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 […]
Tag: Atlanta History
Posted inColumns, David Pendered, Main Slider
‘Lake Rabun’ frames lake’s 100-year history through prism of Atlanta’s growth
A new book by a noted Atlanta developer places the 100-year history of Lake Rabun in the context of Atlanta’s 20th century development boom, and the men who led it.
Posted inMain Slider, Stories of Atlanta
From Atlanta He Sold to the World
As sure as there is breakfast, lunch and dinner, there is snacking. Satisfying those between-meal cravings is a need we all have. While some people are able to eat healthy snacks, many of us cannot resist the lure of less healthy foods. Snacking certainly is not a new innovation. It goes back, in some […]
Posted inMain Slider, Stories of Atlanta
It was unusual, unheard of and it happened in Atlanta
It is obvious that for pretty much everything there had to be a beginning, a first, something that got the ball rolling. Sometimes if you’re the first you get to control the category. The name of your product actually becomes the name of all products in the same category: Coke, Kleenex, Jello, Xerox, Gatorade, Cuties. […]
Posted inMain Slider, Stories of Atlanta
It’s unlikely that this record will ever be broken
When asked to name something that is quintessentially American, right after apple pie people usually will say…baseball. It is a long-held belief that baseball is, in fact, America’s national pastime. And while there are many who maintain that football has eclipsed baseball in American popularity, it is hard to argue with the facts of baseball’s […]
Posted inMain Slider, Stories of Atlanta
The race does not always go to the fastest…or does it?
This week’s story comes to us from Saporta Report reader and all-around Atlanta history buff Greg Hodges who wrote to ask if we knew the story of Richard Petty’s 1959 victory at Atlanta’s Lakewood Speedway. We did not and it turns out that it is just our kind of story. Long-time Atlantans will remember the […]
Posted inMain Slider, Stories of Atlanta
He had a lot of nerve to come riding into town like that
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 […]
Posted inMain Slider, Stories of Atlanta
It’s all in how you deliver the message
They say that when you die, whether you’re going to heaven or hell, you have to go through Atlanta first. Though made popular by Atlanta’s very busy airport, that saying actually originated back in the day when Atlanta was a major railroad junction. At its peak, over 300 trains a day came and went through […]
Posted inWABE
Atlantans fight to restore Gaines Hall after fire
Gaines Hall, built in 1869 as a dorm for Atlanta University, caught fire on Aug. 20. The next day, the Atlanta Fire Department said the historic building should be torn down for safety reasons. But local preservationists immediately objected, saying Gaines Hall can and should be saved.
Atlanta has a pretty dismal record when it comes to preservation.
Posted inMain Slider, Stories of Atlanta
The dragon that reaches out and grabs you
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 […]
Posted inMain Slider, Stories of Atlanta
This week, it’s a time travel story…with a twist
Time travel. It has been a part of the plot of many a movie over the years and, no doubt, the daydream of almost everyone at one time or another. Who hasn’t thought of what they could do if only time travel were possible? From sparing the world the pain of a future calamity or […]
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 inSubmitted Photos
Photo Pick: Paschal’s on MLK Drive by Chad Carlson
Paschal’s is located at the intersection of MLK and Paschal Blvd. Chad Carlson took this photo last week standing across the street. The tall building behind it was the adjoining hotel. Chad writes: “People should be more aware of this, especially since they are proposing a complete revamp of MLK, from the stadium to I-285. What happened […]
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
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
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
