Читать книгу Atlanta And Its Builders, Vol. 1 - A Comprehensive History Of The Gate City Of The South - Thomas H. Martin - Страница 9

It is safe to say that Marthasville trebled her population within a year after the completion of the Georgia Railroad. This brief period witnessed the completion of a third railroad — the Macon & Western, over which the first train was run to Marthasville in 1846. The little town, by this time fully conscious of its bright destiny, was wide awake and aggressive in pushing its interests and publishing its advantages. The third great railroad accession was greeted with a jollification mass meeting, as the other two had been, and it is recorded that this celebration surpassed all preceding occasions of the kind by far in point of attendance and enthusiasm. Daniel Floyd and Mark A. Cooper were the orators of the day. The arrival of the Macon & Western caused a great shaking up in real estate circles and had much to do in making and unmaking fortunes, as witness the following account of realty affairs by Colonel E. Y. Clarke:

"It was intended at first to build the depot of this road near the present round-house of the Western & Atlantic railroad, and the embankment by the mineral spring, known as the 'Monroe Road,' that being the name of the Macon & Western before it changed hands. This intention of the management occasioned great excitement in the village. Those who had settled near the present passenger depot became alarmed for fear that the junction of the two roads would become the business center of the future town. Hence they determined to induce the president of the Macon road to abandon the original purpose, and make the junction and depot near the terminus of the State road, or present general passenger depot. To do this, Mitchell offered ground for the depot, and it was accepted. This was a turning point in the affairs of Marthasville, and fixed the location of the coming city; but it proved an over-turning point for some of its people, among whom was Cousin John Thrasher, who had bought one hundred acres in the vicinity of the first proposed depot of the Macon road, but sold out in disgust, and at half cost, upon learning of the change of base. The property which he thus disposed of at four dollars per acre, he lived to see worth at least half a million."

There were other men besides Mr. Thrasher who, even with three railroads intersecting there, could not bring themselves to see much of a future for Marthasville. Several of the original investors pulled out. Colonel Long, then chief engineer of the Georgia Railroad, ridiculed the ambitions of the town and depreciated its possibilities, declaring that it would gradually settle down to a wood station, with a cross-roads store or two and a blacksmith shop. He deliberately turned his back on his golden opportunities and invested his money in Marietta. In this connection Historian Clarke says: "Partly to this want of confidence, and of the failure to secure a new charter, providing for commissioners to lay out streets, is due the irregularity of our street system; everybody building where he pleased, without reference to any plan."

But men who had the faith that would stake its last dollar on the destiny of the town were not lacking in Marthasville. Upon the completion of the Macon road and until the city of Atlanta was formally organized less than two years later, the active spirits in the advancement of the town were: Jonathan Norcross, A. W. Mitchell, I. O. McDaniel, Allen E. Johnson, Jonas Smith, John Collier, Eli Hulsey, L. C. Simpson, Terence Doonan, Dr. Joseph Thompson, James Loyd, Edwin Payne, Reuben Cone, J. A. Hayden, John A. Doane, Edward Holland, William Herring, Dr. N. L. Angier, William G. Forsyth, Thomas Kile, Jacob Johnson, James A. Collins, A. K. Seago, Rev. Joseph Baker, John Silvey, John R. Wallace, Dr. J. F. Alexander, S. B. Hoyt, Rev. David G. Daniel, A. W. Walton, Joseph Meade, John Weaver, L. P. Grant, Richard Peters, Thomas G. Crusselle, Thomas G. Healey, Z. A. Rice, Moses Formwalt, Benjamin F. Bomar, H. C. Holcombe, Dr. W. H. Fernerden, C. R. Hanleiter, Er Lawshe, R. W. Bullard, George Shaw, Patrick Lynch, and Messrs. Mann, Davis, Roark, Trout, Morgan, Levi, Haas, Wheat, Bell, Humphries, Crew and Haynes. The first lawyer was L. C. Simpson, with whom John T. Wilson and S. B. Hoyt studied.

