Atlanta Part 1

Atlanta.

by Atlanta Chamber of Commerce.

How Atlanta Grew.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Coat of Arms]

The Atlanta of to-day is a growth of thirty-eight years. Twice has the upbuilding of a city on this site demonstrated its natural advantages.

Within a few years before the war Atlanta had become a bustling town of 11,000 inhabitants, and during the three years which intervened before its destruction the place was the seat of varied and important industries, whose princ.i.p.al object was to sustain the military operations of the Confederacy. It was also a depot for the distribution of supplies to the surrounding country and a forwarding station for the commissary department of the army.

After its baptism of fire in November, 1861, when the inhabitants had been dispersed by the exigencies of war, and of more than 2,000 houses only 300 remained, the city took a new start, and its great growth dates from that time. It is therefore, a city of the new regime, erected on the ruins of the old.

The coat of arms of Atlanta fittingly typifies this remarkable history. No city on the continent has survived such destruction. No city has twice attained prominence with such rapidity. Atlanta's foundation reaches back to the forties, and far-seeing men recognized it then as the place of promise, destined to be an important railroad-center and a seat of commerce. This conception of the new city had been accepted as a true one when it was destroyed by fire, and since its new birth in reconstruction days the old spirit arose and lighted the new path of Atlanta to a greater destiny.

The capital of the state was brought here from Milledgeville when the new city was hardly out of the ashes of war, and this gave a great impetus to its growth, which was further insured in 1877, when the people of Georgia voted to make Atlanta their capital. Its rapidly developing business and manufactures were brought to the attention of the whole country by the Cotton Exposition of 1881 which was a point of departure for the tremendous development of the Southeastern States during the decade between 1880 and 1890. This development found a splendid ill.u.s.tration in the great Cotton States and International Exposition of 1895.

The rapidity of the growth of Atlanta is ill.u.s.trated by the fact that, since it was blotted from the map, the city has spread over twelve square miles of ground. Starting with no business in 1865, it received in 1903 four-tenths of the freight delivered in Georgia, and its post office receipts were four-tenths of those of the State. Thirty-nine years ago there was hardly a dollar to turn a trade; within the year just closed the bank clearings aggregated $115,000,000. At the beginning of this period there were only a few stragglers remaining in the wake of fire and sword.

To-day there is a great city of over 105,000 people, the business headquarters of 125,000, with a floating population of many thousands more. From bare ground covered with ashes and ruins in 1865, the city has been built up to a value of $59,595,332, consisting largely of solid ma.s.ses of brick and mortar, stone and steel, which go to make up a magnificent array of handsome business edifices. The number of houses has increased from 300 to 22,600.

[Ill.u.s.tration: STATE CAPITOL.]

The question, wherefore Atlanta? naturally arises, for communities are not effects without causes. Atlanta is the result of a combination of advantages, on a commanding geographical location, turned to the best account by a spirit of transcendent energy, which surmounts all obstacles and builds even on disaster the fabric of success. The growth of this unconquerable spirit has been promoted by a unity of purpose which has prevented the domination of factions. Whatever local interests may clash, the good of Atlanta is always a rallying cry. The Atlanta spirit, which has accomplished so much in the upbuilding of the city itself, is happily contagious, and has much to do with making Georgia the Empire State of the South. The spirit of new life has spread from this to other Southern States which are the most active in the development of their resources, and the spirit of the Southeast is the spirit of Atlanta.

For this moral and material eminence Atlanta is fortunately situated on a ridge which divides the watershed of the Atlantic from that of the Gulf, and at a point where the natural barrier of the Appalachian chain is broken by great gaps in the mountains. This is the natural point of intersection for railway lines from the West with lines from the East.

This geographical vantage ground is accompanied by a topographical eminence, from which the great climatic advantages of Atlanta are derived.

More than 1,000 feet above sea-level at its lowest point, and from eleven to twelve hundred at other places, Atlanta enjoys a cool, bracing atmosphere, with breezes that blow over the foot-hills of the Blue Ridge.

The exhilarating air is a kind of natural tonic, so different from that of the coast and Gulf regions that an inhabitant of the low countries, coming to Atlanta during the heated term, feels a stimulus as if he had been drinking great draughts of aerial champagne. The rolling surface of the country, which slopes in almost every direction from the city affords easy drainage and keeps the surrounding region free from malaria.

Atlanta's public buildings typify the solid character of her inst.i.tutions.

Most conspicuous among them is the State capitol, which was erected at a cost of $1,000,000. This stately structure, the hotels, office buildings, theaters, churches, the custom-house, the county court-house, and other public edifices, make up an aggregate of ten millions invested in public buildings.

Outside of public buildings, the architecture of Atlanta is of a pleasing character and has steadily improved during the past thirty years. Few cities in any part of the United States can show more attractive residence streets or architectural designs indicating more culture and good taste.

Peachtree Street, the princ.i.p.al one for residences, has a number of elegant homes which would be ornaments to any city.

Atlanta is a city of homes, and this is apparent not only in the appearance of the houses, but in the statistics of the United States census, by which Atlanta is credited with a larger percentage of home-owners than any city of its size in the Southern States.

The water-supply for domestic and manufacturing purposes and for sanitary use is hardly equaled in any city of Atlanta's size, and the rates per thousand gallons for families or for manufacturing purposes are merely nominal, and probably lower than any on record.

[Ill.u.s.tration: KIMBALL HOUSE.]

