A Look at Atlanta's Historic Urban Core
When one thinks of a walkable city, Atlanta typically isn't the first place that comes to mind. Nevertheless, despite sprawling across North Georgia and the rapid growth over the last few decades, a pedestrian scale urban core still exists. Today, Metro Jacksonville takes a stroll through Atlanta's Five Points, South Downtown and Fairlie-Poplar districts.
Five Points
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Five Points is where Marietta Street, Edgewood Avenue, Decatur Street and two legs of Peachtree Street meet. Atlantans consider Five Points to be the center of the city. It's the origin of the city's street addressing system.
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Fairlie-Poplar
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Fairlie-Poplar is named for two streets that cross at its center, Fairlie and Poplar Streets. Immediately, north of Five Points, it is the definitive centerpoint of Atlanta. Georgia State University has woven many of Fairlie-Poplar's historic buildings into its urban campus in recent decades.
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South Downtown
Home to Underground Atlanta, South Downtown is separated from Five Points by a railroad gulch known as "The Gulch". South Downtown is the location of many city, county, state, and federal governmental offices.
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In many ways, Jacksonville's Northbank shares similarities with Atlanta's historic downtown core. The majority of what remains is walkable, dates back to the early 20th century, and has been largely forgotten as their respective cities have grown outward. In addition, both feature struggling former Rouse Festival Marketplaces (The Jacksonville Landing and Atlanta Underground) and public squares (Hemming Plaza and Woodruff Park). Furthermore, both were important late 19th century/early 20th century rail centers. Despite their late 20th century struggles, both are walkable environments that are unique to their areas and offer great opportunity, partially because they can't be replicated. While Jacksonville continues to ponder the Northbank's ultimate future, Atlanta appears to be implementing ideas to bring its original historic core back to life. With continued growth of Georgia State University, the popularity of nearby Centennial Olympic Park, and the opening of the Atlanta Streetcar, Atlanta's core is a Sunbelt district that Jaxsons may need to pay more attention too as we push to improve the Northbank.
Article and images by Ennis Davis, AICP. Contact Ennis at edavis@moderncities.com
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Five Points is where Marietta Street, Edgewood Avenue, Decatur Street and two legs of Peachtree Street meet. Atlantans consider Five Points to be the center of the city. It's the origin of the city's street addressing system.
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Prior to the arrival of white settlers, Five Points was the intersection of two Creek Indian trails, the Pitch Tree (corrupted to Peachtree) Trail and the Sandtown Trail. In 1845, George Washington Collier opened a grocery store at what is now Five Points, and the store later served as Atlanta's first post office in 1846. In 1848, Five Points served as the location of Atlanta's first mayoral election. Moses Formwalt became Atlanta's first mayor, defeating Jonathan Norcross. In 1875, Atlanta's drinking water system began with the construction of three artesian wells at Five Points. The system delivered water to Atlanta's residents via wooden pipes.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_Points_(Atlanta)
Until the 1960s, Five Points represented the central hub of Atlanta. However, with the advent of urban sprawl, white flight, and the development of shopping malls, the economic and demographic center of Atlanta shifted northward, and Five Points went into decay. By the 21st century, the area was revitalizing, mostly due to the expansion of Georgia State University, which maintains a large footprint in Five Points.
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Fairlie-Poplar
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Fairlie-Poplar is named for two streets that cross at its center, Fairlie and Poplar Streets. Immediately, north of Five Points, it is the definitive centerpoint of Atlanta. Georgia State University has woven many of Fairlie-Poplar's historic buildings into its urban campus in recent decades.
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Fairlie-Poplar developed during the late 19th century, when Atlanta emerged as the commercial center of Georgia and the Southeast. At the time, the area was promoted as "Atlanta's new modern fireproof business district". It constituted a major northward expansion of Atlanta's post-Civil War business district, which was largely concentrated along Peachtree and Alabama Street (now Underground Atlanta) and along Marietta Street. The new business district contained a wide variety of wholesale and retail operations, which marketed a broad spectrum of consumer goods and services. Public agencies and many of Atlanta's business offices were also located there.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairlie-Poplar
Building materials included brick, stone, cast iron, wood, pressed metal, glazed terra-cotta, and plate glass. The buildings in the district range in height from two to 16 stories, the taller ones constructed with concrete or steel frames, while the smaller buildings were built with load-bearing masonry and timber structural systems.
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South Downtown
Home to Underground Atlanta, South Downtown is separated from Five Points by a railroad gulch known as "The Gulch". South Downtown is the location of many city, county, state, and federal governmental offices.
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South Downtown was once a bustling shopping district. Whitehall Street, renamed Peachtree Street Southwest, was the principal shopping street of Atlanta from the 1850s until the mid-20th century. A source from 1854 reported that the street was "being built up with stores of brick", while Broad Street was the market district.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Downtown
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, a cluster of department stores was located in the area. In the 1870s, the "Big Five" were Rich's, Chamberlain, Boyton, & Co., Ryan's; Keeley's; and Dougherty's; later, the J.M. High Company would join their leagues. By the 1930's, Rich's would come to dominate the South Downtown shopping district. In 1949, Whitehall was filled with five and dime stores, such as McCrory's, S. H. Kress, Woolworth's, and W. T. Grant.
As late as 1968 the northern end of Whitehall was still called a "bustling retail corridor". Today, Peachtree Street Southwest continues as a low-end shopping area with several of the older retail buildings converted into "malls": Metro Mall in the old McCrory's building and the Mall at 82 Peachtree, in the Rich's 1906 building. And landmark Miller's Rexall Drugs continues its trade in hoodoo and homeopathic remedies at Broad and Mitchell streets, as it has since 1965.
Located in South Downtown is Hotel Row, both a National Register and locally listed historic district consisting of one block of early 20th century commercial buildings, 3-4 stories high, located on Mitchell Street west of Forsyth Street. The building were originally hotels built to serve the needs of passengers from Terminal Station, opened in 1905 and demolished in 1971. The buildings are the most intact row of early 20th century commercial structures in the city in Atlanta's original business district. The decline of Hotel Row began in the 1920s due to the increased availability of automobile transportation and the construction of the Spring Street viaduct, which made getting to hotels in the northern part of the city easier.
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In many ways, Jacksonville's Northbank shares similarities with Atlanta's historic downtown core. The majority of what remains is walkable, dates back to the early 20th century, and has been largely forgotten as their respective cities have grown outward. In addition, both feature struggling former Rouse Festival Marketplaces (The Jacksonville Landing and Atlanta Underground) and public squares (Hemming Plaza and Woodruff Park). Furthermore, both were important late 19th century/early 20th century rail centers. Despite their late 20th century struggles, both are walkable environments that are unique to their areas and offer great opportunity, partially because they can't be replicated. While Jacksonville continues to ponder the Northbank's ultimate future, Atlanta appears to be implementing ideas to bring its original historic core back to life. With continued growth of Georgia State University, the popularity of nearby Centennial Olympic Park, and the opening of the Atlanta Streetcar, Atlanta's core is a Sunbelt district that Jaxsons may need to pay more attention too as we push to improve the Northbank.
Article and images by Ennis Davis, AICP. Contact Ennis at edavis@moderncities.com