Читать книгу Atlanta And Its Builders, Vol. 1 - A Comprehensive History Of The Gate City Of The South - Thomas H. Martin - Страница 18

In the election of 1859 Luther J. Glenn was chosen for mayor, with the following council: First ward, Thomas G. Healey and Thomas Haney; second ward, James L. Dunning" and William Watkins; third ward, J. M. Blackwell and Coleman F. Wood; fourth ward, Bartly M. Smith and Cyrus H. Wallace. The other city officials were: C. C. Howell, clerk; P. E. McDaniel, treasurer; G. A. Pilgrim, sexton; Willis Carlisle, marshal; E. T. Hunnicutt, deputy marshal; G. W. Anderson, first lieutenant of police; G. M. Lester, second lieutenant of police; John Haslett, street overseer; E. B. Reynolds, clerk of the market; H. L. Currier, city surveyor.

In his inaugural address the newly elected mayor expressed much satisfaction with the financial condition of the municipality. The floating debt of $3,000 had been paid off by the preceding council, and Mayor Glenn declared that his administration began with a clean slate in that regard, not a single check being outstanding against the city. He enumerated the bonded debt as follows:

Bonds issued for fair grounds $ 3,000

Bonds issued for city hall 16,000

Bonds issued for stock in gas company 20,000

Bonds issued to Georgia Air Line Railroad Company 5,000

Bonds issued for stock in the Chattahoochee bridge 3,000

Total bonded indebtedness of city $47,000

With reference to the erection of the city hall and county courthouse, Mayor Glenn said that the bonds voted for that purpose were to be redeemed by a special tax of one fourth of one per cent, on real estate and stock in trade, to constitute a sinking fund for the payment of interest and the ultimate extinction of the principal. The special tax collected up to that time had not been applied to the redemption of the bonds, the interest alone having been applied as directed by the special tax ordinance. This tax for the preceding year amounted to $5,560, from which sum, after deducting the $1,120 interest due, there remained $4,440 to be applied toward liquidating the bonded debt. This was regarded as a most gratifying showing. As yet the Chattahoochee bridge had not paid a dividend, but the success of the enterprise was unquestioned. The gas company, whose stock the city held to the extent of $19,000, had paid the very substantial dividend of ten per cent, for the first year. The city had been lighted during that time by eighty lamps.

A new arrangement as to the official printing of the city was made by this council in February. The former arrangement had proven very unremunerative to the Republican — indeed, the compensation allowed did not more than cover the actual cost of typesetting. The Daily Intelligencer, and the new paper with the suggestive name of the Southern Confederacy, jointly made a proposition to council, agreeing to insert in their respective journals the proceedings and ordinances of the city council, and any other desired advertising matter, at one-half their regular advertising rates of one dollar a square. To this council agreed.

On May 20th, 1859, Theodore Harris, G. C. Rogers and O. H. Jones petitioned council to protect the licensed hack-drivers of Atlanta from the competition of farmers and other outsiders who owned horses and vehicles. The petitioners alleged that upon every occasion that drew large crowds to the city, many unlicensed people from not only Fulton, but adjacent counties as well, turned many a dollar by doing a transient hack business without taxation, to their great detriment and financial loss. This action was taken in view of the approaching Southern Central Agricultural fair. Council agreed to see that the tax officers were more vigilant in putting down the abuse complained of.

The tax question, as it concerned labor, was extended so as to regulate slave or free negro labor where it entered into competition with tax-paying white employment. There was much complaint among the mechanics of Atlanta about this phase of the slavery question, and their petitions to council resulted in several ordinances intended to remedy the alleged injustice. One of these petitions read:

"We feel aggrieved, as Southern citizens, that your honorable body tolerates a negro dentist (Roderick Badger) in our midst, and in justice to ourselves and the community, it ought to be abated. We, the residents of Atlanta, appeal to you for justice."

