Archive Atlanta

With one of the most recognized mausoleums at Oakland Cemetery, Jasper Newton Smith spends eternity cast in stone looking over the cemetery. He purchased the plot 25 years before his death, and the casket 12 years prior, but those are the quirkiest part of his life story. Listen to this week's mini episode to learn about The House That Jack Built, the Bachelor's Domain and the failed Smith's House...

This month, 105 years ago, the Great Fire of 1917 swept through Atlanta. Over the course of 10 hours, we lost 73 square blocks, more than 300 acres, 1938 buildings and 1900 homes. 10,000 Atlantans were homeless, which was 5% of the city’s population.  Want to support this podcast? Visit here Email:  thevictorialemos@gmail.com Facebook |  Instagram |  Twitter

"Atlanta's Petticoated Sherlock Holmes" - that's how the newspaper's described Hattie Barnett, the city's first licensed female detective. With very little information to be found, I took the mentions of Hattie and pieced together a small snapshot of her life here in Atlanta. Want to support this podcast? Visit here Email:  thevictorialemos@gmail.com Facebook |  Instagram |  Twitter    

World War I was the first conflict where American women were allowed to enlist in the armed forces and 100K men and women from around the State of Georgia contributed to the war effort. This week, I'm talking about the Atlanta women and their roles in WWI. From those who sewed in their homes to those that gave the ultimate sacrifice. Want to support this podcast? Visit here Email:  thevictorialemo...

This week, we're talking about the Georgia State Lottery. If you ask Google when it began, it will tell you 1991...but the truth is that is formed in 1866, and the story is rife with drama.   Want to support this podcast? Visit here Email:  thevictorialemos@gmail.com Facebook |  Instagram |  Twitter    

Westside Park is the largest greenspace in the city, at 280 acres, with a 350-foot reservoir that holds 2.4 billion gallons of emergency water reserves. As Atlanta celebrates this new park, I think it’s incredibly valuable to understand the history of the land and what led to it becoming what it is today. One part is the story of a working class Black community from the turn of the 20th century th...

This week I am covering the history of an Atlanta icon - the Fox Theater! From its beginning as a mosque, to opening as a premiere movie theater, to its place as the catalyst of the city’s historic preservation movement. Want to support this podcast? Visit here Email:  thevictorialemos@gmail.com Facebook |  Instagram |  Twitter

This week’s mini episode is about the history of Georgia’s white-only primary. White primaries were primary elections held in the South in which only white voters could participate and they were established by the Democratic Party and/or state legislatures in South Carolina, Florida, Mississippi, Alabama, Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas and Georgia. Atlanta first established their white primary in 1892...

In 1881, not even two decades out of slavery, a group of Atlanta's African American washerwomen started the "Washing Society" and launched the fight for higher wages, respect and acknowledgement of Black women's important role in the New South economy. One of best lesser-known 'herstories' of the city. Further Reading: To Joy My Freedom Want to support this podcast? Visit here Email:  thevictorial...

This week’s mini episode is about bicycle messengers, a topic that came from Atlanta Courier Collective . From the first messenger company in 1894, through the stories of strikes, arrests and speed records.  Want to support this podcast? Visit here Email:  thevictorialemos@gmail.com Facebook |  Instagram |  Twitter

This week I am sharing my interview with Clayton Trutor, author of "Loserville: How Professional Sports Remade Atlanta - And How Atlanta Remade Professional Sports", which is available on February 1st. We talked about why the South lacked professional sports teams, who and what changed that, the origin stories of the Braves, Hawks, Falcons, Flames and Chiefs and the Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium a...

Ida Elliott was a young working class girl from Bellwood, today the area along Marietta Street, from 8th North Avenues. Mule-drawn trolleys came to the area in 1882, electric streetcars in 1894 and was annexed into Atlanta in 1897.  In 1896, a sensational news story landed the neighborhood on the front page of the local papers. Since so much of our history is always about the successful, the rich,...

