Atlanta And Its Builders, Vol. 1 - A Comprehensive History Of The Gate City Of The South. Thomas H. Martin
in providing themselves suitable places of worship. The Methodists built a comfortable and rather commodious frame structure near the spot on which the First Methodist church is located. This pioneer church was known as Wesley Chapel, and it was for years the scene of fervent devotional exercises such as only the old-time disciples of John Wesley enjoyed. There was "powerful preaching" in the little sanctuary in those days. Before Wesley Chapel was built the Methodists had had to resort to a cotton warehouse on Wheat street to find room for the large congregations that attended quarterly meetings and revivals. The Baptists were little behind the Methodists in building their own house of worship. The lot at the corner of North Forsyth and Walton streets, now occupied by the First Baptist church, was purchased in 1847, and by the following summer the congregation was worshipping in a neat little wooden church. The Presbyterians did not begin the erection of their church building until 1850, in the meantime continuing to hold regular services in the schoolhouse and private buildings. About the same time several fraternal societies were organized. Atlanta Lodge of Masons, No. 59. was organized April 13, 1846, and on the 3rd of May following Mount Zion Chapter, No. 16, was chartered. Even the names of the secret societies that flourished in those days are almost forgotten.
In contrast to the moral side of life in Marthasville, it is probably no exaggeration to say that there was not a "tougher" town in the state of Georgia. As the place grew and became more distinctively a railroad center, the vices common to rough frontier settlements in all times held high carnival. Drinking resorts, gambling dives and brothels were run "wide open," and what is commonly known as the "sporting" element were insolent in their defiance of public order and decency. The block on Decatur street, between Peachtree and Pryor, was given over to this unsavory ilk. The locality was known as Murrell's Row, so-called in honor (?) of a notorious Tennessee outlaw of that day, whose exploits were the favorite theme of conversation among the semi-outlaws of the quarter. Crimes and misdeeds worthy of the wild Murrell were supposed to comport with the ethics of the habitués of Murrell's Row. It does not appear, however, that any grave crimes were committed by these "rowdies" during the period that the place was known as Marthasville. The first homicide did not occur until sometime in 1848, when a man by the name of Mc Williams was stabbed and killed by one Bill Terrell, who made good his escape. The chief amusement of the Murrellites was cock-fighting. There were several cock-pits in the rear of the block, and some of the fights held therein attracted hundreds of spectators. The low wooden shanties of the quarter, many of them built of rough slabs, harbored all kinds of games of chance, and some of them were downright robber's dens. Nearly every other building was a groggery, in which drunken rows were of almost hourly occurrence. On Saturday nights it was common to have free-for-all fights that assumed the proportions of a riot.
It follows that some restraints were necessary to hold in check such an unruly class, and these were inadequately found in the local courts, which made a show of punishing the worst offenders. A little slab calaboose stood on the corner of Alabama and Pryor streets, which place of confinement was always full of culprits — between deliveries. Every day or two there was a delivery. Sometimes the prisoners would burrow out, and sometimes they would simply turn the frail structure over by main strength and walk back to Murrell's Row without molestation. Once, when a general row had packed the calaboose with "rowdies," the comrades of the prisoners visited the jail at night and lifted it off its foundation, holding it suspended while the inmates crawled from under. It was found necessary to build a larger and safer jail, which was done on Broad street, then known as Market street, near the railroad embankment, there being no bridge in those days. Incarceration was never for a long period, and fines were rarely paid. When the jail became too full to admit a fresh batch of offenders, those who had been in the longest were taken out and given a good strapping on the bare back, after which they were allowed to go free. The arts of the "black-leg," while perhaps not as subtle as now, were plied with continuous success by confidence men who rendezvoused in Murrell's Row.
