Streetscape Palimpsest
A History of Georgia Avenue

Credits and Sources

Written by Dr. Marni Davis (Georgia State University)
Originally published on ArcGIS StoryMaps, 2019
Revised and republished on WordPress with design assistance from Adina Langer, 2026

Video interviews by Richard Laupus (additional interviews by Marni Davis)
Black and white photographic portraits by Richard Laupus 

The title of this project borrows the “palimpsest” metaphor from other urban theorists and historians, especially Timothy J. Crimmins, “The Atlanta Palimpsest: Stripping Away the Layers of the Past.” Atlanta Historical Journal, Vol. XXVI (1982): 13-32.

Many thanks for support, financial and otherwise, to:

  • Bryan Sinclair and Jonathan Bodnar, Georgia State University Library
  • Margaret Hooker and the Annie E. Casey Foundation 
  • Paul Crater, Calinda Lee, Sue Verhoef, and the Atlanta History Center 
  • Jeremy Katz and the Cuba Family Archives at the Breman Jewish Heritage Museum 
  • Ruta M. Abolins and the Walter J. Brown Media Archives and Peabody Awards Collection at the University of Georgia Libraries  
  • Rachel Senese Myers and Digital Collections at Georgia State University Library  
  • Meredith Torre and the archives at Atlanta Housing Authority  
  • Geoff Heard and the Summerhill Neighborhood Development Corporation 
  • Clemmie Jenkins, Wilbur Yancy, Karen Brown, and Denise Moore for sharing their memories of Summerhill and Georgia Avenue
  • Joseph Hurley, Eric Entrican Wilson, Alex Sayf Cummings, Jeffrey Trask, and Jeff Young 
  • Jack Murphy, Scott Taylor, and Carter USA 
  • Brennan Collins and the Student Innovation Fellows Program at Georgia State University 
  • Thanks to Ashley Lomasney for bringing the House of U.S.E. to my attention

Information about the businesses along Georgia Avenue – both the locations and the proprietors – comes the following sources:  

  • Atlanta’s City Directories, 1930-1980 
  • United States Federal Census manuscript records, accessed at Ancestry.com 
  • Articles, advertisements, and obituaries published in the Atlanta Constitution, the Atlanta Journal, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and the Atlanta Daily World 
  • Interviews with former and current residents of the neighborhoods surrounding Georgia Avenue 

All street view images from Google Maps Street View, unless otherwise indicated.

SOURCES: Two Neighborhoods 

Georgia Avenue at the Turn of the Century

Summerhill:

  • Photographs of Allen Temple, Reed Street Baptist Church, and the Summer Hill School: E.R. Carter, The Black Side: A Partial History of the Business, Religious and Educational Side of the Negro in Atlanta. Atlanta: np, 1894: 25, 217, 281. 
  • “Only Black Teachers to be Elected for Black Schools in Atlanta Hereafter.” Atlanta Constitution, June 27, 1887, 5. 
  • “The Summerhill School: The Oldest Negro School.” Atlanta Constitution, March 9, 1897, 4. 
  • Alison Dorsey, To Build Our Lives Together: Community Formation in Black Atlanta, 1875-1906. Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press, 2004, 35-36, 83-84. 
  • Alton Hornsby Jr., Southerners, Too? Essays on the Black South. Lanham, Md.: University Press of America, 2004, 93-94. 
  • Tera W. Hunter, To ’Joy My Freedom: Southern Black Women’s Lives and Labors after the Civil War. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1997, 48. 

Southside:

