When the 1895 Cotton States Exposition opened in Atlanta over 120 years ago, it represented the culmination of years of planning and fund raising on the part of the exposition’s organizers. It was a big-time undertaking costing over $2 million dollars, which, by today’s currency standards, equates to around $57 million dollars. The exposition was […]
Tag: downtown Atlanta
Posted inStories of Atlanta
A controversial approach
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 […]
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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.
Posted inStories of Atlanta
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 […]
Posted inStories of Atlanta
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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MARTA’s BRT plans advance along Summerhill route in Downtown Atlanta
MARTA’s planned Summerhill Bus Rapid Transit project – a potential game-changer in metro Atlanta transit – is poised to take a major step forward with the hiring of a consultant to oversee final engineering and design.
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Plans unveiled for early phases of South Downtown’s adaptive reuse revamp
After sitting vacant for nearly two decades, a relatively unassuming mid-rise office stack in South Downtown is bound for a renovation akin to that of Ponce City Market.
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Atlanta’s experiment in participatory budgeting: Nearly 3,500 votes cast, 17 projects chosen
Atlanta City Councilmember Amir Farokhi’s experiment with participatory budgeting garnered almost 3,500 online votes. That means nearly 3,500 individuals responded to an offer to play a direct role in deciding how to spend $1 million in public funds for transportation.
Posted inThought Leadership
Atlanta Hawks Uniform Honors Iconic Peachtree Street
By Steve Koonin, CEO of the Atlanta Hawks and State Farm Arena Almost three years ago, the NBA announced a league-wide apparel deal with Nike, giving the brand the right to supply each team with official uniforms and gear emblazoned with the Swoosh. While so much of the initial press was focused on the impact […]
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Remembering the 1906 Race Riot in Atlanta
Last month marked the 113th anniversary of the 1906 Atlanta Race Riot. The three-day massacre occurred from Sept. 22-24, and once the flames were extinguished, Atlanta was forever changed.
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Downtown became more challenging
Henry Ford once said, “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.” However, in true Henry Ford style, he did not ask for opinions and what we got was the “horseless carriage.” And the world has never been the same. Americans have long had a love affair with the […]