Three lively weekly newspapers were established in Marthasville at this period, but they met the same fate as The Luminary. The Democrat was published by Dr. W. H. Fernerden; the Enterprise by Royal & Yarborough, and the Southern Miscellany, by C. R. Hanleiter.

The first Sunday school was organized on the second Sunday in June, 1847, in the historic little church and schoolhouse built by popular subscription. The records and minutes of this Sunday school, which have been preserved, are especially interesting in preserving the names of many of the early citizens. As high as seventy pupils were enrolled. This school was non-denominational, and was known as the Atlanta Union Sabbath school. James A. Collins and Oswald Houston were the first superintendents of this pioneer Sunday school. Robert M. Clarke was the first secretary and treasurer, and R. M. Browne the first librarian. From the records we learn that Edwin Payne, A. F. Luckie and A. E. Johnson were selected as a committee to solicit subscriptions for carrying out the plans of the organization. The list of those who made the first subscriptions is as follows:

James A. Collins, W. R. Venable, W. T. Bell, W. A. Harp, F. F. Hight, William Printup, Mary J. Thompson, James M. Ballard, M. A. Thompson, William Henry Fernerden, A. L. Houston, A. T. Luckie, W. B. Chapman, George W. Thomasson, A. B. Forsyth, George Tomlinson, J. C. Linthicum, S. T. Downs, J. R. Wallace and T. S. Luckie. In the subscription list of the next year the following additional names are noted: D. G. Daniel, Jonathan Norcross, L. C. Simpson, "Miscellany," J. W. Evans, W. Buell, R. W. Ballard, David Thurman, H. Matheson, H. A. Fraser, Thomas Rusk, James McPherson, A. W. Walton, J. V. W. Rhodes, Samuel Wells, Joseph Thompson, S. Goodall, J. T. Burns, G. M. Troup Perryman, H. C. Holcombe, Z. A. Rice, George W. Cook, J. Wells, A. W. Wheat, J. W. Demby, W. L. Wright, H. M. Boyd, Haas & Levi, J. T. Doane, W. H. Wilson, B. F. Bomar, A. E. Johnson, W. J. Houston, F. Kicklighter, O. Houston, A. L. Houston, J. J. Smith, William P. Orme, Logan E. Bleckley, A. Wooding, C. H. Yarborough, J. R. Crawford, R. J. Browne, Lewis Lawshe, W. L. Wingfield and M. J. Ivey.

A mental glance at the Marthasville in which these men lived and labored will be interesting before we proceed to the Atlanta period, and a more comprehensive view of the kind cannot be given that to quote from Wallace Putnam Reed's description of the town at the time. He says:

