SwadePages - Inman Park, Hale-Strickland, 1893-1920

When Georgia decided to build a railroad to the U.S. Midwest and a location was chosen to be the line's terminus The stake marking the Zero Mile Post was driven into the ground in 1837 marking the founding of "Terminus". Originally located in what is now Underground Atlanta, the Zero Mile Post was moved to the Atlanta History Center in October, 2018.

In 1839, homes and a store were built there and the settlement grew. Between 1845 and 1854, rail lines arrived from four different directions, and the rapidly growing town quickly became the rail hub for the entire Southern United States.

During the American Civil War, Atlanta, as a distribution hub, became the target of a major Union campaign, and in 1864, Union William Sherman's troops set on fire and destroyed the city's assets and buildings, save churches and hospitals.

After the war, the population grew rapidly, as did manufacturing, while the city retained its role as a rail hub.

Coca-Cola was launched here in 1886 and grew into an Atlanta-based world empire.

Electric streetcars arrived in 1889,[1] and the city added new "streetcar suburbs".

1893

The Hale-Strickland development was platted around 1893.

The plat laid out Ashland and Hale and Lake forming a triangle with Virgil bisecting Hale and Ashland. Ashland, Virgil and Hale were created between 1897 and 1898. Ashland Avenue then began at Waddell and cut through to Waverly Way.

The lots were first advertised for sale in April, 1894. Going price was $20.58 a month!

1898

The streets are not listed in the city directory until 1898. Then the streets are listed but show no residents.

1900

In 1900, about the time Coca-Cola opened its bottling plant at 125 Edgewood, George Morgan figured that, with his six sons still at home on the farm and his two daughters married and gone, the booming Atlanta offered better opportunities. So, George and his wife, Elliott Crumley Morgan, moved their family from Coal Mountain, (Forsyth County) to Atlanta.

The whole clan moved to a boarding house at 479 Marietta Street.

When they arrived in Atlanta in 1900, George and Elliott Morgan, and five of their six boys Wallace, Carl, Hines, Oscar and Paul, moved to 203 Hunnicutt (which then ran from West Peachtree at Baker to Marietta Street, bisecting what is now Centennial Park), near Luckie Street, into a large boarding house. His daughter, Mary and her husband Eli Nesbitt, lived in the same boarding house. The other son, Clarence and his new wife Addie, lived in a similar boarding house at 325 Marietta Street.

George started working as a carpenter, Wallace and Eli as laborers, and Carl worked as a Tinner's apprentice with the American Can Company. Clarence, Hines, Oscar and Paul, along with brother-in-law Eli, hired on as Iron Molders with the young Atlanta Stove Works.

The location of the Atlanta Stove Works was given as merely "Southern Railway near Edgewood".

Lake Avenue was just a stretch of road, with the expansive fields and lake still existing on the northwest side and a few homes on the southeast, running from the railway line to what was then Augusta Avenue, which ran from Moreland at the city limits to Highland. The HaleStrickland plat shows that the trolley traveled Lake Avenue.

By 1900, folks began moving into the new homes being built in Hale-Strickland. According to the 1900 United States Census, the residents of the three streets, part of Atlanta's Ward 4, were:

Hale Street:

#25William H. Bedingfield, a "money collector", his wife Alice and their five children Eunice, Ruby, Grace, Harry and Jim;

#27 James G Wilson, an electrician, his wife Jennie, daughter Ruby and son James Jr.;

#31 Solomon Peek, furniture salesman, his wife Mary, daughters Eva and Ethel;

#100 George Purdie, printing manager, his wife Annie, daughters Annie R. and Lena, and son George Jr.

Ashland Avenue:

#1 James Brooks, railroad conductor, his wife Maggie, sons Alto and Fred, both day laborers, and daughter Ruby;

#2 Louis Huddleston, reporter, wife Ila May, and their son William;

#4 Joseph McIndoe, telegraph operator, his wife Julia, daughters Marie and Mary and son Louis;

#5 Paul Kistler, "peddler of produce", his wife Jane and daughters Frankie and Mary and son Joel;

#9 George Stovall, a minister, his wife Elizabeth, sons Emery, John, Mauley, Frank and George Jr, daughters Emma, Mamie, Zelena and Jennie;

