Eastside, Atlanta

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The entrance of Ponce City Market, a large mixed-use development. Ponce City Market large neon sign Midtown, Atlanta, GA.jpg
The entrance of Ponce City Market, a large mixed-use development.
The Vortex restaurant, Little Five Points The Vortex!.jpg
The Vortex restaurant, Little Five Points

Eastside refers to the city district comprising the easternmost portion of Atlanta, Georgia, United States. The Eastside generally encompasses the area bounded on the west by Midtown Atlanta and Downtown Atlanta and on the east by the city limits. The central corridor of the district is the BeltLine Eastside Trail, which connects northern Eastside neighborhoods with those to the south. The Eastside is known for its nightlife establishments, craftsman architecture, local eateries, and quirky public art. [1]

Contents

History

The area that is now the Eastside was the site of the Battle of Atlanta, which was part of the Atlanta Campaign and sealed the fate of the Confederacy. Indeed, Lemuel P. Grant designed the city's fortifications to protect his plantation on what is now the Eastside neighborhood of Grant Park. General James B. McPherson placed his Yankee forces on high ground a mile east of Grant's plantation, in the neighborhood today known as East Atlanta.

Beginning in the 1890s, streetcar suburbs were constructed on the Eastside as havens for the upper middle class. These neighborhoods, many of which contained their own villages encircled by shaded, architecturally distinct residential streets, include the Victorian Inman Park, Bohemian East Atlanta, and eclectic Old Fourth Ward. [1] Some Eastside neighborhoods, including Kirkwood and Edgewood, were separate municipalities before annexation by Atlanta in 1909 and 1915. By mid-century, the Eastside began to succumb to the effects of urban decay and white flight, with Virginia-Highland remaining a notable exception to the area's decline. While the area suffered during the 1970s and 1980s nadir of Atlanta's depopulation, much of its historic architecture remained intact.

In 1990, when Atlanta's intown resurgence began in earnest, the Eastside served as the starting point for the city's gentrification wave. Indeed, while rising property values in the 1990s displaced older, long-term residents as middle- and upper-income residents across the city, in few areas were these increases as dramatic as in the enclave of neighborhoods on the Eastside of Atlanta. Due to the close proximity to downtown, an ample stock of historic housing, and distinct commercial villages, property values on the Eastside skyrocketed. In Kirkwood, for example, median sales prices soared 275% from 1993 to 2003. [2]

The initialization of the BeltLine project in 2005 sent the area's revitalization into overdrive. [3] During the 2000s, more than $775 million in private investment was pumped into the half-mile radius surrounding the Eastside Trail, including a $180 million transformation of a former Sears warehouse into Ponce City Market. [4]

With the dawn of the 21st century, many former industrial buildings bordering the trail were repurposed for residential and retail use. Examples are Ponce City Market, Krog Street Market, Telephone Factory Lofts and many others particularly in the Old Fourth Ward, Inman Park Village, and Kirkwood.

Neighborhoods

Bungalows on Atlanta's Eastside Atlanta etc. 019.jpg
Bungalows on Atlanta's Eastside
Oakland Cemetery Oakland Cemetery and Atlanta Skyscrapers.jpg
Oakland Cemetery

Little Five Points is a commercial district located where Inman Park and Candler Park meet. Scottdale a census designated place on the east side of Atlanta

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Inman Park</span> Historic district on the east side of Atlanta, Georgia, United States

Inman Park is an intown neighborhood on the east side of Atlanta, Georgia, and its first planned suburb. It was named for Samuel M. Inman.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Poncey–Highland</span> Neighborhoods of Atlanta in Fulton County, Georgia, United States

Poncey–Highland is an intown neighborhood on the east side of Atlanta, Georgia, located south of Virginia–Highland. It is so named because it is near the intersection of east/west Ponce de Leon Avenue and north/southwest North Highland Avenue. This Atlanta neighborhood was established between 1905 and 1930, and is bordered by Druid Hills and Candler Park across Moreland Avenue to the east, the Old Fourth Ward across the BeltLine Eastside Trail to the west, Inman Park across the eastern branch of Freedom Parkway to the south, and Virginia Highland to the north across Ponce de Leon Avenue. The Little Five Points area sits on the border of Poncey–Highland, Inman Park, and Candler Park.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Virginia–Highland</span> Neighborhoods of Atlanta in Fulton County, Georgia, United States

Virginia–Highland is an affluent neighborhood of Atlanta, Georgia, founded in the early 20th century as a streetcar suburb. It is named after the intersection of Virginia Avenue and North Highland Avenue, the heart of its trendy retail district at the center of the neighborhood. The neighborhood is famous for its bungalows and other historic houses from the 1910s to the 1930s. It has become a destination for people across Atlanta with its eclectic mix of restaurants, bars, and shops as well as for the Summerfest festival, annual Tour of Homes and other events.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edgewood/Candler Park station</span> MARTA rail station

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Westview, Atlanta</span> CDP in Georgia, United States

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Morningside/Lenox Park</span>

Morningside/Lenox Park is an intown neighborhood in Atlanta, Georgia founded in 1923. It is located north of Virginia-Highland, east of Ansley Park and west of Druid Hills. Approximately 3,500 households comprise the neighborhood that includes the original subdivisions of Morningside, Lenox Park, University Park, Noble Park, Johnson Estates and Hylan Park.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Streetcars in Atlanta</span> Aspect of the history of Atlanta, Georgia, USA

Streetcars originally operated in Atlanta downtown and into the surrounding areas from 1871 until the final line's closure in 1949.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Historic Fourth Ward Park</span>

Historic Fourth Ward Park is a park built on the site of the old Ponce de Leon amusement park, in the Old Fourth Ward of Atlanta, just south of Ponce City Market and just west of the BeltLine Eastside Trail.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gentrification of Atlanta</span> Gentrification of Atlantas inner-city neighborhoods

Gentrification of Atlanta's inner-city neighborhoods began in the 1970s, and it has continued, at varying levels of intensity, into the present. Many factors have contributed to the city's gentrification. A major increase in gentrification that occurred in the last years of the 20th century has been attributed to the 1996 Summer Olympics. However, during the 2000s, Atlanta underwent a profound transformation demographically, physically, and culturally. Suburbanization, rising prices, a booming economy, and new migrants decreased the city’s black percentage from a high of 67% in 1990 to 54% in 2010. From 2000 to 2010, Atlanta gained 22,763 white residents, 5,142 Asian residents, and 3,095 Hispanic residents, while the city’s black population decreased by 31,678. Much of the city’s demographic change during the decade was driven by young, college-educated professionals: from 2000 to 2009, the three-mile radius surrounding Downtown Atlanta gained 9,722 residents aged 25 to 34 holding at least a four-year degree, an increase of 61%. Between the mid-1990s and 2010, stimulated by funding from the HOPE VI program, Atlanta demolished nearly all of its public housing, a total of 17,000 units and about 10% of all housing units in the city. In 2005, the $2.8 billion BeltLine project was adopted, with the stated goals of converting a disused 22-mile freight railroad loop that surrounds the central city into an art-filled multi-use trail and increasing the city’s park space by 40%. Lastly, Atlanta’s cultural offerings expanded during the 2000s: the High Museum of Art doubled in size; the Alliance Theatre won a Tony Award; and numerous art galleries were established on the once-industrial Westside.

The History of Virginia–Highland, the Intown Atlanta neighborhood, dates back to 1812, when William Zachary bought and built a farm on 202.5 acres (0.819 km2) of land there. At some point between 1888 and 1890 the Nine-Mile Circle streetcar arrived,, making a loop of what are now Ponce de Leon Avenue, North Highland Avenue, Virginia Avenue, and Monroe Drive. Atlantans at first used the line to visit what was then countryside, including Ponce de Leon Springs, but the line also enabled later development in the area. Residential development began as early as 1893 on St. Charles and Greenwood Avenues, must most development took place from 1909 through 1926 — solidly upper-middle class neighborhoods, kept all-white by covenant.

The Atlanta neighborhood of Virginia–Highland is one of many intown Atlanta neighborhoods characterized by commercial space of two sorts:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Highland Avenue (Atlanta)</span>

Highland Avenue, east of the BeltLine North Highland Avenue, is a major thoroughfare in northeast Atlanta, forming a major business corridor connecting five Intown neighborhoods:

The Eastside Trail is a walking and biking trail stretching northwest to southeast on the Eastside of Atlanta, part of the BeltLine ring of trails and parks. It is lined with numerous notable industrial buildings adapted into restaurants, shops, apartments, condos, and two major food halls and mixed-use developments.

References

  1. 1 2 Greenfield, Beth (May 29, 2005). "In East Atlanta, the Signs of Chic Are Emerging". The New York Times . Retrieved October 16, 2012.
  2. The Double-edged Sword of Gentrification in Atlanta
  3. "Unknown". Atlanta Intown Paper. No. 2. June 2008.
  4. "Atlanta's Eastside comes alive!", Creative Loafing Atlanta