Читать книгу Atlanta And Its Builders, Vol. 1 - A Comprehensive History Of The Gate City Of The South - Thomas H. Martin - Страница 15

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 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. The council issued the permit to erect the infirmary, as requested.

Atlanta, while reaching out for capital honors, was not backward in absorbing smaller things. Her influence had been successful in having a new county carved off the west side of DeKalb county, in order that Atlanta might be made a county seat, and we find, in the council records of 1854, an appropriation made by council on January 16th, giving Clarke Howell $110.75 "for his services and expenses in the interest of the new county of Fulton."

Many pushing, solid citizens were steadily being added to Atlanta's rapidly increasing population. At this time, or shortly before. Green T. Dodd cast his fortune here, and then such men as Daniel Pittman, L. J. Gartrell, L. J. Glenn, A. J. McBride, W. A. Fuller, Dr. J. P. Logan, Thomas M. Clarke, Mr. Gilbert, his partner, and M. Cole, the large nurseryman.

Atlanta was by this time comparatively free from the lawlessness of a year or two before. Its police regulations were very stringent and gambling no longer flourished openly in Murrell's Row. Many of the "dead game sports" had drifted to more congenial fields, and the others kept discreetly in the background. The saloons were beginning to be regulated by ordinances that showed a hostile tendency to the liquor traffic, and licenses grew higher and higher. Old Jonathan Norcross had become an out-and-out Prohibitionist and purchased the Republican, a short-lived newspaper that had been founded in the city by a Northern man, and revived it as a Prohibitionist organ. It was soon the organ of the Know Nothings.

The people of Atlanta were working in enthusiastic unison for several great projects, and public meetings to further these movements were of frequent occurrence. The air was full of new railroad rumors, and if all the projected roads had materialized, Atlanta would have presented on the map the appearance of a thousand-legged spider. One of the proposed railroads did materialize in a short time in the Atlanta and Charlotte Air-Line. To say the citizens believed in the future of the city would be putting it mildly. Every man who held real estate was gifted with the most prophetic sort of an imagination and lost no opportunity to express his great faith in Atlanta's future. While there was no organization designed to further all public enterprises, such as a board of trade or chamber of commerce, the progressive element of the city worked together with wonderful zeal and unanimity, and the city council took upon itself some of the functions of the lacking organization. An aggressive capital removal campaign had been inaugurated over the state by Atlanta, and the ambitions of the young city as a great commercial distributing center were published far and near. Atlanta, at least, knew how to advertise herself, and the whole state began to talk about her. This aggressive policy of publicity, which Atlanta has never relaxed, bore abundant fruit in material progress. Trade and population multiplied. The place was a surprise to the South. It had about it the restless energy and bustle of a Yankee town.

As this chapter is devoted almost entirely to the year 1854, it will fittingly be closed with an allusion to the visit of President Millard Fillmore to Atlanta, which occurred in that year. Of this visit of the country's chief executive, L. L. Parham says in one of his newspaper reminiscences:

"President Millard Fillmore's visit to Atlanta in 1854 was a notable event, and one which illustrates as nothing else could the hospitable spirit of old Atlanta. Mr. Fillmore came from Augusta to this city, and was received at the 'car-shed' by the whole town with great enthusiasm. Every locomotive in town gave forth in unison a welcome which in noise at least was unmistakable. A committee escorted the distinguished guest to a hotel, where a brief but glorious reception was held. In the evening, a general reception was held, to which the public en masse flocked, and certainly Mr. Fillmore was flattered. The ladies were out in full force with their best clothes on and their sweetest smiles — at least it is said some of the fair ones were never so charming as on that occasion, since it was known by all that the president was a widower. Added to the position he had adorned as chief executive of the United States, he was of fine personal appearance, being a large figure and possessed of an open, pleasing countenance and warm heart. At a banquet held in his honor those who had the pleasure of attending became deeply impressed with their guest's genial manner, suavitor in modo, and ready repartee. When a gentleman noted for a fine voice and willing compliance when requested to sing, was asked to favor the banqueters with a song, he did so with such impressiveness that at its conclusion Mr. Fillmore arose and grasped the gentleman by the hand, and with a voice choked with emotion, thanked him and all Atlanta for their exceeding hospitality, which he declared had never been surpassed, if equaled."