Atlanta And Its Builders, Vol. 1 - A Comprehensive History Of The Gate City Of The South. Thomas H. Martin
center, upon a lot donated to the congregation by Judge Cone. The building committee was composed of Judge Cone, Major Merry, Richard Peters, and Julius A. Hayden. Rev. John S. Wilson, the pioneer clergyman of Atlanta, was the first pastor.
In the city election of January, 1853, the officers chosen were: Mayor, J. F. Mims; councilmen, J. A. Hayden, J. Winship, W. M. Butt, J. Norcross, I. O. McDaniel and L. C. Simpson, It may be interesting to give the vote cast at this election. The officers for which the figures are given are those of mayor, marshal and deputy marshal. For mayor, John F. Mims received 369 votes, and T. F. Gibbs 193; for marshal, B. N. Williford received 217, G. M. Lester, 195, Harvey Little 112, and W. C. Harris 42; for deputy marshal, Paschal House received 236, E. T. Hunnicutt 215, James Coker 24, F. Wilmot 38, and 31 votes were scattering. The officers chosen by council were: Marshal, Benjamin N. Williford; deputy marshal, Paschal House; clerk and tax receiver and collector, Henry C. Holcombe; treasurer, J. T. McGinty. The salaries and bonds as regulated by the administration of 1853 were as follows: Salary of marshal, $400 and fees, with a $2,000 bond; of deputy marshal. $400 and a bond of $2,000; clerk and tax receiver and collector, two and one-half per cent, on all moneys received and disbursed, with a bond of $10,000; treasurer's salary one and one-half per cent, on all moneys received and disbursed, and $6,000 bond. The board of health for this year was composed of Dr. D. Hook, Dr. T. M. Darnall, Dr. T. S. Denny, B. H. Overby and R. Peters. G. A. Pilgrim was selected as city sexton.
On the 28th of January, council passed an ordinance to the effect that a night police squad should be elected by that body, in conjunction with the mayor, to consist of three persons, one of whom should be designated chief of police. Under this ordinance it became the duty of the night police to guard the city from the ringing of the council bell at night, and until sunrise next morning, and to enforce obedience to the ordinances and by-laws of the city. On February 4th treasurer McGinty resigned and was succeeded by Ambrose B. Forsyth.
This council hit upon a practical plan to raise money for the erection of the new city hall. At its session of February 9th the committee on finance submitted a report in which it strongly opposed the plan of advertising for the sale of city bonds, expressing the opinion that it did not consider it at all likely that a single bid would be offered if the bonds were advertised. As a substitute plan it submitted the following: That the mayor, at his discretion, borrow $10,000 for the purpose of erecting a city hall, and give the city hall lot and the city hall itself as security, and also such other property as the city might then own; and in addition to all this, such special tax as might be assessed for the purpose of erecting the proposed city hall. It was proposed to make the loan for a period of ten years, with semi-annual interest, the council reserving to itself the right to pay the entire debt in three, five or seven years. This plan met the approval of the majority of the council and was considered satisfactory by most of the citizens, if the local press reflected public opinion on the question. Many wanted at least $20,000 expended in the construction of the building, holding that while one so pretentious might be a little ahead of the city's progress, it was only adequately providing for Atlanta's needs a few years hence. The committee of council having the building in charge, however, thought that $10,000 or $15,000 at most, would be sufficient to erect a suitable city hall. Little else was talked about all summer, in municipal affairs, and it was not until the 26th of September that the plans and specifications offered were finally examined and a bid accepted. The plan presented by Mr. Hughes was adopted, and it was determined to begin the work without necessary delay.
The matter of lighting the city was also seriously grappled with by this council. On March 25th, 1853, a resolution was adopted which required that a lamp be placed on the Market (Broad) street bridge, and that street lamps be placed at such points as they were most needed, at the expense of the city, provided the citizens in the neighborhood of the lamps thus erected would agree to supply the lamps with the necessary illuminating fluid. Owing to the resignation of Mayor Minis in the fall, a special election was held on November 12th, at which William Markham, an energetic and thrifty New Englander, was elected mayor. On the 28th of November, a committee consisting of Daniel Hook, Thomas S. Denny, Richard Peters and Thomas M. Darnall reported to the council that in their opinion, all slaughter pens within the corporate limits were nuisances and should be abated instanter. This was done.
