Atlanta - Yesterday, Today And Tomorrow. John R. Hornady
pass the incalculable mass of produce, manufacturers and commerce from the great valley of the West and the Atlantic Coast, and the imports from abroad passing thence to the far West.
" Atlanta had been permanently fixed as the southeastern terminus of that great State work, and gave a local idea to its eastern terminus, and that idea, represented and qualified by the adjective Atlantic, was incomplete of itself, but early pointed to something more definite, and the mind is put upon the inquiry for the thing signified. The connection by rail from Charleston by way of Augusta, and from Savannah by way of Macon, had both been completed to this point. These roads had been gradually ascending the hills from the coast, in search of a 'northwest passage;' they had searched the hills upon which the city stands and here they met the Western & Atlantic Road, just emerging from the wilds of the Northwest, seeking by a sinuous and difficult ascent from the Western valley for a highway to the Atlantic. They met together on our streets, they embraced each other upon the headlands of the Atlantic.
"These headlands, when embodied in the noun Atlanta, to our mind, meets the demand and represents the ideal of the thing sought after, and the mind rests upon it as the thing signified by the several indices pointing to Atlanta as the proper name for such a place. This we now state to the public as the true derivation sustained by the facts in the case."
After reading this charming conception, from the pen of one who obviously loved the city and who had a true appreciation of the greatness which the future held for it, one is inclined to let the matter rest there. Besides, where a name comes from is not particularly important, the thing that counts is what it stands for now, and surely the name Atlanta has its full significance today and is inseparable from the idea of spirited accomplishment.
The early enterprise of Atlanta was shown in the manner in which the young City went after desirable enterprises. The location of the annual fair of the Southern Agricultural Association as a permanent thing was accomplished in 1850, a gift of $1,000 in cash and the donation of ten acres of land being the prime inducements. That so young a city caught so rich a prize almost in the beginning, is significant of the fact that community zeal, which is so pronounced today, is no new thing.
The somnolent sections of the State must have looked on aghast at some of the maneuvers of those enterprising Atlantans of the fifties, for, after getting the State Fair, they straightway began to lay plans for marching on Milledgeville and carrying the State Capital from that ancient town to the new and hustling city! what's more, they did it.
The measure of Atlanta's ambition and enterprise at the time it sought to become the legislative and judicial center of the commonwealth at so early a period, may be inferred from certain other proceedings adopted by the City Council on the same night that the removal resolution was passed, February 3, 1854. At this meeting the night police force was "increased to six men," and in order that there should be no loafing on the job, the ordinance required the chief of police to ''cry in a loud voice" from the council hall every hour in the night after nine o'clock, ''to which cry each of his assistants is to respond." It was also at this meeting that plans were inaugurated for establishing a gas lighting system.
This new system was installed by the following year, and Atlanta began to catch a metropolitan stride. Street lamps, using oil, had been introduced two years before, but the ordinance under which they appeared carried a specific provision that the citizens enjoying the benefits of these lights must furnish the fuel, an arrangement which suggests that the City Fathers of the period were familiar with the Bible and were particularly impressed by the injunction relating to keeping the lamps trimmed and burning, but they interpreted it as applying to the individual rather than to the corporate body.
The subject of fire protection also began to receive serious consideration in the early fifties, and an ordinance was passed providing for the digging of wells at Whitehall and Mitchell Streets; Norcross and Marietta Streets and Whitehall and Hunter Streets.
At the same time an ordinance was passed requiring each store to have a ladder and two buckets for use in case of fire. In 1854 the first fire station was built, being located on Market Street and being erected at a cost of $800.
About this time Atlanta began to grow at a rate which justified the faith of its most optimistic citizens, and events moved with ever quickening tread. Ambition grew, and in January, 1857, the young City came forward with an offer to take $100,000 worth of the stock of the Georgia Air Line Railroad, a new project which was being fostered and which the citizens of Atlanta were very anxious to see carried through. It is significant of the enterprise of the period and of the fundamental soundness of conditions in the new city, that it was touched but slightly by the panic of this year; a fact strongly emphasized by the confidence with which it was agreed to finance so large a part of a new railroad. The bonded indebtedness at this time was $47,000, including $5,000 issued to the Georgia Air Line Railroad as first payment upon the subscription of the City. Of the remainder there was $4,000 for fair grounds, $16,000 for a new city hall, $20,000 for gas plant, and $3,000 in the Chattahoochee Bridge. The erection of this bridge had been fostered to the extent indicated, and the city had also pledged subscriptions to stock in two new board highways that were being brought thereto.
With the growth of Atlanta, which had attained a population in excess of 11,000 by 1859, slave traders began to come here to buy and sell, and for the first time, so far as it is known, the cry went up to protect home institutions. Local dealers brought to the attention of the governing authorities the activities of the outsiders who were dealing in slaves, and the upshot of the matter was the passage of an ordinance putting a tax on all persons, not residents of Atlanta, who bought or sold slaves in the City.
The development of the industrial life of the community had been almost as rapid as its commercial development, and coincident therewith slave labor began to cut a figure in the economic life of the community. White mechanics found it difficult to compete with slave labor, and considerable unrest developed. Urgent representations were made to the city council by members of various crafts, but no immediate solution of the problem seemed at hand, and the issue remained unsettled. Meanwhile, however, events in the nation at large were moving swiftly, and the time was not distant when this, and all other questions of local interest would be completely overshadowed. For the war clouds were gathering, dark, sinister and menacing, and all the vexing problems growing out of human chattles soon were to be settled elsewhere than in council chambers or civil courts.
Lest the reader infer that the ubiquitous newspaper man was slow about making his appearance in the young City of Atlanta, it might be well here to record the fact that the "Democrat" appeared in 1845. Then came the "Luminary," which for a little while shed its effulgence upon the community. It is significant and suggestive that this paper was started by a Baptist minister, Rev. Joseph Baker, a man of obvious faith, who no doubt felt the need of some spiritualizing influence in the community to counteract the element which toyed too often with that which biteth like a serpent and stingeth like an adder, and which flirted over-much with the goddess of chance.
With the appearance of these newspapers, it was inevitable that others should blossom forth, so presently "The Enterprise" was launched by Royal and Yarbrough, and "The Southern Miscellany," edited by C. R. Hanleiter, put in appearance. But not even Atlanta could sustain so much journalistic skill, and all of these ventures fell by the wayside.
But not for long was Atlanta a burying ground for newspapers. "The Intelligencer," published by A. A. Gaulding & Co., came along and grew into an influential journal, and with the approach of the war "The Southern Confederacy" made its appearance under the direction of James P. Hamilton. It, too, became a virile factor in the life of the community. "The Daily Examiner" appeared, which, with the "Intelligencer," gave the City two dailies. These were virile journals, as most Southern newspapers were at that time, and there was no hesitancy about criticizing when criticism seemed warranted. And how those old-time editors could put the "bite" in what they wrote! No putty-pointed barbs for them, but sharp and polished steel.
For instance we find the editor of the "Daily Intelligencer" disgruntled over the condition of the streets as they existed in February, 1852. Did he voice a feeble protest to the City officials, urging that steps be taken to remedy a deplorable situation? He did not, for he knew a more effective method of getting