#17 George Jarrell, a day laborer, his wife Joanna, sons Ziphial, also a day laborer, and Burt, and daughters Lotta and Lola;

#10 Sarah Bond, a dressmaker and her boarder, Susan Mooney;

#15 James Coggins, an iron molder at the Stove Works, his wife Lizzie and daughters Sophia and Eva;

#20 John Wynn, a fertilizer salesman, wife Mary, sons John Jr and Henry, daughter Ruth and nephew Charles, a stenographer;

#22 Albert Church, a drug "house" salesman, his wife Minnie, sons Louis, Albert and John, daughter LaRue, Minnie's brother Archie and sisters Nora and Annie;

#23 Bulah Kolb, nurse, her sons Valvy and Ward, daughters Annie and Mary;

#65 Willam Spivey, Engineer, his wife Lucy and sons Willie and Walter.

Virgil Street:

#2 Fowler Singleton, a clothing clerk, his wife Ella, sons Owen and George, and daughter Nellie;

#4 Newton Aughtman, a motorman, his wife Martha and their son Willis, who, at 15, is listed as a messenger. Martha's brother Jessie Bradley, also a motorman, and his wife, Mattie lived with the Aughtmans at #4 ( that's a lot of folks living in a small shotgun house!);

#78 William G. Sharkey, a stonecutter, his wife Jackie and son Patrick, stepdaughter Mattie Hollingsworth and niece Vivian Braddy and her brother, Edwin;

#84 Calvin Buice, a machinist, his wife Buice and their son Matison, a day laborer. Calvin died between 1900 and 1902 when Lavinia is listed as head of house at #84.

Oscar

About things outside his personal realm, Oscar May Morgan wasn't a very ambitious man. His younger brother Paul, on the other hand, had enough ambition to make up for Oscar's lack. On their streetcar rides to work, Paul talked of his dreams of having a home in this area of the lush, green, rolling land that was adjacent to the highfalutin Inman Park.

Later in 1900, George and Elliott, and the whole clan, moved to another boarding house at 479 Marietta Street. Paul longed for his own home, his own wife and his own children to come home to. That summer he met Annie Nicely from Harriman, Tennessee. She had come, with her sister Minnie, to spend the summer with relatives.

Paul and Oscar squired the Nicely girls around Atlanta all summer, each couple a version of the old nursery rhyme, "Jack Sprat." Paul was a rotund man and Oscar was wiry and lean. Annie was tall and gangly and Minnie was ample and wide hipped. Still, for Paul, Annie was his true love. (And, because I know Annie never looked at another man after Paul passed, I think he was her true love, too.)

Oscar had not given more than a passing thought to marriage but, seeing how happy Paul was, he traveled with Paul to Harriman, Tennesse (near Knoxville) where Paul's ardent courtship culminated in his marriage to Anna ("Annie") Nicely on April 7, 1901.

1902

Virgil

By 1902 we find on Virgil, the two shotguns at the intersection of Ashland and Virgil, then numbered #2 (Judy Phillips' home, now 810 ) and #4 ( Patty and Michael's at 814 now), and #78 (eventually my home at 850) and #84 (Rebecca and Jonathan Katz' at 858). directory listing for Virgil in 1902

According to the Directory's list of abbreviations, "the asterisk, thus (*) opposite name denotes married."

Hale

Hale Street had four residents and on Ashland, by 1902, which was listed as Ashland "Street", we find thirteen homes with residents.

Ashland

William Spivey and his wife Minnie were living on Lake Avenue in 1900 and moved to Curran Street in 1902. The Spivey's had not bought the home that currently is at 802 Ashland. The house, numbered #12, in 1902 housed Franklin A. Blackledge, a watchman, and his wife Nancy and their children. directory listing for Ashland, 1902

1902 saw the opening of The Atlanta Federal Penitentiary with the transfer of six convicts from Sing Sing in New York; the opening of the Carnegie (now Margaret Mitchell, the central) Library; and Joel Hurt and Harry Atkinson ended their feuding to form the Georgia Railway and Electric (to become Georgia Power).

Virgil Street

New houses were built between 1902 and 1908 at #18, #20, #22, #32, #40 #80 and #82. #80, marked as lot #79 on the original plat and number (#78 on the Sanborn map), would eventually become 850, my home.

