A LOOK BACK
This Month in History
Ann Taylor Boutwell
Oct. 1, 1875: Atlanta mourned the passing of James Montgomery Calhoun, Atlanta’s
16th mayor. He served four one-year terms during the American Civil War years, from
1862 through 1865. The South Carolina native is buried at Oakland Cemetery next to
his wife, Emma Eliza Dabney Calhoun.
Oct. 4, 1870: Oglethorpe
University opened in Atlanta with a
faculty of five college professors, six
instructors in the law department
and three teachers in the University
High School. Future plans for
the university included a medical
college, a commercial department
and a civil engineering school.
Originally located on Hunter Street,
the university opened on its present
site on Peachtree Road in September
1916.
Oct. 5, 1873: Liquor dealer Lee Smith sold one of Atlanta’s best saloons at 16
Marietta St., for an undisclosed sum. It was called The Girl of the Period, an expression
often used as both a derogatory and complimentary remark during the Gilded Age. The
next few weeks, new owner Lucius “Luch” Harris busied himself painting, dusting and
brushing up the saloon. By Oct. 29, an ad in the Atlanta Daily Herald noted the pub’s
opening with a new stock of old brandies, whiskies, wines, gins and real Havana cigars.
By March 1874, after the financial panic of 1873 and a temperance crusade, 16 Marietta
St. was listed in the city directory as Samuel Long’s shoe shop, maker of custom boots.
Oct. 7, 2003: Author Steve Oney makes his first appearance
at the Rialto Center for the Performing Arts to talk about his long
awaited 649-page epic saga titled And the Dead Shall Rise, published
by Pantheon Books. It is Oney’s 17-year quest of the murder of
Mary Phagan and the lynching of Leo Frank and to find out what
really happened.
Oct. 7-8, 1919: The old gas lamppost fronting the James Bank
located at the Whitehall and Alabama street corner was a popular
site during the Confederate Southern Memorial Association’s two-
day reunion. The siege of Atlanta relic was where Solomon Luckie
an African American barber was fatally wounded on Aug. 10, 1864. Reunion Chairman
Walter P. Andrews made sure the city bustled with picnics, bands, parades and speeches
on the courthouse steps. One of the Georgia Maids of Honor was 18-year-old Margaret
Mitchell, home from Smith College. She enjoyed her volunteer assignment chauffeuring
veterans around the city because it was an opportunity listen to all the survivors’ stories.
Oct. 8, 1887: Gentlemen’s Driving Club (now Piedmont Driving Club) opened two
days before Cotton Exposition of 1887 in Piedmont Park.
Oct. 11,1895: The Battle of
Atlanta Cyclorama wasn’t the only
one to entrance visitors in the city.
The Battle of Gettysburg Cyclorama
was on display during the Cotton
States and International Exhibition
at Piedmont Park. Visitors entered a
building just outside the park near
14th Street specially designed for the
massive cylindrical painting. They stood in the center, which gave them a 360-degree
perspective of the famous three-day battle.
Oct. 12, 1935: At Broadlands, the home of Josephine Inman and Hugh V.
Richardson on Paces Ferry Road, the family celebrated the betrothal of their daughter
Louise to Ivan Allen, Jr., future Mayor of Atlanta. The First Presbyterian Church on
Peachtree Street was the scene of the noon wedding on January 1, 1936. Ivan served as
Mayor and Louise served as first lady of Atlanta from 1962 until 1970.
Oct. 14, 1952: The Daily World, Atlanta’s only African American newspaper,
endorsed Dwight Eisenhower for president. Both the Journal and Constitution backed
Adlai Stevenson.
Oct. 29-31, 1978: The Fox Theatre held a special showing of a 1953 three-
dimensional film, The House of Wax, starring Vincent Price and a very young Charles
Bronson. It’s one of the few 3D films produced in the early 1950s in which the audience
wore special glassed to produce the special effects. ESI
Historian Ann Taylor Boutwell is a docent at the Margaret Mitchell House & Museum.
Contact her at annboutwell@bellsouth.net.
rail
1' T
EveiStHeld Inside The Tunnel
. ,
Tickets available at: wwwEFreshTix.com
INTO A SULTRY UNDERGROUND
EXPERIENCE LIKE NO OTHER ON SATURDAY,
OCTOBER 25TH WHEN ATLANTA’S ICONIC
KrogStreet Tunnel TRANSFORMS INTO AN
AVANT-CARDE MASQUERADE BALL
727 Wylie St Se, Atlanta, GA 30316
Cross Streets: Between Short St SE and Krog St NE/Estoria St SE
Time: Saturday October 25th, 2014 - VIP 7;00pm entry
General Admission: 8:00pm - l :00am
Photo by: Lira Wit idle
AtlantalNtownPaper.com
October 2014 | INtOWIl 19
