By Ann Boutwell

Feb. 2, 1896: James Tate, born a slave in Elberton County, was a successful Auburn Avenue merchant by 1896. During the 1860s, after settling in Atlanta, he became an entrepreneur and is regarded by many as a major innovator of successful black business in Atlanta. At his death in 1897, Tate was buried in historic Oakland Cemetery. An interpretive bronze relief of Tate’s image by sculptor Brian R. Owens is located on Auburn Avenue, west of Courtland Street. It was created in 1996 as a Corporation for Olympic Development in Atlanta project.

Feb. 5, 1913: The will of Sue Harper Mims, founder of Atlanta’s Christian Science community, was filed for probation. Her bequeath from the sale of personal jewelry made possible the creation of the Sidney Lanier Monument unveiled in Piedmont Park on April 10, 1915. New York sculptor Edward Clark Potter, under the direction of Mary Day Lanier the poet’s wife, molded the bronze bust. New York’s Carrère & Hastings designed the Tennessee marble base and inscribed the opening of Lanier’s “Centennial Meditation of Columbia.” It remained in its niche in Piedmont Park until threats of vandalism occurred in 1996. Then Oglethorpe University, Lanier’s alma mater—class of 1860—became the caretaker. On Saturday, Feb. 4, 2012 the 3 p.m. rededication celebration will return Georgia’s poet back to Piedmont Park. The public is invited to this free event made possible through the partnership of the Atlanta Preservation Center, Piedmont Park Conservancy and Oglethorpe University. For more information, call (404)688-3353.

Feb. 13, 1911: Madame Sissieretta Jones, known as “The Black Patti,” performed at Atlanta’s Central Theater in a production titled A Trip to Africa. It was her eighth tour to the city. The reputation of her phenomenal voice preceded her Atlanta Grand Opera House premiere in January 1895. During her career years —1888 to 1915—she sang for Presidents Benjamin Harrison, Grover Cleveland, William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt. She also played Carnegie Hall four times. Madame Jones disliked “The Black Patti” moniker – a theatrical journal’s dub – but comparison to Adelina Patti, the Italian-American prima donna, sold tickets and nurtured opportunity. Her final Atlanta bow was on Marietta Street at the Orpheum. “Whether Sissieretta Jones was the greatest black performer of the nineteenth century is a matter of speculation,” said author Rosalyn M. Story in her study of African American divas titled And so I Sing, “but there can be no doubt of her enormous celebrity.”

Feb. 20, 1892: “The Battle of Atlanta” painting, created in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, by German and Polish artists under the direction of Wilhelm Wehner, officially opened in Atlanta to members of the press, city council members and other VIPs. The venue was a drum-shaped building on the north side of Edgewood Avenue between Courtland and Piedmont avenues. Many in the audience had actually participated in the battle on that hot, humid day on July 22, 1864. The next day it was opened to the public. The unanimous consent of those attending was “it is the grandest work of art on exhibition.” The painting is now the centerpiece of the Cyclorama at Grant Park.

Feb. 27, 1868: The Georgia Constitutional Convention named Atlanta the capital of Georgia.

By Ann Boutwell

Jan 1, 1902: The Negro Literary and Historical Society commemorated the 39^th anniversary of President Abraham Lincoln’s issuing of the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863. The Ebenezer Baptist Church was the celebration site, located then on the corner of Bell and Gilmer streets. Pastor A.D. Williams, the future grandfather of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., gave the benediction.

Jan 1, 1912: The Capital City Club, founded in 1883, celebrated its 28^th annual New Year’s Ball. The festivities were held in its new home located on Harris Street— now, 7 John Portman Boulevard. New York’s Beaux-Arts-trained architect Donn Barber designed the five story site, listed in the National Historic Register in 1977.

Jan.2, 1912: Once called the city’s leanest baby skyscraper, the Hillyer Trust Company opened at 140 Peachtree St. with eight stories. In 1977, Atlanta architect Neel Reid’s 65-year old building received a prestigious landmark designation. Unfortunately, based on structural analysis, the owners C&S— Citizens and Southern Bank— reduced it to three floors. Future blasting during MARTA’s North/South rail line construction and the Atlanta Carnegie Library demolition were also noted as reasons. In 1980, the structure’s historical designation was officially stripped. In April 1985, C&S donated the property to the Atlanta Historical Society.  On Nov. 22, 2011 the old Hillyer became the home of new owner’s Breen & Smith Advertising.