"Toward the close of the Marthasville period the town was laid out, according to Colonel Z. A. Rice, about as follows: There were four roads — Peachtree, running in from Peachtree creek; Marietta, coming from the town of that name; Whitehall, named from a large white house which stood at its terminus in West End, and Decatur, connecting with that town. These roads met where the artesian well now stands, and the junction was known as the 'cross-roads.' Whitehall road then extended to the Decatur and Marietta roads, instead of terminating at the railroad. On the northwest corner of this junction stood the grocery store kept by a man named Kile; on the northeast corner was Mr. Wash. Collier's grocery, containing the post-office; the southwest corner was known as 'Norcross's Corner,' and on it stood a general store owned by Jonathan Norcross. The southeast corner was vacant. The lot on which the Atlanta hotel stood was not far from this corner. The hotel was a brick building of two stories, and the lot on which it stood is now the site of the Kimball House. Pryor street commenced on the north side of Decatur, and ran out to the woods, some three or four hundred yards away. Ivy and Butler streets were scarcely recognizable as streets, as in that part of the town the forest had not been cleared away. Broad street commenced at Marietta and ran northward to the woods. Alabama street was a mere country road. The depot or car shed stood opposite the hotel, and stretched across the ground through which Pryor street now runs. A little to the northward stood the Central Railroad freight depot, and a short distance off on the south side were the Georgia Railroad shops and turn-table. The block fronting the Kimball House at that time ran back to Loyd street, and was vacant, with the exception of the Western and Atlantic freight depot, which faced Decatur street on the corner of Loyd, and a railroad track which ran across the lot to the depot. It was in the middle of this lot that the Fillmore pole was raised during a memorable political campaign, and the ground was sometimes used by circuses. On the lot now occupied by the Markham House, facing Loyd street, was the Washington Hall, a hotel kept first by James Loyd, and afterwards by Rice & Holcombe. Next to this stood Robert Clarke's grocery store. Back of the post-office, on the corner of Decatur and Peachtree streets, was a bar-room, a tin-shop kept by Moses Formwalt — the first manufacturing enterprise of the kind in the place — and several grocery stores. Alabama street had a store or two, but there was nothing more. On the corner of Broad and Marietta was a cotton warehouse owned by Colonel Rice's father. Nobody predicted that Marthasville would ever be a great city, and real estate commanded low prices. The Inman lot, on the southwest corner of Forsyth and Mitchell streets, then contained four acres, and extended to the railroad. Judge John Collier offered seventy-five dollars an acre for it, and was about to complete the purchase, when the owner demanded eighty dollars an acre. The judge thereupon declined to buy. The place is now easily worth about $40,000."

The Atlanta Hotel was the first pretentious building erected in Marthasville. The need of a hostelry of some size and a dignity commensurate with the town's ambitions was felt by every loyal Marthasvillan, and after the Georgia Railroad had made the destiny of the place doubly sure, that enterprising corporation set about to build the long talked of new hotel. The bulk of the work was done in 1846, and the hotel was given its name before the name of the town was changed by act of the legislature. The two-story brick structure with its broad, rambling galleries of the ante-bellum style stood as a prophetic monument of the city that was to be. It had two entrances, one on Pryor street and one on Wall street, and its appearance was rather imposing. It stood in the midst of a park which until after the war was a favorite loitering place of leisurely citizens and strangers. Dr. Thompson, the father of Joseph Thompson, was the landlord of the Atlanta Hotel. He soon purchased the property, paying, it is said, $10,000 for the building and the whole square. The Washington Hall, kept by James Loyd, divided the hotel patronage of the town with the more handsome Atlanta Hotel. It was a large wooden building, to which additions had been made to accommodate the growing trade. As hotel caste went, Washington Hall did not grade as high as the Atlanta Hotel.

The religious people of Marthasville were active in providing themselves suitable places of worship. The Methodists built a comfortable and rather commodious frame structure near the spot on which the First Methodist church is located. This pioneer church was known as Wesley Chapel, and it was for years the scene of fervent devotional exercises such as only the old-time disciples of John Wesley enjoyed. There was "powerful preaching" in the little sanctuary in those days. Before Wesley Chapel was built the Methodists had had to resort to a cotton warehouse on Wheat street to find room for the large congregations that attended quarterly meetings and revivals. The Baptists were little behind the Methodists in building their own house of worship. The lot at the corner of North Forsyth and Walton streets, now occupied by the First Baptist church, was purchased in 1847, and by the following summer the congregation was worshipping in a neat little wooden church. The Presbyterians did not begin the erection of their church building until 1850, in the meantime continuing to hold regular services in the schoolhouse and private buildings. About the same time several fraternal societies were organized. Atlanta Lodge of Masons, No. 59. was organized April 13, 1846, and on the 3rd of May following Mount Zion Chapter, No. 16, was chartered. Even the names of the secret societies that flourished in those days are almost forgotten.

