Beaver Slide or Beavers' Slide was an African American slum area near Atlanta University documented as early as 1882. It was replaced by the University Homes public housing project in 1937, which was razed in 2008–9.
Charles Forrest Palmer, the man who organized the clearance of Beaver Slide and creation of University Homes, stated in his autobiographical book that Beaver Slide's name was due to James Beavers, Atlanta Chief of Police from 1911 to 1915, once observing the slum from a hillside, losing his footing and sliding down into the slum, thus: "Beavers' Slide". [1]
Beaver Slide was noted for its criminality. [2] In 1925 the area was targeted for a "cleanup" by city and university authorities. [3] [4]
The area was celebrated musically in the "Beaver Slide Rag" by Peg Leg Howell And His Gang, 1927. [5]
It was finally razed to make for the University Homes public housing projects (William Augustus Edwards, architect), which opened in 1938.
University Homes was razed in 2008–9. As of January 2012 there has been no definitive announcement of what will be built on the land. [6]
Druid Hills is a community which includes both a census-designated place (CDP) in unincorporated DeKalb County, Georgia, United States, as well as a neighborhood of the city of Atlanta. The CDP's population was 14,568 at the 2010 census. The CDP formerly contained the main campus of Emory University and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC); however, they were annexed by Atlanta in 2018. The Atlanta-city section of Druid Hills is one of Atlanta's most affluent neighborhoods with a mean household income in excess of $238,500.
Lilburn is a city in Gwinnett County, Georgia, United States. The population was 14,502 at the 2020 census. The estimated population was 12,810 in 2019. It is a part of the Atlanta metropolitan area.
Techwood Homes was an early public housing project in the Atlanta, Georgia in the United States, opened just before the First Houses. The whites-only Techwood Homes replaced an integrated settlement of low-income people known as Tanyard Bottom or Tech Flats. It was completed on August 15, 1936, but was dedicated on November 29 of the previous year by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The new whites-only apartments included bathtubs and electric ranges in each unit, 189 of which had garages. Central laundry facilities, a kindergarten and a library were also provided. Techwood Homes was demolished in advance of the 1996 Olympics and is now Centennial Place Apartments.
The Kimball House was the name of two historical hotels in Atlanta, Georgia. United States. Both were constructed on an entire city block at the south-southeast corner of Five Points, bounded by Whitehall Street, Decatur Street, Pryor Street, and Wall Street, a block now occupied by a multi-story parking garage.
Centennial Hill is district at the northern edge of Downtown Atlanta, Georgia. The name was originally coined by Hines Interests and applied only to their planned development in the area. Although the development was never started and the land later sold, the name remained and became associated with the whole neighborhood. Due in part to the Georgia Aquarium and to renewed interest in city living, Centennial Hill is undergoing a development boom estimated at over US$1 billion. This includes Allen Plaza, an eight-block complex that spans many side streets and borders Ivan Allen. The seasoned developer's project had already delivered the north end of downtown a modern fresh look, with glass buildings that accommodated Southern Co. and Ernst & Young looming over the Downtown Connector and a W Hotel nearby.
The Old Fourth Ward, often abbreviated O4W, is an intown neighborhood on the eastside of Atlanta, Georgia, United States. The neighborhood is best known as the location of the Martin Luther King Jr. historic site.
SoNo is a sub-district of downtown Atlanta, Georgia, just south of Midtown. The area was defined and named by T. Brian Glass while working on a rezoning committee with Central Atlanta Progress in 2005 in order to better establish an identity for the area and give it a hipper image. SoNo refers to the area of Downtown bounded by North Avenue on the north, Central Park Place on the east and the Downtown Connector (Interstate-75/85) on the west and south.
The Atlanta Housing Authority (AHA) is an agency that provides affordable housing for low-income families in Atlanta. Today, the AHA is the largest housing agency in Georgia and one of the largest in the United States, serving approximately 50,000 people.