Jan. 8, 1981: Coca-Cola began dismantling of its giant, neon signature sign, located above the Russell Stover Candy Store, in the concrete triangular island in front of the Candler Building across from today’s Margaret Mitchell Square. Since February 1949, the icon graced the roof top of the old Peck Building also known as the Belle Isle building. A negotiation dealing with Georgia Pacific’s moving its corporate headquarters from Portland to Atlanta included issues dealing with the island, the building, and the sign. After 23 years—May 6, 2003— a new Coca-Cola was erected on top of the Olympia Building on Peachtree.

Jan. 10, 1976: National Feminist leaders joined 3,000 persons—mostly young people—on a mile-long march through downtown Atlanta in support of the Equal Rights Amendment. Two feminist writers, Betty Friedan and Kate Millet, addressed a rally in front of the Georgia State Capital.

Jan. 12, 1982: A snow and ice storm hit Atlanta stranding 100,000 motorists.

Jan. 20, 1851: The first marriage recorded in the city of Atlanta by the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church is that of Michael Bloomfield and Elizabeth Malone, performed by Rev. J. F. O’Neill. The couple rests in Oakland Cemetery with daughters Bridget, Anna, Caroline, and Isabelle, who died as children (ages 2 through within ten days of each other in January 1863.

Jan. 23, 1895: At a meeting of the Cotton States and International Exhibition Board, Alexander Smith proposed that streets in the vicinity of Piedmont Park be renamed. His suggestions were that Bleckley Street be changed to Tenth Street; Harrison Avenue and Davis to Eleventh Street; Bowden Street to Twelfth Street; Center Street to Thirteenth, and Wilson Avenue to Fourteenth Street. “The change,” said Smith “would simplify the route to the exposition grounds.” The board agreed, accepted and added that it was doubtful that the Fulton County Commission would reject this progressive idea. At this time these streets were outside the city limits.

Jan. 30, 1915: An unidentified blonde woman wearing a harem hat shocks Atlanta society when she smoked a cigarette in the Piedmont Hotel Café. The Atlanta Journal reported that after she finished her smoke, she flipped the butt into the ashtray, took her escort’s arm and left, not realizing that she has just done what had never been done before.

By Ann Boutwell

Dec. 2, 1933: The new $3 million United States Post Office building opened at Forsyth, Hunter (now, Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive) and Spring streets. Architect A. Ten Eyck Brown with associates Alfredo Barili and J. Wharton Humphreys designed the art deco icon, placed on the National Register in 1974. It served as a post office until acquired by the United States General Service Administration (GSA) in 1983. In 1988, it was the first federal building to bear the name of the famous civil rights leader. It has housed several federal agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security, the FBI, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Currently, the building serves as a regional headquarters for GSA.  In November 2011, Central Atlanta Progress presented an Atlanta Downtown Design Excellence Award-Office Category to the Beck Group/Lord Aeck & Sargent for its extensive $47 million interior rehabilitation of this 78 year old historic building, rededicated this past January.

Dec. 11, 1927: Construction of the Crum & Forster building was under way on the corner of Spring Street and Armistead Place, south of the Atlanta Biltmore Hotel. The building was for the prominent insurance company’s new southern headquarters. In 2007, the Georgia Tech Foundation bought the building for $11 million. In 2008, the foundation sought a demolition permit, which the Atlanta Urban Design Commission denied. Officials of the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation placed the Midtown building on its “2009 Places in Peril” list. By August, the Atlanta City Council unanimously supported designating the Crum & Forster as an Atlanta landmark historic site, backed by Mayor Shirley Franklin’s signing the official document. The foundation appealed the decision but lost. As of November 2011, the unused Crum & Forster building remains standing and its future is still uncertain.

