Joseph Madison High
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Joseph Madison High (1855–1906) was the founder of
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 ...
department store J.M. High Company. His wife, Harriet "Hattie" Harwell Wilson High (1862–1932), donated her family's mansion on
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 ...
to house the museum that has grown into the
High Museum of Art The High Museum of Art (colloquially the High) is the largest museum for visual art in the Southeastern United States. Located in Atlanta, Georgia (on Peachtree Street in Midtown, the city's arts district), the High is 312,000 square feet (28, ...
, Atlanta's foremost art museum. Madison was from
Morgan County, Georgia Morgan County is a county located in the north central Piedmont region of the U.S. state of Georgia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 20,097. The county seat is Madison. Since the early 21st century, the county has had a housing boom ...
. He started his first business in
Madison, Georgia Madison is a city in Morgan County, Georgia, United States. It is part of the Atlanta-Athens-Clarke-Sandy Springs Combined Statistical Area. The population was 3,979 at the 2010 census. The city is the county seat of Morgan County and the si ...
, forming the firm of High & Berney. He later moved to Atlanta for greater opportunity, where he partnered with E. D. Herring to open up a dry goods store at 40 Whitehall Street (now Peachtree St. SE).William J. Northen, John Temple Graves (eds.), ''Men of mark in Georgia'', vol. 5
/ref> A new store opened at 50 Whitehall in 1882.''American cloak and suit review'', vol. 16, p.155
/ref> In 1884 High bought out Herring and renamed the firm J. M. High & Co. In 1882 High married Harriet Harwell Wilson. In 1887 High's department store opened a new location on the west side of Whitehall. By 1889 High was able to buy the southwest corner of Whitehall and Hunter (now King Blvd.) and erect a four-story brick building with an ornate interior for his department store. In 1906 High died. but the store continued doing business.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:High, Joseph Madison Businesspeople from Atlanta 1855 births 1906 deaths People from Morgan County, Georgia 19th-century American businesspeople