Читать книгу Atlanta And Its Builders, Vol. 2 - A Comprehensive History Of The Gate City Of The South - Thomas H. Martin - Страница 8

Atlanta as she stands today may be said to date from 1880. Practically the entire city has been built since that date. True, the central part of the city was substantially built up during the fifteen years from the close of the war to that time, many of the structures being the most modern and costly of their day, but few of these comparatively modern landmarks can be found in the heart of Atlanta today. Ante-bellum Atlanta was obliterated "at one fell swoop" by the grim destroyer mythologically known as Mars, but the Atlanta that rose like the fabled phoenix from her ashes has also been obliterated — more slowly, but none the less surely. Not the red hand of war, but the nervous, irreverent hand of progress is responsible for the post-bellum vandalism. The business houses of the seventies, dignified and solid brick structures, answered well enough the requirements of a provincial city of 30,000 inhabitants, but were entirely inadequate to the demands of a metropolitan city of 100,000. Many of them served their purpose five, ten, fifteen, or even twenty years — but they had to go to make way for Twentieth century methods and Twentieth century necessities. Pass from end to end of any central business street and you will find few, very few, buildings which antedate 1880. To give a detailed account of the construction of the principal buildings of modern Atlanta, as was done by the historian prior to 1880, would be an endless task and amount to almost a house-to-house "write-up" of the city. There is nothing that tells of Atlanta's splendid progress more unerringly than this. Few cities in the country — the new West not excepted — show such a "brand-new" look as Atlanta. The "skyscraper" era of the last decade has wrought wondrous changes in Atlanta's sky-line. The Equitable, Austrell, Prudential, Empire, Century and other large office buildings would by no means appear dwarfed on Broadway, New York.

Atlanta has trebled her population within the last twenty years, and her various industries and business enterprises have increased in about the same proportion. While the last Federal census did not credit Atlanta with quite 100,000 inhabitants, the fact remains that the city and immediate suburbs, some of which are separate incorporations, have an actual census population of over 125,000.

Her fortunate location, unequalled transportation facilities, and reputation for commercial activity and enterprise, have made Atlanta the Southern headquarters for many of the great corporate interests of the country, and few indeed are the national business concerns that have not, at least, an agency in Atlanta.

A recent bulletin issued by the census bureau on manufactures in Georgia shows that Atlanta is not only the leading manufacturing city in the state, but has made the most rapid growth, the value of products having increased from $13,074,037 in 1880, to $16,721,899 in 1900, or 27.9 per cent.

The average number of wage earners increased from 7,957 to 9,368, or 17.7 per cent., but the number of establishments decreased from 410 to 395, or 3.7 per cent.

The number of establishments, number of wage-earners, and value of products for this city constituted 5.3, 11.2, and 15.7 per cent., respectively, of the totals for the entire state.

The nine leading industries of the state in 1900 embraced 3,301 establishments, or 44 per cent, of the total number in the state; used a capital of $61,341,596, or 68.3 per cent, of the total; gave employment to 61,170 wage earners, or 73 per cent, of the total number; and paid $14,059,303, or 69.3 per cent of the total wages.

The value of their products was $72,315,693, or 68.2 per cent, of the total.

Although Georgia is an agricultural state, there has been a steady growth in its manufacturing and mercantile industries during the half century. The population during these years increased from 906,185 to 2,216,331, or 144.6 per cent., but the average number of wage earners employed in manufacturing establishments increased from 8,368 to 838,342, or 901.9 per cent., embracing in 1900 3-8 per cent, of the entire population, compared with nine-tenths of 1 per cent, in 1850.

Probably the best indication of the importance of the wage-earning class is afforded by the greatest number employed at any one time during the year.

In 1900 this was 111,239, or 5 per cent, of the total population of the state.

Atlanta is the most metropolitan city of its size in the United States, and, in acknowledgment of her push and bustle, has been called "The Yankee City of the South."

No city, in all the borders of "Dixie Land," so thoroughly typifies what is meant by "The New South."

In ten years the population, the commercial interests and the industries of the city have grown and increased at a remarkable rate, and the Atlanta of today is beyond the dreams of the citizens of 1890.

The population of Atlanta and its immediate suburban districts has increased until it can be shown that the city and its business enterprises and institutions are supported by not less than 125,000 people, whereas in 1890 there was only about 80,000 people in the city and its suburbs.

There has been a wonderful development in the matter of new buildings in the last ten years, and this feature of the city's growth surpasses that of any city in the United States of Atlanta's size.