Dec. 11, 1911: The Southern Poultry Show, branded as the largest and greatest ever seen south of the Mason and Dixon line, opened at the Atlanta Auditorium-Armory on Courtland Street. The main hall resembled a barnyard with all numerous coops housing 4,000 birds. The Federal Department of Animal Industry presented lectures and demonstrations and was well-attended by editors of the industry magazines. From Jan. 24 to Jan. 26, 2012 the International Poultry and International Feed Expo sponsored by the US Poultry and Egg Association and American Feed Industry Association will return to Atlanta’s Georgia World Congress Center.

Dec. 13, 1920: The doors of the Howard Theatre at 163 Peachtree Street opened to the public. Hailed as the south’s palatial picture show palace, it was the city’s first million dollar theater built by two prominent Atlantans – international cotton mogul George Troup Howard and Stephen A. Lynch of Southern Theatrical Enterprise. Always Audacious was the main feature, a melodrama starring Wallace Reid. Two years after Howard’s death in August 1929, new owners Paramount-Publix changed the theater’s name to Paramount. The old Paramount is where Elvis Presley fans wowed Atlanta audiences in 10 shows over three days in 1956. In 1960, the building was razed. It once stood north of today’s Georgia Pacific Center.

Dec. 31, 1999: The blue neon sign carrying the message “Jesus Saves” on the 200-foot steeple of Big Bethel’s African Methodist Episcopal Church it lit once again. In 1994, due to neglect, rust and pigeons, the sign burned out. The sign first graced the church in 1922.

By Ann Boutwell

Nov. 7, 1926: Buckhead’s Covenant Presbyterian Church opened its new $150,000 Gothic-style building designed by architect Charles H. Hopkins. The church had its beginnings in 1874 and was the city’s first downtown congregation to move to Buckhead. The 56-member congregation worshipped in a tent on Baker Street until 1904 when it dedicated and renamed the new church Harris Street Presbyterian Church. The church stands today at 2461 Peachtree Road on the corner of Terrace Drive. In August 2011 the Atlanta City Council renamed Harris Street to John Portman Boulevard.

Nov. 9, 1956: Mattiwilda Dobbs, daughter of Irene Thompson and John Wesley Dobbs and aunt of future Mayor Maynard Jackson, opens as Gilda in Rigoletto at the Metropolitan Opera. In that role she becomes the third African American to appear in New York’s most prestigious opera house, following Marian Anderson and Robert McFerrin, and the first to sing a principal romantic role.

Nov. 16, 1939: The Atlanta Chamber of Commerce launched Atlanta’s Civil War historical marker project. The plan placed 80 plaques in downtown Atlanta and in residential neighborhoods. In partnership with the Atlanta Convention and Tourist Bureau, the Chamber also published 10,000 copies of a booklet, with map and pictures, highlighting the city’s historical spots. It was rushed to completion by Dec. 15 and the premiere of Gone With the Wind at the Lowe’s Grand Theater on Peachtree Street, where the Georgia Pacific Center stands today.

Nov. 22, 1916: Oakland Cemetery unveils a monument honoring Moses W. Formwalt. He was Atlanta’s first mayor, elected Jan. 31, 1848. Formwalt died in 1852 and finally received a headstone 64 years later.

Nov. 23, 1940: Mayor Hartsfield dedicates Joel Hurt Park, the first new park in the downtown area since the Civil War. Hartsfield fights hard against opposition from downtown Atlanta real estate developers. His vision was to open a mall running all the way from the terminal station to the Atlanta Auditorium-Armory. The park remains, but both buildings are gone.

Nov. 28, 1995: Demolition of the sprawling red brick Scripto, Inc. factory in the Old Fourth Ward makes way for the Martin Luther King Jr. Historic District’s parking expansion. The Atlanta Company founded in 1923, began manufacturing mechanical pencils in 1931 at the 423 Houston St. site (today’s John Wesley Dobbs Avenue). By 1964, Scripto’s gated square-block expansion included the plant buildings, offices and research facilities.

