Atlanta And Its Builders, Vol. 1 - A Comprehensive History Of The Gate City Of The South. Thomas H. Martin
Marthasville, and fixed the location of the coming city; but it proved an over-turning point for some of its people, among whom was Cousin John Thrasher, who had bought one hundred acres in the vicinity of the first proposed depot of the Macon road, but sold out in disgust, and at half cost, upon learning of the change of base. The property which he thus disposed of at four dollars per acre, he lived to see worth at least half a million."
There were other men besides Mr. Thrasher who, even with three railroads intersecting there, could not bring themselves to see much of a future for Marthasville. Several of the original investors pulled out. Colonel Long, then chief engineer of the Georgia Railroad, ridiculed the ambitions of the town and depreciated its possibilities, declaring that it would gradually settle down to a wood station, with a cross-roads store or two and a blacksmith shop. He deliberately turned his back on his golden opportunities and invested his money in Marietta. In this connection Historian Clarke says: "Partly to this want of confidence, and of the failure to secure a new charter, providing for commissioners to lay out streets, is due the irregularity of our street system; everybody building where he pleased, without reference to any plan."
But men who had the faith that would stake its last dollar on the destiny of the town were not lacking in Marthasville. Upon the completion of the Macon road and until the city of Atlanta was formally organized less than two years later, the active spirits in the advancement of the town were: Jonathan Norcross, A. W. Mitchell, I. O. McDaniel, Allen E. Johnson, Jonas Smith, John Collier, Eli Hulsey, L. C. Simpson, Terence Doonan, Dr. Joseph Thompson, James Loyd, Edwin Payne, Reuben Cone, J. A. Hayden, John A. Doane, Edward Holland, William Herring, Dr. N. L. Angier, William G. Forsyth, Thomas Kile, Jacob Johnson, James A. Collins, A. K. Seago, Rev. Joseph Baker, John Silvey, John R. Wallace, Dr. J. F. Alexander, S. B. Hoyt, Rev. David G. Daniel, A. W. Walton, Joseph Meade, John Weaver, L. P. Grant, Richard Peters, Thomas G. Crusselle, Thomas G. Healey, Z. A. Rice, Moses Formwalt, Benjamin F. Bomar, H. C. Holcombe, Dr. W. H. Fernerden, C. R. Hanleiter, Er Lawshe, R. W. Bullard, George Shaw, Patrick Lynch, and Messrs. Mann, Davis, Roark, Trout, Morgan, Levi, Haas, Wheat, Bell, Humphries, Crew and Haynes. The first lawyer was L. C. Simpson, with whom John T. Wilson and S. B. Hoyt studied.
Three lively weekly newspapers were established in Marthasville at this period, but they met the same fate as The Luminary. The Democrat was published by Dr. W. H. Fernerden; the Enterprise by Royal & Yarborough, and the Southern Miscellany, by C. R. Hanleiter.
The first Sunday school was organized on the second Sunday in June, 1847, in the historic little church and schoolhouse built by popular subscription. The records and minutes of this Sunday school, which have been preserved, are especially interesting in preserving the names of many of the early citizens. As high as seventy pupils were enrolled. This school was non-denominational, and was known as the Atlanta Union Sabbath school. James A. Collins and Oswald Houston were the first superintendents of this pioneer Sunday school. Robert M. Clarke was the first secretary and treasurer, and R. M. Browne the first librarian. From the records we learn that Edwin Payne, A. F. Luckie and A. E. Johnson were selected as a committee to solicit subscriptions for carrying out the plans of the organization. The list of those who made the first subscriptions is as follows:
James A. Collins, W. R. Venable, W. T. Bell, W. A. Harp, F. F. Hight, William Printup, Mary J. Thompson, James M. Ballard, M. A. Thompson, William Henry Fernerden, A. L. Houston, A. T. Luckie, W. B. Chapman, George W. Thomasson, A. B. Forsyth, George Tomlinson, J. C. Linthicum, S. T. Downs, J. R. Wallace and T. S. Luckie. In the subscription list of the next year the following additional names are noted: D. G. Daniel, Jonathan Norcross, L. C. Simpson, "Miscellany," J. W. Evans, W. Buell, R. W. Ballard, David Thurman, H. Matheson, H. A. Fraser, Thomas Rusk, James McPherson, A. W. Walton, J. V. W. Rhodes, Samuel Wells, Joseph Thompson, S. Goodall, J. T. Burns, G. M. Troup Perryman, H. C. Holcombe, Z. A. Rice, George W. Cook, J. Wells, A. W. Wheat, J. W. Demby, W. L. Wright, H. M. Boyd, Haas & Levi, J. T. Doane, W. H. Wilson, B. F. Bomar, A. E. Johnson, W. J. Houston, F. Kicklighter, O. Houston, A. L. Houston, J. J. Smith, William P. Orme, Logan E. Bleckley, A. Wooding, C. H. Yarborough, J. R. Crawford, R. J. Browne, Lewis Lawshe, W. L. Wingfield and M. J. Ivey.