  • Photograph of Hebrew Orphans Home: T.H. Martin, Handbook of the City of Atlanta. Atlanta, Ga: The Southern Industrial Publishing Company, 1898, 23. 
  • Photograph of the Temple: Atlanta Standard City Guide. Atlanta, Ga: The Franklin-Turner Co., 1907, 56. 
  • Photograph of the Jewish Educational Alliance: Kenneth Stein, A History of Ahavath Achim Congregation, Atlanta: Standard Press, 1978, 19.
  • Ronald H. Bayor, “Ethnic Residential Patterns in Atlanta, 1880-1940.” The Georgia Historical Quarterly 63, no. 4 (December 1, 1979): 435–46.  
  • “You Want to Build.” Atlanta Constitution, February 19, 1890, 1. 
  • “From the Top of the Capitol Avenue Hill.” Atlanta Constitution, May 15, 1910, E8. 
  • “Georgia Avenue to be Repaved.” Atlanta Constitution, August 28, 1912, 1. 
  • Steven Hertzberg, Strangers within the Gate City : The Jews of Atlanta, 1845-1915. 1st ed. Jewish Publication Society of America, 1978, 112-113, 249. 
  • Steve Oney, And the Dead Shall Rise : The Murder of Mary Phagan and the Lynching of Leo Frank. 1st ed. Pantheon, 2003, 10-13, 79-85. 

Separate & Unequal:

SOURCES: The Bustle Begins: Georgia Avenue in the 1920s and 1930s  

  • MAP: 1928 Survey Map of the City of Atlanta. Published by: U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey and City of Atlanta Mapping Division, 1930. Available at atlmaps.org.
  • 1928 Empire Theater advertisement: Accessed at Cinema Treasures (http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/12079).
  • “Bargain House Adopts Ancient Trade Customs,” Atlanta Constitution, January 27, 1930, 11. 
  • Bernath’s Market c.1930: ASB 200.003, courtesy of the Cuba Family Archives for Southern Jewish History at the Breman Museum, Atlanta, Ga. (https://thebreman.org/collection/catalog/detail/3cbe2f90-cfce-449d-a356)
  • Lobby card for The Cohens and the Kellys in Paris (1928): in public domain at Wikipedia.org

A Neighborhood in Decline?

Redlined:

  • MAP: Residential Security Map: Home Owners Loan Corporation, “Residential Security Map,” 1938. Robert K. Nelson, LaDale Winling, Richard Marciano, Nathan Connolly, et al., “Mapping Inequality,” American Panorama, ed. Robert K. Nelson and Edward L. Ayers. (https://dsl.richmond.edu/panorama/redlining/map/GA/Atlanta/areas#loc=12/33.7534/-84.3563) 
  • HOLC Area Description of “Capitol Avenue Section” (D12): Mapping Inequality: Redlining in New Deal America (https://dsl.richmond.edu/panorama/redlining/map/GA/Atlanta/area_descriptions/D12#loc=12/33.7534/-84.3563&scan=3/64.4281/-120).
  • Kenneth T. Jackson, “Race, Ethnicity, and Real Estate Appraisal: The Home Owners Loan Corporation and the Federal Housing Administration.” Journal of Urban History 6.4 (August 1980): 419-452.Todd M. Michney and LaDale Winling, “New Perspectives on New Deal Housing Policy: Explicating and Mapping HOLC Loans to African Americans.” Journal of Urban History (2019).
  • Jason Rhodes, “The Value of Exclusion: Chasing Scarcity through Social Exclusion in Early Twentieth Century Atlanta.” Human Geography 9, no. 1 (2016): 46–67.

SOURCES: Business Booms: Georgia Avenue in the 1940s and 1950s

  • 1949 aerial photograph of Georgia Avenue: “Aerial Survey, Atlanta, Georgia, 1949 (66),” asa066l, Planning Atlanta – A New City in the Making, 1949 Aerial Mosaic and Photographs, Georgia State University Library. (https://digitalcollections.library.gsu.edu/digital/collection/PlanATL/id/10852/rec/84)
  • Walter Banks: Mark Bradley, “There Has to be a Place for Walter Banks at SunTrust Park. Atlanta Journal-Constitution, October 6, 2016. Accessed at AJC Online (https://www.ajc.com/blog/mark-bradley/there-has-place-for-walter-banks-suntrust-park/dhdrfQxYuEGKBdoQxhrShK/)
  • Small Grocery Store and Howard’s Super Market: LBCB024-088a and LBCB068-081, Lane Brothers Commercial Photographers Photographic Collection, 1920-1976. Photographic Collection, Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library.
  • MAP: “Map of Atlanta, 1959,” AFPL_M0021, Atlanta-Fulton Public Library. Georgia State University, Atlanta. (https://digitalcollections.library.gsu.edu/digital/collection/PlanATL/id/143/rec/1)
  • “New Southside Stadium’s Name to Honor W.O. Cheney, Teacher.” Atlanta Constitution, November 6, 1947, 10.
  • “Summerhill Residents Aroused over Proposed White Stadium.” Atlanta Daily World, October 22, 1947, 1.
  • Cynthia Griggs Fleming, Soon We Will Not Cry: The Liberation of Ruby Doris Smith Robinson. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc, 1998: 34.