The volume of business, wholesale and retail, has increased at a wonderful rate, and Atlanta is recognized as the chief city of the southeast in a commercial way.

The enormous business being done in Atlanta is shown in the statements of the Atlanta banks, the Atlanta post-office, the clearings of the banks and the receipts of the post-office being a splendid indication of the business done in Atlanta.

The figures of the Atlanta clearing house show that since 1893 the clearings have increased more than 61 per cent. The clearings for the ten years from 1890 to 1900 probably increased between 75 and 100 per cent.

The clearings for 1893 were $60,753,911.13. The clearings for 1900 were $97,946,251.04.

The taxable wealth of Atlanta has increased $11,843,789 since 1890. The real estate values as shown by the city tax books in 1890 were $30,729,894, and the personal property values for that year were $11,906,605, making a total of $42,636,499.

The taxable wealth in 1900 was $54,480,288. About $10,000,000 has been invested in Atlanta buildings since 1890. Accurate figures are obtainable only since 1896, and the records show that for the five years, 1896 to 1900 inclusive, $7,375,083 was expended in new buildings, office and business, dwellings, additions and alterations.

In the past ten years $2,800,000 has been expended in the erection of magnificent office buildings.

Since 1890, $595,000 has been spent in the erection of new public buildings. The United States Federal prison, which is to cost $1,500,000 when completed, is now in course of construction.

In the last five years $2,367,303 has been expended in new dwellings in Atlanta.

About $250,000 has been spent in the erection of new hotels and the remodeling of old ones.

In 1890 the postal receipts of Atlanta were $159,262.01, and for the present fiscal year ending June 30, 1902, the receipts will amount to more than $350,000, showing an increase of more than 120 per cent, in ten years.

The best figures obtainable are that Atlanta's wholesale trade for 1900 amounted to about $30,000,000, and that the retail trade amounted to $21,000,000. The retail firms in Atlanta are unusually strong and prosperous, and by dint of great energy, enterprise, fair dealing and alertness have built up a wonderful trade, reaching out for customers all over Georgia and even in other states of the South. The enterprise of Atlanta's wholesale merchants is proverbial. If the story of how they have built up such a wonderful trade, contending all the time with great difficulties from which their competitors were free, could be written in detail, it would read like a novel.

The volume of business handled by the railroads running into Atlanta has increased enormously in ten years, and the facilities for handling this business have been almost doubled in that time.

There are now about 700 manufacturing industries in the city and immediate vicinity, and about $15,000,000 is invested in these enterprises, which employ 16,000 persons, and which pay in salaries and wages something like $20,000 a day, and turn out products which sell for $21,000,000 per annum.

The importance of Atlanta as a manufacturing center has been increased by the erection of a large number of new cotton factories, machine shops and enterprises of a similar character, and any number of smaller institutions which employ skilled labor have been erected.

While Atlanta has about the same number of railroads that it had in 1890, there has been a marked improvement in the railroad facilities and business. In 1890 nearly all the railroads running into Atlanta were either in the hands of receivers or were in bad financial condition, and they had not expended much effort in upbuilding the city and developing the territory in its vicinity by encouraging the establishment of manufactories and shops as has been done by the railroads in the last few years. Now all the railroads are in a prosperous condition, and have been taken out of the hands of the courts, and every railroad running into Atlanta is in fine condition financially and otherwise, and they are doing a great work in the way of building up the territory through which they run. Many factories and all kinds of industries are being established annually along the lines of all the railroads, which show that they are receiving encouragement. Atlanta is recognized as the first important railroad center in the South, and it is possible to reach from Atlanta all the southeastern states from Virginia to Texas in less than 24 hours, and the principal points in North and South Carolina, Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama and Mississippi, can be reached in twelve hours or less from this city.

The splendid railroad facilities of Atlanta have encouraged the location of a large number of business and commercial enterprises in this city and this is especially true in the matter of making it southern headquarters for nearly all the great life, fire and other insurance companies, and a large number of general railroads of the north and east, and of other institutions seeking business and investment in the South have been located here.

In the eleven years since 1890 Atlanta has expended or contracted for the erection of bridges and viaducts at the cost of $350,104.

There are now 225 miles of streets in Atlanta, and there has been a great increase in the mileage of paved streets, brick sidewalks and improvement of the sewerage system.

The membership of the Atlanta churches has greatly increased and a number of churches have been almost doubled in ten years. In 1890 there were 45 white churches, and in 1900 there were 80 — an increase of 36. The negro churches increased from 25 to 56 — a gain of 21.