Nov. 30, 1931: Greyhound Lines’ new ultra-modern buses paraded down old Cain Street (today’s Andrew Young International Boulevard) behind an oxcart, antique automobiles and old buses. The destination of the caravan was the new $260,000 Southeastern Greyhound Lines Bus Terminal, designed by Hal Hentz architect. The five-year project located behind the old Davison-Paxon Store on the corner of Cain and Williams streets was a joint effort of the Georgia Public Service Commission and Southeastern Greyhound. For 64 years the landmark building operated on this site. Before the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, Greyhound pulled out for a new location adjacent to the Garnett MARTA station. After the departure, the site was briefly an entertainment spot and then a public parking lot. In January 2004, John Portman’s AmericasMart purchased the two-acre site and razed the terminal for a major expansion.

The development of the railroad was a leading force in Atlanta’s growth and prosperity in the 19th and early 20th century. With the demolition of Atlanta’s Union and Terminal Stations, Georgia’s capital lost much of its railroad legacy. Many railroad structures in Atlanta are vacant and have no current plans for reuse. Among the remnants of Atlanta’s railroad legacy are Peachtree Station on Peachtree Street and the Norfolk Southern complex on Spring Street.  Peachtree Station, now known as Brookwood Station, was designed by Neel Reid and built in 1917. It is leased to AMTRAK. The Norfolk Southern complex includes two 1912 buildings as well as the largest vacant swath of undeveloped land in Atlanta, known as “the gulch.” Neglect and abandonment threatens many of these resources. AMTRAK is planning to move out of Peachtree Station.

Other sites on the list include: Rutherford Hall on the University of Georgia campus in Athens; Orange Hall in St. Marys; W.W. Law House in Savannah;  Historic Liberty Street in Milledgeville; Randolph County Courthouse in Cuthbert; Mt. Zion Church in Sparta; Crown Mill Store in Dalton; Secondary Industrial High School in Columbus; and, Chattahoochee Park Pavilion in Gainesville.

“This is the Trust’s seventh annual Places in Peril list,” said Mark C. McDonald, president and CEO of the Trust. “We hope the list will continue to bring preservation action to Georgia’s imperiled historic resources by highlighting ten representative sites,” McDonald said.

Places in Peril is designed to raise awareness about Georgia’s significant historic, archaeological and cultural resources, including buildings, structures, districts, archaeological sites and cultural landscapes that are threatened by demolition, neglect, lack of maintenance, inappropriate development or insensitive public policy. Through Places in Peril, the Trust will encourage owners and individuals, organizations and communities to employ proven preservation tools, financial resources and partnerships in order to reclaim, restore and revitalize historic properties that are in peril.

Sites that have been placed on previous years’ lists have included:  the Cowen House in Acworth, which was sold and rehabilitated through The Georgia Trust’s Revolving Fund program; the Wren’s Nest, home of folklore writer Joel Chandler House in Atlanta, which has undergone extensive restoration since its 2007 listing; Bibb Mill in Columbus, which was destroyed by fire just weeks after it was placed on the list; and, Old Hawkinsville High School in Pulaski County, which won a Preservation Award from the Trust in 2011. Updates on these sites and others can be found at www.georgiatrust.org.

By Ann Boutwell

Oct. 2, 1911: The Georgian Terrace Hotel’s first official public gala was held. Musical strains from a Spanish-costumed orchestra were playing that evening when the doors opened at 8 p.m.  An estimated 5,000 promenaded for three hours throughout the wondrous main lobby, grand ballroom and tropical garden.

Oct. 10, 1911: A colorful military parade headed north on Peachtree Street in the rain to the 14th Street entrance of Piedmont Park. Each October since, the Old Guard of the Gate City Guard has gathered at the same site for the rededication ceremony of the Old Guard Peace Monument. In 1924, City Builder magazine described New York sculptor Allen George Newman’s work as “perhaps the city’s most beautiful.” The winged goddess of Peace announcing the South’s surrender is ordering a Confederate soldier to lay down his weapon. The Atlantan whose passion inspired the creation and erection of the Peace Monument was Colonel Joseph Francis Burke, commander of the Gate City Guard on its reconciliation tour of the north. Burke was a resident of today’s Midtown community and once lived on the corner of Peachtree Place and Crescent Avenue. On Saturday, Oct. 15, 2011 at 2 p.m., the public is invited to attend the centennial celebration of the statue in Piedmont Park.

