[Illustration: UNION PASSENGER STATION.]
How Atlanta Grew.
[Illustration: Coat of Arms]
The Atlanta of to-day is a growth of thirty-eight years. Twice has the
upbuilding of a city on this site demonstrated its natural advantages.
Within a few years before the war Atlanta had become a bustling town of
11,000 inhabitants, and during the three years which intervened before its
destruction the place was the seat of varied and important industries,
whose principal object was to sustain the military operations of the
Confederacy. It was also a depot for the distribution of supplies to the
surrounding country and a forwarding station for the commissary department
of the army.
After its baptism of fire in November, 1861, when the inhabitants had been
dispersed by the exigencies of war, and of more than 2,000 houses only 300
remained, the city took a new start, and its great growth dates from that
time. It is therefore, a city of the new regime, erected on the ruins of
the old.
The coat of arms of Atlanta fittingly typifies this remarkable history. No
city on the continent has survived such destruction. No city has twice
attained prominence with such rapidity. Atlanta's foundation reaches back
to the forties, and far-seeing men recognized it then as the place of
promise, destined to be an important railroad-center and a seat of
commerce. This conception of the new city had been accepted as a true one
when it was destroyed by fire, and since its new birth in reconstruction
days the old spirit arose and lighted the new path of Atlanta to a greater
destiny.
The capital of the state was brought here from Milledgeville when the new
city was hardly out of the ashes of war, and this gave a great impetus to
its growth, which was further insured in 1877, when the people of Georgia
voted to make Atlanta their capital. Its rapidly developing business and
manufactures were brought to the attention of the whole country by the
Cotton Exposition of 1881 which was a point of departure for the
tremendous development of the Southeastern States during the decade
between 1880 and 1890. This development found a splendid illustration in
the great Cotton States and International Exposition of 1895.
The rapidity of the growth of Atlanta is illustrated by the fact that,
since it was blotted from the map, the city has spread over twelve square
miles of ground. Starting with no business in 1865, it received in 1903
four-tenths of the freight delivered in Georgia, and its post office
receipts were four-tenths of those of the State. Thirty-nine years ago
there was hardly a dollar to turn a trade; within the year just closed the
bank clearings aggregated $115,000,000. At the beginning of this period
there were only a few stragglers remaining in the wake of fire and sword.
To-day there is a great city of over 105,000 people, the business
headquarters of 125,000, with a floating population of many thousands
more. From bare ground covered with ashes and ruins in 1865, the city has
been built up to a value of $59,595,332, consisting largely of solid
masses of brick and mortar, stone and steel, which go to make up a
magnificent array of handsome business edifices. The number of houses has
increased from 300 to 22,600.
[Illustration: STATE CAPITOL.]
The question, wherefore Atlanta? naturally arises, for communities are not
effects without causes. Atlanta is the result of a combination of
advantages, on a commanding geographical location, turned to the best
account by a spirit of transcendent energy, which surmounts all obstacles
and builds even on disaster the fabric of success. The growth of this
unconquerable spirit has been promoted by a unity of purpose which has
prevented the domination of factions. Whatever local interests may clash,
the good of Atlanta is always a rallying cry. The Atlanta spirit, which
has accomplished so much in the upbuilding of the city itself, is happily
contagious, and has much to do with making Georgia the Empire State of the
South. The spirit of new life has spread from this to other Southern
States which are the most active in the development of their resources,
and the spirit of the Southeast is the spirit of Atlanta.
For this moral and material eminence Atlanta is fortunately situated on a
ridge which divides the watershed of the Atlantic from that of the Gulf,
and at a point where the natural barrier of the Appalachian chain is
broken by great gaps in the mountains. This is the natural point of
intersection for railway lines from the West with lines from the East.
This geographical vantage ground is accompanied by a topographical
eminence, from which the great climatic advantages of Atlanta are derived.
More than 1,000 feet above sea-level at its lowest point, and from eleven
to twelve hundred at other places, Atlanta enjoys a cool, bracing
atmosphere, with breezes that blow over the foot-hills of the Blue Ridge.
The exhilarating air is a kind of natural tonic, so different from that of
the coast and Gulf regions that an inhabitant of the low countries, coming
to Atlanta during the heated term, feels a stimulus as if he had been
drinking great draughts of aerial champagne. The rolling surface of the
country, which slopes in almost every direction from the city affords easy
drainage and keeps the surrounding region free from malaria.