The street railway mileage of Atlanta has increased from 45 miles in 1890 to 132 miles in 1900. The street railroads handled 5,000,000 people in 1890 and over 12,000,000 in 1900.

The capacity of the public schools of Atlanta has increased from 6,575 to 10,399.

The number of professional men — doctors, lawyers, architects, dentists and others — has increased nearly 100 per cent. The secret and labor orders of Atlanta have grown rapidly. The registration of city voters was 4,752 in 1890, and in 1900 it was 10,659, an increase of over 110 per cent.

In every line of business and in every material way Atlanta has grown and developed at a remarkable rate, and the statistics presented in this volume tell a story of the marvelous progress and prosperity of this city and vicinity.

A study of the facts and figures presented demonstrate the great possibilities of Atlanta in a business, social and religious way, and show that in every line of endeavor there has been wonderful energy and enterprise expended in the development of the interests of the city.

In 1890 all the electric lighting done for the city and for residences was done by a small company located on the railroad, back of the First Presbyterian church. Then only a very small portion of the city's streets was lighted with arc lights and a few of the business houses, but practically none of the residences were lighted by electricity. Since then the electric plant of the Georgia Electric Light Company has been thrown away twice practically as scrap and as wholly unsuited to the growing demands of the city. In the year 1891 the plant was moved from the railroad back of the Presbyterian church to its present location. All the machinery was practically thrown away and a brand-new up-to-date equipment was bought and installed, and it was thought that the new plant would supply Atlanta's needs for a quarter of a century to come. But in the last two years that machinery has again in turn been practically thrown away and the plant has been refurnished throughout. The new plant in 1891 was established at a cost of about $600,000, and in the last two years a much larger sum has been spent in bringing it up to date and making it equal to the growing demands of the city and its people. Now practically all Atlanta's streets are lighted by electricity, as well as the business houses and a very large per cent, of the residences, and in addition it is said by the company's officials that it is operating motors for manufacturing purposes in the central portion of the city to the extent of 2,000 horse power.

There is no better indication of the growth of a city than the increase of the registration. Indeed, many persons consider this the best evidence of the increase of population, although the registration of a city may depend upon the local conditions, local pride, issues and interests in the ballot for officers and settlement of questions of local or general importance. In the ten years from 1890 to 1900 the registration of Atlanta increased more than 100 per cent.

The registration of the city for the year 1900 was 10,659.

The registration for 1890 was 4,752, or an increase in ten years of 5,907.

In 1890 the white registration was 4,165.

In the same year, the colored registration was 587.

The white registration increase for ten years was 5,531.

The colored registration increase was 376.

These figures show the negroes of the city are not taking advantage of the privilege of voting, and that they are hopelessly in the minority.

Atlanta supports about 425 industries, shops, factories and establishments which make, manufacture or produce such articles or goods as baking powder, paper boxes, butter, material, beds, machinery, beer, ice, soda water, roofing, cotton goods, elevators, excelsior, garters, gas, guano, hosiery, lithographs, lumber, shingles, marble and granite, mattresses, flour, grits, meal, pants, pickles, plows, pretzels, crackers, rubber stamps, rugs, saws, show cases, soda fount supplies, stoves, tents and awnings, terra cotta, tiling, trunks, wire and iron, woolen goods, cigars, brooms, hard wood fixtures, confectionery, medicines, shoes, brick, distilled products, canned edibles, tin-ware, dental goods, cotton gins, shirts, saw mill machinery, vinegar, printers' supplies, syrups, tobacco, dynamos, glass, sausage, boilers, blank books, bags, baskets, brushes, paints, fertilizers, coffins, fence iron, oil, book bindery, soaps, monuments, harness, fish hooks, optical goods, preserves, farm tools, chewing gum, cornices, drugs, clothing, spices, ice machines, millinery, extracts, neckwear, stationery, tablets, hot air furnaces, furniture, straw hats, cloaks, refrigerators, caps, jewelry, carriages, agricultural implements, engraving supplies, electro plates, overalls, plaster, emery wheels, slate, shirt-waists, molding and picture frames, cutlery, wagons, buggies, steel tools, cuts and numerous other articles.

In nearly every profession there has been a marked growth, and the number of persons engaged in the learned professions in particular has increased in the past ten years more than 75 per cent. The following figures show the increase in the learned professions from 1890 to 1900:

PHYSICIANS.

1900. No. of physicians in Atlanta 290

1890. No of physicians in Atlanta 156

Increase in ten years 134

LAWYERS.

1900. No. of lawyers in Atlanta 319

1890. No. of lawyers in Atlanta 185

Increase in ten years 134

ARCHITECTS.