Oct. 19, 1882: A young 25-year-old, future President of the United States appeared in Atlanta before Judge George Hillyer to take his Georgia Bar exam. His name was Thomas Woodrow Wilson.

Oct. 21, 1895: On the day before the Cotton States and International Exhibition opened in Piedmont Park, Dr. Henry Rutherford Butler, said in his weekly Atlanta Constitution column, “What the Negro is Doing,” that the Negro Building was in its full dress and ready for the grand opening. Butler encouraged African Americans “with a spark of pride and patriotism” to go out to the exposition grounds and “make it a day long to be remembered in Atlanta, Georgia and the entire country.” From September 1895 through August 1904, Butler updated the city on happenings in the African American community. Oakland Cemetery is the burial site of Atlanta’s successful physician, pharmacist, and prolific writer, beside his wife Selena Sloane Butler, a noted Georgia Woman of Achievement.

Oct. 24, 1940: The Rialto Theater on Luckie Street presented the world premiere of Medora Field Perkerson’s (1892-1962) best-selling novel, Who Killed Aunt Maggie? The Macmillan Company published the Georgia native’s mystery story in 1939. She was an author, journalist, and assistant editor of the Atlanta Journal’s Sunday Magazine. In March 1922, she married Angus Millard Perkerson, the magazine’s editor. For many years under the name “Marie Rose,” Medora wrote a weekly sympathetic advice column.

Images of America: Virginia-Highland:

Divorce Ministry: A Guidebook: A broken marriage can often leave people feeling broken and unsure of their next steps. “In the best of cases, divorce rips apart soul, spirit, home, community, and finance,” writes Dr. Charles Qualls author of Divorce Ministry: A Guidebook. Over 1,400 people looking to regain stability have participated in Dr. Qualls’ divorce support groups over the past 16 years. His experiences working with them and various insights from particular cases are part of this recently published book. The guidebook sheds light on what it is like to work with the groups and divorcees and covers topics such as self-esteem, handling grief and breaking free of patterns. Ministers, church leaders and support groups can use this as a resource for healing and comfort and as a model for their own recovery program. Kind and compassionate, Dr. Qualls is an active member of the intown community and associate pastor for Pastoral Care at Second Ponce de Leon Baptist Church. He leads at least two divorce support groups each year. You can reach him at cqualls@spdl.org. For more information, visit spdl.org and helwys.com.

Upcoming Readings & Events

Charles Frazier: The author of bestselling Civil War tale, Cold Mountain, will discuss his new book, Nightwoods, on Oct. 5, 7p.m. at Georgia Perimeter College, 555. N. Indian Creek Dr. The event is presented by the Decatur Book Festival and Eagle Eye Books. eagleeyebooks.com

William Kennedy: The Pulitzer Prize-wining novelist will read and discuss his new book, Chango’s Beads and Two-Tone Shoes, on Oct. 11, 7 p.m. at the Jimmy Carter Library. A Cappella Books will have copies for sale. acappellabooks.com

Soraya Miré: The award-winning filmmaker and activist will read and sign her memoir, Girl With Three Legs, about surviving female genital mutilation in her native Somalia and her ongoing campaign to end the barbaric ritual at Charis Books in Little 5 Poins on Oct. 12. charisbooksandmore.com

Alan Hollinghurst: The winner of the Man Booker Prize for The Line of Beauty will read from his latest novel Stranger’s Child on Oct. 26 at Outwrite Books in Midtown. outwritebooks.com

Poetry at Tech: Carl Dennis and Kate Johnson will share the stage on Oct. 27 at Kress Auditorium in the Robert C. Williams Paper Museum on the campus of Georgia Tech. poetry.gatech.edu

Georgia Center for the Book: The organization has a busy October full of author appearances including Patti Digh (Oct. 4), John Fowler and David Parker (Oct. 10), Alison Weir (Oct. 12), John Sanford (Oct. 13), Candice Millard (Oct. 17), poets Janisse Ray, John Lane and Thomas Rain Crowe (Oct. 18), Amy Stewart (Oct. 24), chefs Virginia Willis and Kim Severson (Oct. 26) and Marianne Walker (Oct. 27). Most events are held at the Decatur Library. Visit georgiacenterforthebook.org for more details.