Atlanta's public buildings typify the solid character of her institutions.
Most conspicuous among them is the State capitol, which was erected at a
cost of $1,000,000. This stately structure, the hotels, office buildings,
theaters, churches, the custom-house, the county court-house, and other
public edifices, make up an aggregate of ten millions invested in public
buildings.
Outside of public buildings, the architecture of Atlanta is of a pleasing
character and has steadily improved during the past thirty years. Few
cities in any part of the United States can show more attractive residence
streets or architectural designs indicating more culture and good taste.
Peachtree Street, the principal one for residences, has a number of
elegant homes which would be ornaments to any city.
Atlanta is a city of homes, and this is apparent not only in the
appearance of the houses, but in the statistics of the United States
census, by which Atlanta is credited with a larger percentage of
home-owners than any city of its size in the Southern States.
The water-supply for domestic and manufacturing purposes and for sanitary
use is hardly equaled in any city of Atlanta's size, and the rates per
thousand gallons for families or for manufacturing purposes are merely
nominal, and probably lower than any on record.
[Illustration: KIMBALL HOUSE.]
Conditions in Atlanta are highly favorable to manufacturing industries,
and this is attested by the great variety of articles made here. There
were in 1900 395 establishments, employing over 9,000 operatives at good
wages, and pouring into the channels of trade an annual pay-roll of
$3,100,000. The value of the raw material consumed was more than
$8,000,000 and the product between sixteen and seventeen millions. Since
then the product has increased to $27,000,000 and the number of wage
earners to 14,000.
The manufacturers of Atlanta in their variety have a guaranty of stability
not to be found in those of any city where industry is confined to one
family, as of iron or cotton, however important that may be, and the
extent of this variety is to some degree indicated in the chapter on this
subject. Among the articles made are many specialties, for which there is
a demand in almost every State in the Union, and concerns making them have
enjoyed prosperity through a long series of years.
The trade of Atlanta covers more or less all of the States between the
Ohio and Potomac rivers, the Gulf, the Atlantic ocean and the Mississippi
River, and in some lines extends to the far Southwestern States and into
Mexico, while in a few it covers the entire country. The tendency of the
jobbing trade of the Southeast is to concentrate in Atlanta, and little by
little the business of other centers gravitates to this city.
Atlanta's commanding geographical and topographical situation was, at the
outset, one of the causes which led to the development of a great railroad
center, at which powerful systems from the East, the West and the
Southeast regularly compete. As a distributing point Atlanta enjoys
facilities hardly equaled elsewhere in the Southeastern States, and as an
accessible place of rendezvous for all kinds of organizations and
interests, it is a favorite, and has come to be known as the Convention
City.
Atlanta's financial institutions are of the most solid character.
Atlanta is the third city in the United States in the amount of insurance
written and reported to agencies. It is the Southern headquarters for a
number of fire and life insurance companies, and agencies of old-line and
every other type of insurance are numerous.
[Illustration: ARAGON HOTEL.]
[Illustration: PIEDMONT HOTEL.]
The educational facilities of Atlanta are fully treated in a separate
chapter, in which it appears that this city is abreast of the times in
this as in other respects. Atlanta early established a system of public
schools, and before almost any city in the South, turned its attention to
technical education. The Technological School was established by the State
of Georgia upon inducements offered by the city of Atlanta, which bore
half of the cost of the original plant, and contributes regularly to the
support of the institution. There is ample opportunity here for technical
instruction of other kinds, and Atlanta has three medical colleges, whose
attendance averages 600, to say nothing of the students of the dental
colleges. Technical instruction in business methods is not neglected, and
several large and flourishing business colleges have maintained themselves
here for many years.
The religious and social atmosphere of Atlanta is wholesome and
invigorating. It is a city of churches and the home of church-going
people, and the community is honey-combed with fraternal organizations.
The social intercourse of the people, as well as the facility for doing
business, is greatly aided by an ideal system of rapid transit, not only
from the residence and suburban sections to the center, but from one
residence portion to another. The neighborly spirit is enhanced by the
nearness thus artificially created.