One of the negro ordinances passed was as follows: "All free persons of color coming within the limits of Atlanta to live shall, within ten days after their arrival, pay to the clerk of the council $200, and in case of failure to do so, shall be arrested by the marshal, or other police officer, who shall put him or her in the guard house for the term of five days, during which time the marshal shall advertise in at least one public city gazette that such person or persons of color will be hired out at public outcry at the city hall, to the person who will take such free person of color for the shortest time for said sum, etc."

On the 3rd of June, a petition was received asking that an ordinance be passed regulating the purchase and sale of slaves in the city of Atlanta, in order to compel outside slave traders to pay a license, which they had hitherto evaded. Atlanta had become quite a slave-trading center, several of her citizens being engaged in the business, and they, like the hack-drivers, desired to shut out unlicensed competition. A man named Crawford had quite an extensive slave mart on Whitehall street, next to Hank Muhlinbrinck's saloon, and Bob Clark had the same kind of place on the same street, about where Froshin's stand now is. Before council regulated the matter, hundreds of negroes were sold in Atlanta by their private masters and regular traders without the payment of a license.

In 1859 the first city directory of Atlanta was published — a crude affair in comparison with present day directories. It was a mere pamphlet, compiled by Mr. Williams and published by M. Lynch, who was later a member of the well-known firm of Lynch & Thornton. This little work contains much interesting information concerning ante-bellum Atlanta, one of its most attractive features being a descriptive sketch of the city written by Green B. Haygood, one of the prominent lawyers of the day. After giving a glowing introduction, the sketch speaks thus of Atlanta's geographical advantages:

"The geographical position of Atlanta being nearly in the center of the southern section of the American union, at the point of the great railroad crossings in a right line from New York to New Orleans, and nearly equi-distant from each; four prominent lines of railroads all centering here, and pouring into the depots and warehouses of the city an amount of trade, and transporting through it a vast tide of travel; situated, too, just upon the dividing line between the cotton and grain sections of the state, altogether, give to Atlanta facilities for receiving and distributing the productions and commerce of the country from one section to another, greater than can be claimed for any other inland city in the South. Atlanta is now connected by rail with Chattanooga, Nashville, Memphis, and thence with the Upper Mississippi, also, with Loudon and Knoxville, Tenn.; Lynchburg, Va.; and thence with the great lines north and east; on the southwest with Montgomery by rail, thence by water with Mobile. New Orleans, and all the lower Mississippi; also with Columbus and all southwestern Georgia, and with Savannah and the Atlantic through Macon. By the Georgia Railroad with Augusta, Charleston, Columbia, Greenville, most of the prominent places in North and South Carolina, Virginia and the great northern cities. Another railroad is now in projection, and considerable progress made towards its accomplishment, in the direction of Anderson Court House, S. C, through the beautiful and productive country known as Northeast Georgia; and another still has been chartered from this point to the great and inexhaustible coal fields of northeastern Alabama, destined to supply fuel and motive power to the teeming millions that shall inhabit these lands for untold ages. Forty-four freight and passenger trains arrive and depart daily from the city.

"The Ocmulgee river, which flows to the Atlantic, has its source in the central part of the city. The head spring of South river, its principal tributary, being located within the railroad reserve, near the present passenger depot, its precise spot being now indicated by the large perennial cistern between the Holland House and the Macon and Western depot, on the south side of the railroad track; while Walton Spring, an early celebrity of the place, situated a little north of the road, flows into the Chattahoochee, and thence to the Gulf of Mexico; so that here in the heart of the city the marriage of the waters of the Atlantic and the Gulf might have been celebrated high in the air by our own engine companies, drawing their supplies the while from the natural fountains, flowing thence to their far distant destinations in the bosom of the Atlantic and the Gulf. But Charleston must needs go to Memphis, that old Ocean, pent up in hoops and staves, may be received into the embraces of his Amazon bride, and the Father of Waters is shorn of his glories and changed into a huge water station on the road to the West.