Book Festival of the MJCCA: Mark your calendars for the 20^th annual festival, which will feature appearances by Erica Jong, Regis Philbin, Jim Lehrer, Melissa Fay Greene, Dyan Cannon and many, many more from Nov. 5-20. For tickets and a full schedule, visit atlantajcc.org.

By Collin Kelley

Lain Shakespeare’s first day as executive director of The Wren’s Nest was a memorable one. Georgia Power came to turn off the electricity, the house itself was crumbling and mounting debt meant the home where Joel Chandler Harris wrote his Uncle Remus tales was on the verge of being closed.

That was five years ago.

Since then, Shakespeare, 28, and a small staff have rescued The Wren’s Nest from obscurity and transformed it into one of the most noted house museums in America. Earlier this year, Shakespeare decided it was time to change up his role at the house and will step down as executive director in September.

As the great-great-great grandson of the author, Shakespeare had been visiting The Wren’s Nest since he was a child, often made to read Brer Rabbit stories to visiting relatives. Like many, he saw the 140-year-old Victorian house in West End as a relic of the past and the Uncle Remus stories as promoting racial stereotypes.

With a little maturity and research, Shakespeare discovered that the misconceptions about Harris’ stories were, in part, fostered by the Disney film Song of the South and its depiction of “happy slaves.” With The Wren’s Nest facing closure and at his family’s urging, he stepped in to try and put the museum back on course.

To put Harris and his writing in perspective, Shakespeare created a booklet titled “Everything You’ve Heard About Uncle Remus is Wrong.” Critical re-evaluation of Harris’ writing has shown the Uncle Remus tales were cleverly designed to subvert racism and bigotry in the Jim Crow era.

“What I discovered was that no one in my family was telling the Harris story,” Shakespeare said. “We were letting others tell it for us and the misinformation was allowed to flourish.”

While working to take the tarnish off his ancestor’s legacy, Shakespeare also brought in the same restoration firm that takes care of Buckingham Palace to clean and restore the house to its original 1884 splendor. There was also plenty of fundraising and promoting the home’s cultural significance to Atlanta.

Shakespeare brought the house museum into the 21^st century, creating a website, regularly updated blog and an hilarious Twitter account with the The Wren’s Nest tweeting about fixes being made and events held on its grounds.

The West End community rallied around the house, its history and ability to bring tourists to the community. The Wren’s Nest is now the cornerstone of the annual West End Tour of Homes. Concerts and literary events at the house have also made it a destination.

Even more importantly, school groups once again visit The Wren’s Nest regularly and the boyish and gregarious Shakespeare often leads tours himself bringing Harris’s folklore and the house vividly to life.

“What I set out to do five years ago has been done,” Shakespeare said. “We have less debt, dedicated volunteers and great partnerships. The museum is moving in the right direction.”

One of the programs Shakespeare is most proud of is the KIPP Scribes Program, a partnership with KIPP STRIVE Academy, the neighborhood charter school. In 2010, The Wren’s Nest brought in professional writers to work with 5th and 6th graders to record an important family story. The result was the book, Don’t Forget the Day, which launched at the Decatur Book Festival.

A second volume, The Whole Fiasco, is set to launch at this year’s book festival over Labor Day weekend. “We’ve totally altered these kids’ relationship with the written word,” Shakespeare said. “They are now published authors. It’s such an exciting thing to witness.”

More vindication of Harris and his tales will come in October when the Atlanta Opera premieres Rabbit Tales, an opera for children based on the high jinks of Brer Rabbit.

Shakespeare’s last day on the job is Sept. 15 and, at this writing, he’s looking for a job in the nonprofit sector. While he won’t be in charge of the day-to-day operations (“We’re going to finally hire someone who knows what they’re doing!”), Shakespeare will transition to chairman of the board of directors for The Wren’s Nest, which will allow him to dedicate more time to fundraising and preserving the house for future generations.

“I’ll still be around,” he laughed. “They’ll have to shoo me away.”

For more about The Wren’s Nest and its programs, visit wrensnestonline.com.