With all these advantages, and many which appear more fully in subsequent
chapters. Atlanta has a wholesome and inspiring public spirit which never
fails to respond when the interests of the city are at stake. This is
perhaps the most distinctive thing about Atlanta.
[Illustration: GRANT PARK.]
The New Atlanta.
Population, Area and Government.
Atlanta's population is estimated at 105,600. By the census of 1900 it was
89,872. The census of 1880 gave Atlanta a population of 39,000, and by the
city assessment of the next year the real estate was valued at
$14,721,883, and the personal property at $7,474,258. By 1890 the
population had grown to 65,000 and real estate was valued at $39,729,894.
In the same period personal property grew to $11,906,605. The decade
between 1880 and 1890 was a period during which Atlanta made remarkable
advance, but during the great depression through which the whole country
has passed since 1890 the progress of this city has been astonishing. In
spite of a somewhat lower scale of valuation for suburban real estate, the
assessor's report for 1903 showed realty valued at $49,728,034, and
personalty $13,628,201. This value was created in thirty-nine years, for
Atlanta came out of the Civil War naked and desolate.
By census taken in 1900 the population of Atlanta, by wards, was found to
be as follows:
First Ward 15,596
Second Ward 14,628
Third Ward 12,943
Fourth Ward 17,072
Fifth Ward 12,415
Sixth Ward 14,754
Seventh Ward 2,464
------
Total 89,872
Since then the population has increased to 105,600.
Area and Expansion.
Atlanta is a city of magnificent distances, covering about eleven square
miles. With abundance of room and fresh air, the circular form of the city
makes it compact, and the residence portions are, as a rule, equidistant
from the business center. The corporate line is described by a radius of a
mile and three-quarters. In two places this circle is expanded to take in
suburban communities which had been formed with irregular boundaries
before the circular corporation line reached them. These are Inman Park
and West End, which extend from half a mile to a mile beyond the circle
which elsewhere forms the corporate limits.
Atlanta is situated on rolling ground, which gives every facility for
drainage and contributes materially to the effectiveness of the elaborate
system of sewers. This rolling country extends in every direction, and
suburban communities are rapidly extending. The electric lines reach out
for six or eight miles on all sides of the city, and afford quick and
cheap access for the outlying towns. As a result of this elaborate system
of rapid transit, there has been a remarkable expansion of the city within
the past ten years, and the pressure on the center has been greatly
relieved. It is estimated that the suburban trains and street-car systems
of Atlanta bring in and carry out 30,000 people a day.
[Illustration: CENTURY BUILDING.]
[Illustration: PRUDENTIAL AND EMPIRE BUILDINGS.]
City Government.
The city government of Atlanta is administered by a Mayor and General
Council and Executive Boards. The legislative body is composed of
councilmen from the different wards, elected by the whole city, and
aldermen who are elected in a like manner. The aldermen and councilmen
vote separately on matters involving the expenditure of money, and the
concurrence of both bodies is necessary to an appropriation. The Mayor has
the usual veto power.
The tax rate is one and a quarter per cent. and the ratio of assessment
to real value of property is about sixty per cent. The assessed value of
real and personal property is $63,356,235.
The city owns property valued at eleven millions, and has a bonded debt of
$3,481,500. Deducting the Sinking Fund of $274,997.68, the net debt is
$3,206,502.32. There is no floating debt, and the bonded debt is limited
by the State Constitution to seven per cent. on the taxable value of the
property. The net debt is therefore $1,000,000 under the limit.
The Charter requires the Mayor and General Council to carry over a balance
of $175,000 in cash from year to year. This keeps the Treasury in good
condition and the city is able to float three and one-half per cent. bonds
at par and above.
There is a Sinking Fund Commission, which was created by a special act of
the Legislature, and the Mayor and General Council are required to set
aside each year from the revenues of the city an amount sufficient to
retire the bonded debt within thirty years.
The expenditures of the city for the year 1903 were $1,646,888.49. In the
same period, the revenues and other receipts, including bonds, the
proceeds of which were expended, were $2,036,548.32. The difference is
accounted for by a balance carried over from the previous year.
Police.
Atlanta has a fine Police Department, divided into three watches of eight
hours each. It has valuable auxiliaries in the mounted men and the bicycle
corps, numbering forty men.
There is a fine central station, which cost $100,000, and a Police signal
system with telephone connections. The expenditures of the Department
during 1903 amounted to $151,151.23.