Immigrant Entrepreneurs and Family Economies on the Southside:

  • Sam Rosenberg and his daughters, and Jack and Mitzi Rosenberg on Georgia Avenue: generously made available by Jack Rosenberg (z”l 1932-2025)
  • Sam’s Place: Application for Building Permit, 37B Georgia Avenue, 3/25/1945, Atlanta History Center.

The Expressway Comes to Atlanta

  • “Aerial view looking north at the construction of the Downtown Connector in Atlanta, Georgia,” VIS 109.01.16, Jack Etheridge Photographs of Downtown Atlanta, Georgia, Kenan Research Center, Atlanta History Center, Atlanta GA. (https://album.atlantahistorycenter.com/digital/collection/Etheridge/id/10/rec/7)
  • Walker’s Supermarket and T. Smith: LBCB099-025, Lane Brothers Commercial Photographers Photographic Collection, 1920-1976. Photographic Collection, Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library.
  • H.W. Lochner and Company, Highway and Transportation Plan for Atlanta, Georgia, State Highway Department of Georgia and the Public Roads Administration, Federal Works Agency, 1946: 9-10.
  • “South Expressway Link to Open in ’57.” Atlanta Journal and Constitution, January 8, 1956, 1E.
  • “478 Old Houses are Being Razed for the Expressway.” Atlanta Journal and Constitution, August 4, 1957, SM8.
  • “He’s Got the Expressway in His Attic.” Atlanta Journal and Constitution, February 14, 1960, SM6.
  • “2nd Reconstruction Period Keeping Atlanta Humming.” Atlanta Journal and Constitution, August 7, 1960, 6A.
  • Ronald H. Bayor, Race and the Shaping of Twentieth-Century Atlanta. University of North Carolina Press, 1996: 53-76.
  • Karen Ferguson, Black Politics in New Deal Atlanta. University of North Carolina Press, 2002: 182, 211.

Urban Renewal:

  • MAP: Atlanta Housing Authority, “Rawson-Washington Street Urban Redevelopment Area: Community Facilities,” 1958. atlpm0130b, Planning Atlanta City Planning Maps Collection, Georgia State University Library. (https://digitalcollections.library.gsu.edu/digital/collection/PlanATL/id/1703/rec/23)
  • MAP: Atlanta Housing Authority, “Rawson Street Urban Renewal Study Area: Existing Condition of Structures,” 1958, atlpm0129d, Planning Atlanta City Planning Maps Collection, Georgia State University Library. (https://digitalcollections.library.gsu.edu/digital/collection/PlanATL/id/1759/rec/4)
  • “City in 1958 will Start Buying Up Slum Property.” Atlanta Journal, October 2, 1957, 1+.
  • “Atlanta Must Rebuild 598 Acres.” Atlanta Journal, October 3, 1957, 1+.
  • “Merchants Panel Aids Rawson St. Renewal.” Atlanta Constitution, May 22, 1958, 18.
  • “White Paper on Slums,” August 14, 1961, 16-18, City of Atlanta Department of Planning, box 310, Capitol Gateway records, Atlanta Housing Authority.
  • Eric Hill Associates, Report on the Relocation of Individuals, Families, and Businesses. Atlanta Community Improvement Program, 1966, 71-74.
  • Digital Scholarship Lab, “Renewing Inequality,” American Panorama, ed. Robert K. Nelson and Edward L. Ayers. (https://dsl.richmond.edu/panorama/renewal/#view=0/0/1&viz=map)
  • Irene V. Holliman, “From Crackertown to Model City? Urban Renewal and Community Building in Atlanta, 1963—1966.” Journal of Urban History 35, no. 3 (March 1, 2009): 369–86.
  • Larry Keating, Atlanta : Race, Class, and Urban Expansion. Temple University Press, 2001.
  • Clarence N. Stone, Economic Growth and Neighborhood Discontent: System Bias in the Urban Renewal Program of Atlanta. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1976.

