Dec
22
2009
Underground Atlanta Georgia
Author: SamJust as Seattle has an underground city (a few blocks scorched away in the Great Fire of Seattle in 1889, then rebuilt one story higher, paving over that part of town like a forgotten memory), so does Atlanta, Georgia. In Seattle, the buildings were constructed on tideflats, and in times of rain (which was often, of course), mud would cover up anything standing still. Today, the area may be toured, taking a look a saloon from the 1890s. In Atlanta, the story was a bit different.
Atlanta began life as a railroad in 1836, with tracks built from Chattanooga to Atlanta next to mile markers, 138 of them. The Zero Milepost marker is still standing, and its in Underground Atlanta at the Georgia Railroad Freight Depot. As the Civil War approached, Atlanta grew to a city of ten thousand. The area next to the Zero Milepost marker was the city center, on Alabama Street, from Peachtree Street to Central Avenue, and also the area destined to become Underground Atlanta.
In the fire that Margaret Mitchell described in Gone With the Wind, the area was destroyed. The residents rebuilt around the Zero Milepost, doubling the city population to twenty two thousand. As the century turned from the nineteenth to the twentieth, after Coca-Cola was born and electric streetcars were introduced, the railroad grew, serving a hundred trains a day by 1900, and, by 1910, iron bridges were built to cross the rail tracks at Union Street. Eventually, concrete bridges replaced the iron bridges, and a mall at bridge level joined together these viaducts of concrete, creating public plazas. As the viaducts were built, shops moved to the second floor, leaving behind the lower level for storage and services. From the thirties to the seventies, Underground Atlanta was virtually forgotten.
At last, in 1968, the five blocks of Underground Atlanta were declared an historic site. In 1989, the area opened to the public after a restoration project of about 142 million dollars. Today, if you stop in at Atlanta and stay over in one of the hotels Georgia offers, you’ll find in this particular area of town a place designed for families, including shops for retail and gifts and specialities, as well as fast food, fine dining, and entertainment, a veritable focal point for the community.