1900. No. of architects 20

1890. No. of architects 12

Increase in ten years 8

DENTISTS.

1900. No. of dentists 59

1890. No. of dentists 17

Increase in ten years 42

The Atlanta water works system has been greatly improved and enlarged since 1890. In that year there were 40 miles and 2,090 feet of water mains and pipes in Atlanta.

In 1900 there were 112 miles and 1,540 feet of pipe and mains. j

In 1890 the receipts of the department were $63,438.97.

In 1900 the receipts were $133,819.26.

The rate for water has been reduced materially since 1890.

In 1890 a total of 861,241,100 gallons of water was pumped into the city.

In 1900 the total pumpage was 2.146,635,750 gallons, showing an enormous increase.

The new Chattahoochee river water works system was established since 1890.

The Atlanta fire department has been greatly improved in the past ten years, both by increase of firemen and apparatus.

In 1890 the department consisted of 67 men, two engines, two hook and ladder trucks and five houses.

The expenses of the department in 1890 were $65,300.

In 1900 the department consisted of 106 men, five engines, three hook and ladder trucks and eight houses.

The expenses for 1900 were $108,000.

The department is recognized as one of the best in the United States. Captain W. R. Joyner has been chief of the department during its development and improvement.

About ten square miles of Atlanta's territory is now lighted by electricity.

In 1891 there were 237 arc and 451 series lights.

Atlanta's population by the census of 1901 is 114,731.

True, the census reports only show 89,872 for the corporate limits, but yet it is susceptible of proof by the census returns that the actual population of the city, according to the count of the census enumerators, is 114,731. The figures given in the census seeking to show the actual population within the corporate limits, is too small, as everybody knows, but, admitting them to be correct, many thousands of people live just outside and in territory contiguous to the corporate limits in all directions, and these people live in Atlanta, register from Atlanta, do business in Atlanta, Atlanta's street cars run in front of their doors, and they are a part of Atlanta for all purposes as fully and completely as if they lived in the city limits, except for the purpose of paying taxes to the city government. Take the territory in any direction, out Peachtree street, out Marietta street, out Decatur street, out Pryor street and every other street that leads out of the city's limits and houses continue outside the limits as thickly as before the limits are passed. How many of these people should be counted as a part of the city of Atlanta? The answer to this question gives the actual population of Atlanta. It is answered by a recent census bulletin, which shows the population of the militia districts and the incorporated towns that are contiguous to Atlanta's corporate limits. Take for example Peachtree street. Beyond the corporate limits of the city it runs through what is known as Peachtree militia district and beyond the limits along this street for a mile or more the residences are as thick and as handsome as they are inside the limits.

Take Marietta street. After leaving the city's limits it runs through Cook's district, and through territory as thickly inhabited as territory within the corporate limits, and so on through the list. The people who live in this outlying territory, but territory that touches Atlanta's limits, have been figured from the census reports and are stated in the table below showing Atlanta's population to be, according to the census, 114,731. Not all people living in this outside territory have been counted but only such of them as for all practical purposes make a part of Atlanta. Through all the territory outside the immediate corporate limits which is counted as a part of Atlanta, street cars run, there are sidewalks, and in many cases city water and the city fire department in a large part of this territory actually extinguishes the fires for the people.

Here is the table referred to, showing Atlanta's population according to the count of the census enumerators:

Atlanta, city proper 89,872

Cook's district 6,558

Blackball and Oakland City 3,226

Collins district 2,419

East Point, College Park and Hapeville 3,390

South Bend (not including all of South Bend district) 2,800

Peachtree (not including all of Peachtree district) 2,117

Edgewood district 1,552

Battlehill (town) 813

Kirkwood (town) 699

Edgewood (town) 1,285

Total, city and suburbs 114,731

Yet not all the territory is included through which the street-car runs by any means. For instance, the street cars run to Decatur, three lines, but none of this territory is counted except the towns of Kirkwood and Edgewood. There are 5,000 people probably in this territory not counted.

This is the census count, which everybody knows is too small by at least 12,000.

In the above table only people living in Fulton county contiguous to Atlanta's corporate limits are included, with the exception of 1,984 people living in the towns of Edgewood and Kirkwood.

If this territory is taken into the corporate limits during the next ten years, and even the same rate of growth kept up, as for the past decade, Atlanta will show a population in the next census of over 150,000. Only an increase of 36,000 people or less than 33 ^1/3 per cent., if this territory is included in the limits, will be necessary to put the city past the 150,000 mark, and this amount of growth is a very conservative estimate.