"The incorporated shape of the city is a circle two miles in diameter, with a handle of half a mile in length and six hundred yards wide along the line of the Macon and Western Railroad. It covers a portion of sixteen original land lots, each of which was laid off upon a plan to suit the views of the respective owners, and hence our streets are not so regular in width and uniform in direction as is desirable — many of them being much too narrow for public convenience.

"The population of the city is remarkable for its activity and enterprise. Most of the inhabitants came here for the purpose of bettering their fortunes by engaging actively in business, and this presents the anomaly of having very few aged persons residing in it: and our people show their democratic impulses by each allowing his neighbor to attend to his own business, and our ladies, even, are allowed to attend to their own domestic and household affairs without being ruled out of respectable society.

"Atlanta is a name which is understood to have been proposed by J. Edgar Thompson, at that time chief engineer of the Georgia Railroad. The signification of the name, the reasons for its adoption, and the various theories on the subject have now become a theme of inquiry and investigation not without interest. The writer has heard it claimed as due in honor to a mythological goddess, Atlanta, said to have been remarkable for fleetness, strength and endurance. It was certainly a fast town then, and may have been supposed entitled to the honor of a recognition by the goddess, by reason of its early character and its wonderful achievements. The infant has become a giant, and is rapidly overcoming the obstacles to its growth and prosperity, and making the surrounding country and neighboring villages all tributary to its prosperity, permanency and celebrity. The name was for a short time written Atalanta, which seems to favor the claims of the goddess. An orator of no mean pretentions claimed for it the significance of 'a city among the hills,' while a shrewd writer has declared that it was the opposite, and proclaimed it 'the city in the woods.' And its commercial and geographical position has recently procured for it the appellation of 'the Gate City.'

"And still another theory is set up by some who claim for it an origin more worthy of its present importance as a railroad entrepot and commercial emporium, taken in connection with its future prospects as a great railroad center and manufacturing city. The great state work, connecting the waters of the West with the Atlantic, commencing at Chattanooga, on the Tennessee river, and terminating at this point, had nearly been completed. The name Western and Atlantic railroad had been given to it by the legislature of Georgia, and it was not inaptly considered the great connecting artery through which must pass the incalculable mass of produce, manufacture and commerce from the great valley of the West and the Atlantic coast, and the imports from abroad passing thence to the far West.

"Atlanta had been permanently fixed as the southeastern terminus of that great state work, and gave a local idea to its eastern terminus, and that idea, represented or qualified by the adjective Atlanta, was incomplete of itself, but clearly pointed to something more definite, and the mind is put upon the inquiry for the thing signified. The connections by rail from Charleston by way of Augusta, and from Savannah, by way of Macon, had both been completed to this point. Those roads had been gradually ascending the hills from the coast, in search of a 'northwest passage,' they had searched the hills upon which the city stands, and here they met the Western and Atlantic road, just emerging from the wilds of the northwest, seeking by a sinuous and difficult ascent from the Western valley for a highway to the Atlantic.

They met together in our streets, they embraced each other upon these headlands of the Atlantic.

"These Atlantic . headlands, when embodied in the noun Atlanta, to our mind, meets the demand and represents the ideal of the thing sought after, and the mind rests upon it as the thing signified by the several indices pointing to Atlanta as the proper name for such a city in such a place. This we now state to the public as the true derivation sustained by the facts in the case.

"Atlanta has had a growth unexampled in the history of the South. In 1854 the population had reached 6,025. The increase for the several years has averaged 1 ,000 per annum. On the first of April, 1859, it is ascertained by the census-taker, under state authority, to be 11,500 souls. The assessed value of the real estate in the city the present year, 1859, is $2,760,000, and the personality, cash, merchandise, etc., in proportion.

