Hardy Ivy Park is a pocket park in

downtown ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in North America by English speakers to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business distric ...

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

History

The namesake for the park is Hardy Ivy, who is generally considered the first person of European descent to settle in what is now

. According to ''

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution ''The Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' is the only major daily newspaper in the metropolitan area of Atlanta, Georgia. It is the flagship publication of Cox Enterprises. The ''Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' is the result of the merger between ...

'', the name was chosen to appease the Ivy family after Ivy Street was renamed

Peachtree Center Peachtree Center is a district located in Downtown Atlanta, Georgia. Most of the structures that make up the district were designed by Atlanta architect John C. Portman, Jr. A defining feature of the Peachtree Center is a network of enclosed ped ...

Avenue in the late 20th century. The park is located on a small triangular tract of land at the divergence of

Peachtree Street Peachtree Street is one of several major streets running through the city of Atlanta. Beginning at Five Points (Atlanta), Five Points in downtown Atlanta, it runs North through Midtown Atlanta, Midtown; a few blocks after entering into Buckhead ...

and West Peachtree Street in

. In May 1896, the city of Atlanta commemorated the

Erskine Memorial Fountain The Erskine Memorial Fountain is a public fountain in Grant Park of Atlanta, Georgia, United States. Designed by J. Massey Rhind in honor of John Erskine, it was the first public fountain in Atlanta. The fountain was built in 1896 and moved ...

in honor of Judge John Erskine at the location. In order to make room for the fountain, a marble

statue of Benjamin Harvey Hill A statue of Benjamin Harvey Hill stands inside the Georgia State Capitol in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. The monumental statue was designed by American sculptor Alexander Doyle and originally dedicated in 1886 at what is now Hardy Ivy P ...

was moved from the park to the

Georgia State Capitol The Georgia State Capitol is an architecturally and historically significant building in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. The building has been named a National Historic Landmark which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. As t ...

. The fountain, designed by sculptor

J. Massey Rhind John Massey Rhind (9 July 1860 – 1 January 1936) was a Scottish-American sculptor. Among Rhind's better known works is the marble statue of Dr. Crawford W. Long located in the National Statuary Hall Collection in Washington D.C. (1926). E ...

, was later relocated to Grant Park in 1912. In the later half of the 20th century, the park received another statue. Several years after the closing of

Terminal Station A train station, railway station, railroad station or depot is a railway facility where trains stop to load or unload passengers, freight or both. It generally consists of at least one platform, one track and a station building providing such ...

, a

statue of Samuel Spencer The Samuel Spencer statue is a public monument in Atlanta, Georgia. Dedicated in 1910, the monument was designed by Daniel Chester French, Henry Bacon, and the Piccirilli Brothers and honors Samuel Spencer, a railroad executive who died in 19 ...

, which had stood in front of the station since 1910, was moved to the park. The statue has since been moved to a location in

midtown Atlanta Midtown Atlanta, or Midtown, is a high-density commercial and residential neighborhood of Atlanta, Georgia. The exact geographical extent of the area is ill-defined due to differing definitions used by the city, residents, and local business ...

. In the late 1990s, the Carnegie Education Pavilion was moved to the park, where it currently still stands. In 2011, the government of Atlanta officially renamed the plaza in the park the Xernona Clayton Plaza in honor of civil rights leader

Xernona Clayton Xernona Clayton Brady (née Brewster, born August 30, 1930) is an American civil rights leader and broadcasting executive. During the Civil Rights Movement, she worked for the National Urban League and Southern Christian Leadership Conference, w ...

. An accompanying plaque honors her career.

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * {{Atlanta parks Parks in Atlanta