Conditions in Atlanta are highly favorable to manufacturing industries, and this is attested by the great variety of articles made here. There were in 1900 395 establishments, employing over 9,000 operatives at good wages, and pouring into the channels of trade an annual pay-roll of $3,100,000. The value of the raw material consumed was more than $8,000,000 and the product between sixteen and seventeen millions. Since then the product has increased to $27,000,000 and the number of wage earners to 14,000.

The manufacturers of Atlanta in their variety have a guaranty of stability not to be found in those of any city where industry is confined to one family, as of iron or cotton, however important that may be, and the extent of this variety is to some degree indicated in the chapter on this subject. Among the articles made are many specialties, for which there is a demand in almost every State in the Union, and concerns making them have enjoyed prosperity through a long series of years.

The trade of Atlanta covers more or less all of the States between the Ohio and Potomac rivers, the Gulf, the Atlantic ocean and the Mississippi River, and in some lines extends to the far Southwestern States and into Mexico, while in a few it covers the entire country. The tendency of the jobbing trade of the Southeast is to concentrate in Atlanta, and little by little the business of other centers gravitates to this city.

Atlanta's commanding geographical and topographical situation was, at the outset, one of the causes which led to the development of a great railroad center, at which powerful systems from the East, the West and the Southeast regularly compete. As a distributing point Atlanta enjoys facilities hardly equaled elsewhere in the Southeastern States, and as an accessible place of rendezvous for all kinds of organizations and interests, it is a favorite, and has come to be known as the Convention City.

Atlanta's financial inst.i.tutions are of the most solid character.

Atlanta is the third city in the United States in the amount of insurance written and reported to agencies. It is the Southern headquarters for a number of fire and life insurance companies, and agencies of old-line and every other type of insurance are numerous.

[Ill.u.s.tration: ARAGON HOTEL.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: PIEDMONT HOTEL.]

The educational facilities of Atlanta are fully treated in a separate chapter, in which it appears that this city is abreast of the times in this as in other respects. Atlanta early established a system of public schools, and before almost any city in the South, turned its attention to technical education. The Technological School was established by the State of Georgia upon inducements offered by the city of Atlanta, which bore half of the cost of the original plant, and contributes regularly to the support of the inst.i.tution. There is ample opportunity here for technical instruction of other kinds, and Atlanta has three medical colleges, whose attendance averages 600, to say nothing of the students of the dental colleges. Technical instruction in business methods is not neglected, and several large and flourishing business colleges have maintained themselves here for many years.

The religious and social atmosphere of Atlanta is wholesome and invigorating. It is a city of churches and the home of church-going people, and the community is honey-combed with fraternal organizations.

The social intercourse of the people, as well as the facility for doing business, is greatly aided by an ideal system of rapid transit, not only from the residence and suburban sections to the center, but from one residence portion to another. The neighborly spirit is enhanced by the nearness thus artificially created.

With all these advantages, and many which appear more fully in subsequent chapters. Atlanta has a wholesome and inspiring public spirit which never fails to respond when the interests of the city are at stake. This is perhaps the most distinctive thing about Atlanta.

[Ill.u.s.tration: GRANT PARK.]

The New Atlanta.

Population, Area and Government.

Atlanta's population is estimated at 105,600. By the census of 1900 it was 89,872. The census of 1880 gave Atlanta a population of 39,000, and by the city a.s.sessment of the next year the real estate was valued at $14,721,883, and the personal property at $7,474,258. By 1890 the population had grown to 65,000 and real estate was valued at $39,729,894.

In the same period personal property grew to $11,906,605. The decade between 1880 and 1890 was a period during which Atlanta made remarkable advance, but during the great depression through which the whole country has pa.s.sed since 1890 the progress of this city has been astonishing. In spite of a somewhat lower scale of valuation for suburban real estate, the a.s.sessor's report for 1903 showed realty valued at $49,728,034, and personalty $13,628,201. This value was created in thirty-nine years, for Atlanta came out of the Civil War naked and desolate.

By census taken in 1900 the population of Atlanta, by wards, was found to be as follows:

First Ward 15,596 Second Ward 14,628 Third Ward 12,943 Fourth Ward 17,072 Fifth Ward 12,415 Sixth Ward 14,754 Seventh Ward 2,464 ------ Total 89,872

Since then the population has increased to 105,600.

Area and Expansion.

Atlanta is a city of magnificent distances, covering about eleven square miles. With abundance of room and fresh air, the circular form of the city makes it compact, and the residence portions are, as a rule, equidistant from the business center. The corporate line is described by a radius of a mile and three-quarters. In two places this circle is expanded to take in suburban communities which had been formed with irregular boundaries before the circular corporation line reached them. These are Inman Park and West End, which extend from half a mile to a mile beyond the circle which elsewhere forms the corporate limits.

Atlanta is situated on rolling ground, which gives every facility for drainage and contributes materially to the effectiveness of the elaborate system of sewers. This rolling country extends in every direction, and suburban communities are rapidly extending. The electric lines reach out for six or eight miles on all sides of the city, and afford quick and cheap access for the outlying towns. As a result of this elaborate system of rapid transit, there has been a remarkable expansion of the city within the past ten years, and the pressure on the center has been greatly relieved. It is estimated that the suburban trains and street-car systems of Atlanta bring in and carry out 30,000 people a day.

[Ill.u.s.tration: CENTURY BUILDING.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: PRUDENTIAL AND EMPIRE BUILDINGS.]