The report of the city's vital statistics made by the city sexton in 1853 for the quarter ending April 1st, shows: Deaths from pneumonia, 2; delirium, 1; complication, 1; old age, 1; measles, 1; typhoid, 1; pleurisy, 1; consumption, 1; cholera infantum, 1; not known, 3; colored persons, of diseases not known, 3; total number of deaths, 16. For the quarter ending July 1st the total number of deaths was 37; for the quarter ending October 1st, 57, whites 47, blacks 10; and for the quarter ending January 1st, 1854, the number of deaths was 48, making the total for the year 158. At the time the foregoing report was made it will be remembered that the population of the city was in the neighborhood of 6,000. Newcomers were arriving on every train and the town was full of strange faces.
CHAPTER XI. UNINTERRUPTED DEVELOPMENT
Atlanta was now populous and important enough commercially to be classed as one of the leading cities of Georgia. The census of 1854 showed 6,025 souls. Building had progressed wonderfully for two or three years, and the little city could boast of a number of quite pretentious brick blocks. Lewis J. Pace, the Wallaces and the Howells had erected a three-story building at the corner of Alabama and Whitehall streets, which was regarded as the "skyscraper" of that day. The top floor was occupied by Pace's Hall, which was esteemed locally as a first-class opera house. Here the well-known theatrical manager and actor, W. H. Crisp, the father of the late Speaker Crisp, of the United States house of representatives, had a family troupe of actors. The Crisp attraction was popular and drew for a long time. For a number of years after its construction Pace's Hall was the scene of some exciting political assemblies and conventions. The memorable campaign between the "Tugaloo Democrats" and the "Fire-eaters" saw many wild scenes enacted here, and it was in this hall that the two factions were harmonized and one electoral ticket agreed on in 1852. Before the erection of Pace's Hall, all public meetings and entertainments had been held in the hall over John Keely's store at the corner of Whitehall and Hunter streets. The gatherings too large to be accommodated there were held in one or the other of the large cotton warehouses. The shows that came to Atlanta before the war were "a caution." In those days, however, the circus flourished, if not the double and triple-ring affair of modern progress, and the amusement-loving crowds turned out to see Dan Rice and other sawdust artists of renown.
The south side of the railroad tracks was now far ahead of the north side on which the first settlements were made. Business largely centered on Whitehall and Alabama streets, with Broad street, as now, the market district. Speaking of the progress of the early fifties, Dr. Smith says: "Slabtown, as Decatur street was called, was now being covered with frame houses. Whitehall was being built up with stores of brick, and gradually the residences were creeping up Peachtree street, and the board shanties which had lined it beyond Houston were being replaced by better buildings. Pryor street was being built up with residences from the railway to Garnett street, and the woods which crowned the hill on which the capitol stands and stretched to the east were being dotted with small, cheap houses. Richard Peters had a large lot for his stage horses about where the Atlanta Journal office now stands. Captain Kidd had built the Alhambra, the famous drinking-room of the railroad men, near where the Centennial building was on Whitehall street. Between the railroad east of Whitehall and north of Alabama streets was the Macon and Western depot and Ragis's butcher shop, the rest of the ground being unoccupied, except by the calaboose, until E. W. Holland came from Villa Rica and bought the corner of Alabama and Whitehall streets and erected thereon the large hotel known as the Holland House. After the removal of the Georgia Railroad shops, which were on the corner of Loyd and Alabama, there was, if I remember correctly, no buildings at all. There were no stores off Whitehall, beyond Mitchell, but the space between Mitchell and Alabama was pretty well filled with inferior frame buildings, generally but one story and very small. These were giving away, and Allen E. Johnson erected the Johnson House beyond Hunter street. Jonathan Norcross continued to have the only establishment of much note on the east side. The laying of the first brick pavements on Whitehall street was an event. The lot of land belonging to Reuben Cone across the Central