Atlanta And Its Builders, Vol. 1 - A Comprehensive History Of The Gate City Of The South. Thomas H. Martin
railroad, near Collins's store, was laid off in lots and sold, and was now being rapidly built up, and the building was steadily advancing up Marietta street."
In 1854 there were, according to a local "boom" pamphlet, sixty stores in the various mercantile lines, doing a business that amounted to a million and a half dollars every year. In this year, the long-projected city hall was begun. It was a large and rather ornate structure, 70 x 100 feet in dimensions, two stories high. The following year it was completed, at a cost to the city of fully $30,000. About the same time the old Athenaeum was built by James E. Williams. The latter building was famous throughout the ante-bellum South for its amusements and concerts. In 1854 two very important building events of a religious character occurred. The preceding year Green B. Haygood, a prominent lawyer, and Willis F. Peck organized a Sunday school on the McDonough street lot owned by the Haygood family. Since the city had grown to such proportions, the distance to Wesley Chapel was too great for many of the south side Methodists, and they were seriously considering the erection of a second church of that denomination. This Sunday school proved the nucleus of the proposed church, which was erected without delay. A building-committee consisting of Green B. Haygood, chairman, Joseph Winship, Edwin Payne and Dr. George Smith, purchased an eligible lot on the courthouse square, and Trinity Methodist Episcopal church was dedicated with imposing ceremonies in September, 1854, by Bishop Andrew. Rev. J. P. Duncan preached the first sermon in the handsome new church. The Baptists of the south side experienced the same inconvenience in the matter of church going and in consequence organized an independent church known as the Second Baptist church. In a very short time they had raised a sufficient sum to begin the erection of a church in 1854, and when completed the structure represented an investment of $13,000.
The municipal events of 1854 are interesting. William M. Butt was elected mayor, and the council that served with him was composed of Jared I. Whitaker, W. B. Ruggles, L. C. Simpson, W. W. Baldwin, Paschal House, John Farrar, John Glenn, J. B. Peck, J. K. Swift and J. S. Oliver. It will be observed that the growth of the city had resulted by this time in quite an increase in the membership of the council. The council of 1854 elected the other officers as follows: Clerk, Henry C. Holcombe; marshal, Benjamin N. Williford; deputy marshal, E. T. Hunnicutt; treasurer, Oswald Houston; sexton, G. A. Pilgrim; clerk of the city market, I. F. Trout; surveyor, H. L. Currier. The matter of salary and bond was arranged so that the clerk received two and one-half per cent, on all moneys received and disbursed, with a bond of $15,000; marshal's salary $500 and fees, with a bond of $3,000; deputy marshal's salary and bond same as marshal's; salary of treasurer, one per cent, on all moneys received and disbursed, with a bond of $15,000; salary of sexton, $300; of surveyor, $300.
On February 3rd, 1854, the number of night police was increased to six. A thousand dollar bond was required of the chief, and it was made a part of his duty to cry with a loud voice from the council hall every hour of the night after nine o'clock, to which cry each of his brother policemen was required to respond, likewise in a loud voice. This was a picturesque, if not practical, part of Atlanta's early police regulations. James A. Mullin was elected chief of the night force.
On the 3rd of March, the progressive proposition to light the city with coal gas was presented to the council. A committee appointed to investigate the feasibility of lighting the city with gas reported that nearly all of the citizens of Atlanta were anxious that a gas works should be established in the city, but ventured the opinion that it would be impossible, at that time, to raise the considerable sum necessary for carrying out the enterprise, by popular subscription, and that the finances of the city were at such low ebb that it was inexpedient that the council make the subscription for the purpose. A communication from Messrs. Perdieu & Hoyt, of Trenton, offering to undertake to put in a gas plant, under certain conditions, was discussed at the same time. The gas lighting matter made no further progress in this council.