The post-office was kept in Collier's store, at the junction of Peachtree and Decatur streets, at the beginning of Murrell's Row. Floor space was at a premium after the town began to grow in earnest, and in order to make room for the post-office. Mr. Collier partitioned off one-half of a rickety long porch that ran the length of his building, with the delivery window in such a position that people who called for the mail were not required to enter the store. It would ordinarily be supposed that an enterprising merchant who kept the post-office would make the most of the opportunity to attract the public to his store; but the extent to which a post-office was frequented a half a century ago, must be taken into account. There was no free delivery and a large part of the population of country towns seemed to have little else to do than wait for their mail. Many were chronic loafers and gossips, and it is easy to understand how their habitual presence in a small store would be anything but an incentive to trade. Mr. Collier solved the problem with his porch office. He did not allow himself to be disturbed before the mail arrived, or while sorting it, but when the latter task was done and the expectant crowd was assembled on the porch, he took the letters one by one. and called out the names of those to whom they were addressed, disposing of the bulk of the mail in this fashion. When a man's name was called he answered "Here," and pushed through the crowd to receive his mail.
In the rear of the post-office there was a bar-room, and Moses Formwalt had a tin shop next door. Mr. Formwalt, who was the first mayor of Atlanta, did a flourishing business in the manufacture of stills, and his manufactured tin articles had a large sale throughout north Georgia. Edwin Payne, father of Columbus Payne, ran a sawmill, he and a negro slave furnishing the motive power to the saw. This primitive factory-made safes, tables, and other articles of household, office and store furniture. About this time Martin & Thurman started a gun factory.
The first brick house to be built after the Atlanta Hotel was a block of brick stores erected on their centrally located property by I. O. and P. C. McDaniel. I. O. McDaniel was the father of Governor McDaniel. Richard Peters was considered the wealthiest citizen of Marthasville. His residence at the corner of Forsyth and Peters street, a roomy, weather-boarded structure, was regarded as palatial at that time. Mr. Peters owned and conducted a steam mill on the present site of the Georgia Railroad shops. It was a very advanced enterprise for the time, and consumed a tremendous amount of pine fuel. Mr. Peters bought four hundred and five acres of close-in land on what is now the heart of the Peachtree section, for $1,200, for the express purpose of using the timber for fuel for his engine. He lived to see his land worth fancy front-foot prices, some of it bringing approximately $75,000 an acre, as parceled off.
Wallace Putnam Reed relates a little incident of Marthasville progress which may be taken as characteristic of the place and time: "Mr. Crusselle had the contract for building the old State Road stone freight depot, which used to stand in the block in which the office of the Southern Express company now stands, very near the present passenger depot. When Mr. Crusselle finished the depot, he was jubilant, and endeavored to demonstrate that fact to the town by a grand treat. Accordingly he bought a barrel of Georgia planter's corn whiskey, a half a barrel of brandy, and a box of Virginia tobacco, which he dealt out liberally to the citizens. He says that almost everyone got drunk, the fighting became general, and some of them attempted to turn over the town, but they did not succeed."
Reminiscences of the settlers of the Marthasville period are by no means common. There are plenty of the early days of Atlanta proper, but Marthasville has almost faded from human memory. In view of this fact, it is appropriate here that some extracts be given from the '"talks" of the surviving pioneers who met in the National Hotel, in the spring of 1884, at a banquet given by D. N. Sloan, the first telegraph operator in Atlanta, to the surviving pioneers of nearly twenty years ago.
On that occasion, Lewis H. Clarke said: "When I first came here it was a thicket — all woods. We had to haul goods in wagons from Madison. That was the spring of 1844. On the first day of April of that year, I was clerking for Collins & Loyd, who had opened a brand-new store. It was the first store ever opened here. That night. Painter Smith, A. B. Forsyth, Hack & Bryant, and several other who made up the sum and substance of the town, serenaded us with tin pans and horns. In the fall we hauled our goods from Social Circle, and in the spring of 1845 we hauled them from Covington. When the first train arrived I was assistant postmaster with Mr. F. C. Orme, who, when he resigned, suggested Atlanta as a good name for the place."
Thomas