SOURCES: Neighborhood Erasure: Georgia Avenue in the 1960s and 1970s

  • 1972 aerial photograph of Georgia Avenue: 1972 aerial 13067-272-10 from Sprawling of Atlanta Project, courtesy of Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library, Atlanta.
  • 1961 renewal rendering: “City-Within-City Renewal Plan Proposed Here.” Atlanta Journal and Constitution, Dec. 31, 1961, 4A.
  • “Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium,” 1964, VIS 71.143.01, Floyd Jillson Photographs, Kenan Research Center, Atlanta History Center. (https://album.atlantahistorycenter.com/digital/collection/Jilson/id/838/rec/1)
  • The View from Mechanicsville: Photographs 2014.01913 and 2014.02541, Slides of the Rawson-Washington Project, Atlanta Stadium, residential area before renewal, 1966. Urban Renewal Program records, Photographs, Atlanta Housing Archives.
  • Ivan Allen, Jr. Mayor: Notes on the Sixties. Simon and Schuster, 1971: 152-164, 174-192.
  • Rebecca Burns, “The Other 284 Days.” Atlanta Magazine, June 21, 2013. (https://www.atlantamagazine.com/great-reads/turner-field-development/)
  • Daniel Judt, “Limitations of the Past: Atlanta’s Stadium and Atlanta’s Image, 1960-2015.” Yale Historical Journal, Spring 2015, 81–109.

Changes on Georgia Avenue:

  • “Hotels Near Stadium?” (letter from Charles Zink) Atlanta Constitution, March 18, 1967, 4.
  • “Klan Slims Down for Parade Here.” Atlanta Constitution, June 5, 1967, 3.

Conflicting Visions: Whose Neighborhood?

  • Model Neighborhoods Map: Atlanta Department of Budget and Planning, “Model Neighborhood: Ultimate Development,” 1970. atlpp0217_90, Planning Atlanta City Planning Maps Collection, Georgia State University Library. (https://digitalcollections.library.gsu.edu/digital/collection/PlanATL/id/1366/rec/3)
  • Charles D. Jackson, “The Model Cities complex located at Georgia and Capitol Avenues,” 1970. AJCP234-053e, Atlanta Journal Constitution Photographic Archives. Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library. (https://digitalcollections.library.gsu.edu/digital/collection/ajc/id/1404/rec/1)
  • Ku Klux Klan march and protesters on Georgia Avenue, 1967: Herman “Skip” Mason, Jr., Politics, Civil Rights, and Law in Black Atlanta, 1870-1970. Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing, 2000: 82.
  • “Summerhill was Likely Spot for Trouble When it Came.” Atlanta Journal, September 7, 1966, 1.
  • “U.S.E. House – A Haven for Toughs,” Atlanta Constitution, Nov. 7, 1966, 8.
  • Paul Hemphill, “Where the Action Is,” Atlanta Constitution, Dec. 4, 1966, 54.
  • Julius Lester, “Perspective on the Atlanta Rebellion.” Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee, 1967.
  • “Model City Site is Historical.” Atlanta Journal and Constitution, November 19, 1967, 6A.
  • Ronald H. Bayor, Race and the Shaping of Twentieth-Century Atlanta. University of North Carolina Press, 1996: 138-152.
  • Winston A. Grady-Willis, Challenging U.S. Apartheid: Atlanta and Black Struggles for Human Rights, 1960-1977. Duke University Press, 2006: 114-127.
  • Cynthia Griggs Fleming, Soon We Will Not Cry: The Liberation of Ruby Doris Smith Robinson. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc, 1998: 24.
  • Irene V. Holliman, “From Crackertown to Model City? Urban Renewal and Community Building in Atlanta, 1963—1966.” Journal of Urban History 35, no. 3 (March 1, 2009): 369–86.
  • Larry Keating, “Atlanta: Peoplestown—Resilience and Tenacity versus Institutional Hostility.” Rebuilding Urban Neighborhoods, W. Dennis Keating and Norman Krumholz, ed.s. Sage Publications, 1999: 33-41.
  • Kevin M. Kruse, White Flight: Atlanta and the Making of Modern Conservatism. Princeton University Press, 2005: 164-169

