotton industry. But, it is just that industry where – as World War I raged – Candler found a niche. It is the tale of an […]
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Atlanta Hawks prodigal son
When a professional sports franchise moves from one city to another, not everything in the process goes smoothly. One St. Louis Hawks NBA basketball player discovered, in 1966, that moving to Atlanta, Georgia, sometimes takes longer than one might think. It’s the story of Atlanta Hawks fans having to endure delayed gratification on this week’s […]
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Law comes to town
The town of Atlanta had designated its first commissioners in 1845. The 5-man governing body was comprised of stalwart citizens, none of whom had any previous experience in government affairs. They did their best to bring order to the young railroad town but, by all accounts, their efforts fell on deaf ears. There was little […]
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Ignored Laws
Atlanta’s population in 1850 was around 2,500 people, of which 493 were slaves. Unlike the southern part of the state where large landowners utilized slave labor to tend and harvest crops, the bulk of Atlanta’s slave population was utilized for domestic labor, carpentry and blacksmithing. Unlike their southern counterparts, many of Atlanta’s enslaved peoples lived […]
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Hired Out
When the colony of Georgia was first founded, slavery was banned. The board of trustees that oversaw the new colony wanted to avoid creating a plantation-based society dependent on slave labor. The decision was one of practicality and not moral imperative. Georgia would serve as a barrier against Spanish encroachment in the new world and […]