Fire Protection.
Atlanta has a model Fire Department, well equipped with modern apparatus,
and supplied with water at fire pressure from the pumping-station of the
waterworks. In 1903 the Department cost $123,235.00; the number of fires
was 502 and the value of buildings and contents at risk $3,070,777. The
damage was $142,050.
The average fire loss for eighteen years was $123,647.
Sanitary Department.
Atlanta spent $109,023.54 on sanitation in 1903, and about 250 men were
employed under the Board of Health in keeping the city clean. There are
the usual precautions in infectious and contagious diseases. The
sewer-system of the city was constructed on a plan designed by Rudolph
Hering, of New York.
[Illustration: EQUITABLE BUILDING.]
Mortuary Record.
The deaths from diseases in Atlanta during 1903 were 1,941, of which 926
were of white people and 1,015 of colored. The population within the
corporate limits in the census year was 89,872. In 1903 it was estimated
by the Sanitary Department at 110,000. This makes the rate of mortality
17.64. Of the population in 1903, it is estimated that 44,000 were colored
and 66,000 were white, which makes the rate of mortality 23.06 for colored
and 14.03 for white.
Waterworks.
The Waterworks Department of Atlanta has one of the best plants in the
country and furnishes pure water at the nominal price of ten cents per
thousand gallons for domestic consumption. Liberal rates are made to
manufacturers, and even at the low prices charged, the Department pays a
handsome net revenue to the city.
The works have a daily pumping capacity of 35,000,000 gallons, and the
actual consumption in 1903 was 9,136,277 gallons per day. The supply comes
from the Chattahoochee River, above the city, and above the mouth of
Peachtree Creek. The river flows down from the mountain section, which is
sparsely settled, and so far the supply is satisfactory. The water passes
through a settling basin, after which it is filtered, and comes to the
city as clear as crystal.
Sewers.
In addition to the amount disbursed by the Sanitary Department, the city
spent $55,765.43 the same year in constructing sewers.
Streets.
During 1903 Atlanta spent $70,913.08 on streets. Since 1880 the city has
spent $3,827,171 on streets, sewers and sidewalks. There are 64.34 miles
of paved streets, 233.04 miles of paved sidewalks, and 106.21 miles of
sewers. There are seven miles of asphalt streets and several miles of
vitrified brick. The rest is paved with granite blocks, chert and macadam.
Boulevards.
Atlanta has some beautiful streets for driving. Peachtree, Washington,
Whitehall and Peters Streets and Capitol Avenue are paved with asphalt,
and this smooth surface makes a fine speedway. Whitehall and Peachtree
Streets, connecting at the viaduct, form a continuous asphalt boulevard
three and one-half miles long. This is connected north of the city with a
macadam pike to Buckhead, and south of the city with a chert road to
College Park, six miles beyond the city limits. This forms a continuous
boulevard fifteen miles long in a north and south line, with a smooth
surface, which is well adapted to carriages, bicycles and automobiles.
[Illustration: GRAND OPERA HOUSE.]
Prominent Structures.
Atlanta has many handsome buildings, notable among which are the State
Capitol, the new Court-House, the Carnegie Library, of white marble, the
Grand Opera House, the nine great fire-proof office buildings, and the
beautiful Piedmont Hotel, which is also a fire-proof structure. The
Federal Prison, three miles out, is one of the most important in the
United States. There are several other large hotels, notably the Kimball,
the Aragon, the Majestic and the Marion.
The value of buildings erected in 1903 was reported by the City Building
Inspector as $3,161,445, and the number of permits issued was 3,441. A
marked increase in the average value of dwellings was noted. Following is
a list of the office-buildings for which Atlanta is famous. They make the
heart of Atlanta look like the lower part of Manhattan Island. Each has a
steel frame, with non-combustible partitions, every modern convenience,
and a costly interior finish of marble and hard-wood. The elevator and
janitor service is first-class, and lavatories, barber shops and
restaurants are well placed. The ground floor in a majority of these
buildings is occupied by banks, whose offices are superbly finished. The
population of these palatial hives of industry amounts to several
thousand, and the facilities they offer for doing business are unequalled
elsewhere in the Southern States.
List of Fire-Proof Office Buildings.