"The number of stores in 1854 was fifty-seven, exclusive of drinking saloons. The amount of goods sold in 1853 was $1,017,000, and the amount sold in 1858 is not accurately known, but is believed to have been about $3,000,000, and is now rapidly increasing. It is now widening and extending the area of its supply on every side. Dry goods are sold to the country for over one hundred miles around on terms as favorable to purchasers as the retail markets of the great Northern cities, New York itself not excepted, and still our merchants are prosperous, thrifty and energetic. No respectable house here had to suspend during the great crisis in commercial affairs in 1857 and 1858.

"The great secret of the safety, success and independence of convulsions is to be found in the fact that sales are made at low rates, almost entirely for cash, and the profits, though small in detail, are often repeated and amount to a vast sum in the aggregate; a few have fallen by unfortunate speculations.

"The number of stores and other business houses at present is unknown to the writer. Nineteen commodious brick stores were erected in 1858, and as many more are now in progress of erection in 1859, besides a large number of fine dwellings, mostly of brick. Many of the new improvements are imposing structures, and would be creditable in the elegant portions of our modern cities.

"There are at present four capacious hotels, now open and in successful operation, and another still more extensive is nearly completed, designed, we understand, for the accommodation of families, hitherto a felt necessity in the city.

"The city now has in successful operation four large and flourishing machine shops, two of which are connected with railroad companies, and two belong to private individuals, where stationary engines, mill gearing, with almost every variety of castings and machinery are manufactured at short notice. Two planing mills and sash and blind factories are also in successful operation; besides, there are numerous smaller manufacturing establishments in the city; three or four tanneries, one or two shoe manufactories, besides several smaller establishments. The most important establishment in the place is the rolling mill for the manufacture of railroad iron, which is capable of turning out thirty tons of railroad iron of superior quality.

"The clothing trade has become an item of no inconsiderable importance within the past few years, and presents some new features when contrasted with any other Southern cities of equal size and age. The manufacture of clothing in this city is a decided success, and has increased with an unparalleled rapidity for a Southern city. In 1854 five hands were employed in the manufacture of clothing; the number now thus employed exceeds seventy-five, the larger portion of whom are females. The clothing made here has been received with much favor by the public, and is believed to have attracted much attention to the wholesale trade of the city in that article. In this connection it may be stated that this is the great Southern depot for the sale of the most improved model of sewing machines, the use of which extensively has doubtless added greatly to the trade in the clothing department.

"The city was first brilliantly lighted with gas, manufactured from Georgia, Alabama and Tennessee coal, on December 25, 1855.

"We have four prominent lines of railroads, all centering here.

"The city now contains thirteen Christian churches, and one more has been recently, projected.

"It is not believed that any other city in the country is blessed with greater or better facilities for procuring building materials, the supply of granite near at hand, of a quality peculiarly adapted to building purposes, is literally inexhaustible; bricks of good quality are made in and around the city on reasonable terms. Lumber of good quality is also obtained at reasonable prices; lime is produced in any desired quantity near at hand.

"The mechanical element prevails in our city, and the major part of them are enterprising, thrifty and prosperous men, who are rapidly rising in the public esteem.

"The health of the city is almost unprecedented, being entirely exempt from the usual summer and fall fevers, cholera, etc. No epidemic has ever prevailed here, and the bills of mortality show a state of health almost without a parallel."

From the directory from which the foregoing is quoted, we also glean the following facts concerning Atlanta up to 1859:

The churches in the city were: The First Baptist, at the corner of Walton and Wadley streets; the Second Baptist, at the corner of Mitchell and Washington streets; the Christian, on the south side of Decatur street, between Collins and Loyd streets; Wesley Chapel Methodist Episcopal church, at the corner of Houston and Peachtree streets; Trinity Methodist Episcopal church, on the south side of Mitchell street, between Washington and McDonough streets; Evans Chapel ( M. E. ) , on the north side of Nelson street and west of Mangum; Congregational Methodist, on the north side of Jones street, between Martin street and Connelly's alley; Protestant Methodist, corner Mitchell and Forsyth streets; African M. E. church, on an alley north of Gilmer street; Episcopal church, northeast corner of Hunter and Washington streets; First Presbyterian, south side of Marietta street, between Wadley and Spring streets; Central Presbyterian, on Washington street, opposite the city hall; Roman Catholic church, on the southeast corner of Hunter and Loyd streets.