In estimating the population of Atlanta it must be considered that fully 70 per cent, of it is white and that the 30 per cent, of negro population is mainly made up of as high a class of negroes as can be found anywhere.

There has never been a race riot in Atlanta. The white man and the negro have lived together in this city more peacefully and in a better spirit than in any other city, in either the north or the south.

In Atlanta negroes are engaged in more occupations than any other city of its size in the world. Many of them are property owners, home-owners, and proprietors of various establishments.

But Atlanta is more emphatically than any other city of the South, a white man's city.

The material growth of Atlanta in the past ten years has been wonderful. Practically all of the large fine substantial office and business buildings of the city have been erected since 1890. Many hundreds of fine dwellings and residences have been built since then and the enormous sums of money invested in buildings shows the remarkable growth of the city.

The books of the building inspector, Mr. Frank Pittman, tell a story of great development of the city and a great building era such as has never before been enjoyed by any southern city.

The office of building inspector was created five years ago and accurate figures for the years from 1890 to 1895 inclusive are not obtainable. But the figures for the five years from 1896 to 1900 inclusive, are obtainable from Inspector Pittman's office, but they fall short of showing the actual cost of the buildings, as all experience shows that houses almost invariably cost more than the original contract price.

The following tables show the amounts expended in new buildings and in additions and alterations of old buildings for each of the five years from 1896 to 1900. inclusive, according to the building inspector's books:

1896.

28 Brick stores, cost $ 172,525

26 Frame stores, cost 11, 038

19 Brick dwellings, cost 91,600

341 Frame dwellings, cost 380,984

28 Public and business buildings 596,984

280 Additions and alterations, cost 127,104

63 Miscellaneous building, cost 24,344

Total cost $1,404,486

1897.

22 Brick stores, cost $ 80,425

14 Frame stores, cost 5.925

5 Brick dwellings, cost 28,600

383 Frame dwellings, cost 376,332

27 Public and business buildings, cost 1,114,500

727 Additions and alterations, cost 183,063

136 Miscellaneous, cost 14.409

Total cost $1,803,304

1898.

14 Brick stores, cost $ 17,920

15 Frame stores, cost 6,350

10 Brick dwellings, cost 33,250

438 Frame dwellings, cost 398,268

30 Public and business buildings, cost 225,500

1161 Additions and alterations, cost 185,655

172 Miscellaneous, cost 23,209

Total cost $ 890,152

1899.

12 Frame stores, cost $ 8,980

10 Brick stores, cost 40,250

585 Frame dwellings, cost 553,417

14 Brick dwellings, cost 56,300

32 Public and business buildings, cost 383,200

1285 Additions and alterations, cost 224,663

181 Miscellaneous, cost 21,187

Total cost $1,293,997

1900.

13 Brick stores, cost $ 45.215

8 Frame stores, cost 1,975

5 Brick dwellings, cost 28,200

458 Frame dwellings, cost 437,045

41 Public and business buildings, cost 1,095,400

316 Additions and alterations, cost 343,088

238 Miscellaneous, cost 32,221

Total cost $ 1,983,144

RECAPITULATION

The total amount expended in new buildings, dwellings, additions and alterations in the last five years is as follows:

1896 $1,404,486

1897 1,803,304

1898 890,152

1899 1,293,997

1900 1,983,144

Total $7,375,083

SPENT FOR DWELLINGS.

The amount expended for new dwellings in Atlanta since 1896 is as follows:

1896 — 360 dwellings $ 472,491

1897 — 388 dwellings 402,932

1898—448 dwellings 435,518

1899 — 592 dwellings 591,517

1900 — 463 dwellings 465,245

Total $2,367,303

OFFICE BUILDINGS.

The construction of office and public buildings in Atlanta in the last ten years is one of the most important features of the development and growth of the city. The demands of the city for office accommodations have been far reaching and despite the fact that many great and magnificent structures have been erected and others are in course of construction the end of this growth is not in sight.

Practically all of the great office buildings have been erected since 1890. At that time, the city had not a single structure which its people would now call a modern office building. Now it has many complete up to date fire-proof office buildings which far surpass anything south of Philadelphia. It is a fact that even such great cities as Baltimore, Washington and Louisville have not within their borders such splendid office buildings as Atlanta has.

The Equitable building was the first of the great structures erected in which much of Atlanta's business is now carried on. It cost a much larger sum of money than the similar buildings that have been erected since for the reason that when it was built all material and labor was higher than at this time, or during the past five or six years, when most of the office buildings were erected.

