Atlanta And Its Builders, Vol. 1 - A Comprehensive History Of The Gate City Of The South. Thomas H. Martin
road between Lynch's corner and the post-office. This road was to be twenty feet in width. At the same session, the clerk was required to regularly furnish the Intelligencer a report of the proceedings of the council. On September 10th the question of opening Pryor street was again before council, and it being evident that there was really a street running parallel with the five acres of land donated to the state by Samuel Mitchell, it was unanimously resolved that all obstructions be removed from Pryor street, and that the Georgia Railroad and Banking Company, and the Macon and Western Railway Company be required to remove any obstructions which they may have placed on Pryor street.
On the 4th of October it was resolved that a committee be appointed to make a contract with some landholder of the vicinity for a suitable graveyard for the city. The members of the graveyard committee were A. B. Forsyth, B. F. Bomar and J. J. Smith. On the first of November, the committee reported that they had inspected a number of tracts of land near the city, and that they had practically settled on the land desired, but that it was held at an exorbitant price. The committee was continued and instructed, if possible, to exchange the hospital lot for lands adjoining the graveyard then in use.
After the election held in January, 1850, the bonds of the officers appointed by council were again revised, that of the treasurer being placed at $5,000; tax receiver and collector, $5,000; clerk, $2,000; marshal, $2,000; deputy marshal, $2,000. It will be noticed from the latter item that the office of deputy marshal was restored by the council of 1850. Oswald Houston was elected treasurer; Hugh M. Boyd, tax receiver and collector; John L. Harris, clerk; and German M. Lester, marshal.
At a meeting of the council held February 8, 1850, the following resolution was adopted: That each and every person, at the time of taking out his license, shall give bond in the sum of $200, with two good and sufficient sureties, that he will not knowingly violate or permit to be violated within his retail house, or on the premises thereof, any state law or by-law of the city of Atlanta, without giving notice thereof to the corporate authorities of said city within twenty-four hours thereafter, and that the giving of such notice shall avoid the forfeiture. It was decided at the session on the 15th of the same month to have sidewalks built on every business street, eight feet in width, and property-holders were given permission to plant ornamental trees along the sidewalks. The new council adopted the Intelligencer as its official organ, upon the condition that the proceedings be published gratis. The editor, who was present, accepted the honor, and the thanks of the body was tendered him by resolution.
On the 9th of March, the committee on graveyard made another report to the effect that Messrs. Cone and Williamson agreed to give the city one acre of land and sell it four acres more at one hundred dollars an acre. The proposition was accepted, but upon a motion to reconsider, the resolution was withdrawn and the committee discharged. A new committee was then appointed, composed of Messrs. Hodge and Roark. On the 11th of March, the question of holding an agricultural fair at Atlanta, a pet progressive project of the time, was discussed with much enthusiastic interest. A committee consisting of Messrs. Luckie, Thompson, Hodge, Hayden, Ezzard and Bomar was appointed to solicit subscriptions to the lists which had been sent in by Messrs. Jones and Hayden. On the 5th of April the gratifying announcement was made that the subscription had been sufficiently increased to warrant the statement that the desired sum of $1,000 could be collected and presented as a bonus to the locating committee of the Southern Agricultural Association as an inducement to secure the annual holding of its fairs at Atlanta. In order to further assist the fair association and make its annual fairs a permanent attraction at Atlanta, council, on the 10th of April, passed a resolution that a conveyance containing ten acres, more or less, particularly described in a bond for title from Lemuel P. Grant to Augustus S. Rhodes, and known as the hospital lot of the city of Atlanta, be executed to the Southern Agricultural Association, to have and to hold said lot so long as the said association should continue to hold their annual meetings in the city of Atlanta, with a clause in said deed authorizing the officers of said association to permit the city of Atlanta to use said lot and buildings for other public meetings, so long as the citizens shall not abuse said property or privilege; said property, with the buildings thereon, to revert to the mayor and council of Atlanta, when said Southern Agricultural Association should cease to use annually the lot and buildings for the purposes designated in said deed of conveyance.
The Southern Agricultural Association did not see fit to accept the proposition of the Atlanta city council, in its original form, and there was considerable parleying between the two organizations. The fair people seemed to think that Atlanta wanted to exercise too much authority and reserve for herself too many privileges. The terms of the donation were modified, however, to meet the wishes of the fair association, under a mutual compromise. Referring to the matter at some length. Historian Reed says: "On December 10th, 1850, a communication was received from the Hon. Mark A. Cooper, chairman of the committee of the association, with reference to the matter of the fairgrounds, which was answered by Jonathan Norcross, mayor of Atlanta, on April 1, 1851. The substance of the communication of Mayor Norcross was to the effect that the mayor and council of Atlanta had. on April 10th, 1850, proposed to deed to the Southern Agricultural Association the hospital lot, containing ten acres of land, upon which the association should have the privilege of holding its fairs, upon the condition that the corporate authorities of the city of Atlanta should have the privilege of opening the grounds for the reception of other public gatherings, when the grounds were not in use by the association. These conditions were rejected by the association's committee on location, and the city authorities subsequently made a deed to the association with the condition only that the land, with the buildings and appurtenances thereon, should revert to the city when the annual fairs of the association had ceased to longer be held thereon. Thus the city authorities were excluded from the grounds, except in times of the fair, and then they had to pay an entrance fee in the same manner that other people had to pay to gain entrance to the grounds. This condition, taking into consideration the guarantee of $1,000 which the city had made good, was considered rather severe upon the city authorities, and was the cause of much dissatisfaction. Besides this, there seemed to be some difference of opinion between the association and the mayor and the city council as to the guarantee fund itself. Mayor Norcross was of the opinion that the city had performed its part of the contract by the payment of $750, the Georgia Railroad Company having paid $250, which payments together made up the $1,000 guaranteed. That the $250 paid by the Georgia Railroad Company was intended to be included in the guarantee, was certified to by W. W. Roark, Joel Kelsey and Stephen T. Biggers, of the council, and by Henry C. Holcombe and the mayor, W. Buell, on February 28th, 1851. Thus the matter rested for a considerable time."
On May 3, 1850, the new graveyard committee reported that they had been unable to purchase a lot within the limits of the city, owing to the exorbitant price at which the ground was held, but that just without the city line they had discovered a suitable lot, which could be purchased at a reasonable price. This did not satisfy council, it seems, for the committee was discharged and it was resolved that the mayor and the members of the council go as a committee of the whole to visit lots within the city limits that were believed to be such as were suitable for graveyard purposes, and particularly to the lot of Judge Cone, which the committee had had under consideration. On the 1st of June, a graveyard plot was finally purchased from A. W. Wooding, consisting of six acres, for which $75 per acre was paid. The new cemetery was called the Atlanta cemetery.
On the 27th of May council adopted a resolution that, in its opinion, there should be a public street on the west side of the public square belonging to the state, and which was properly a continuation of Pryor street, but for lack of means it could not be opened by the city at that time. On the 30th of August council passed a resolution pledging the city of Atlanta to take $10,000 of the stock of a plank road which it was proposed to build between Atlanta and Dahlonega, to be taken when the amount subscribed should come within $10,000 of being sufficient to build the plank road with the necessary bridges. The plan was to pay for this stock by issuing city bonds of the amount of $10,000, redeemable after ten years, and bearing interest at the rate of seven per cent. Another similar resolution was adopted, subscribing to the plank road to Jacksonville, by way of Altamaha. The terms were identical.
CHAPTER X. THE EARLY FIFTIES
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