A mental glance at the Marthasville in which these men lived and labored will be interesting before we proceed to the Atlanta period, and a more comprehensive view of the kind cannot be given that to quote from Wallace Putnam Reed's description of the town at the time. He says:
"Toward the close of the Marthasville period the town was laid out, according to Colonel Z. A. Rice, about as follows: There were four roads — Peachtree, running in from Peachtree creek; Marietta, coming from the town of that name; Whitehall, named from a large white house which stood at its terminus in West End, and Decatur, connecting with that town. These roads met where the artesian well now stands, and the junction was known as the 'cross-roads.' Whitehall road then extended to the Decatur and Marietta roads, instead of terminating at the railroad. On the northwest corner of this junction stood the grocery store kept by a man named Kile; on the northeast corner was Mr. Wash. Collier's grocery, containing the post-office; the southwest corner was known as 'Norcross's Corner,' and on it stood a general store owned by Jonathan Norcross. The southeast corner was vacant. The lot on which the Atlanta hotel stood was not far from this corner. The hotel was a brick building of two stories, and the lot on which it stood is now the site of the Kimball House. Pryor street commenced on the north side of Decatur, and ran out to the woods, some three or four hundred yards away. Ivy and Butler streets were scarcely recognizable as streets, as in that part of the town the forest had not been cleared away. Broad street commenced at Marietta and ran northward to the woods. Alabama street was a mere country road. The depot or car shed stood opposite the hotel, and stretched across the ground through which Pryor street now runs. A little to the northward stood the Central Railroad freight depot, and a short distance off on the south side were the Georgia Railroad shops and turn-table. The block fronting the Kimball House at that time ran back to Loyd street, and was vacant, with the exception of the Western and Atlantic freight depot, which faced Decatur street on the corner of Loyd, and a railroad track which ran across the lot to the depot. It was in the middle of this lot that the Fillmore pole was raised during a memorable political campaign, and the ground was sometimes used by circuses. On the lot now occupied by the Markham House, facing Loyd street, was the Washington Hall, a hotel kept first by James Loyd, and afterwards by Rice & Holcombe. Next to this stood Robert Clarke's grocery store. Back of the post-office, on the corner of Decatur and Peachtree streets, was a bar-room, a tin-shop kept by Moses Formwalt — the first manufacturing enterprise of the kind in the place — and several grocery stores. Alabama street had a store or two, but there was nothing more. On the corner of Broad and Marietta was a cotton warehouse owned by Colonel Rice's father. Nobody predicted that Marthasville would ever be a great city, and real estate commanded low prices. The Inman lot, on the southwest corner of Forsyth and Mitchell streets, then contained four acres, and extended to the railroad. Judge John Collier offered seventy-five dollars an acre for it, and was about to complete the purchase, when the owner demanded eighty dollars an acre. The judge thereupon declined to buy. The place is now easily worth about $40,000."
The Atlanta Hotel was the first pretentious building erected in Marthasville. The need of a hostelry of some size and a dignity commensurate with the town's ambitions was felt by every loyal Marthasvillan, and after the Georgia Railroad had made the destiny of the place doubly sure, that enterprising corporation set about to build the long talked of new hotel. The bulk of the work was done in 1846, and the hotel was given its name before the name of the town was changed by act of the legislature. The two-story brick structure with its broad, rambling galleries of the ante-bellum style stood as a prophetic monument of the city that was to be. It had two entrances, one on Pryor street and one on Wall street, and its appearance was rather imposing. It stood in the midst of a park which until after the war was a favorite loitering place of leisurely citizens and strangers. Dr. Thompson, the father of Joseph Thompson, was the landlord of the Atlanta Hotel. He soon purchased the property, paying, it is said, $10,000 for the building and the whole square. The Washington Hall, kept by James Loyd, divided the hotel patronage of the town with the more handsome Atlanta Hotel. It was a large wooden building, to which additions had been made to accommodate the growing trade. As hotel caste went, Washington Hall did not grade as high as the Atlanta Hotel.
The religious people of Marthasville were