Azar’s Package Store

  • “Azar Must Go!,” The Great Speckled Bird, January 26, 1970, 3.
  • Protest at Azar’s Package Store, January 1970: V003-700113-B013 and V003-700113-B033, from Tom Coffin Photographs. Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library. (https://digitalcollections.library.gsu.edu/digital/collection/GSB/search)
  • “People Explain the Reasons for Their Protests in Summerhill,” wsbn60555, WSB Newsfilm collection, reel WSBN1666, Walter J. Brown Media Archives and Peabody Awards Collection, The University of Georgia Libraries, Athens, Ga. (https://dlg.usg.edu/record/ugabma_wsbn_wsbn60555)
  • “Law to Police Night Clubs is Delayed for Legal Study.” Atlanta Constitution, April 1, 1965, 22.
  • “Continue Picket of Liquor Store.” Atlanta Daily World, January 23, 1970, 1.
  • “Azar Must Go!” The Great Speckled Bird, January 26, 1970, 3.
  • “Azar’s Tricks.” The Great Speckled Bird, February 2, 1970, 3.
  • “Youth Shot to Death, 2 Officers Suspended.” Atlanta Constitution, August 5, 1970, 1A.
  • “Negro Leaders Seek Talks on Summerhill.” Atlanta Constitution, August 18, 1970, 1A.
  • “Summerhill Residents List their Grievances.” Atlanta Constitution, August 21, 1970, 12A.
  • “Liquor Sale Banned in Tense City Area.” Atlanta Journal, August 22, 1970, 1.
  • “Taking Care of Azar’s.” The Great Speckled Bird, August 24, 1970, 18.
  • “Mayor Closes Summerhill Liquor Store.” Atlanta Daily World, August 25, 1970, 1.
  • “CRC Seeks Hearing on Azar’s Liquor License.” Atlanta Daily World, August 28, 1970, 1.
  • “Azar Reopens Package Store.” Atlanta Constitution, September 11, 1970, 3A.
  • “Picket Barred at Azar Store in Summerhill.” Atlanta Journal, October 6, 1970, 3C.
  • “Jury Picked to Try Officers in Slaying.” Atlanta Constitution, October 13, 1970, 10A.
  • “Mother Faces Police at Trial.” Atlanta Constitution, October 14, 1970, 3A.
  • “Police Get Manslaughter Indictments.” Atlanta Daily World, October 16, 1970, 1.
  • “Young Andre Moore.” Atlanta Constitution, October 19, 1970, 4A.
  • “Aftermath.” The Great Speckled Bird, October 26, 1970, 2.
  • “Abandoned School Becomes Neighborhood Blight.” Atlanta Constitution, June 1, 1982, 9A.
  • On the Atlanta Child Murders, see Maurice J. Hobson, The Legend of the Black Mecca. University of North Carolina Press, 2017: 94-130.

SOURCES: Olympian Ambitions: Georgia Avenue in the 1980s and 1990s

  • 1993 aerial photograph of Georgia Avenue: from the manuscript collection of the Atlanta Committee of the Olympic Games, made available to author by the Kenan Research Center at the Atlanta History Center.
  • Storefronts along Georgia Avenue: Dwight Ross, Jr., “Businesses Along the proposed Olympic Redevelopment Project in Summerhill, 1995.” AJCNL1995-02-03-01b, AJCNL1995-02-03-01f, AJCNL1995-02-03-01g, AJCNL1995-02-03-01h, AJCNL1995-02-03-01k, AJCNL1995-02-03-01o, all Atlanta Journal-Constitution Photographic Archives. Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library.
  • Bill Dedman’s 1988-89 series of articles in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, known collectively as “The Color of Money,” can be accessed at https://powerreporting.com/color/.