The city was protected by three fire companies, well equipped for the time. They were: Atlanta Fire Company No. 1; Mechanics Fire Company No. 2; and Tallulah Fire Company No. 3.

There were five lodges of Masons, two lodges of Odd Fellows, and two temperance societies. N. L. Angier was agent for ten insurance companies; J. E. Butler for one, Alexander M. Wallace for four, and Samuel Smith for two.

The banks of the city were: The Bank of Fulton, the Atlanta Insurance and Banking Company, the Georgia Railroad and Banking Company Agency, the Bank of the State of Georgia Agency, and the Augusta Insurance and Banking Agency.

There were five hotels: The Atlanta, City Hotel, Planters' Hotel, Tennessee House and Washington Hall.

The local press was represented by seven newspapers, one of which was daily and weekly, one weekly and tri-weekly, one weekly and semi-weekly, two of them weekly and two monthly.

The following numbers were engaged in the various trades and professions: Attorneys, 29; clergymen, 10; architects and builders, 3; blacksmiths, 5; boarding houses, 14; boiler manufacturers, 1; boot and shoe dealers, 15; brick manufacturers, 10; clothing dealers, 11; carpenters and builders, 1; carriage manufacturers, 3; commission merchants, 14; cotton dealers, 7; dentists, 7; drugstores, 5; wholesale and retail dry goods dealers, 15; steam engine builders, 2; foundries, 2; planing mills, 1; flour manufacturers, 1; gents' furnishing goods, 7; grain dealers, 3; wholesale and retail grocers, 66; hardware stores, 6; leather and findings, 5; lottery offices, 2; physicians, 31; produce and provisions, 12; real estate agents, 2; rolling mills, 1; private schools, 5; slave dealers, 4; tailors, 4; watches and clocks, 4; wine dealers, 4; besides numerous other branches of business.

According to the federal census of 1860, the population of Fulton county was 14,427. Subtracting from this the 11,500 people that the state census of the previous year gave Atlanta, it will be seen that the county population was very sparse indeed. In presenting, therefore, the government statistics for Fulton county as to the various industries, it will be understood that they practically apply to Atlanta alone of that time, there having been no town of even a handful of inhabitants in the same county. The census reports show three establishments making boots and shoes, with an invested capital of $2,000, employing five hands, to whom were paid in wages $1,800. The raw material cost $1,700, and the value of the manufactured goods was $4,625. There was one carriage manufactory employing fifteen men, to whom $7,200 was paid, and employing a capital of $25,000. The cost of the raw material was $3,750, and the value of the finished product $14,000. Two flour mills, with a capital of $6,600, employing two hands, to whom was paid $600. The cost of the raw material was $4,000, and the value of the product, $6,500. One iron manufactory with a capital of $100,000, employing a hundred men, to whom was paid $36,000 annually. The material cost $62,500, and the product was worth $137,230. One leather manufactory with a capital of $5,000, employing six hands, to whom was paid $2,160. The material cost $1,000, and the product sold for $2,855. A sawmill represented an investment of $1,000 and employed five hands, with an annual wage roll of $840. The manufactured product represented $18,000, and the raw material, $7,500. Four manufactories of machinery, steam engines, etc., with an invested capital of $620,000, giving employment to 167 men, who received $55,000 in wages. The raw material cost $107,000, and the product was valued at $212,850. Two tin, copper and sheet iron ware manufactories, with a capital of $11,000, employing nineteen hands at an annual expense of $6,840. Value of raw material $11,084; finished product, $18,303. The entire number of establishments was fifteen; aggregate capital, $770,600; hands employed, 319; wages paid, $110,484; value of product, $414,366.