Archive Atlanta

This week, we’re talking about the history of Atlanta’s City Hall...not just the Art Deco masterpiece you can see today, but also the places that no longer exist. Where they were, how we got them and what their fate was. Our current City Hall (the 4th one in history), was built in 1930 and brought forth something called the Atlanta Graft Ring - an epic corruption scandal that brought down a mayor...

This week, we’re talking about Kirkwood - its earliest settlement history, community landmarks and historic events and people. This Muskogee/Creek land was ceded in 1821 and divided into 5 initial land lots. Early white settlers include James Kirkpatrick and Jesse Clay. Post-Civil War, Kirkwood became home to politicians like John B. Gordon. It tried to incorporate as it's own city in 1899 (not wi...

This week we're talking about Henrietta Dozier, the first female architect in Atlanta, and Leila Ross Wilburn, the second. Who doesn't love a story of women acting against the grain that was prescribed to them by their time period, social norms or gender. Both Henrietta and Leila are examples of that, and they both leave legacies that we can physically see today, although not all in Atlanta. https...

It’s safe to say that home ownership is one of, if not THE tenet of the American Dream, but did you know that idea didn’t really come around until the 1920s? And to sell Americans on this idea, a Federal program was created, which then supported marketing campaigns in thousands of US cities? This week we’re talking about the Better Homes Movement - what it was, who started it and then we’re going...

This week, we’re talking about Atlanta’s love of Scotland. While there wasn't exactly a Scottish settlement or specific neighborhood, Scots did immigrate to the Atlanta area and I’ll explain why and where. Aside from those immigrants, there was also an infatuation with Scotland and especially poet Robert Burns. So this week, we’re going to cover all of these Scottish history rabbit holes - The Cal...

Norfolk Southern has just announced they are backing out the plans to build a transfer terminal on the former Chattahoochee Brick site. While there is still a lot left to do, I wanted to replay this episode from April of 2019.  The end of the Civil War marked the end of slavery in the US...right? In all Southern cities, convict leasing booms in the post-war period and the largest user of the syste...

The Montgomery bus boycott officially ended a month after the court deemed racial segregation on buses was illegal. U.S. cities with similar segregation ordinances understood that no challenge to their laws would stand, but they weren't going to willingly desegregate. Instead, it would take a group of 6 Atlanta ministers, led By Rev. William Holmes Borders, and this movement - the Love, Law and Li...

Atlanta’s Office of Housing & Community Development recently created a revised zoning plan and I got to interview director Josh Humphries to find out some history, the new plan's details and next governmental steps.  By 2050 Atlanta expects our population to (more than) double and right now, we're the 316th densest city in the US...so there is room to grow and it’s up to Atlanta residents to decid...

This week, we’re talking about the 1895 Cotton States and International Exposition. Opened for over 100 days, from September through December of that year, it would attract around 800K visitors from across the US and 13 different countries. In 1895, Atlanta had 75,000 people, of which 40% were African American, there were 125 miles of electric trolley lines and you could feel the energy about the...

At the turn of the century, Georgia was one of three states that did not allow women to practice law. That changed in 1911, when Minnie Anderson Hale graduated from the Atlanta Law School and was denied admission to the bar because of her sex. A new bill was introduced but not signed until 1916, making her the first official woman lawyer in Georgia/Atlanta.  It was not until 1943 that Rachel Prude...

This week, I’m talking about volunteer militia formed by Black men in Atlanta from the 1870s thru 1903. These men, just years out of the slavery system and most of them Radical Republicans, pushed for the militia for two reasons - military service was the epitome of masculine, model citizen Victorian manhood and also for protection. The end of Reconstruction left African Americans in the South unp...

Regardless of age, I bet you have a personal memory that involves a pair of roller skates - and almost every decade, from 1870 onward, had them too. Through this research I learned that the skating trend ebbs and flows, rinks come and go, but the activity has stood the test of time.  Want to support this podcast? Visit here Email:  thevictorialemos@gmail.com Facebook |  Instagram |  Twitter  

Mark and his wife Melinda were inside Broad Street Antiques in Chamblee, when a certain watercolor caught their eye. It had faces, swirls, rhythms, colors, musical notes, keyboards, bits of instruments and books with poems. After trying to find information on the artist, Jewel Simon, they found almost nothing published. Mark dove head first into the archives and as her life unfolded, so did the st...

