In its earliest days, folks referred to the area around the Zero Mile Post as Thrasherville. John Thrasher had come to the region in 1839 to build an embankment for the Monroe Railroad and, to accommodate his workers, he had constructed a community of small cabins. It seems natural that Thrasher’s name would come into […]
Tag: Stories of Atlanta
Posted inStories of Atlanta
Ground Zero
With the Zero Mile Post fixed in its final location, the foundation for the growth of Atlanta was in place. The city would grow up around the junction point of 3-railroad-lines. Those rail lines would influence the location and the orientation of many of the young community’s new buildings. Well-traveled trails would be expanded and […]
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The Mile Marker Move
A chief engineer identifies the terminus point; a stake is driven into the ground, and, around that marker, the City of Atlanta grows. It’s a pretty neat story. . . except that isn’t exactly how it happened. Nothing, it seems, is ever safe from political intrigue and that would include the founding of the City […]
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A Rocky Start
They came seeking a new life in a new town. As a newlywed couple, they left a comfortable home in Marietta and moved to Terminus to make their fortune. Little did they know that just by doing what every newlywed couple does, they would make history. Willis and Sarah. Carlisle had followed the advice of […]
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Atlanta’s First Community
He was everybody’s cousin. Nobody’s fool. And the richest 21-year-old in town. John Thrasher had been awarded a $25,000 contract to build a railroad embankment. Over the coming months, he would create a clearing in the forest, build several one-room, dirt-floor cabins for labor that he would soon hire and open up a general store […]
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Early Adopters
They walked into the woods and made lives for themselves. That’s a concept 21st-century Atlantans understandably might have trouble wrapping their heads around. But, for the 19th century settlers whose names would become a part of our city’s history, it was business as usual. While the immediate area chosen for the termination point of the […]
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Why Atlanta?
During the early days of America’s founding, having access to water was one of the primary prerequisites in choosing a location for a community. It’s not a difficult concept to understand. In addition to the obvious health benefits, having access to water provided a source of power for industry and, for many, water equaled mobility, […]
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An Atlanta Alamo Connection
It is a safe bet to say that there were no Atlantans who fought at the Battle of the Alamo. Safe because the battle was over and done with a year before the terminus stake was ever driven into the ground. And yet…there is a connection between Atlanta and the Alamo. Not surprisingly, the connection […]
Posted inColumns, Media, Stories of Atlanta
The Tall Wagging Tale
Sounds good…you be the judge. That’s the deal we’re offering this week, as we tell the tale of a well-known Atlantan who decided to try his hand at event promotion. It’s a tale that has all the makings of a “top notch” Story. Sky-high, death-defying action, a high stakes bet, a puppy dog in danger, […]
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Connecting the Dots
This week we play a game of “connect the dots” as we trace the relationship of two famous Georgians who each played a role in Atlanta’s young but stellar past. We start with the birth of Crawford Long in 1815 and take a brief look at why we all owe him a major debt of […]
Posted inColumns, Media, Stories of Atlanta
Atlanta’s Hoo-Hoos
As the story goes, a journalist in the timber industry named Johnson was describing a most peculiar tuft of hair, greased and twisted to a point atop the otherwise bald head of a man named McCarer. Using a phrase of his own concoction to describe Mr. McCarer’s signature coiffure, Mr. Johnson pronounced it to be […]
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The Unknown Origin of Fulton County
We know the last name but apparently no one bothered to write down the first name. It’s a cautionary tale about the value of taking notes on this week’s Stories of Atlanta.
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Was Atlanta the First?
In the mid-1880s, George Eastman invented a process for coating a photographic emulsion onto a flexible material…put more simply, he invented film. Not only was that a giant leap in the evolution of photography, but the new medium also opened the door for the development of motion pictures. A decade later, Thomas Edison unveiled the […]
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It Took A Village
Build a better mousetrap and the world will be a path to your door. Given that the U.S. Patent Office says there have been over 4,400 patents issued for various types of mousetraps, many people must have taken that epigram to heart. And though, it is unlikely that you will find the mousetrap high-up on […]
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The Thinking Machine
He was among the more well-known writers of his day, often compared to the creator of Sherlock Holmes. He traveled in a rarified circle of fame and success which was certainly a far cry from his days writing sports for the Atlanta Journal. A Georgia man who made it big discovers the end is near […]
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Very Hush-Hush
In 1891, Atlanta’s Mayor began spending the City’s money, secretly buying land on the outskirts of Atlanta. It wasn’t a case of embezzlement, just good-old business common sense. In attempting to solve one of the City’s ongoing issues, the mayor had made a decision, a decision that would not only affect every single Atlantan for […]
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Why So Wide?
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 […]
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Making A Statement
As students of Atlanta history, we have learned a lot through quotes about what people have to say about the city that we call home. Clearly, a lot of people have not been shy about expressing their thoughts on Atlanta and Atlantans. From glowingly poetic prose to less than flattering descriptions, those who have encountered […]
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Political Pull
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 […]
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Decatur & Peachtree
G.W. Collier was one of those Atlantans who got in on the ground floor of a good thing. When he first came to the region there was nothing but wilderness and Indians. When Marthasville was incorporated as Atlanta, he became the city’s 1st postmaster and to fulfil his duties, he purchased a small parcel of […]
