History of Piedmont Park
(a thread)

As we know, Atlanta is a transient city. Many of us that call this city home, aren’t from here.

And personally, I love history.

So going back and exploring the landmarks of our city is interesting to me....and if it’s interesting to you, enjoy this thread...

The history of Piedmont Park predates Fulton County & even Atlanta itself.

The park, like much of Atlanta, was originally a forest. The forest was inhabited by Native Americans, the Creek tribe.

The Creek had a main settlement called Standing Pitchtree. (another name for pine)

The Pitchtree Trails stretched from Toccoa to Buckhead and divided at what is now Paces Ferry & Mason Mill Rd.

Another branch continued to what is now Little 5 Points.

Over time, due to colonial settler’s mispronunciation of “pitch”, the Creek settlement became known as “Standing Peach-tree”

This became permanent after The War of 1812, when settlers built roads over Creek trails.

The roads are what we now know as Peachtree Street.

By 1823, the Creek were mostly forced from their ancestral land, later to be known as Atlanta, by way of what will be later known as the “Trail of Tears”.

(In 1950, Creek artifacts were discovered on the build site of what would be Lenox Mall.)

After the genocide and displacement of the Creeks, their land became property of the State of Georgia.

To entice white settlers to move to the area, the state began holding land lotteries.

In 1834 Samuel Walker purchased 189 acres of land from a man who won a land lottery. He paid $450.

Sam and his wife Sarah built a log cabin on what is now, the “active oval” and lived there until their son bought the land from them in 1857.

The son sold the land in 1887.

By this time, Atlanta was growing. The Emancipation Proclamation was signed 24 years prior.

Morehouse, Clark, Spelman & GA Tech were all founded by then.

The land eventually became an equestrian club and expo space to hold speeches & fairs.

5 Years Later...In 1892

What’s now known as Piedmont Park, was the location of the first ever football game between Georgia & Auburn.

The inaugural game of what’s known as The Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry.

In 1895 the park held the Cotton States & International Expo

It lasted 100 days & cost $2M+ in construction to transform the park. The Botanical Gardens & Lake Clara Meer were created for this event.

This is where Booker T Washington gave his controversial Atlanta Expo Speech.

The Atlanta Crackers played here before moving to a stadium on Ponce.

In 1904 the City of Atlanta finally purchased the area and made it public.

They hired the Olmsted Brothers, sons of the creator of NY’s Central Park, to transform the decaying fairgrounds to a park.

As the city and the park grew, it became a melting pot for the diversity of the city.

In the 1960-70’s it was a refuge for hippies.

It held its first Pride in 1971.

In 1983, it was closed to through traffic creating a more pedestrian friendly park.

Due to increased use and decreased city budgets, the park was in a state of deterioration.

In 1989, a conservancy was formed to protect the park and in 1992, the conservancy and city created a partnership to repair and maintain Piedmont Park.

Since then, park has seen a couple of expansions and has become one of the largest landmarks of our city.

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Which Atlanta landmark should I do next??

Here’s a thread you may also like! https://twitter.com/donovanreyno1ds/status/1387616562769768455