Visiting Atlanta, Georgia in 1929


This wonderful photo, which is from the Duke University site, has amazed me for a long time now. It's bursting with detail, and of course I wanted to know exactly where it was, and when the photo was taken.

Luckily, my top history adventurer was up for the challenge, and determined that it's Atlanta, Georgia, specifically looking north on Marietta Street and Peachtree, in 1929. I'll show you some of the stuff he did to do the detective work on this.


First of all, even a poor history detective like me can read a street sign. Peachtree is a very famous street, and as soon as I started Googling it, I had a suspicion that this could be Atlanta. But a good detective is always cautious, and there's more evidence, a lot more.


Take a look at this 1911 Sanborn map of Atlanta, Georgia. These were insurance fire maps, and their detail is astonishing. This is Five Points. But wait, it gets better. Getting the exact date took some research, and some math.


The J.M. High Company was proudly proclaiming "For 45 years a modern store". Since they were established in 1884, and assuming that the sign hadn't been up for very long, that would make it 1929. By the way, if you're a car expert, and you see a car newer than 1929, let me know, but I'm feeling very confident about this date!


And speaking of cars, let's take a closer look at the slice of life. Keep in mind that this photo was originally taken of the billboard, to prove to the advertiser that it was in place, legible, and not printed upside-down, so the rest of the photo is just of whoever was passing by on that day. Kinda like Google Street View, which I appeared in a few years ago watching my friend wash his car.

Then, as now, Atlanta had a large black population, and my eye is caught by the distinguished gentleman in the foreground, who appears to be better-dressed than anyone else nearby, and the young woman dressed in white. The lady on the left is probably getting some change out of her bag, I doubt that she would have been answering a cell phone!


I want to take a closer look at the New York Painless Dental Offices above Liggett's Drug Store. That window in the center has a hand drawn there showing you where the entrance is. And I just noticed Mays Badgett Violin Maker. It's interesting that there's a fire escape in the front of the building!



But this is what has really been bugging me about this photo. What in the world is this? It's part of the street light, and the post goes right through it. I really don't have a clue. I've lived a good long life, and I've seen a lot of old photos, but I ain't never seen nothin' like that before! Do you know what it is? People are walking by, taking it for granted, and I want to walk into this photo and ask someone, "Excuse me, what is that thing?" Update from an anonymous source: Apparently it was some kind of traffic control tower, which was popular in big cities in the 1920s. Obviously, it never caught on.

By the way, I grew up in Minneapolis and now live in Phoenix, so I'd say At-LAN-ta. But many years ago I spent some quality time with a lovely young lady who hailed from there, and I can still hear her voice, she said AT-lan-ta. Pure music!

Thank you for visiting Atlanta, Georgia in 1929 with me!

Other arms reach out to me,
Other eyes smile tenderly.
Still, in the peaceful dreams, I see,
The road leads back to you.
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