West End, Atlanta

The West End neighborhood of Atlanta is on the National Register of Historic Places and can be found southwest of Castleberry Hill and just north of Oakland City.

History

Early History

It began as an inn called Whitehall and by the 1830s that structure became the area's first post office and voting place. In 1845 when Marthasville, Georgia was renamed Atlanta, voting and postal functions were both moved from Whitehall.

Following the American Civil War the area was home mainly to railway laborers driven out of Atlanta by the high cost of living and as late as 1876 there were only 150 households most of which were laborers (the only well-known name is Jonathan Norcross). By the 1880s many wealthy Atlantans built large estates here and when they came, the main street of Gordon Street became a bustling commercial district. From 1894 to 1930, West End grew rapidly in population and prosperity. An examination of building permits for Peeples, Gordon, Lee and Lawton Streets shows a large number of single family residences being built and increasing commercial buildings and churches going up along Gordon and at the long established business district at Gordon and Lee.National and local prosperity and the mobility created by the automobile in the 1920s helped West End to grow. Approximately fifty businesses were now clustered at Gordon and Lee with branches of Sears, Firestone, Piggly-Wiggly, and Goodyear. Churches and schools increased to serve the growing population. Schools began to dot West End, the largest being the 1923 Joseph E. Brown High School at Peeples and Beecher.

Decline

After 1930, West End was an aging but still vital Atlanta community. This vitality is most clearly evident in the West End Businessmen's Association (originally formed in 1927). In 1937, the Association pushed for extension of the National Housing Act title providing for home modernization loans, and in subsequent decades (1950s and 1960s) for economic accessibility and population stabilization, including segregation. With the group's support, Gordon Street was widened, Interstate 20 was built across West End's northern fringe, and the old business district (along with large amounts of residential housing) was demolished in favor of a mall development. Completed in 1973, the mall's accessibility was later augmented by part of the city's latest transportation system, a MARTA station, across the street. The West End Businessmen's Association obviously was successful in many areas, but it failed in stopping "white flight" and the movement of blacks into the community. By 1976, West End was eighty-six percent black.

Renewal

By the 2000s, much of it still looked blighted but a few bright spots were popping up due to a wave of investment in intown Atlanta beginning to rejuvenate the area. As West End was once described as one of Atlanta's most socially diverse and culturally rich communities, it is again returning to the tradition of its past, as it relates to the regenerating of community value and revitalization. Of particular note was the Candler-Smith Historic Warehouse District, which houses commercial, artist, and residential lofts (some of which were forced to evacuate following a fire in 2005 that killed a mother and two children). The Candler-Smith Historic Warehouses are now known as "The Metropolitan".

Landmarks

The biggest tourist spot here is Joel Chandler Harris Home (Wren's Nest). The West End Mall houses small but neighborhood-centric items. It is served by the West End MARTA station and is home to the Atlanta University Center or (AUC) which consists of Spelman College, Morehouse College, and Clark Atlanta University among others.

References

NRHP site

External links

• West End Neighborhood Development
• Wren's Nest
• The Metropolitan
• Spelman College
• Morehouse College