Reynoldstown is a historic district and intown neighborhood on the near east side of Atlanta, Georgia, located two miles from downtown. The neighborhood is gentrifying and attracting new families, empty-nesters, Atlantans opposed to long commutes; as well as diverse culture of first-time homebuyers, single professionals, artist and students due to its close proximity to other nearby intown neighborhoods, high walkability index, urban amenities and nearby bohemian hotspots on Carroll Street in the adjoined-at-the-hip also historic Cabbagetown neighborhood [1] and in other surrounding communities.
Reynoldstown Historic District | |
Location | Roughly bounded by the CSX rail line, Memorial Dr., Pearl St., and Moreland, Atlanta, Georgia |
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Coordinates | 33°45′7″N84°21′16″W / 33.75194°N 84.35444°W |
Built | 1865 |
Architect | Chase, William J.J. |
Architectural style | Romanesque, Colonial Revival, et al. |
NRHP reference No. | 02001405 [2] |
Added to NRHP | April 03, 2003 |
Reynoldstown is a community that was originally settled after the American Civil War by freed slaves who were employed by the railroad. Madison and Sarah Reynolds were among the first ex-slaves to move into the area, and it is believed that the neighborhood was named after them. Reynoldstown was annexed by the city of Atlanta in 1909 and celebrates its historic tie to freed slave roots and artistic expressions to empower residents with its annual Wheelbarrow Festival. The neighborhood continued to thrive and prosper until the 1950s when the railroad industry began to decline. Reynoldstown began gentrifying in the 1990s, altering the demographic makeup of the neighborhood where today it is closer to a mix of 65% white and 35% African-American population composition. The neighborhood was listed as a Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places in 2003. [2]
Reynoldstown is bordered on the west by Pearl Street, across which is Cabbagetown and, south of Memorial Drive, Grant Park; on the east by Moreland Avenue and Edgewood; on the south by I-20, across which is the Ormewood Park neighborhood and an industrial area which is officially part of Grant Park; and on the north by the railroad line and Inman Park.
Reynoldstown lies in NPU N. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as a historic district. Local landmarks include the Colgate Mattress Factory, Trees Atlanta headquarters and nursery, and the former Atlanta & West Point Railroad depot, which now houses a restaurant.
The BeltLine bisects Reynoldstown north-south. It functions as a paved walking and biking trail, and possibly for transit use (either light rail or streetcar). Just north of Reynoldstown in Inman Park adjacent the intersection of Krog St and Irwin St, The East Side Trail, part of The Beltline, is paved from here to Piedmont Park through Inman Park, Old Fourth Ward, Poncey-Highland and Virginia-Highland. The CSX railroad Hulsey Yard forms the northern border of the neighborhood, a current issue is how to connect the southeast BeltLine to the Eastside Trail portion of the BeltLine across the yard. The southern wall of the yard on Wylie Street in Reynoldstown and Cabbagetown is a prominent location for street art in Atlanta. Lang-Carson Park (3.24 acres (1.31 ha)) [3] also lies within Reynoldstown.
The CRiSP - Cabbagetown/Reynoldstown Security Patrol was founded by a small group of concerned Cabbagetown residents who wanted to be proactive about fighting crime in their community and was later joined by residents of Reynoldstown. CRiSP provides additional police and private security presence in Reynoldstown and Cabbagetown, helping to make the communities safer and to improve the quality of life for residents and visitors.
Memorial Drive is the major thoroughfare passing through the south end of Reynoldstown, with mostly light industrial properties, many of which are now repurposed for residential, retail and entertainment use. Reynoldstown contains rail right-of-way that is planned for the Beltline. Reynoldstown is served by the Inman Park/Reynoldstown MARTA station.
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.
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.
The Atlanta BeltLine is a 22 miles (35 km) open and planned loop of multi-use trail and light rail transit system on a former railway corridor around the core of Atlanta, Georgia. The Atlanta BeltLine is designed to reconnect neighborhoods and communities historically divided and marginalized by infrastructure, improve transportation, add green space, promote redevelopment, create and preserve affordable housing, and showcase arts and culture. The project is in varying stages of development, with several mainline and spur trails complete and others in an unpaved, but hikeable, state. Since the passage of the More MARTA sales tax in 2016, construction of the light rail streetcar system is overseen by MARTA in close partnership with Atlanta BeltLine, Inc.
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.
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.
Cabbagetown is an intown neighborhood on the east side of Atlanta, Georgia, United States, abutting historic Oakland Cemetery. It includes the Cabbagetown District, a historic district listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.
Ansley Park is an intown residential district in Atlanta, Georgia, located just east of Midtown and west of Piedmont Park. When developed in 1905-1908, it was the first Atlanta suburban neighborhood designed for automobiles, featuring wide, winding roads rather than the grid pattern typical of older streetcar suburbs. Streets were planned like parkways with extensive landscaping, while Winn Park and McClatchey Park are themselves long and narrow, extending deep into the neighborhood.
Sylvan Hills is a historic intown neighborhood in southwest Atlanta, Georgia, United States.
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.
Westview is a historic intown neighborhood located in southwest Atlanta, Georgia. It is named for the Westview Cemetery that borders the neighborhood to the northwest. The neighborhood is made up of a mixture of architectural styles including Arts & Crafts bungalows, Four-Squares, Tudors, Minimal Traditional houses, and Ranch style houses.
Capitol View is a historic in-town southwest Atlanta neighborhood 2.5 miles from downtown Atlanta, Georgia that was named for its view of the Georgia State Capitol building. Its boundaries include Metropolitan Parkway to the east, Lee Street to the west, and the Beltline to the north. On the south, the border follows Arden Street, Deckner Avenue, and Perkerson Park.
Adair Park is a residential neighborhood located southwest of downtown Atlanta. It has the form of a left curly bracket, bordered by the MARTA north–south rail line on the northwest, the BeltLine trail on the southwest and Metropolitan Parkway on the east. Historically Adair Park also included the area from Metropolitan Parkway to McDaniel Street on the east, but the city now considers that area part of the Pittsburgh neighborhood.
Pittsburgh is a neighborhood of Atlanta, Georgia, founded in 1883 as a black working-class suburb alongside the Pegram rail shops. It was named Pittsburgh because the industrial area reminded one of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and its famous steel mills. Pittsburgh is a working class and developing neighborhood, and as property values rise in Intown Atlanta neighborhoods, many see possibility that this trend will spread to Pittsburgh while bringing renewal for legacy residents.
Streetcars originally operated in Atlanta downtown and into the surrounding areas from 1871 until the final line's closure in 1949.
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 twentieth 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 Krog Street Tunnel is a tunnel in Atlanta known for its street art. The tunnel links the Cabbagetown, Reynoldstown, and Inman Park neighborhoods. It is very popular among cyclists, and is proposed to be used as part of the BeltLine, for bicyclists and pedestrians to cross Hulsey Yard.
Hulsey Yard is a rail yard of the CSX railroad, stretching approximately 0.9 miles (1.4 km) along the border of the Old Fourth Ward, Inman Park, Cabbagetown and Reynoldstown neighborhoods of Atlanta. The south wall of the rail yard along Wylie Street in Reynoldstown is one of the most prominent locations for street art in Atlanta. The art is managed by the Wallkeepers Committee of the Cabbagetown Neighborhood Improvement Association,
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.
This is the timeline of the development of the BeltLine, a ring of trails and parks around central Atlanta.
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.