A LOOK BACK
This Month in History
Ann Taylor Boutwell
Sept. 5,
1917: During
World War I,
Camp Gordon,
a temporary
housing and
training camp
for new soldiers
opened, where
DeKalb-
Peachtree
Airport is
located today.
Its namesake
was John Brown
Gordon, Confederate general, Georgia governor and
senator. At the end of the war in 1918, the total number
of soldiers passing through the camp included 6,153
officers and 227,312 enlisted men.
Sept. 6,1897: Under shade trees near today’s 1015
Edgewood Ave., the Inman Park United Methodist
Church congregation, founded in 1866, sat on wooden
benches and sang hymns. That Monday afternoon at 5
p.m., they witnessed the laying of the cornerstone for
the new church. Pastor Henry J. Ellis named each item
placing it in a metal box. After Dr. Warren Akin Candler,
tenth president of Emory College, delivered the address,
he secured his manuscript in the box. The building’s
architect, Willis Franklin Denny II, and contractor,
George E. Murphy, lowered and set the stone. The
small historical landmark church, made of grey Stone
Mountain granite, was dedicate April 17, 1898.
Sept. 7, 1988:
The Castle, the
historic home at
the corner of 15th
and Peachtree in
Midtown once
called a “hunk of
junk” by Atlanta
Mayor Andrew
Young, is saved by AT&T. The communications company
signed an agreement not to demolish the 12,000-square-
foot, five-story home, also known as Fort Peace, built
by Ferdinand Dallas McMillan and wife, Lucy Reagan,
in 1908. The couple bought the land in 1904 for $2,190
for their retirement home. In December 1989, the
Atlanta Urban Design Commission deemed it an Atlanta
Landmark and presented Surber, Barber, Choate and
Hertlein Architect in 1991 an Award of Excellence
for its extensive and careful exterior restoration. The
Castle recently received yet another new lease on life by
being renovated and transformed into a restaurant and
entertainment space.
Sept. 11,1966: Led by Coach Norb Hecker, the Atlanta
Falcons took to the now demolished Atlanta-Fulton County
Stadium as the newest member of the National Football
League. In 1965, owner Rankin Smith, Sr., invited football
fans to select the team’s name. “Falcons” was suggested by
Julia Elliott, a high school teacher from Griffin, and became
the moniker. Gov. Carl E. Sanders and Atlanta Mayor
Ivan Allen, Jr. wished the players well. A crowd of 54,418
attended the Falcons opening game to watch them get
beaten by The Rams, 19-14.
Sept. 14,1985: The Atlanta Botanical Gardens in
Piedmont Park dedicated the Gardenhouse, its first
permanent structure. Atlanta architect Anthony Ames
modeled his $2 million, 24,000 square-feet building after
the 16th century Villa Giulia in Rome. Mayor Andrew
Young, Fulton County Commissioner Michael Lomax,
Mrs. (Louise) Ivan Allen Jr., and Mrs. Deen Day Smith
launched the celebrated ribbon cutting ritual. Docent
guided tours followed as well as an exhibit of Frederick
Law Olmstead, Sr. (1822-1903) concept of the urban
park, which premiered at New York’s Metropolitan
Museum of Art in 1980.
Sept. 22,1991: Mayor Maynard Jackson welcomed
guests to a tribute honoring city historian Franklin Garrett’s
85th birthday (Sept. 25,1906) at the Fox Theater. All
proceeds for the event benefitted the restoration of the
Margaret Mitchell House & Museum effort.
Sept. 24,1999: Elton John performed at the grand
opening of the new Philips Arena in Downtown, which
replaced the old Omni Coliseum, which opened October
14,1972 and was demolished in July 1997.
Sept. 23-25,1906: During the race riot in Atlanta,
James Wesley Edwards
Bowen, the first African
American president of
the Gammon Theological
Seminary, and William H.
Crogman, the first African
American president of
Clark University, protected
the community’s terror-
stricken women and
children. The institutions
were located at the south
end of Capital Street. Both
presidents agreed that the
guilty should be punished
and the innocent protected. Four months earlier, the south
Atlanta community suffered a devastating fire, which
swept over 40 aces destroying 40 dwelling and leaving 400
residents homeless. ESI
Historian Ann Taylor Boutwell is a docent at the
Margaret Mitchell House & Museum. Contact her at
annboutwell@bellsouth.net.
www.RealEstateOfAtlanta.com
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September 2014 | INtOWll 17
