Atlanta: A Twentieth-Century City - free ebook by Atlanta Chamber of Commerce

ATLANTA

The Illuminated Cover of this Pamphlet is a reproduction of the Famous Picture “ATLANTA BY NIGHT” published by Harper’s Weekly in the issue of October 10th, 1903, and here presented by courtesy of Harper &amp; Bros. ...

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How Atlanta Grew.

The Atlanta of to-day is a growth of thirty-eight years. Twice has the upbuilding of a city on this site demonstrated its natural advantages. Within a few years before the war Atlanta had become a bustling town of 11,000 inhabitants, and during the three years which intervened before its destruction the place was the seat of varied and important industries, whose principal object was to sustain the military operations of the Confederacy. It was also a depot for the distribution of supplies to th

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Population, Area and Government.

Atlanta’s population is estimated at 105,600. By the census of 1900 it was 89,872. The census of 1880 gave Atlanta a population of 39,000, and by the city assessment of the next year the real estate was valued at $14,721,883, and the personal property at $7,474,258. By 1890 the population had grown to 65,000 and real estate was valued at $39,729,894. In the same period personal property grew to $11,906,605. The decade between 1880 and 1890 was a period during which Atlanta made remarkable advanc

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Area and Expansion.

Atlanta is a city of magnificent distances, covering about eleven square miles. With abundance of room and fresh air, the circular form of the city makes it compact, and the residence portions are, as a rule, equidistant from the business center. The corporate line is described by a radius of a mile and three-quarters. In two places this circle is expanded to take in suburban communities which had been formed with irregular boundaries before the circular corporation line reached them. These are

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City Government.

The city government of Atlanta is administered by a Mayor and General Council and Executive Boards. The legislative body is composed of councilmen from the different wards, elected by the whole city, and aldermen who are elected in a like manner. The aldermen and councilmen vote separately on matters involving the expenditure of money, and the concurrence of both bodies is necessary to an appropriation. The Mayor has the usual veto power. The tax rate is one and a quarter per cent. and the ratio

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Police.

Atlanta has a fine Police Department, divided into three watches of eight hours each. It has valuable auxiliaries in the mounted men and the bicycle corps, numbering forty men. There is a fine central station, which cost $100,000, and a Police signal system with telephone connections. The expenditures of the Department during 1903 amounted to $151,151.23....

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Fire Protection.

Atlanta has a model Fire Department, well equipped with modern apparatus, and supplied with water at fire pressure from the pumping-station of the waterworks. In 1903 the Department cost $123,235.00; the number of fires was 502 and the value of buildings and contents at risk $3,070,777. The damage was $142,050. The average fire loss for eighteen years was $123,647....

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Sanitary Department.

Atlanta spent $109,023.54 on sanitation in 1903, and about 250 men were employed under the Board of Health in keeping the city clean. There are the usual precautions in infectious and contagious diseases. The sewer-system of the city was constructed on a plan designed by Rudolph Hering, of New York. EQUITABLE BUILDING....

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Mortuary Record.

The deaths from diseases in Atlanta during 1903 were 1,941, of which 926 were of white people and 1,015 of colored. The population within the corporate limits in the census year was 89,872. In 1903 it was estimated by the Sanitary Department at 110,000. This makes the rate of mortality 17.64. Of the population in 1903, it is estimated that 44,000 were colored and 66,000 were white, which makes the rate of mortality 23.06 for colored and 14.03 for white....

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Waterworks.

The Waterworks Department of Atlanta has one of the best plants in the country and furnishes pure water at the nominal price of ten cents per thousand gallons for domestic consumption. Liberal rates are made to manufacturers, and even at the low prices charged, the Department pays a handsome net revenue to the city. The works have a daily pumping capacity of 35,000,000 gallons, and the actual consumption in 1903 was 9,136,277 gallons per day. The supply comes from the Chattahoochee River, above

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Sewers.

In addition to the amount disbursed by the Sanitary Department, the city spent $55,765.43 the same year in constructing sewers....

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Streets.

During 1903 Atlanta spent $70,913.08 on streets. Since 1880 the city has spent $3,827,171 on streets, sewers and sidewalks. There are 64.34 miles of paved streets, 233.04 miles of paved sidewalks, and 106.21 miles of sewers. There are seven miles of asphalt streets and several miles of vitrified brick. The rest is paved with granite blocks, chert and macadam....