The following table shows the names of the big office buildings erected in the past ten years, and the cost of each as shown by the building inspector's books, but these figures show in some cases only the original contract prices, without including the furnishings or elevators and other things which run the actual cost far higher:

Equitable building $ 700,000

Austell building 315,000

English-American building 200,000

Lowndes building 85,000

Inman building 75,000

Prudential building 325,000

Empire building 500,000

Temple Court improvements 50,000

Kiser building 100,000

Gould building 100,000

Norcross building 75,000

Grand building (including opera house) 200,000

Hirsch building 75.000

Total for ten years $2,800,000

The Federal prison which is under course of construction near Atlanta by the government will cost, when completed, about $1,500,000. This will be the largest federal prison in the country.

ATLANTA'S HOTELS

Atlanta's hotel capacity has been increased since 1890 by the erection of the Aragon hotel at a cost of $250,000; the Majestic hotel at a cost of $100,000, the conversion of the Jackson building and the Fitten building into hotels, the erection of the Bon Air, Marion hotel, Farlinger apartment house and many other splendid structures and large boarding houses, not to omit the palatial Piedmont hotel, now under construction at the corner of Peachtree and Luckie streets, which will be one of Atlanta's high grade hostelries. Not counting the Piedmont hotel, probably half a million dollars has been spent in building and furnishing new and old apartment houses, including the extensive improvements made by the Kimball house last year.

NEW PUBLIC BUILDINGS

Since 1890 the following public buildings have been erected:

Courthouse annex $ 100,000

Fulton county jail 175,000

Carnegie library 120,000

Grand opera house 200,000

Total $ 595,000

FACTORIES AND PLANTS

Among the big factories and plants which have been erected in and near Atlanta in recent years are the following:

The Frank E. Block factory, cost $55,000.

The Charles A. Conklin plant, costing $24,000.

The Atlanta woolen mills plant, cost $175,000.

The George W. Scott cotton mill at Scottdale, $200,000.

The Swift fertilizer plant, cost $350,000.

The Whittier cotton mills, cost $250,000.

The Elizabeth cotton mills, cost $200,000.

The Piedmont cotton mills, cost $100,000.

The Gate City cotton mills, cost $200,000.

And many others of equal size and great importance to the city and county.

THE IMPORTANT BUILDINGS

Table showing all buildings erected since 1895 costing over $10,000:

Austell building $ 315,000

S. A. L. depot 100,000

Wellhouse factory 25,000

Dobbs & Wey building 20,000

Lowndes building 30,000

Boys' High school 41,000

Inman, Smith & Co 55,000

Thornton building, Pryor street 45,000

W. D. Grant store. Central avenue and Hunter street. 10,000

Woodward Lumber Co 35,000

Southern Railway, new shops 25,000

Coco-Cola building 15,000

Kiser building, Marietta street 16,000

Prudential building 325,000

Jackson Hill Baptist church 15,000

Catholic church, Peachtree and Ivy 25,000

Farlinger flats 42,000

Methodist church, Inman Park 10,000

Majestic Hotel 80,000

Atlanta Paper Co 30,000

A. G. Rhodes block 20,000

English-American building 200,000

Leary sale stable. Marietta street 11,000

Maddox store 18,000

Tech dormitory 14,000

Elkin & Cooper sanitarium 20,000

Atlanta Brewing and Ice annex 15,000

Fulton county Tower 175,000

Markham House Block 75,000

On Shoe Co 23,000

Fulton Bag and Cotton mills warehouse 16,300

Courthouse annex 100,000

Atlanta Woolen mills 30,000

Annex to Maddox building 13,100

S. M. Inman, Nelson street and Madison ave. factory 10,000

Bass Dry Goods store 35,000

Addition to Lowndes building 17,000

Marion Hotel annex 18,000

Inman Block, Forsyth street 35,000

Pratt laboratory 18,000

The Fairfax apartment house 12,000

Trunk factory. Trinity avenue 10,000

Textile building 17,000

McCord Grocery Co. warehouse 20,000

Atlanta Stove Works, Irwin & Krog 10,000

Chamberlin-Johnson annex 12,000

Calhoun building 34,000

Atlanta Baptist college 13,000

West End Baptist church 10,000

Atlanta Milling Co 35,000

J. W. Rucker estate, Alabama, near Forsyth 35,000

Spelman seminary dining hall 28,500

Spelman seminary dormitory 28,000

Atlanta Brewing and Ice Co. bottling plant 10,000

Empire building 500,000

Georgia Railroad and Banking Co., addition to depot. 10,000

Spelman seminary and hospital 16,000

Bell street school 12,500

Kontz building, Marietta street 25,000

Carnegie library 120,000

F. E. Block factory 55,000

Atlanta Railway power plant 90,000

Conklin Manufacturing Co 22,000

North Avenue Presbyterian church 26,000

The above figures only show the actual building that has taken place inside the city limits for the past five years. They do not include any of the vast sums that have been expended in the construction of factories and other business buildings outside the city's limits, nor the cost of the many handsome residences that have gone up in the suburbs. For example, on Peachtree street alone, residences have been constructed during the past ten years outside the corporate limits at a cost of over $500,000.

