Prior to the Civil War, Atlanta was a city of 10,000 and a leading railroad hub for the South. The location of the rail lines, rail yards and repair shops in Atlanta served as the impetus for the development and growth of the Mechanicsville neighborhood, as well as all of Atlanta. The area just south of the central business district was chosen for construction of the rail yards and repair shops. The white men who worked the railroad and the locomotive repairmen were traditionally known as “mechanics”, thus the area came to be known as Mechanicsville.

Immediately following the Civil War, Atlanta’s population surged. Many African American families migrated to Atlanta and found work in the rail yard, factories or homes of white residents. The railroads themselves officially employed few African Americans. In 1870, only 25 African Americans worked for the rails and in 1880 the number grew to only 55. However, Mechanicsville did attract a fairly skilled population of African Americans. In 1873 there was a brick mason with over $1200 worth of property in Mechanicsville and in 1885 a carpenter named Henry Carter owned $1510 worth of property.

SCHOOLS IN THE 19TH CENTURY

Mechanicsville’s large working class population supported four schools in the area: Ira Street School built in 1887 (between Crumley and Richardson Stress); Formwalt Street School built in 1893 (at Eugenia Street); Georgia Street School built in 1899 (at Formwalt Street); and Pryor School built in 1907 (at Doane Street). These were typical schools for the white population’s working class. They were each designed to house roughly 500 students. By 1921 the schools were greatly overcrowded and unsatisfactory from every standpoint. African American students attended elementary schools nearby, such as Crogman Elementary School in the Pittsburgh neighborhood built in 1923.

AFRICAN-AMERICAN SETTLEMENT

From 1883-1890 there was no distinct color line in the developed areas of Mechanicsville, but the northeast section was primarily white and the western and southern section was mixed. Internal physical separation emerged in 1899. African Americans tended to live in the blocks to the west of Cooper Street; Glenn Street was populated almost entirely by African American families, as was Ira Street, Glenn Street and Crumley Street. Street by street differences in income and social status was apparent. Pryor Street housed more working class families and Windsor Street housed the upper classes. The Copper Street boundary was established by 1911 and included Georgia Avenue (now Ralph David Abernathy Blvd.) while Jewish families lived along Central Avenue. Despite the internal separation among the streets, Mechanicsville was an economic and racially diverse area, unusual for Atlanta at this time. Unscrupulous landlords took advantage of the new African American residents and constructed poor quality housing, which they leased for exorbitant rents. This resulted in extremely poor living conditions for many African American newcomers. African Americans populated Windsor, Cooper, and Richardson and McDaniel Streets. These patterns continued into the early 1900s as the interior of the blocks behind the middle class white homes were subdivided and developed as homes for African Americans. Numerous lots with large brick and masonry homes contain smaller wood-frame houses located in the back yards; this land was less valuable because it lacked street frontage and was served only by dead end alleys. Nevertheless, these alley-way homes provided African Americans with a safe haven from public scrutiny during the Jim Crow era of the 20th century. The close proximity of the houses is an expression of the intensity of the community relations among the African Americans families.

Two African American churches were established in 1872, Zion Hill Baptist Church and St. Paul’s African Methodists Church; one stands today at the corner of McDaniel Street and Ralph David Abernathy Boulevard.

A DIVERSE POPULATION: 1900-1950

Mechanicsville’s current population demographics do not give evidence of its former ethnic diversity. Prior to the 1920s, Mechanicsville was the center of Jewish life in Atlanta. Many European Jews settled in Mechanicsville, and by 1880, 25% of Atlanta’s entire Jewish population lived along Whitehall, Windsor, Cooper, Formwalt and Pryor Streets. Most of these residents worked in the retail and trade sector. Mechanicsville was home to the J. J. Haverty, Amos Rhodes and Morris Rich families, as well as to Aaron and Jacob Haas, whose street car lines moved Atlantans from place to place (Jacob Haas and Henry Levi were the first Jews to come to Atlanta, arriving in 1842 to open a dry goods store). In 1902, with over 60% of the Atlanta Jewish population living in Mechanicsville, the first “home” of The Temple was built on the corner of Richardson and Pryor streets. It remained there until 1926 when it was relocated to its current location on Peachtree Street. The African-American settlement pattern mirrored the typical residential patterns in the urban South. Their choice of location was typically limited by economic necessity and usually developed in areas peripheral to established areas. While the more affluent white families located along the streetcar lines, the African-Americans lived closer to the rail yards and on the interior blocks (alleyways):

ECONOMY: 1900-1960

Mechanicsville’s multiethnic working class population continued to grow throughout the early 20th Century. Georgia Avenue (now called Ralph David Abernathy Blvd.), Prior Street, and McDaniel Street contained numerous shops that served the area residents—blue collar railroad employees as well as residents holding white collar jobs in the nearby downtown offices and stores.nDuring the 1920s, as many as 20,000 people worked in some way or another for the railroads. The trend of railroad employees living in the Mechanicsville neighborhood continued until the 1930s. Even with the large employment base of the railroad yards, there were other employment opportunities in the area. Other non-railroad businesses provided the daily goods and services needed by a growing community. The neighborhood had a coal company, was the home of a General Electric light bulb manufacturing facility — now the home of Sexton/Pryor Tire Company — and other large commercial establishments that provided employment for neighborhood residents. Wealthier families resided primarily in the northeastern portion of Mechanicsville along the horse — and later electric — streetcar systems. The tree-lined streets of Pryor, Washington, Whitehall and Pulliam housed some of Atlanta’s elite families including members of the Rhodes, Haverty, and Rich families. General office workers and businessmen also resided along Pulliam and Pryor Streets.

RAWSON-WASHINGTON URBAN RENEWAL PROGRAM

The Rawson-Washington urban renewal program, under the 1949 Federal Housing Act, provided financing to the City of Atlanta to clear large areas of physically and economically depressed properties. Since Mechanicsville was considered one of the poorest areas in the City, it was targeted for urban renewal. The far western portion of Mechanicsville, the oldest African American area, was cleared as part of this infamous project, from Capitol Avenue in the east to the railroad at the western edge of the community. The project was intended to stimulate new inner-city housing construction for white, middle income families, but the new construction never took place. The land was cleared and the residents were removed although there was no developer who was willing to develop the site. Some of this vacant land cleared by the Rawson-Washington program was ultimately used in the construction Interstate I-75/I-85 and the Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium project and the related parking lots, but each of these projects required the demolition of more homes and businesses and more displacement of residents. The physical boundaries of the community were changed and an artificial barrier between Mechanicsville and the downtown area was created, which served to further devastate the economy in Mechanicsville.

MODEL CITIES PROGRAMS

The Model City Program offered Mechanicsville residents hope that the government would help the community to clean up the damage of the earlier government projects and replace some of the lost housing. Mega-block public housing projects and other subsidized, large-scale, federal housing initiatives were constructed. More land was cleared for these projects; more residents were displaced; and more historic resources were destroyed. The large scale housing projects continue to face challenges, but local residents are meeting these challenges with community support programs.

MECHANICSVILLE IN THE 1980S

A current resident reminds us that “Mechanicsville used to be a neighborhood that you didn’t find many people loafing around because you had all those jobs like the Southern shop of the railroad, …grocery stores, warehouses…any kind of work that a person was looking for. So it worked.”

SUMMECH

Lowell Ware, the publisher of The Atlanta Voice and a resident of the community, formed a non-profit land trust in the late 1980’s to purchase many of the vacant lots in Mechanicsville and neighboring Summerhill. SUMMECH was later formed to manage these properties and to ensure that the development of these properties be consistent with the goals of current residents.