In contrast to the moral side of life in Marthasville, it is probably no exaggeration to say that there was not a "tougher" town in the state of Georgia. As the place grew and became more distinctively a railroad center, the vices common to rough frontier settlements in all times held high carnival. Drinking resorts, gambling dives and brothels were run "wide open," and what is commonly known as the "sporting" element were insolent in their defiance of public order and decency. The block on Decatur street, between Peachtree and Pryor, was given over to this unsavory ilk. The locality was known as Murrell's Row, so-called in honor (?) of a notorious Tennessee outlaw of that day, whose exploits were the favorite theme of conversation among the semi-outlaws of the quarter. Crimes and misdeeds worthy of the wild Murrell were supposed to comport with the ethics of the habitués of Murrell's Row. It does not appear, however, that any grave crimes were committed by these "rowdies" during the period that the place was known as Marthasville. The first homicide did not occur until sometime in 1848, when a man by the name of Mc Williams was stabbed and killed by one Bill Terrell, who made good his escape. The chief amusement of the Murrellites was cock-fighting. There were several cock-pits in the rear of the block, and some of the fights held therein attracted hundreds of spectators. The low wooden shanties of the quarter, many of them built of rough slabs, harbored all kinds of games of chance, and some of them were downright robber's dens. Nearly every other building was a groggery, in which drunken rows were of almost hourly occurrence. On Saturday nights it was common to have free-for-all fights that assumed the proportions of a riot.

It follows that some restraints were necessary to hold in check such an unruly class, and these were inadequately found in the local courts, which made a show of punishing the worst offenders. A little slab calaboose stood on the corner of Alabama and Pryor streets, which place of confinement was always full of culprits — between deliveries. Every day or two there was a delivery. Sometimes the prisoners would burrow out, and sometimes they would simply turn the frail structure over by main strength and walk back to Murrell's Row without molestation. Once, when a general row had packed the calaboose with "rowdies," the comrades of the prisoners visited the jail at night and lifted it off its foundation, holding it suspended while the inmates crawled from under. It was found necessary to build a larger and safer jail, which was done on Broad street, then known as Market street, near the railroad embankment, there being no bridge in those days. Incarceration was never for a long period, and fines were rarely paid. When the jail became too full to admit a fresh batch of offenders, those who had been in the longest were taken out and given a good strapping on the bare back, after which they were allowed to go free. The arts of the "black-leg," while perhaps not as subtle as now, were plied with continuous success by confidence men who rendezvoused in Murrell's Row.

The post-office was kept in Collier's store, at the junction of Peachtree and Decatur streets, at the beginning of Murrell's Row. Floor space was at a premium after the town began to grow in earnest, and in order to make room for the post-office. Mr. Collier partitioned off one-half of a rickety long porch that ran the length of his building, with the delivery window in such a position that people who called for the mail were not required to enter the store. It would ordinarily be supposed that an enterprising merchant who kept the post-office would make the most of the opportunity to attract the public to his store; but the extent to which a post-office was frequented a half a century ago, must be taken into account. There was no free delivery and a large part of the population of country towns seemed to have little else to do than wait for their mail. Many were chronic loafers and gossips, and it is easy to understand how their habitual presence in a small store would be anything but an incentive to trade. Mr. Collier solved the problem with his porch office. He did not allow himself to be disturbed before the mail arrived, or while sorting it, but when the latter task was done and the expectant crowd was assembled on the porch, he took the letters one by one. and called out the names of those to whom they were addressed, disposing of the bulk of the mail in this fashion. When a man's name was called he answered "Here," and pushed through the crowd to receive his mail.

In the rear of the post-office there was a bar-room, and Moses Formwalt had a tin shop next door. Mr. Formwalt, who was the first mayor of Atlanta, did a flourishing business in the manufacture of stills, and his manufactured tin articles had a large sale throughout north Georgia. Edwin Payne, father of Columbus Payne, ran a sawmill, he and a negro slave furnishing the motive power to the saw. This primitive factory-made safes, tables, and other articles of household, office and store furniture. About this time Martin & Thurman started a gun factory.