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Boulevards.

Atlanta has some beautiful streets for driving. Peachtree, Washington, Whitehall and Peters Streets and Capitol Avenue are paved with asphalt, and this smooth surface makes a fine speedway. Whitehall and Peachtree Streets, connecting at the viaduct, form a continuous asphalt boulevard three and one-half miles long. This is connected north of the city with a macadam pike to Buckhead, and south of the city with a chert road to College Park, six miles beyond the city limits. This forms a continuous

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Prominent Structures.

Atlanta has many handsome buildings, notable among which are the State Capitol, the new Court-House, the Carnegie Library, of white marble, the Grand Opera House, the nine great fire-proof office buildings, and the beautiful Piedmont Hotel, which is also a fire-proof structure. The Federal Prison, three miles out, is one of the most important in the United States. There are several other large hotels, notably the Kimball, the Aragon, the Majestic and the Marion. The value of buildings erected in

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List of Fire-Proof Office Buildings.

Equitable Building, eight stories. English-American Building, eleven stories. Austell Building, nine stories. Prudential Building, ten stories. Empire Building, fourteen stories. Peters Building, eight stories. Century Building, twelve stories. [1] Fourth National Bank Building, sixteen stories. [1] Candler Building, seventeen stories. The aggregate cost of these nine structures, exclusive of the land on which they rest, was $4,000,000. They are all occupied, except the two under construction, i

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Car Wheel Works.

The Atlanta Carwheel &amp; Manufacturing Company has, on the Southern Railway belt line near the waterworks pumping-station, an extensive plant for the manufacture of steam-railroad and street-car wheels. The site covers ten acres and the main building is 230 by 118 feet, with several annexes. The works employ 100 to 150 men, and this is one of the largest establishments of its kind in the country. Atlanta’s business is indicated by the bank clearings, which were $145,000,000 for the year

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Atlanta Manufactures in 1904.

In April 1904 the Atlanta Chamber of Commerce sent letters to most of the manufacturers of the city, asking for a statement of the capital invested, the number of wage earners, the total wages paid, the value of raw material used and the product; also the percentage of increase in each item since June, 1900, when the U. S. Census was taken. The returns show an average increase of 53 1-4 per cent. in capital, 52 1-3 per cent. in wage earners, 55 per cent. in wages paid, 56.7 per cent. in raw mate

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Atlanta Banks.

The clearings and deposits of the associated banks of Atlanta are reported as follows by Mr. Darwin G. Jones, manager of the Atlanta Clearing House Association: CLEARINGS BY YEARS. These reports show that business has doubled in seven years....

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Deposits December 1st Each Year.

The deposits of the Clearing House banks of Atlanta at the end of the week nearest December 1st of each year, are reported by Manager Jones as follows: SWIFT FERTILIZER WORKS. JEWISH ORPHANAGE....

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Government Receipts in the Southeast.

One of the facts indicating the greatness of the territory, of which Atlanta is the center, is the Government receipts in the Southeast. The receipts of the Federal Government through internal revenue, customs, duties and Presidential Post offices is stated as follows, in the latest official reports:...

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Growth of Postal Business.

The growth of business is strikingly shown by the postal receipts for the year ending June 30th, 1890, 1894 and 1903: Comparison with other cities, by various barometers of trade and industry, indicates that Atlanta does more business than any city of 100,000 population in the United States. As a newspaper center it is phenomenal. The receipts from second-class mail matter at Atlanta were $55,658.83 during the year ending June 30, 1903. This shows that on newspapers and periodicals Atlanta pays

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Insurance.

Atlanta is the third insurance center of the United States, and easily first in the South. The receipts of premiums reported to agencies here are estimated at $8,000,000, about equally divided between fire and life insurance. Atlanta is the headquarters of the Southeastern Tariff Association. There are no burdensome insurance laws in this State and taxes are reasonable. JEWISH TEMPLE. FIRST METHODIST CHURCH....

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Cotton.

