Atlanta And Its Builders, Vol. 1 - A Comprehensive History Of The Gate City Of The South. Thomas H. Martin
for the purpose of promoting industrial development and encouraging immigration, John C. Calhoun, then recognized as the greatest Southern statesman, made a strong speech outlining the progressive steps necessary to make the Southwest what it was destined to be — another valley of the Nile. The great South Carolinian made in this speech the following' allusion to Atlanta:
"What, then, is needed to complete a cheap, speedy and safe intercourse between the valley of the Mississippi and the Southern Atlantic coast is a good system of railroads. For this purpose, the nature of the intervening country affords extraordinary advantages. Such is its formation from the course of the Tennessee, Cumberland and Alabama rivers, and the termination of the various chains of mountains, that all the railroads which have been projected or commenced, although each has looked only to its local interest, must necessarily unite at a point in DeKalb county, in the state of Georgia, called Atlanta, not far from the village of Decatur, so as to constitute one entire system of roads, having a mutual interest each in the other, instead of isolated rival roads."
Senator Calhoun had passed through Atlanta and carefully examined the situation on the ground. He strongly urged upon a future governor of Georgia, Joseph E. Brown, then a young man who had stopped in Washington for a few days while en route home from college, the desirability of casting his fortunes in Atlanta. The far-seeing statesman is said to have given other Georgia friends the same advice.
By the end of 1848, Atlanta had between 500 and 600 inhabitants, a very small proportion of whom were women and children. It was a new town, full of newcomers, and the wives and babies were left behind at the old home until the plastic "rudiments of empire" had assumed something like form. The establishment of municipal law had much to do with the establishment of homes in the place.
Capital, heretofore chary of Atlanta, now followed eagerly enough in the footsteps of immigration. Real estates values stiffened and transfers were lively, comparatively speaking. Isaac Scott came up from Macon and founded a banking house in Atlanta in the winter of 1848. U. L. Wright was made agent of the institution, and that well-known pioneer citizen, Washington J. Houston, cashier. The first depositor was James B. Loften, a slave-trader, who deposited a pair of old-fashioned saddlebags with both ends full of silver dollars. Several new real estate offices were opened, generally in conjunction with the practice of law, and there were a number of private money lenders who made big usury out of the railroad employees and the free-and-easy-class, as is common in Atlanta at this day. The Odd Fellows established their pioneer lodge in this year, and two or three private schools were established, in a small way. "Angier's Academy," founded the year before, was in a flourishing condition. This year occurred the exciting presidential campaign in which the hero of the Mexican war, Zachary Taylor, was the Democratic nominee. It was an era of intense bitterness, politically, and the Know-Nothing party had gained quite a following in Georgia. In passing it is noteworthy that Georgia furnished some of the most gallant soldiers of the Mexican war, and a number enlisted from DeKalb county. While the short-lived struggle was in progress, the news and letters from the field afforded a topic of absorbing interest for the conversations of the local statesmen and philosophers of Atlanta, and Taylor had a number of very zealous partisans in the town. Indeed, their zeal was so great, fortified by white corn liquor, that nearly every day during the fall witnessed a fisticuff between citizens of contrary political beliefs. A Taylor and Fillmore mass meeting was held at Walton Spring, which drew a tremendous crowd from fifty miles around. There was a grand barbecue, glee club singing, and one of the distinguished orators of the occasion was Alexander H. Stephens. The enthusiasm of the assembled Democrats was so great that hundreds of Stephens's admirers rushed to the Atlanta Hotel, where he was stopping, and demanded a speech before he was driven to the spring. After he had appeared on the gallery and was about to step into the waiting carriage, hundreds of hands were stretched toward him to shake, and a score of others unhitched the horses from the vehicle, the noisy partisans shouting that they would draw the little statesman themselves. And so they did, a long line of them pulling and escorting the carriage. The first American flag ever given to the breeze in Atlanta was unfurled over the Miscellany printing office by its editor, Colonel Hanleiter, on this occasion.
Atlanta had begun to build on the south side of the railroad, though Alabama street was suburban at the time the city government was organized. The topography of the central portion of the town has changed greatly since that time. There were ravines, knolls, springs, and even brooks familiar to the residents of the latter forties, that have long since been obliterated by the vandal hand of progress. For instance, there used to be a bold spring branch on the east side of Whitehall street, near the railroad crossing. This branch headed on or near the lot later occupied by the old Central block, or James building, and was a very prominent and troublesome landmark of the early days. For years it sadly depreciated good business property in the vicinity, as the expense of filling it up permanently was considered too great to be undertaken with profit, and it undermined the foundations that were first laid along the north side of Alabama street. About one hundred yards from the Western & Atlantic depot was a mineral spring much resorted to and famous before the war. The beaux and belles of early Atlanta invariably included it in their promenades and tender loiterings, and those who felt "poorly" obtained their sole supply of drinking water from its translucent depths. There were a dozen other springs that have long since dried or been filled up. Of the popular medicinal waters we have just spoken of, one of the old-time weeklies had this to say:
"Our Mineral Spring. — This delightful fountain of health is even now a place of great resort for our citizens, male and female, notwithstanding its rough and uninviting appearance; but when it is fitted up, as it will be soon, with a beautiful marble basin to receive the water, and several nice summer houses to receive the visitors, and various other attractive improvements around it, it will doubtless then be thronged all the while with a multitude of ladies and gentlemen, both from home and abroad. We went down a few evenings since and were perfectly astonished at finding so many people there."
CHAPTER VIII. WELL-KNOWN PIONEER CITIZENS
We are satisfied that the reader will be loath to reach the end of Mr. Smith's interesting reminiscences. It would be difficult, at this late day, to find one who was a resident of Atlanta at so early a date who was a closer observer of men and events, and who has a more entertaining manner of relating his observations and impressions. Mr. Smith is one of the best-known and beloved clergymen of the old-school in Georgia, his home being in Macon. The following reminiscences of his, which we are glad to be able to continue, relate principally to the personal side of Atlanta in 1847-8:
"The two hotel keepers were Dr. Thompson and James Loyd. Dr. Thompson was a bustling, brusque, loud talking, energetic man, who kept everything moving about him. His hotel was well located and well patronized. There was a bar in the reception room, and it was well patronized also. He was quite a favorite with leading public men, and they always stopped with him. His wife was a famous housekeeper, whose well-kept flower garden and whose luxuriant Madeira vines added to the attractiveness of his hostelry.
"James Loyd was a man of very opposite character. He was one of the greatest, kindest and easiest men I ever knew. His hotel was a free and easy place, and was always well furnished with guests. There was a great deal of transient patronage, and the hotels were sources of large revenues.
"Among the merchants, Jonathan Norcross, a sharp, angular, shrewd, intelligent Yankee, was the leader. He. came out to Georgia to set up a horse mill in Atlanta, and bought the property which is now owned by his son on the corner of Peachtree and Marietta streets. When he came to Atlanta, the Irish famine was at its height and great quantities of Indian corn were bought for shipment to Ireland. He was a large dealer, and thousands of wagon loads were dumped into his warehouse, where the corn was shelled and sacked and shipped. He had a genuine country store and kept everything a plain farmer needed and bought everything he had to sell. He was a decided temperance man, and although the larger number of merchants sold whiskey, old Jonathan never touched it. He was a kind-hearted, good-natured, eccentric man. He ran for mayor in the first race and was defeated, and his election was not secured until about 1850. The mayor was Moses W. Formwalt, a tin manufacturer, who was elected in 1848. During Formwalt's reign there was little restraint put on anyone. I was passing up Murrell's