Not everyone agrees

At one point in Atlanta’s history, there was an organization that called itself, “The Atlanta Pioneer and Historical Society.” The group gathered together for the first, and only, time on a spring evening in 1871 for the purpose of preserving the history of Atlanta. What made this event so special, particularly for future historians of our city, was the fact that in attendance that evening were people who had actually lived in Atlanta when the city was still known as Marthasville. On that evening, as those early citizens recounted their remembrances of the fledgling days of our city, William Hanleiter, the organizer of the meeting, took notes. Among those notes was an explanation that has been at the center of a controversy since Atlanta’s earliest days, a controversy that is the subject of this week’s Stories of Atlanta.