Atlanta is the center of large cotton operations, and receives about 115,000 bales annually. There are several large warehouses and compresses. The 12 lines of railroads give ample facilities for collecting the crop from adjoining territory and forwarding it overland to eastern mills or to the coast for export. Both of the Round Bale Companies are represented in this city....

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Transportation.

Atlanta is the railroad center of the Southeast. Twelve radiating lines furnish ample facilities for distribution of manufactures and merchandise from this point. Five of these lines belong to the Southern Railway. Here is a list of the lines: Southern to Washington. Southern to Knoxville. Georgia Railroad to Augusta. Southern to Birmingham. Southern to Fort Valley. Southern to Brunswick. [2] Seaboard Air Line to Birmingham. Seaboard Air Line to Portsmouth. Western &amp; Atlantic to Chattano

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The Radius of Distribution.

Atlanta’s advantages as a distributing point are shown by the central location with reference to Southeastern towns. There are seventy-nine towns of exceeding 4,000 population in Alabama, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Mississippi. The average distances of these towns by States from Atlanta, Savannah and Nashville are as follows: COURT HOUSE—FROM THE SOUTH....

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Street Railways.

Atlanta has a fine system of street railways, with one hundred and forty-two miles of track radiating from the heart of the city to the residence portion and thence to the suburbs. In some directions they reach out for eight miles, as in the case of College Park, Decatur and the Chattahoochee River. The service is excellent, and there are one hundred miles of tracks within the city limits. The uniform fare is five cents, but there are transfers from incoming lines to any part of the city. Almost

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Light and Power.

Atlanta is well supplied with gas at a low figure—$1.00 per thousand cubic feet. It is so economical that gas stoves are very largely used for cooking purposes and not a few for heating. LAKE ABANA—GRANT PARK. NORTH AVENUE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. The Georgia Railway and Electric Company has two large plants for the generation of electric current for light and power. The city is well illuminated by arc lights and electricity is largely used by business offices and residences. The same company has a

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Great Power Plant.

The Atlanta Water and Electric Power Company has erected on a massive masonry dam across the Chattahoochee River, at Bull Sluice shoals, fifteen miles from Atlanta, and in a few months the plant will be completed and equipped to deliver 11,000 horse-power of electric current in the city. The total investment will be $2,000,000. The power plant will give a tremendous stimulus to manufacturing. As the steam and electric powers already in existence furnish 45,000 horse-power, which is in constant u

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Rapid Growth of Business

The business of Atlanta is growing four times as fast as its population, although the population grows twice as fast as that of the country. The rate of increase in population for the United States has been two per cent. per annum during the past decade. In Atlanta, it has been approximately four per cent. During the year 1903, the business of Atlanta increased fifteen per cent. as measured by postal receipts. Since the Exposition of 1895, bank clearings have more than doubled and bank deposits

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Chamber of Commerce.

During the thirty years of their existence the Chamber of Commerce, and its predecessor, the Board of Trade, have been active in protecting and promoting the interests of Atlanta. Meetings in the public interest have usually been called at the Chamber of Commerce, and it was there that the first meeting to organize the Cotton States and International Exposition was held. All important questions affecting business have been discussed there and a score or so of standing committees have been consti

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Daily Newspapers.

Atlanta has three daily newspapers. The Constitution, a morning paper, acquired national reputation under the management of Henry W. Grady, and has continued under the management of Clark Howell to hold a leading position among the newspapers of America. The Atlanta Journal is a large afternoon paper which acquired national reputation under the management of Hoke Smith, and has continued to grow under the management of James R. Gray. The third daily newspaper is the Atlanta News, a penny afterno

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The Carnegie Library.

The Carnegie Library of Atlanta was organized May 6th, 1899, and received all of the property and books of the Young Men’s Library, which had been a subscription library, and had 15,000 books and property worth $40,000, when the city received a gift of $100,000 from Mr. Andrew Carnegie for a building. Mr. Carnegie subsequently added $25,000 to the original gift for the building, and $20,000 for stock and furniture. Total cost of the Library equipped was $145,000. The lot, which was a gift of the

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Institutions for Negro Education.

Atlanta has some of the largest institutions for negro education in the country. They are: Atlanta University, Clark University, Gammon Theological Seminary, the Atlanta Baptist College, Morris Brown College, and Spelman Seminary. The Spelman Seminary has a fine training school for nurses, and industrial training for women. Clark University has industrial training for men....

