Peters Park was a planned but never realized neighborhood in

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 ...

, located on the site of today's

Georgia Tech The Georgia Institute of Technology, commonly referred to as Georgia Tech or, in the state of Georgia, as Tech or The Institute, is a public research university and institute of technology in Atlanta, Georgia. Established in 1885, it is part of ...

campus. Had the neighborhood actually been established in 1884-5, Peters Park would have been Atlanta's first garden suburb, preceding

Inman Park Inman Park is an intown neighborhood on the east side of Atlanta, Georgia, and its first planned suburb. It was named for Samuel M. Inman. History Today's neighborhood of Inman Park includes areas that were originally designated * Inman Park p ...

, the first to feature winding roads, a lake and a planted boulevard.

Organizers

The land was owned by Atlanta founder and railroad man Richard Peters, and the "model suburban town", as it was called then, was planned by

Hannibal Kimball Hannibal Ingalls Kimball (May 16, 1832 – April 28, 1895) was an American entrepreneur and important businessman in post-Civil War Atlanta, Georgia. Early years Born in Oxford County, Maine to family of Methodist wheelwrights. He was the f ...

, who was behind the once-iconic Kimball House hotel and the 1881

International Cotton Exposition International Cotton Exposition (I.C.E.) was a world's fair held in Atlanta, Georgia, from October 4 to December 31 of 1881. The location was along the Western & Atlantic Railroad tracks near the present-day King Plow Arts Center development in t ...

Nathan Franklin Barrett Nathan Franklin Barrett (November 19, 1845 – October 16, 1919) was an American landscape architect. He is best known for his designs for company town of Pullman, Illinois, the Hotel Ponce de Leon in Florida and Naumkeag in Stockbridge, Massach ...

was the nationally renowned landscape architect.

Planned features

At one point the project was described as encompassing , out of which 142 would be lots, 48 would streets and , parks. (Other sources describe the project as . Peters Park would be accessible via the Peachtree or Marietta Street horsecar lines of the

Atlanta Street Railway The Atlanta Street Railway was the first streetcar system in Atlanta. Originally chartered by the state of Georgia on February 23, 1866, by George Hillyer, John Westmoreland and John Thrasher soon after the city put such onerous demands on th ...

Company. Lots were improved by the land development company, a novelty for Atlanta at the time. By May 1885, $50,000 had been spent improving the neighborhood in anticipation of lot sales.

Failure

The project failed — few lots were sold. Reasons attributed were the walking distance from the horsecar lines, high prices, and the onerous restrictions as to what could be built on the lots.

Destination of land

In 1887 Peters offered to donate fronting on North Avenue and Cherry Street as the site of the Technological School, which would become Georgia Tech, as an alternative to

Boulevard A boulevard is a type of broad avenue planted with rows of trees, or in parts of North America, any urban highway. Boulevards were originally circumferential roads following the line of former city walls. In American usage, boulevards may ...

and Grant Park, the two other sites being considered for the school. The offer was accepted, and Peters was able to sell an additional adjacent of prime land for use by the school. The remainder of the Peters Park land would become the

Hemphill Avenue The Hemphill Avenue neighborhood was until the late 1960s a multi-racial working-class neighborhood of Atlanta, Georgia roughly bounded by 10th Street, Hemphill Avenue, North Avenue and Marietta Street. It contained homes, churches (including Ponde ...

neighborhood, which would be razed in the late 1960s and become part of the Georgia Tech campus.

Organizers

Planned features

Failure

Destination of land

See also

References

Further reading