Equitable Building, eight stories.
English-American Building, eleven stories.
Austell Building, nine stories.
Prudential Building, ten stories.
Empire Building, fourteen stories.
Peters Building, eight stories.
Century Building, twelve stories.
[1]Fourth National Bank Building, sixteen stories.
[1]Candler Building, seventeen stories.
The aggregate cost of these nine structures, exclusive of the land on
which they rest, was $4,000,000. They are all occupied, except the two
under construction, in which space is being contracted for.
The Building Inspector's record shows that in the nine years since the
Exposition of 1895, buildings to the value of $15,256,169 have been
erected. In the same period 4,666 dwellings built house a new population
of 20,000. Since the census of 1900 new dwellings number 2,663.
Car Wheel Works.
The Atlanta Carwheel & Manufacturing Company has, on the Southern Railway
belt line near the waterworks pumping-station, an extensive plant for the
manufacture of steam-railroad and street-car wheels.
The site covers ten acres and the main building is 230 by 118 feet, with
several annexes. The works employ 100 to 150 men, and this is one of the
largest establishments of its kind in the country.
Business.
Atlanta's Business Grows Four Times as Fast as the Population, and the
Population Grows Twice as Fast as the Average of the United States. Posted
Receipts on its Newspapers Exceed those of Baltimore, Brooklyn, Buffalo,
Omaha, or New Orleans...
Atlanta is the business center of the Southeast. Almost all the great
concerns of national extent make this city their Southern headquarters,
and this has created the phenomenal demand for offices. As a result,
Atlanta has more tall fire-proof steel-frame office-buildings than any
other Southern City.
Atlanta's business is indicated by the bank clearings, which were
$145,000,000 for the year 1903. In 1894 they were $56,000,000. This shows
more clearly than words the rapid growth of the city as a business center.
From the latest available data, the trade of Atlanta is estimated as
follows:
Wholesale $40,000,000
Retail 20,000,000
Manufactures 27,000,000
Fuel 2,000,000
Horses and Mules 6,250,000
----------
Total $95,250,000
Atlanta Manufactures in 1904.
In April 1904 the Atlanta Chamber of Commerce sent letters to most of the
manufacturers of the city, asking for a statement of the capital invested,
the number of wage earners, the total wages paid, the value of raw
material used and the product; also the percentage of increase in each
item since June, 1900, when the U. S. Census was taken. The returns show
an average increase of 53 1-4 per cent. in capital, 52 1-3 per cent. in
wage earners, 55 per cent. in wages paid, 56.7 per cent. in raw material
used and 62 per cent. in the value of the product. Applying these
percentages of increase to the Census figures of 1900, gives the following
for April, 1904 in contrast with 1890 and 1900:
Wage Total Raw Value
Capital. Earners. Wages. Material. Product.
1890. $9,508,962 7,957 $3,206,285 $5,914,571 $13,074,037
1900. 16,045,156 9,356 3,103,989 8,563,524 16,707,027
1904. 25,309,937 15,267 5,079,385 14,185,935 28,985,476
[Illustration: CANDLER BUILDING.]
[Illustration: GRADY HOSPITAL.]
Atlanta's principal manufacturing establishments are in cotton, iron,
machinery, lumber, sheet metal, terra cotta, brick, fertilizer, wagons,
carriages, furniture, candy and crackers, cigars, coffins, chemicals,
printing, lithographing, electrotyping, stamping, paper and paper bags,
flour and meal, paints, varnish, cottonseed oil and cake, ice, harness,
belts, hosiery, underwear, neckwear, woolen goods, gins, engines, sash,
doors and blinds, mantels, iron beds, spring beds, trunks, desks, tables,
pickles, condiments, baking powder, bread and cakes, clothing, overalls,
millinery, suspenders, picture-frames and moulding.
In money value, cotton goods and fertilizers lead the list. There are
three large cotton factories, and Atlanta is headquarters for the
Virginia-Carolina Chemical Company, the largest producer of fertilizers in
the South. It is also the headquarters of several large sawmill
companies.
[Illustration: FOURTH NATIONAL BANK BUILDING.]
Atlanta Banks.
The clearings and deposits of the associated banks of Atlanta are reported
as follows by Mr. Darwin G. Jones, manager of the Atlanta Clearing House
Association: