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North Avenue is a major avenue in Atlanta, Georgia that divides Downtown Atlanta from Midtown Atlanta. North Avenue stretches continuously in Atlanta from Candler Park in the east, across Interstate 75 & Interstate 85, along the southern boundary of the Georgia Institute of Technology, to Joseph E. Lowery Boulevard (formerly Ashby Avenue) just southwest of Georgia Tech, where it ends. North Avenue passes through the neighborhoods of Poncey-Highland, Old Fourth Ward, and Midtown Atlanta.
North Avenue was named at least 150 years ago and was built along the northern city limits of a young Atlanta. For decades, huge portions of both Atlanta itself and Metro Atlanta have been built north of North Avenue, and also beyond the eastern and western ends of North Avenue.
The western half of North Avenue carries U.S. Highway 29, U.S. 78, and U.S. 278, but the eastern parts of those highways follow Ponce de Leon Avenue, just one city block north of North Avenue. Eastbound lanes cross over on northbound-only Piedmont Avenue, westbound lanes one block west on southbound-only Juniper Street, which continues south as Courtland Street. These are the two blocks east of Peachtree Street, Atlanta's main north/south street and the division between the eastern and western quadrants of the city.
Further east, North Avenue crosses the northern branch of Freedom Parkway just south of where it ends at Ponce, then Highland Avenue, and then Moreland Avenue where it crosses the Fulton/DeKalb county line, one block north of the end of the eastern branch of Freedom Parkway. East of here, it loses its middle turn lane and all of the homes on the south side of the street, which were destroyed by the Georgia Department of Transportation in anticipation of the never-built section of the Stone Mountain Freeway. The road ends at Candler Park, with Candler Park Drive going only south and no roads to the north or east.
Notable landmarks along North Avenue include the Bank of America Plaza, The Varsity, the Georgia Institute of Technology, the high-rise headquarters of BellSouth Telecommunications, the historic DuPre Excelsior Mill (formerly The Masquerade concert venue, now relocated), and the high-rise world headquarters of The Coca-Cola Company. The basement of the telephone company building contains the North Avenue MARTA station, which is a station of the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority rapid transit system along its main north/south Red & Gold lines. This MARTA station is the closest one to Georgia Tech, and it is a moderate walk between the two.
Georgia Tech is sometimes jokingly referred to as the "North Avenue Trade School" in reference to this street, the largest thoroughfare near its original center. [1]
When North Avenue was first constructed, this arrow-straight avenue followed the lines between the already-surveyed land lots in Fulton County, Georgia, and it was very near to the original northern city limits. In fact, there was a line of fortifications of Confederate Army dug just north of North Avenue for the Siege of Atlanta in 1864.
The first section of North Avenue was between land lots #50 and #49 west of West Peachtree Street and lots #47 and #48 to the east of this street. Prior to 1925, North Avenue ended at Randolph street. [2] As part of the 1925 agreement with the city to build the Sears, Roebuck & Company's giant Atlanta retail store, North Avenue was extended to the Sidings Rail Road tracks [3] (now the BeltLine near today's Ponce City Market (which is the former Sears, Roebuck, & Co. building) and the DuPre Excelsior Mill.
During the 1930s, a vehicle tunnel was dug underneath these railroad tracks, and then North Avenue was extended eastwards towards Atlanta's Candler Park. North Avenue dead-ends into Candler Park Drive, which forms the western boundary of the Candler Park golf course.
When Richard Peters was laying out the avenues and streets on the two large lots of land that he owned (#49 and #48), he counted North Avenue and Ponce de Leon Avenue as the first and second avenues north, and the next one north of those he named 3rd Avenue. Despite this, the "zero" east/west avenue which divides the northeast and southeast quadrants of Atlanta for the purpose of their street addresses and the U.S. Postal Service is Edgewood Avenue, which is many blocks farther south of North Avenue, running east from the downtown city center at Five Points. Because of this, the street numbers in midtown (the only part of the city that uses them) do not match the block numbers.
AT&T Midtown Center I is a 206.4 m (677 ft), 47-story skyscraper located in Midtown Atlanta, Georgia. Completed in 1982, it serves as the regional headquarters of BellSouth Telecommunications, which does business as AT&T Southeast, and was acquired as part of AT&T's acquisition of BellSouth. BellSouth Corporate headquarters was located in the Campanile building, also in Midtown.
Peachtree Street is one of several major streets running through the city of Atlanta. Beginning at Five Points in downtown Atlanta, it runs North through Midtown; a few blocks after entering into Buckhead, the name changes to Peachtree Road at Deering Road. Much of the city's historic and noteworthy architecture is located along the street, and it is often used for annual parades,, as well as one-time parades celebrating events such as the 100th anniversary of Coca-Cola in 1986 and the Atlanta Braves' 1995 World Series victory.
Midtown Atlanta, or Midtown, is a high-density commercial and residential neighborhood of Atlanta, Georgia. The exact geographical extent of the area is ill-defined due to differing definitions used by the city, residents, and local business groups. However, the commercial core of the area is anchored by a series of high-rise office buildings, condominiums, hotels, and high-end retail along Peachtree Street between North Avenue and 17th Street. Midtown, situated between Downtown to the south and Buckhead to the north, is the second-largest business district in Metro Atlanta. In 2011, Midtown had a resident population of 41,681 and a business population of 81,418.
From its incorporation in 1847, the municipal boundaries of Atlanta, Georgia, United States, were extended repeatedly from a small area around its railroad station to today's city covering 131.7 square miles (341 km2).
Downtown Atlanta is the central business district of Atlanta, Georgia, United States. The larger of the city's two other commercial districts, it is the location of many corporate or regional headquarters; city, county, state and federal government facilities; Georgia State University; sporting venues; and most of Atlanta's tourist attractions. It measures approximately four square miles, and had 26,700 residents as of 2010. Similar to other central business districts in the United States, it has recently undergone a transformation that included the construction of new condos and lofts, renovation of historic buildings, and arrival of new residents and businesses.
Located at 695 North Avenue in Atlanta, the Dupre Excelsior Mill, may have been built as early as 1890 by DuPre Manufacturing Company. However, the mill fails to appear on Atlanta city maps in 1892 and 1899, which both show the property as vacant. The first possible reference to the mill exist in the report of the death of Hubert Neal on July 17, 1899. According to the report, his accident occurred at the Atlanta Excelsior Works. The earliest concrete confirmation of the mill seems to be three lawsuits filed against Dupre in 1907 for accidents that occurred at the facility. The mill does appear on the Sanborn-Perris fire insurance map of 1911. At that time, the only road connecting it was Angier Street. It was noted to have been heated by steam power, no lighting, and a private water supply from a well 10 feet in diameter and 40 feet deep. A watchman made hourly rounds to seven stations.
The Great Atlanta Fire of 1917 began just after noon on 21 May 1917 in the Old Fourth Ward of Atlanta, Georgia. It is unclear just how the fire started, but it was fueled by hot temperatures and strong winds which propelled the fire. The fire, which burned for nearly 10 hours, destroyed 300 acres (120 ha) and 1,900 structures displacing over 10,000 people. Damages were estimated at $5 million,.
Clear Creek is a stream in northeast Atlanta that is a tributary to Peachtree Creek and part of the Chattahoochee River watershed. It has two main branches, one originating east of the high ground along which Boulevard runs and another to the west originating on the northeast side of downtown Atlanta. The easterly branch of Clear Creek begins in several springs and branches in what are now Inman Park and the Old Fourth Ward. Flowing north, the creek was joined by other branches and springs, including Angier Springs near the end of Belgrade Avenue and the so-called Ponce de Leon Springs, which were “discovered” during railroad construction in the 1860s and gave rise to the eponymous park and avenue.
Ponce de Leon Park ( PONSS də LEE-ən; also known as Spiller Park or Spiller Field from 1924 to 1932, and "Poncey" to locals, was the primary home field for the minor league baseball team called the Atlanta Crackers for nearly six decades. The Crackers played here in the Southern Association and the International League. It was also home of the Atlanta Black Crackers who captured the second half championship of the Negro American League in 1938.
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.
Ponce de Leon Avenue, often simply called Ponce, provides a link between Atlanta, Decatur, Clarkston, and Stone Mountain, Georgia. It was named for Ponce de Leon Springs, in turn from explorer Juan Ponce de León, but is not pronounced as in Spanish. Several grand and historic buildings are located on the avenue.
South Downtown is a historic neighborhood of Downtown Atlanta, Georgia, United States. South Downtown is primarily home to city, county, state, and federal governmental offices, which prompted the city to adopt signage declaring the area "Government Walk." Although much of South Downtown is dominated by surface parking lots, the neighborhood was passed over during the redevelopment boom of the 1960s and 1970s that resulted in the demolition of much of Downtown's architecturally significant buildings. The result is myriad buildings from the 1950s and earlier that retain their historic structural integrity.
The Rufus M. Rose House is a late Victorian, Queen Anne style house located in the SoNo district of Atlanta, Georgia. Occupying a narrow lot on Peachtree Street, one and half blocks south of North Avenue, the house was built in 1901 for Dr. Rufus Mathewson Rose. The architect was Emil Charles Seiz (1873-1940), who designed many residential and commercial structures in the city, including the 1924 Massellton Apartments on Ponce de Leon Avenue.
Ponce City Market is a mixed-use development located in a former Sears catalogue facility in Atlanta, with national and local retail anchors, restaurants, a food hall, boutiques and offices, and residential units. It is located adjacent to the intersection of the BeltLine with Ponce de Leon Avenue in the Old Fourth Ward near Virginia Highland, Poncey-Highland and Midtown neighborhoods. The 2.1-million-square-foot (200,000 m2) building, one of the largest by volume in the Southeast United States, was used by Sears, Roebuck and Co. from 1926–1987 and later by the City of Atlanta as "City Hall East". The building's lot covers 16 acres (65,000 m2). Ponce City Market officially opened on August 25, 2014. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2016.
Streetcars originally operated in Atlanta downtown and into the surrounding areas from 1871 until the final line's closure in 1949.
Ponce de Leon Springs were natural springs located on the site of Ponce City Market in Atlanta, where Ponce de Leon Avenue crosses the BeltLine, and where the Old Fourth Ward, Virginia Highland, Midtown and Poncey-Highland neighborhoods of Atlanta meet.
Washington–Rawson was a neighborhood of Atlanta, Georgia. It included what is now Center Parc Stadium and the large parking lot to its north, until 1997 the site of Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium, as well as the I-20-Downtown Connector interchange. Washington and Rawson streets intersected where the interchange is today. To the northwest was Downtown Atlanta, to the west Mechanicsville, to the east Summerhill, and to the south Washington Heights, now called Peoplestown.