Archive Atlanta

In 2021, there was a lot of conversation about establishing high speed rail between Savannah and Atlanta, and, like everything else in Atlanta’s history, we’ve tried it before! The first time, 129 years ago and then again 74 years ago. So this week, we’re talking about the Nancy Hanks train (the original and II). 
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This week, we’re replaying an episode from the archives - covering Atlanta’s history with the bicycle; its riders, causes, promoters, races, and venues. In the first 50 years of the city's cycling history, riders establish numerous clubs, started a lantern parade tradition, fought for paved roads and closing streets to vehicle traffic and created the first dedicated bike path...and that's just the tip of the history iceberg.
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In today’s world, we all know what Uber and Lyft is and what they provide, and many cities with highly established and regulated taxi systems have waged constant war against them - I am definitely thinking of NYC. But did you know that these cities had the same issues, just many decades before you were born? A jitney is the name of a taxi that operated outside of municipal regulations, the word stemming from the slang word for nickel, which is what the ride originally cost.
Atlanta's jitneys only operated legally for 4 years in the firsts half of the 1920s, while waiting for the determination of a court case that would decide their fate. 
 
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Katherine Geffcken was born in "the old Piedmont Hospital" in 1927 and lived on Myrtle and West Peachtree Streets, worshipped at All Saints Episcopal and attended Spring Street School, O'Keefe and Girl's High. She then went on to Agnes Scott, graduating in 1949, graduate school at Bryn Mawr and 30 years as a professor at Wellesley College.
Hearing her stories of "old" Atlanta, riding the streetcar, the Great Depression, WWII, downtown Decatur and generally being a woman doing incredible things, in a time when few women did, brought so much richness to my existing knowledge of Atlanta history and I hope it does the same for listeners!
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After three years and three months of weekly podcasts, I am changing up the format. A new episode will release every Friday morning, but they will alternate between ‘full length’ and minis. This keeps the podcast sustainable and more importantly, allows me to share even MORE Atlanta history.
This week, we’re kicking off the first mini episode with the short story of ‘Moving Day’. What was Moving Day, you ask? It was the one day each year that every single lease in the city expired and every single renter moved into their new place. If that sounds chaotic, it was.
 
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This week, I am covering some of Atlanta's lesser-known amusement parks. From Walton Springs in the 1840s to the Funtown of 1961. Where were they? What amusements did they have? All those questions answered and so much more!
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This week, I'm covering the "Peyton Wall" - TWO barricades erected in 1962, along Peyton and Harlan Roads. White neighbors had been fighting "Negro encroachment" for more than a decade, and when Ivan Allen became mayor in 1962, they inundated him with letters requesting that the roads be made dead-ends (among other things). By December, the city has blocked the roads and while they were only up for a few months, they've had a long-lasting impact on Atlanta.
Ivan Allen Digital Archive
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Halloween is this weekend, and so I wanted to replay my episode from last year, with Liz Clappin from Tomb With A View. We talked about the history of grave robbing, from the earliest start in this country, to its start in the state of Georgia and then local incidents in Atlanta and Decatur. 
 
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In 1909, Asa Candler, Jr bought 290 acres of land south of Downtown, with the intention of building a racetrack. The Atlanta Speedway lasted only two years, and then the land was used as a small airfield by local pilots. In 1925, the City of Atlanta leased the land for a municipal airport, buying it in 1928. This week, I am covering all the things Atlanta airport - how did it expand, who was it named for, historic terminal buildings and everything in between. 
All about Asa Candler Jr.
Flight Path
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This week, I'm covering the earliest orphanages in Atlanta - who formed them, who funded them, where they were and what they are today. From 1866, when the state of Georgia established a lottery to fund a white orphanage, to the institutions for Black and Jewish children. 
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