POSTAL RECEIPTS

One of the best indications of Atlanta's growth in the past ten years is the enormous increase in the receipts at the Atlanta post-office.

The postal receipts of a city are recognized as a splendid trade barometer and the value of business of a community may be almost accurately ascertained by calculations based on the postal receipts and the bank clearings.

In the case of Atlanta's post-office, the books of the government show that since 1890 the increase in the postal receipts has more than doubled in the last ten years.

A significant fact in connection with the business of the Atlanta post-office is that it has shown a steady increase for every year since 1870, with the single exception of the fiscal year ending June 30th, 1894, when the general depression which prevailed throughout the United States caused a slight decrease.

Major W. H. Smyth, Atlanta's postmaster, furnishes the following highly interesting statement, showing the increase of business of the Atlanta post-office and the relative rank of the Atlanta office with those of other cities of the country:

"In population, according to the census, Atlanta is the forty-third city in the United States. In postal receipts it is the twenty-eighth, and in postage paid by newspapers and periodicals it is the twenty-first.

"These latter receipts for the year 1900 were $35,692.98. showing 3,569,298 pounds, or over 1,784 tons of newspapers mailed by the Atlanta publishers.

"The average amount of postal receipts per capita for the fiscal year of 1900 in the fifty largest cities of the United States was $2.92; that of Atlanta was $3.55, only Chicago, Boston, Cincinnati. Kansas City and Omaha being larger, while among the southern cities Louisville was only $2.34, New Orleans $1.65, Richmond $3.06. Memphis $2.25, and Nashville $2.83.

"In the southern cities Atlanta ranks third in the postal receipts, Louisville being first and New Orleans second. Atlanta's receipts were one-fourth of the entire postal receipts of the state of George and 36.2 per cent, of the fifty-five presidential offices. They are more than the combined receipts of Savannah, Augusta, Macon, Columbus and Rome, and nearly equal to the combined of Nashville and Chattanooga.

"The statement of money order business shows in a very striking way the trade of the city, as four dollars are received here for every dollar sent away.

"In the fiscal year of 1880, when the present post-office was first occupied the postal receipts were only $59,409.07. In 1880, when the post-office floor was slightly enlarged, they were $159,262.61 and this year they will be over $350,000. This shows the enormous increase since 1880 of 489 per cent."

The great Atlanta of the new century was not unforeseen. But little over fifteen years ago Hon. A. K. McClure, the able and far-seeing Philadelphia editor, paid an extended visit to Atlanta while making an extensive tour of the South. Of his impressions he wrote:

"Georgia is the Empire State of the South. Nature made her so by a wealth of soil and mines that is unequalled in any of the coast or Gulf states south of Virginia, excepting Alabama, and her people have been proverbial for more than ordinary Southern progress.

"Atlanta has every appearance of being the legitimate offspring of Chicago. There is nothing of the Old South about it, and all the traditions of the old-time South, which are made poetical to dignify effete pride, logical poverty and laziness, have no place in the men of the present in the young and thriving Gate City. There must be old regulation Southerners in this region, but they have either died untimely in despair, or they have drifted into the current and moved on with the world around them. The young men are not the dawdling, pale-faced, soft-handed, effeminates which were so often visible in the nurslings of the slave. They have keen, expressive eyes; their faces are bronzed; their hands are often the tell-tales of labor; their step is elastic and their habits energetic. They bear unmistakable signs of culture; but it is the culture that came with self-reliance, and it is valued because it cost them sacrifice, invention, and effort. They have learned that 'hardness ever of hardiness is mother,' and if the young men of Georgia who have grown up since the war, do not assert themselves and make a most wholesome shaking up of the old fossil ideas and dreams of the South, every present indication must prove delusive. With a city like Atlanta, that has not a vestige of old Southern ways about it, in the very heart of the State and temple of her laws, it is simply impossible that such keen and powerful pulsations can fail to quicken the whole people. You hear no curses of the blacks from idlers in Atlanta. They understand that the negro is away behind them, that his future is a doubtful one, and they vote him, and vote with him; open schools of all grades for him, on equal footing with the whites.