This week, we’re talking about three people, Dr. Grafton Gardner, Dr. Rosa Monnish and Otis Lee, that performed abortions in Atlanta, from the 1880s through the 1940s. Who they were, where they lived and work and what consequences they paid for their advocacy.  Want to support this podcast? Visit here Email:  thevictorialemos@gmail.com Facebook |  Instagram |  Twitter  

Fernbank Forest is a 65-acre, old-growth forest with white oaks, tulip poplars, loblolly pines, American beech, different oaks, hickory and maples, some that are several hundred years old. This week, I'm talking about the land, the family that once owned it and the push to preserve it for future generations. Want to support this podcast? Visit here Email:  thevictorialemos@gmail.com Facebook |  In...

This week, we're talking about Grove Park, which with the new Quarry Park and Microsoft headquarters announcement, has been thrusted into the headlines recently. Named for patent-medicine-magnet Edwin Grove, it was platted first as West Atlanta Park, then later Fortified Hills, before being known as Grove's Park. I am covering the earliest school building, churches, community theater and integrati...

In 2021, there was a lot of conversation about establishing high speed rail between Savannah and Atlanta, and, like everything else in Atlanta’s history, we’ve tried it before! The first time, 129 years ago and then again 74 years ago. So this week, we’re talking about the Nancy Hanks train (the original and II).  Want to support this podcast? Visit here Email:  thevictorialemos@gmail.com Facebook...

This week, we’re replaying an episode from the archives - covering Atlanta’s history with the bicycle; its riders, causes, promoters, races, and venues. In the first 50 years of the city's cycling history, riders establish numerous clubs, started a lantern parade tradition, fought for paved roads and closing streets to vehicle traffic and created the first dedicated bike path...and that's just the...

In today’s world, we all know what Uber and Lyft is and what they provide, and many cities with highly established and regulated taxi systems have waged constant war against them - I am definitely thinking of NYC. But did you know that these cities had the same issues, just many decades before you were born? A jitney is the name of a taxi that operated outside of municipal regulations, the word st...

Katherine Geffcken was born in "the old Piedmont Hospital" in 1927 and lived on Myrtle and West Peachtree Streets, worshipped at All Saints Episcopal and attended Spring Street School, O'Keefe and Girl's High. She then went on to Agnes Scott, graduating in 1949, graduate school at Bryn Mawr and 30 years as a professor at Wellesley College. Hearing her stories of "old" Atlanta, riding the streetcar...

After three years and three months of weekly podcasts, I am changing up the format. A new episode will release every Friday morning, but they will alternate between ‘full length’ and minis. This keeps the podcast sustainable and more importantly, allows me to share even MORE Atlanta history. This week, we’re kicking off the first mini episode with the short story of ‘Moving Day’. What was Moving D...

This week, I am covering some of Atlanta's lesser-known amusement parks. From Walton Springs in the 1840s to the Funtown of 1961. Where were they? What amusements did they have? All those questions answered and so much more! Want to support this podcast? Visit here Email:  thevictorialemos@gmail.com Facebook |  Instagram |  Twitter  

This week, I'm covering the "Peyton Wall" - TWO barricades erected in 1962, along Peyton and Harlan Roads. White neighbors had been fighting "Negro encroachment" for more than a decade, and when Ivan Allen became mayor in 1962, they inundated him with letters requesting that the roads be made dead-ends (among other things). By December, the city has blocked the roads and while they were only up fo...

Halloween is this weekend, and so I wanted to replay my episode from last year, with Liz Clappin from Tomb With A View . We talked about the history of grave robbing, from the earliest start in this country, to its start in the state of Georgia and then local incidents in Atlanta and Decatur.    Want to support this podcast? Visit here Email:  thevictorialemos@gmail.com Facebook |  Instagram |  Tw...

In 1909, Asa Candler, Jr bought 290 acres of land south of Downtown, with the intention of building a racetrack. The Atlanta Speedway lasted only two years, and then the land was used as a small airfield by local pilots. In 1925, the City of Atlanta leased the land for a municipal airport, buying it in 1928. This week, I am covering all the things Atlanta airport - how did it expand, who was it na...

This week, I'm covering the earliest orphanages in Atlanta - who formed them, who funded them, where they were and what they are today. From 1866, when the state of Georgia established a lottery to fund a white orphanage, to the institutions for Black and Jewish children.  Want to support this podcast? Visit here Email:  thevictorialemos@gmail.com Facebook |  Instagram |  Twitter