#2 Thomas L. Grant and Willaim M. Acree;

#18 Mrs. Mary E. Parks;

#20 was vacant;

#22 John T. Royster;

#32 Mrs. Nora C. Lindsey;

#40 Landrum F. Price;

#78 Mrs. Mary E. Jeffers, listed as the head of the house, her mother, her brother John who had his own Jewelry shop and her nephew, James;

#82 Mrs. Emma Morris, who had her "own income," her son and nephew; and

#84 James R. Ginn (brother of Robert on Ashland).

According to the Directory's list of abbreviations, "the asterisk, thus (*) opposite name denotes married." Hale Street had four residents and on Ashland, by 1902, which was listed as Ashland "Street", we find thirteen homes with residents. Contrary to the information in the book by Christine Marr and Sharon Jones, we see that William Spivey and his wife Minnie were not living on Ashland between 1900 and 1902 but were living on Lake Avenue in 1900 and moved to Curran Street in 1902. The Spivey's had not bought the home that currently is at 802 Ashland. The house, numbered #12, in 1902 housed Franklin A. Blackledge, a watchman, and his wife Nancy and their children.

1903

That year, Oscar, after his proposal was accepted by Minnie Nicely, moved back to Atlanta, got his old job back with the Stove Works and started saving for their marriage. In 1903, Oscar returned to Harriman, where Paul and Annie still lived, and he and Minnie married on August 26th. Wedding photo of Minnie and Oscar

1904

The two brothers and two sisters lived in Harriman until late 1904 when they moved back to Atlanta and shared a small house at 188 N. Boulevard. The brothers again worked as moulders, with their brothers Hines and Clarence and brother-in-law, Eli Nesbitt, for the Stove Works.

1906

Oscar and Paul watched the construction of four houses on Krog Street in 1906 with great anticipation.

As soon as the houses, #42, 46, 54 and 63 were built, the brothers and their wives, Minnie and Annie, moved into #46 Krog.

City directory showing Oscar and Paul living at 46 Krog Street.

They lived at #46 Krog until 1909, the year my mother was born.

Sanborn map showing Atlanta Stove Works and houses.

In 1906 the "Pittsburgh" race riot (named after that section of the city) lasted from September 22 until September 26. It was sparked by gubernatorial candidates Clark Howell, editor of the Journal and Hoke Smith, publisher of the Constitution, to attempt to manipulate the vote.

Each paper reported four alleged assaults on local white women by African-American men.

The papers ran stories the that enraged the white citizens and the ensuing riots resulted in three policemen, and (reportedly) three citizens (two black and one white) dead. The actual numbers of black citizens killed during the riots is probably closer to 45.

That year, only two of the four houses on Virgil Street were occupied. A carpenter, James Branan and his wife Ophelia lived in #2, and Elmor G. Mason, a brick contractor, his wife Pearl and their three children, in #84.

Paul and Minnie had moved from #46 Krog to #11 West Ashland. It was between 1902 and 1908 that other houses were built on the northwest side of Virgil Street.

Oscar and Paul would watch the workmen unloading the numbered sections of the mail-order, kit homes off the rail cars and onto wagons.

The first "kit" homes were available from Aladdin Homes in 1906, and in 1908 from Sears Modern Homes and finally, in 1910, from Montgomery-Ward.

The wagons would then deliver the pieces to the designated lot and carpenters would assemble the houses on the lots. That's how several of the early homes on Virgil Street were built.

These precut pieces allowed homes to be built faster and generally only required one or two carpenters. This system used precut timber of mostly standard sizes (2"x4" and 2"x8" â€“ actual dimensions instead of the reduced dimensioned lumber we find today.) for framing. Precut, fitted pieces, and the convenience of having everything, including the nails, shipped by railroad directly to the customer added to the popularity of this construction style.

#80 Virgil was a four room "kit" home with a 150 page instruction manual that was used by the carpenters to assemble the house on the lot. The house, 30ft x 30ft, had a 17.5x13.5ft living room, a 9.5x13.5ft kitchen and two 13.5x13.5ft bedrooms. There were two chimneys, three fireplaces, three windows in the living room, two windows in each bedroom and another window in the kitchen. The back door, off the kitchen, opened onto wooden stairs down to the sloping back yard. The privy was towards the back of the 50x100ft lot, tucked into the corner along with outhouses from two houses on Lake Avenue.

