In the lore of Atlanta’s history, there is a story about an organization that called itself, “The Pioneer Citizens of Atlanta.” It was the spring of 1871. Atlanta had risen from the ashes and was rebuilding itself with amazing speed. First to open were the railroads, which, by their very nature, turned Atlanta into a distribution center. The systematic war-time destruction of the South’s agricultural base motivated a migration of Blacks away from rural areas and toward Georgia’s capitol city. Atlanta was booming, hope was high, and all eyes were on the future….except for that time when a group of Atlanta’s most influential citizens gathered together to talk about the good old days.
What made this event so special was the fact that in attendance that evening were people who had actually lived in Atlanta when the city was still known as Marthasville. Having first-hand recollections of some of Atlanta’s earliest residents and their deeds has been a gift for historians, and credit should be given to those who had the foresight to, as they put it, “…rescue from oblivion…” the incidents and transactions of early Atlanta.
On that spring evening, as those early citizens recounted their remembrances of the fledgling days of our city, William Hanleiter, the organizer of the meeting, took notes that would become a publication titled Pioneer Citizens History of Atlanta. 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.
J. Edgar Thompson built the Pennsylvania railroad into what would become known , worldwide, as The Standard Railroad of The World(pre-diesel, pre-Amtrak, pre-High Speed Rail) eventually electrifying his Philadelphia – New York mainline(to innovatively improve air quality in New York City, a century and a half previous) and then linking same to Washington, D.C….all the while building out his network with a four track mainline to Chicago(route of the famous Broadway Limited) and double tracking the Pennsy’s core to the growing cities of Pittsburg, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, and St. Louis! He indeed, made it possible for the likes of Horace Greely, to “go West young man!” And his re-naming of Marthasville….as we all know these days…has been subsequently “shortened” not just to Atlanta…but to “the ATL”…
Thanks for sharing post.