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Theatres.

Atlanta has two fine theatres—the Grand and the Bijou. The Atlanta Lecture Association is one of the best in the United States, and regularly brings the best talent of the country to the Atlanta platform. Its membership is about 1,000. The Baptist Tabernacle has a lyceum course. AGNES SCOTT INSTITUTE. W. P. INMAN’S RESIDENCE. It is hard to enumerate the advantages of life in Atlanta. They are so many that it is impossible to catalogue them all in brief space. The climate is the best enjoyed by

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The Climate.

Atlanta is on the crest of the ridge dividing the watershed of the Atlantic Ocean from that of the Gulf of Mexico, and its elevation of 1,052 feet gives a bracing atmosphere. The mean annual temperature, based on all available records, is 60.8 degrees. The highest annual mean was 64.0 in 1871, preceded by the lowest, 56.9, in 1868. The mean temperature of the winter months is 44.1, of the spring months, 60.5, of the summer, 77.0, and of the autumn, 61.5. The highest monthly mean was 82.2, in Jul

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Monthly Mean Temperature.

The average monthly temperature for each month, as shown by the record of many years, is given below: WASHINGTON STREET. CENTRAL PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. Rainfall by Months. The normal precipitation by months by the Weather Bureau: January, 5.10 inches; February, 5.23; March, 5.65; April, 4.23; May, 3.38; June, 4.04; July, 4.22; August, 4.58; September, 3.51; October, 2.36; November, 3.49; December, 4.29. The annual average rainfall is 50.08. Parks. Atlanta has several fine parks and places of res

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Department of the Gulf.

In 1903 the Department of the Gulf, U. S. Army, was re-established and headquarters located at Atlanta, and the following officers are in command: Brigadier-General Thomas H. Berry, commanding; Major Millard F. Waltz, Adjutant General; Major Lewis E. Goodier, Judge-Advocate; Lieut.-Colonel Samuel R. Jones, Chief Quartermaster; Lieut.-Colonel Henry B. Osgood, Chief Commissary; Lieut.-Colonel Edwin F. Gardiner, Chief Surgeon; Major Elijah W. Halford, Chief Paymaster; Captain Manly B. Curry, Paymas

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Fort McPherson.

An Army post is always an attraction because of the parades and the music, and its disbursements add materially to a city’s income. Fort McPherson, four miles out on the Central of Georgia Railway and two car lines, is one of the best-constructed posts in the United States and much visited by citizens. It is a community in itself, with an independent waterworks system and a complete system of sewerage. There are permanent barracks, ample for one regiment, and during the Spanish War several thous

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Hospitals.

In the Grady Hospital Atlanta has a large and well-equipped institution supported by the city. There are in addition, St. Joseph’s Infirmary and the Presbyterian Hospital, besides a number of excellent sanatoriums conducted by physicians, notably those of Drs. Elkin and Cooper, Dr. Noble and Dr. Robinson, the Halcyon and the National Surgical Institute....

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Churches.

Atlanta has 141 churches and the attendance on religious services is one of the noticeable features of the city’s life. This city is headquarters for several important denominational organizations, especially those of missionary work. It is the home of the Bishop of Georgia, Right Reverend C. K. Nelson (Episcopal), and of Bishop W. A. Candler of the Methodist Church. The Baptist Home Mission Board is located here, and there is a similar organization of the Presbyterian Church represented. The Ca

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Orphan Asylums.

Atlanta has four orphan asylums. The Methodist Orphan Asylum is located at Decatur, several miles east of the city, and the Baptist Orphan Asylum is at Hapeville, nine miles south of Atlanta. The Jewish Orphan Asylum is within the city limits. The Carrie Steele Orphans’ Home is an institution for colored children about three miles east of the city....

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Other Asylums.

The Home for the Friendless and the Florence Crittenden Home for unfortunate women are charities of a high order, carefully managed under the direction of some of the best women in Atlanta. In addition there are numerous free kindergartens. “REQUIESCAT IN PACE.” GATE OF WEST VIEW CEMETERY. Footnotes: [1] Now under construction. [2] Under construction—nearly completed....

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