1907

In 1907, #80 was vacant, but in late 1908, John W. Gibbs and his family lived in #80.

Hale

Three houses were listed on Hale Street that year:

#25 (at the corner of Ashland and Hale) Mrs. Mary W. Peek;

#31 (where Virgil intersects) was vacant;

#100 Mrs. Rebecca Hinson.

Ashland

#1Benjamin F. Wells

#5Homer J. (mounter, Stove Works) and Hortense Ragon and their two children;

#9Reverand Woodson B. Costley, (formerly a sewing machine salesman), his wife Sarah E. and their three children;

#10Roy L. Kirkpatrick;

#12William F. Spivey, Minnie, Ruth and Buby;

#15Walter H. Forshaw, an Electric Railway conductor, his wife Ella A. and their five children;

#17Milton B. and Anna Tuggle and four children (by 1910 Milton had died and Anna became head of the house and took in two boarders;

#20(intersection of Virgil) John Winn;

#21James C. Stephens(on), his wife Ethel and their two children;

#23James W. Stovall;

#29John E. Sheridan;

#37Thomas L. Smith (Lawson T), his wife Lula E and their five children, one of which was John Hoke Smith, and a boarder, Bessie Hardy, who was a "Dipper" at a Chocolate Factory;

#69Robert T. Ginn, a machinist for the Steam Railway, his wife Maude and their three children;

#71Albert L. Green;

#123Mrs. Mary Hall.

1908

Virgil Street

#2 Thomas L. Grant and Willaim M. Acree;

#18 Mrs. Mary E. Parks;

#20 was vacant;

#22 John T. Royster;

#32 Mrs. Nora C. Lindsey; #40 Landrum F. Price;

#40Landrum F. Price

#78 Mrs. Mary E. Jeffers, listed as the head of the house, her mother, her brother John who had his own Jewelry shop and her nephew, james;

#82 Mrs. Emma Morris, who had her "own income," her son and nephew;

#84 James R. Ginn (brother of Robert on Ashland)

In 1907, #80 was vacant, but in late 1908, John W. Gibbs and his family lived in #80.

Hale Street

Three houses were listed on Hale Street that year:

#25 (at the corner of Ashland and Hale) Mrs. Mary W. Peek

#31(where Virgil intersects) was vacant

#100Mrs. Rebecca Hinson

By late 1910, the year after my mother, Anna Lillian Morgan, was born in the house on Krog Street, Oscar moved the family to Bessemer, Alabama to work in the larger iron mills there. They stayed in Bessemer until my uncle Kenneth Maurice ("Bub") Morgan was born in 1911.

Paul and Annie moved from Krog to West Ashland.

1911 City directory listing showing Paul and Annie moved to 11 West Ashland.

1912

Then, in 1912, they moved back to Atlanta from Bessemer and into the duplex at #96 Hale Street. City directory listing for Oscar at 96 Hale Street.

The following year, Oscar and Paul's father, George, died on June 12th. Their mother continued on at 479 Marietta, living with her still single son, Wallace, a box maker, who lived with his mother until her death in the mid-1920s. Oscar and Minnie moved back to Atlanta.

Oscar and Minne, Lillian and "Bub" lived in 96 Hale until 1916. It was around 1915, when "Bub" was four, that they almost lost him! My mother, Lillian (her mother told her she was going to name her Helen but realized she'd be saying "Hell" a lot), who was six, got the bright idea one warm summer day that she wanted some honey. So, she broke off a stick and ran it up inside of a beehive hanging from a peach tree at the corner of Ashland and Hale. Of course "Bub" was right there at her skirt and when the angry bees swarmed out of their disturbed home they found the slower "Bub" first. Lillian's terrified screams brought Minnie to the screen door. Lillian rushed past her mother and Minnie lifted her apron over the bee-covered "Bub" and quickly slammed the screen door. My mother said the rest of those bees covered the screen from top to bottom, like a dark curtain.

Minnie quickly set to work disposing of the massive number of bees that were covering her son and rushed Lillian to start pumping water to fill the tub. Charles Doster, a neighbor boy, was dispatched to run to the Stove Works and get Oscar to come home!

Taking the block of ice from the ice box, Minnie put it into the tub of water and gently lowered the semi-conscious "Bub" into the chilling water. Then she began rubbing the stingers out of his swelling skin with a rough towel.

