It was rumored to have miraculous, healing properties and, if the first-person accounts were to be believed, drinking the water from this spring was good for what ails you. Miracle cure or not, what it most definitely turned out to be was a really good business opportunity. It is the tale of thirst and the […]
Tag: Lance Russell
Posted inStories of Atlanta
He Got His Wish
Two men sit down for a conversation. As a result, one of the men, and influential industrialist and newspaper owner, commits his political support to the other man. This is enough to get the other man elected to the Georgia House of Representatives, where, according to the plan they hatched during their conversation, the new […]
Posted inStories of Atlanta
A Real Estate Bonus
G.W. Collier was one of those Atlantans who arrived just as the ground itself was beginning to whisper opportunity. When he first came to the region, there was little more than wilderness, wagon ruts, and the faint outlines of a future not yet agreed upon. By the time Marthasville took on the name Atlanta, Collier […]
Posted inStories of Atlanta
Doctor Innkeeper
Long before Atlanta became a city of glass towers and interstates, it was a place where opportunity came by rail—and, now and then, by way of a well-placed connection. One of those invitations came from J. Edgar Thomson, a powerful figure in the railroad world who saw potential not just in a city, but in […]
Posted inStories of Atlanta
First Impressions
It was not long after 3-railroad lines were connected to a central point in north Georgia that people began beating a path to Atlanta. Word had spread of the abundant opportunities and cheap land and those seeking better lives were arriving to the young city every day. There were, of course, those looking for work […]
Posted inStories of Atlanta
After the Journey
Some stories rise with the skyline. Others whisper from the past. This week’s Stories of Atlanta reminds us that when the journey ends, it’s the stories we tell that remain.
Posted inStories of Atlanta
The Price of Standing Still
Henry Ford is often credited with saying, “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.” In true Ford fashion, he didn’t ask. Instead, he gave the world the “horseless carriage” and nothing was ever quite the same. For more than a century, Americans have had a love affair with […]
Posted inStories of Atlanta
The Real Story about the Real Thing
A story has long connected two Atlanta institutions: The Coca-Cola Company and Georgia Tech during the days when John Heisman coached Tech’s football team. It suggests that somewhere between the boardroom and the gridiron, the structure of the game itself may have shifted from a game played in two halves, to a game played in […]
Posted inStories of Atlanta
Present Tense – Past Story
Atlanta is a city that rebuilds, repurposes, and replaces. But look closely and you’ll discover that its past is still there, hiding in plain sight. In this episode of Stories of Atlanta, we explore the orphaned signs, ghost signs, and architectural remnants that have outlived the buildings they once served. From South Downtown’s Hotel Row […]
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 […]
Posted inStories of Atlanta
Faithful to Tech
A crooked little dog. A headstone on a college campus. And a question that still stops people in their tracks. On the grounds of Georgia Tech, a small marble marker tells the story of Sideways, a campus legend who arrived by accident and stayed by choice. How did a stray dog earn a permanent place […]
Posted inStories of Atlanta
Face to Face
In a city known for its out with the old, in with the new attitude, architect William Stoddart’s buildings have defied the odds. It’s the story of two turn of the century era buildings that have stood the Atlanta test of time on this week’s Stories of Atlanta.
Posted inStories of Atlanta
Atlanta in a Flash
Georgia State’s extensive digital collections library contains visual gems of Atlanta life through the years. Some of those are thanks to the efforts of a man by the name of Tracy O’Neal. For decades, O’Neal captured the rich tapestry of Atlanta. Trade shows . . . Promotional events. . . New Products . . . […]
Posted inStories of Atlanta
The Trashcan Saga
Our story this week comes from Atlanta’s long-time Chief of Police Herbert Turner Jenkins. Chief Jenkins served on Atlanta’s police force from 1932 to 1972 and was named chief of Atlanta’s police force in 1947, a position he held for 25 years. In his book, Forty Years on the Force, Jenkins reminisced about his time […]
Posted inMedia
An Eye for Detail
One of the challenges of our 21st century lifestyle is trying to process the unprecedented amount of information available at any given moment. We are subjected to so much input on so many different topics that it is hard for us to imagine how people got along before the invention of instantaneous communications. It helps, […]
Posted inStories of Atlanta
Love in the Workplace
A young man from Cartersville, GA comes to the big city hoping to pursue a career in medicine. He walks the streets of Atlanta, knocking on the door of every drug store in town. As the sun is setting, he is hired on the spot by one of the best-known druggists in Georgia and his […]
Posted inStories of Atlanta
Community Standards
Shakespeare had it right, “the play’s the thing.” And that was especially true of Atlanta in the 1890s. The theater was the dominant form of entertainment and, as you would expect, it was an industry that gave many people a chance to make money. One such Atlantan was Martin J. Dooley who made a nice […]
Posted inStories of Atlanta
Not Everyone was Saved
There is no question that Atlanta’s Downtown Connector, when unobstructed, is a benefit to the region’s commuters. There is also no question that much was lost as a result of the construction of the Downtown Connector. Some of that loss was anticipated, some of it was not. Join us for the story of an unintended […]
Posted inStories of Atlanta
Messages from the past
If you could leave a message, knowing that it would be seen for years to come, what would you say? Thousands of people took just that opportunity before the 1996 Olympic Games came to Atlanta. What they chose to say – and how they said it – is the subject of this week’s Stories of […]
Posted inStories of Atlanta
Delayed Gratification
With the news this past week of the passing of basketball legend Lenny Wilkens we wanted to rerun one of our earliest Stories of Atlanta videos about the Hawks legendary player and coach. Wilkens was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame on 3 separate occasions, once as a player, once as a coach and […]