On March 3rd the city surveyor, H. L. Currier, reported to the council that he had surveyed the city in accordance with the recent act of the legislature extending the city limits, and a plan of his survey was submitted to that body. The act of the legislature under which the new survey was made was passed on the 20th of February, 1854, its 9th section reading: "And be it further enacted that the corporate limits of the city of Atlanta shall extend so as to embrace the territory lying within the following boundaries, to wit: Commencing on a point on the corporate line one-fourth of a mile from the Macon and Western railroad, and on the south side of said road, and running in a westerly direction parallel with said road five hundred yards; thence one-half mile in a northerly direction running concentric with the present corporate line; thence in an easterly direction to the corporate line, and thence to the beginning along said line."
As there had been a good deal of talk about removing the state capital from Milledgeville to Atlanta, and some prominent citizens were pressing council to undertake to exert influence in that direction, the session of March 3rd appointed what it called a prudential committee composed of Messrs. Whitaker, Ruggles and Peck, to receive the memorial presented by these citizens and make whatever recommendations it might see fit looking to the furthering of the great project. At a session held on the 23rd of the same month, the prudential committee recommended the appointment of a special committee to urge upon the people of Georgia the propriety of the removal of the capital of the state from Milledgeville to Atlanta, and this committee, when appointed, was requested to exert all honorable means within its power to secure the end in view. The following gentlemen were appointed to act on this special capital committee: John F. Mins, John Collier, Allison Nelson, A. G. Ulare and Green B. Haygood. What preliminary steps might be found necessary for prosecuting an effective capital removal campaign was left entirely to the discretion of the committee. On the 2nd of the following June this committee was enlarged by the addition of W. B. Spofford, J. M. Spullock, L. J. Gartrell, L. P. Grant, J. A. Hayden, William Markham, I. O. McDaniel. J. M. Calhoun, R. I.' Cowart, B. H. Overby, T. B. Lanier, and many other leading citizens.
The Atlanta Medical College had been organized the previous year and the officers of the struggling institution petitioned the mayor and council for the use of the city hall for the purpose of giving lectures in the regular instructive course. On the 30th of June, the council appointed a committee to consider the petition and report on the advisability of its acceptance. The committee, at the next meeting, handed in an adverse report. A minority report was handed in, however, and the question was brought to a vote by the council, resulting in the petition being granted, the casting vote of the mayor deciding the matter.
The water problem, like that of street lighting, was beginning to be a public question of the first magnitude. The crude rainwater reservoirs at several street corners were far from adequate to meet the requirements of the situation, and there was a strong sentiment in favor of digging an artesian well in the heart of the city. The artesian well craze had just begun in America at that time, and reports of the success of other cities in this respect made Atlanta feel like trying her hand at boring. The proposition to dig an artesian well was introduced in council and discussed with much interest on July 28th, with the result that a special committee consisting of Messrs. Simpson, Whitaker and Glenn was appointed to investigate the practicability of the project.
The lighting question was again revived by the appearance of Mr. C. Monteith, of Columbus, Ga., before council, on August 25th. The gentleman had been interested in the establishment of the gas works of that city and was considered quite an authority on municipal gas. He discussed the subject at considerable length and was asked a number of questions by members of the council. He gave it as his opinion that a gas plant sufficient to supply the city of Atlanta would require an expenditure of $32,000. The gas works of Columbus, said he, cost that amount originally, and they had proved financially profitable to the city, paying at that time a dividend of twelve per cent.
On the 22nd of September a communication from Drs. James F. Alexander, W. F. Westmoreland and J. G. Westmoreland was read before the council, stating that it was their intention to open a first-class medical infirmary or sanitarium in or near the city for the treatment of all kinds of maladies and accidents, and that they proposed to erect buildings of suitable character for the purpose. The promoters offered to board all persons whom the mayor and council might see fit to send to the infirmary for one dollar per day, the city to pay what it thought proper for such medical treatment as the patients sent to the institution by the order of the city received.