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"They know that the negro will never rule the State or anything else; that he won't rule himself, and while really cherishing more sincere and practical kindness for him than most of those who bubble over with sympathy for him at long range in the North, they have no political or business warfare with him, and he votes as freely in Georgia as he does in Pennsylvania.

"There are more potent civilizers in Georgia than I have met with in any other portion of the South, and they are not few in number. The more intelligent young men of from twenty to thirty years, who are now beginning to assert themselves, are, as a rule, the foremost missionaries in the new civilization of the South. They don't want offices, for they have learned a better way of making a living, and they are manly in their independence. Instead of discussing the old plantation times 'before the wah,' they talk about railroads, factories, the tariff, the schools, the increase of crops, and the growth of wealth and trade.

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"And wherever the factory is reared there is a new civilization planted in the desolation of slavery. The shade, the vine, the flower, the tidy fence, and the tasteful home about the cotton mill, tell the story of the future South, and the uniform prosperity of the mills of this State must speedily multiply their numbers.

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"The young men, the factory, the school, the hardiness and comfort of industry — these are the new civilizers which are to revolutionize the old slave states.

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"In Atlanta one-sixth of the whole voters are white Republicans, but most of them vote steadily for the Democratic State and local rulers. The schools of the State are open to both races on equal terms, and the State aid to the colored college has been placed on exact equality with the State University for whites by constitutional provisions. High schools, equally for both races, may be maintained by special county taxation, if ordered by a vote of the people, and two high grade schools specially for the colored race are in progress in Atlanta, exclusive of the colored college. The general system of education — equally for both races — has not been grudgingly adopted by the white government of Georgia. On the contrary, it is heartily sustained by the great mass of the whites, and, as a rule, they generously aid rather than hinder the advancement of the blacks.

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"Every acre of ground in and for miles around the city has felt the shock of the most valiant armies in the world, and has been the death couch of the blue and the gray. When Sherman entered it with his shattered but victorious army he was in the heart of the enemy's country, and the destruction of the city was deemed a military necessity. Hood had destroyed all the buildings containing any stores before he retreated, and Sherman accepted the harsh necessity of destroying the place to leave the enemy without a base to reorganize and pursue him on his perilous march to the sea. He notified the citizens to elect which government they would choose for their protection; sent those who gave oath of allegiance to the North, gave all others safe conduct beyond his lines, with such property as they could take with them, and then made Atlanta one scene of desolation. Here and there an ante-bellum Southern home stands in contrast with the modern buildings which surround them, but they were as brands snatched from the burning. Atlanta was destroyed, but it remained the gateway of the trade that survived the waste of war; it is on the through line from the North to the Gulf; the best vigor of the South with the best vigor of the North seem to have met here on the same mission, and the new Atlanta is the Queen of Beauty among Southern cities, and is rich in all that constitutes enduring wealth.

"The influence of Atlanta upon Georgia, and upon the whole South is incalculable. Already it has revolutionized Georgia. It has not been done by Atlanta verdicts at the polls so much as by the advanced leadership that pours out its live currents of healthy progress in every direction.

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"Here the most advanced leaders of the whole South have their homes, and they are felt in every precinct of Georgia, and the tide of progress cannot be swelling up in the center of the South without overflowing and finding its outlet into all the surrounding States.

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"With Georgia, the mightiest and most prosperous of all the Southern States, thus asserting herself in favor of what is to be the new civilization of the South, I look for her to be more potential in the restoration of the South to enduring prosperity than any other factor in solving the great problem known as the Southern question.

"Atlanta is fairly typical of Georgia in the solidity of her prosperity. It is not the apparent prosperity that is visible 'where wealth accumulates and men decay." It is the general diffusion of wealth and the diffused creation of individual wealth for its own producer that makes Georgia exceptionally prosperous today, and the same causes are producing like results largely in South Carolina and in North Carolina.

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"It is not the wealth and luxury of the old-time plantation, but it is the better and more enduring wealth and comfort that comes from well directed industry and the harmony of all classes. I believe that in another decade Georgia will have doubled her cotton production, that her own bread will be grown on her own soil, and that the income from her cotton will be doubled from every bale by spinning and weaving her entire product.

"Unless some new hindrance to Southern progress shall be invented by those who have everything at stake in sectional turbulence, the census of 1890 will show a growth in every element of prosperity in the South that even the progressive North cannot equal."