The first brick house to be built after the Atlanta Hotel was a block of brick stores erected on their centrally located property by I. O. and P. C. McDaniel. I. O. McDaniel was the father of Governor McDaniel. Richard Peters was considered the wealthiest citizen of Marthasville. His residence at the corner of Forsyth and Peters street, a roomy, weather-boarded structure, was regarded as palatial at that time. Mr. Peters owned and conducted a steam mill on the present site of the Georgia Railroad shops. It was a very advanced enterprise for the time, and consumed a tremendous amount of pine fuel. Mr. Peters bought four hundred and five acres of close-in land on what is now the heart of the Peachtree section, for $1,200, for the express purpose of using the timber for fuel for his engine. He lived to see his land worth fancy front-foot prices, some of it bringing approximately $75,000 an acre, as parceled off.

Wallace Putnam Reed relates a little incident of Marthasville progress which may be taken as characteristic of the place and time: "Mr. Crusselle had the contract for building the old State Road stone freight depot, which used to stand in the block in which the office of the Southern Express company now stands, very near the present passenger depot. When Mr. Crusselle finished the depot, he was jubilant, and endeavored to demonstrate that fact to the town by a grand treat. Accordingly he bought a barrel of Georgia planter's corn whiskey, a half a barrel of brandy, and a box of Virginia tobacco, which he dealt out liberally to the citizens. He says that almost everyone got drunk, the fighting became general, and some of them attempted to turn over the town, but they did not succeed."

Reminiscences of the settlers of the Marthasville period are by no means common. There are plenty of the early days of Atlanta proper, but Marthasville has almost faded from human memory. In view of this fact, it is appropriate here that some extracts be given from the '"talks" of the surviving pioneers who met in the National Hotel, in the spring of 1884, at a banquet given by D. N. Sloan, the first telegraph operator in Atlanta, to the surviving pioneers of nearly twenty years ago.

On that occasion, Lewis H. Clarke said: "When I first came here it was a thicket — all woods. We had to haul goods in wagons from Madison. That was the spring of 1844. On the first day of April of that year, I was clerking for Collins & Loyd, who had opened a brand-new store. It was the first store ever opened here. That night. Painter Smith, A. B. Forsyth, Hack & Bryant, and several other who made up the sum and substance of the town, serenaded us with tin pans and horns. In the fall we hauled our goods from Social Circle, and in the spring of 1845 we hauled them from Covington. When the first train arrived I was assistant postmaster with Mr. F. C. Orme, who, when he resigned, suggested Atlanta as a good name for the place."

Thomas G. Crusselle said: "When I came here there was no town. About 1840 we built a log cabin near where the car shed stands. In 1843 we moved a story-and-a-half house from Boltonville, on two freight cars, and I rode on top of the cars across the Chattahoochee river. I thought that it was about the highest ride I had ever had. The following year Bob Clarke came here and we serenaded him with tin pans when he opened his store. We had a habit then, in election times, of gathering the voters in the biggest room in town and keeping them there all night. On election morning we marched them to the polls to vote. We were all Democrats then, until the Know-Nothings came along. Some of them went with them, but we all got back to the old party again."

I. O. McDaniel said that he remembered seeing, in 1845, the shanties here that were built of the slabs turned out by Norcross's sawmill. In 1847 he erected some buildings here. In 1848 he moved to the place. In the early city councils he was chairman of the committee on streets, and he recollected that, in 1849, when he asked for the appropriation for the streets, he fixed the entire amount needed at $600. The total expenses for the town that year were $1,400.

Colonel L. P. Grant said: "I was one of the party which located the line of the Georgia Railroad to Atlanta in 1840. Work was suspended on account of the financial trouble, and I went to the Central Railroad. I returned, however, in 1843, and revised the location of the Georgia road. We commenced grading the road in 1843, and from that time to the present I have been connected with Atlanta."

David Mayer said he came to the place in 1847, with a stock of goods, intending to locate, but could not find any town. He saw only a few shanties, became discouraged, and shipped his goods away. A year later he saw his mistake and returned to stay.