By the time Oscar got home from the Stove Works, "Bub" was swollen from head to toe and delirious with fever. The towel Minnie had used was covered in sharp stingers. Back then there was no epinephrine or any antihistamines for severe bee stings so Minnie did what she could, applying poultices of baking soda and cider vinegar.

Minnie and Oscar tended their son for three days as he drifted in and out of consciousness and suffered difficulty breathing, abdominal pain, and nausea and vomiting. Eventually, though, he stabilized and began a four-month long recovery confined to his bed.

The following year, 1916, Oscar and Minnie moved to a duplex at #21 Ashland Avenue. This was when Oscar followed, yet again, his brother Paul, and joined the Atlanta Police. And it would be the last time Oscar and Minnie would rent a house.

1916

In 1916 (the year of "Most Lopsided Game in History of College Football" when Georgia Tech squashed Cumberland 220 to 0 at Grant Field on October 7th ), Ashland was listed as East Ashland (East Ashland Avenue, from Lake avenue east to Waverly Way, and west to Southern Railway, 2 blocks north of Edgewood avenue, Inman Park, west from Lake avenue to Hale).

Oscar and Minnie's neighbors were:

Ashland

(Going East)

#1 John P. Evans , a street car motorman, his wife Sallie and daugher Azlee;

#5 The Wrinkle brothers, Frank and Olin, both molders at the Stove Works and their wives, Ida and Nora;

#9 Reverend Woodson B Costley and his wife Sarah;

#10 John S Moore, a woodworker for the Traynham Company, his wife Addie and their children Sarah and George;

#12 William F Spivey, a "repairer" for the J. M. Smith Company, his wife Minnie and daughters Nora and Buby;

#15 Walter H. Forshaw, a traveling soap salesman, his wife Ella, daughters Josephine and Estelle, son Walter Jr, brothers John Forshaw, a gas fitter and William H. Forshaw, a street car conductor;

#17 James T Wiley, conductor, Southern Railway and his wife Pattie;

#20 Marshall B. Young, manager of the Manhattan Life Insurance Company and his wife Phina (who died a few years later) and their son Leonard;

#21 Oscar, policeman, and Minnie Morgan and Lillian and Kenneth;

#22 George McDaniel, a clerk for the Railway, his wife Susan. (Parents of Addie McDaniel Moore of #10);

#23 Barney Black, a grading engineer and his wife Maude;

#29 John A. Rush, motorman;

#37 Thomas L Smith, a grocer, and his wife Lula and sons Verna, Wilmer and Hoke;

#47 James Kellum Levie, druggist at Jacob's Pharmacy or a dentist (conflicting records), his wife and child;

#61 Vacant as of March 8, 1916;

#67 Roland V. Church, a machinist;

#68 William C Glass, a foreman, Motor Car Service Company, his wife Onie, daughters Onie and Sarah and Onie's brother, Joe Ray, a bank bookkeeper;

#69 Harvey H. Jones, streetcar conductor;

(Hale Begins)

#71 James C. Stephens, a machinist for the Southern Wheel Company and his wife Mary;

#73 Vacant March 8, 1916; and

#123 Mrs. F E Barnes.

City directory listing for 1916 Ashland Avenue

Hale

Hale had gotten quite a few more residents, too:

#13 R. L. Harper;

#25 David C. Chewning, meat cutter;

#27 Andrew J Gorman;

#29 Joseph Taylor, sign painter;

#33 Mrs. Martha A Grant (widow of William) and Hyde A Harman, telegraph operator;

#43 George D Bennett, a foreman;

#44 Sylvester McDaniel, his wife Lena and daughters Louise, Marie and Ina. He was a "bottler" at the Rye-Ola Bottling Company, one of the many cola companies in competition with Coca-Cola;

#49 Charles M Doster, a Rail Car Inspector for the Atlanta Terminal;

#55 George A Adamson, salesman for American Life & Accident;

#59 Albert E Hill, president of the A. E. Hill Manufacturing Company;

#65 Henry J Parker, clerk for the Atlanta Compress Company;

#96 Lonnie W Wallace, ropemaker at General Pipe and Foundry; and

#98 Daniel Dunn, a laborer for the Pittsburgh Plate Glass Company.

City directory listing for 1916 Hale Street