Buttermilk Bottom, also known as Buttermilk Bottoms or Black Bottom, was an African-American neighborhood in central Atlanta, centered on the area where the Atlanta Civic Center now stands in the Old Fourth Ward. It was considered a slum area, having unpaved streets and no electricity.
U-Rescue Villa was an Atlanta Housing Authority public housing complex built in 1970 and torn down in May 2008. It was located at 355 North Avenue N.E., between Central Park and Parkway, in the Old Fourth Ward neighborhood. It had 70 units and 271 residents at the time of demolition.
Chosewood Park is a neighborhood in southeast Atlanta, Georgia in the United States. It is located south of Peoplestown and Grant Park, west of Boulevard Heights and Benteen Park, northwest of Thomasville Heights and the Atlanta federal penitentiary, and northeast of South Atlanta and Lakewood Heights. It is situated directly on the path of the Atlanta Beltline, which has begun to acquire and develop properties along the rail lines in the Chosewood corridor, including the Boulevard Crossing Park.
Lakewood Heights is a primarily Black neighborhood in southeast Atlanta. It is bounded by:
Copenhill, Copenhill Park, or Copen Hill was a neighborhood of Atlanta, Georgia which was located largely where the Carter Center now sits, and which now forms part of the Poncey-Highland neighborhood.
Briarcliff Plaza, also known as Ponce de Leon Plaza, is a strip mall-type shopping center designed by architect George Harwell Bond and opened in 1939 at the southwest corner of Ponce de Leon Avenue and Highland Avenue in the Poncey-Highland neighborhood of Atlanta. Braircliff Plaza was developed by Relnac Inc., and was proposed to cost $300,000. Construction began after the last home on the block was purchased by Relnac Inc., the Dr. Robin Adair estate, and Briarcliff Plaza opened throughout 1939 with businesses such as Dupree Dry Cleaners, Blick’s Bowling Alley, Holcomb Flowers, the Georgia Fruit & Vegetable Company and Nick Caruso’s Big Place which offered shoe repair, hat cleaning, pressing, repairing and hat cleaning. It was Atlanta's first shopping center with off-street parking. It is anchored by the historic Plaza Theatre and Urban Outfitters. A portion of the historic plaza area was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2020.
In 1994 the Atlanta Housing Authority, encouraged by the federal HOPE VI program, embarked on a policy created for the purpose of comprehensive revitalization of severely distressed public housing developments. These distressed public housing properties were replaced by mixed-income communities.
Lightning was a neighborhood just west of Downtown Atlanta, Georgia, north of the former extension of Magnolia Street, south of Simpson St. and east of Northside Drive. It was razed to make way mostly for the expansion of the Georgia World Congress Center as well as the Georgia Dome, and the area later became home to Mercedes-Benz Stadium .
Renaissance Park is a 5.4 acres (2.2 ha) park in the Old Fourth Ward neighborhood of Atlanta, Georgia. The land was originally part of the Buttermilk Bottom slum which was razed in the 1960s.
Charles Forrest Palmer was an Atlanta real estate developer who became an expert on public housing and organized the building of Techwood Homes, the first public housing project in the United States. He would later head up both the newly created Atlanta Housing Authority and the Chamber of Commerce.
Oak Knoll is a section of the Lakewood Heights neighborhood of southeastern Atlanta which received national attention during its construction phase in 1937 for its innovative financing model.
The Hotel Aragon was a six-story, 125-room hotel at 169 Peachtree Street NE, at the southeast corner of Ellis Street in Atlanta, in what is today the Peachtree Center area of downtown. It was a major addition to the city's hotel capacity at its completion in 1892, cost $250,000, and was built and owned by George Washington Collier. It was the only major hotel in the city not adjacent to Union Station. A 1902 guidebook describes the Aragon as one of three first-class hotels in the city, together with the Kimball House and the Majestic Hotel.