While women only made up 3% of prisoners, Black women made up 98% of that group. From grading the railroad ‘cuts’ in 1866, all way into running the Haven Home in 1959, women as young as 16 served their time in places like Chattahoochee Brick, Bolton Broom, the almshouse property and Camp Mattox. These are stories about childbirth, death, escape and what is left in Atlanta that connects us to these...

As an outsider to the preservation world, I had a lot of questions: What is historic and who decides? Does that little National Register plaque do anything? Why do historic buildings still get demolished? Is historic preservation bad for low-income communities? This week, I interviewed Charles Lawrence, Board Chair of Historic Atlanta and got the answers to all the above, and more. You do NOT want...

So this week, we’re covering the Indigenous and Native American history of the Atlanta area. This is by no means the full story, but hopefully something that will implore to learn more, or at the very least think deeper about the land that you are on today. Podcasts to listen to: https://www.allmyrelationspodcast.com/podcast https://www.npr.org/2020/10/06/920935570/a-treaty-right-for-cherokee-repr...

I couldn’t be more excited to share with week's episode - not only do you get to learn about Atlanta’s LGBTQ history (FINALLY) but we get to do it through the lens of the Atlanta Eagle, which in itself tells us the story of Ponce de Leon’s transition from grand residential street to commercial corridor. It was an honor to record this interview with Charlie inside the Eagle, inside the spaces that...

President McKinley signed the Three Prisons Act in 1891, which authorized the building of the U.S. first three federal penitentiaries. Atlanta was chosen as the Southern site and the prison here opened it's gates in 1902. This week we're covering the early history, its reform programs, infamous inmates and successful escapes. Leave your Atlanta story: ‪(678) 465-7161‬ Want to support this podcast?...

In the spirit of Halloween, I interviewed Liz Clappin, friend and host of the podcast Tomb With A View . We talk about the earliest history of body snatching in the United States (riots in NY), through the start of it here in Georgia (Augusta's medical college purchases an enslaved man to do that work) and some incidents of it here in Atlanta and Decatur.  Follow Tomb With A View here: Instagram F...

100 EPISODES! To celebrate I did another Listener Q&A, with amazing questions, like: “What is your favorite repurposed historic space?”, “How do I research my house/building?” and "What do you think Atlanta's future looks like?" (among many others). Leave your Atlanta story: ‪(678) 465-7161‬ Want to support this podcast? Visit here Email:  thevictorialemos@gmail.com Facebook Instagram   Twitter

The sudden release of government controlled industry during WWI cause sever inflation - 15% from 1919 to 1920. One of the most affected industries was clothing manufacturing and men's clothes especially were very expensive. In response, Overall Clubs began appearing across the nation, and Atlanta had one of the earliest. This week, we're learning about the overall garment, what is symbolized, wher...

With Election Day under a month away, and the recent 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment, there is no better time to discover the history of women's suffrage in Atlanta. Things went a little differently down South, and Georgia women did not vote until 1922, two years after the constitutional amendment. We'll talk about why, and the groups that fought for the women's vote and those that fought...

This week we’re covering Atlanta’s Better Films Committee, it’s first un-official censor, (Zella Richardson), the later paid city position (Christine Smith) and the movies that they approved or denied. Leave your Atlanta story: ‪(678) 465-7161‬ Want to support this podcast? Visit:  www.patreon.com/archiveatlanta Email:  thevictorialemos@gmail.com FB:  www.facebook.com/archiveatlanta IG:  www.insta...

Atlanta first attempted to codify racialized zoning in 1913 and the charge was led by 4th Ward City Councilman Claude L. Ashley. Today, we’re going to talk about what led to this ordinance, the man behind it and how the city and state reacted to it.  Leave your Atlanta story: ‪(678) 465-7161‬ Want to support this podcast? Visit:  www.patreon.com/archiveatlanta Email:  thevictorialemos@gmail.com FB...

The Candler name is all across Atlanta, even when not expressly spelled out, there are many places with Candler connections you may have never realized. The family’s generational wealth allowed Asa’s children to build their own respective mansions, and each is still around today - some public and some private. This week, we’re talking about all the remaining Candler homes in Atlanta, their origin...