The Olympics Come to Georgia Avenue:

  • Olympic Venue Map: Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games, “The Olympic Ring Venue Map,” 1994. atlpp0419_63, Planning Atlanta City Planning Maps Collection, Georgia State University Library. (https://digitalcollections.library.gsu.edu/digital/collection/PlanATL/id/2606/rec/4)
  • A’NUFF Protest: “Protesters Outside Olympics Chief Billy Payne’s House, July 20, 1991.” AJCP309-050a, Atlanta Journal-Constitution Photographic Archives. Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library. (https://digitalcollections.library.gsu.edu/digital/collection/PlanATL/id/7515/rec/1)
  • “Atlanta Trains for ’96 Summer Olympic Games.” St. Petersburg Times (Fla.), March 31, 1991, 8D.
  • “Governor Praises Cooperation that Resulted in Stadium Accord.” Atlanta Journal and Constitution, August 30, 1991, G4.
  • Alma Eugene Hill, “Group of Protesters Fails to Upstage the Main Event,” Atlanta Journal-Constitution, July 11, 1993.
  • “Tackling an Olympic Task.” Atlanta Journal and Constitution, October 21, 1993, 11.
  • Rebecca Burns, “The Other 284 Days.” Atlanta Magazine, June 21, 2013. (https://www.atlantamagazine.com/great-reads/turner-field-development/)

The Man with the Olympic Torch:

  • Stadium Area Planning Map: Diane R. Suchman, “Meeting an Olympic Challenge in Summerhill.” Urban Land 54.9 (September 1995): 51.
  • “Stadium May be Catalyst for Revival of Summerhill.” Atlanta Journal and Constitution, February 4, 1995, C8.
  • “Olympic Renovation Enlists Tech Students, Volunteers to Enhance a Summerhill Street.” Atlanta Journal and Constitution, June 29, 1995, np.
  • “Neighborhood Redevelopment Picks up Speed.” Atlanta Journal and Constitution, February 23, 1996, C4.
  • “City with Proud Civil Rights Legacy Wants All the World to See.” Washington Post, July 19, 1996, A14.
  • “Squandering Uncle Sam’s Investment.” Atlanta Journal and Constitution, July 12, 1998, R2.

After the Olympics:

  • Aerial photograph of Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium and Centennial Olympic Stadium from Dan Chapman, “Atlanta’s Olympic Legacy in the Eye of Beholder,” Atlanta Journal Constitution, July 26, 2016 (https://www.ajc.com/news/atlanta-olympic-legacy-the-eye-beholder/THZK0YjfhcShpTK4UwUwcN/)
  • Sarah Dylla, “A Cauldron in Atlanta: Reflections on a Reluctant Symbol for an Image-Obsessed City,” Public Art Dialogue, Vol. 10, No. 2, 2020, 185-195.
  • Steven P. French & Mike E. Disher, “ Atlanta and the Olympics: A One-Year Retropsective.” Journal of the American Planning Association, 63.3 (1997): 379-392.
  • Larry Keating, “Atlanta: Peoplestown—Resilience and Tenacity versus Institutional Hostility.” Rebuilding Urban Neighborhoods, W. Dennis Keating and Norman Krumholz, ed.s. Sage Publications, 1999: 41-47.
  • Harvey K. Newman, “Neighborhood Impacts if Atlanta’s Olympic Games.” Community Development Journal, 34.2 (April 1999): 154-155.
  • John Alexander Rees, “Summer of Discontent: Olympic Revitalization Efforts in Summerhill, Georgia.” Unpublished seminar paper (in possession of author), Georgia Institute of Technology, 2005.
  • Charles Rutheiser, Imagineering Atlanta: The Politics of Place in the City of Dreams. Verso, 1996: 241-259.
  • Alexander von Hoffman, House by House, Block by Block: The Rebirth of America’s Urban Neighborhoods. Oxford University Press, 2003: 171-183, 267.

SOURCES: In Flux, Again: Georgia Avenue After the Braves