History and artifacts recovered during MARTA construction that shed light on the people and life of this vibrant community.

1. Group 2: 9Fu80
Hannah Brecker & Yosef Razin
Phoenix Project Presentation
November 29, 2017

2. Mapping and Timeline
• Over a dozen maps of the neighborhood exist,
ranging from the Battle of Atlanta Fortification lines
of July 1864 through the Land Use Survey of 1959
• qGIS was used to map street layout development,
as well as identifying zoning and key landmarks

4. Parcel Background
• 3 contiguous parcels,
constituting 4 acres
• Empty pasture before
1906, owned by H.T.
Pickett (East) and
Allen Herren (West)
• Low Density
Residential area,
centered around
Ashby St. School
• Excavated Sept 7-24,
1976
Ashby St. School
Typical Wood-Sided Houses, c.1925

5. Parcel Regional Context
• Just to the south was Old West Hunter (MLK Drive), a Black business
district running from the University just past Ashby (now Lowery Blvd)
Amos Drug Store
(c.1940)
Dairy Queen
(c. 1945)
Bethlehem
Church of God (est. 1920)
(Crystal Theater, built 1910)
Frazier Café Society
(est. 1936)
Sellers Brothers
Funeral Home
(est. 1920)
Henderson
Travel Service
(est. 1955)
Bailey’s
Ashby Theatre
(c. 1940)
Bronner Brothers
Haircare
(est. 1946)
Donn Clendenon’s
Supper Club and Lounge
(c. 1970)
Piggly Wiggly
(est. 1936)
Paschals
(est. 1940)
Alecks
Barbecue Heaven
(est. 1940)
Old W. Hunter
Baptist Church
(est. 1906)
Harris
Hospital
(est. 1928)

6. Parcels 112-118, 123, 124, 488 & 91-111
Plot 112-118, 123-124, 488
Historic Ceramic
Glass
Metal
Plastic
Faunal
Other
Plot 91-111
• Empty rural plot owned by H.T. Pickett (1906)
• Lena and Harwell Roads built through by 1910
• 24 plots were laid out, with 14 houses by 1911
• Initially all white residents, according to 1910
census
• Mostly Georgians and other Southerners
• Large families living together (5-9 people)
• Nearly all working-aged men employed
• Some working women
• Predominantly blue-collar
• By 1920, the neighborhood had become all black
• Smaller families, more working women
• From professors and doctors to maids and
chauffeurs

7. Parcels 129-131
• Initially owned by Allen Herren and stood empty until at least 1911, when the Ashby
St. School opened across the street
• The structures on the lot consisted of single story wood framed house with detached
garage
• From at least 1930 until 1955, it was the home of Dr. Smith M. Lewis, an African-
American medical doctor and his wife Beulah, who taught at the school
• Primarily domestic goods (i.e. plateware, jars) but also many medicine bottles (20%)
Parcel 129-131 Material Breakdown
Historic Ceramic Glass Metal Other
Porcelain Electrical
Insulators (c.1930)
Brass Key Hole Plate Marbles US Optical 12 KT 1/20 Gold
Filled Glasses (c. 1950)

8. Total numbers
Type Quantity
Historic Ceramic 191
Glass 97
Metal 12
Composite Materials 6
Plastic 6
Faunal 3
Other 2
60%
30%
4%
2% 2% 1%
1%
9Fu80
Historic Ceramic Glass Metal
Composite Materials Plastic Faunal
Other

9. Materials: Historic Ceramics
Undetermined Stoneware
Porcelain
Earthenware
• 191 out of 317 items are ceramic fragments: 60%
• Specifics:
• Earthenware: 141/191 = 74%
• Porcelain: 32/191 = 17%
• Stoneware: 12/191 = 6%
• Undetermined: 6/191 = 3%
• No evidence of any pre-industrialized ceramics
• All glazed, some decorated, most not
• Domestic ceramic artifacts: fragments of tea cups,
plates, figurines, sanitary wares, etc.

10. Materials: Glass
• 97 out of 317 items are glass artifacts: 31%
• Commercial/domestic artifacts: shards,
bottles (small, large, broken, and whole), cup
shards, light bulb bases, and 6 marbles
• 12 of 97 show visible embossment of some
kid, 6 of which have discernable Maker’s
Marks
173.366.1: Small, clear,
whole container. Molded.
MM: Pierce Glass Co., St.
Mary's, PA 1905-1980.
Parcel 91-111
(residential)
173.378.1: Approx. radius = 2in,
opaque, embossed. MM: Mums
Mfg Co., Philadelphia, PA.
Deodorant container lid.
Production ceased: 1942. Parcel
112-118, 123, 124, 488
(residential)
173.379.1: Parcel 112-118, 123, 124,
488 (residential)
Small frag: Amber glass, Base frag w/
footring. (partial) MM: D-126.
Seagram's Lord Calvert Whisky bottle,
produced beginning 1961
Large frag: Amber glass, Base frag w/
footring. MM: Ballantine's Whiskey,
Dumbarton, Scotland.

11. Materials: Glass
173.379.1: Clear, Base frag w/
footring. MM: Des-Pat 95620.
Blue Plate Foods Mayo jar,
produced beginning 1935. Parcel
112-118, 123, 124, 488
(residential)
173.388.1: Milky/opaque
cracked disk. MM: Genuine
Boyd Cap glass Mason jar
liner in production 1871 -
1950s. Ball Bros. Glass
Manufacturing Company,
Buffalo, NY. Parcel 112-118,
123, 124, 488 (residential)
Other glass artifacts

12. Materials: Metal
• 12 out of the 317 items were pure metal and
two more had significant metal components.
Thus, metal was found in 4% of total artifacts.
• The brass components are light and thin (key
tag, tube, key hole plate, penny)
• The iron is primarily functional and
mechanical, with one decorative exception
Metal Artifacts by Type
Brass
Iron
Steel
Tin
Gold
The Iron Objects

13. Thank you!
Resources
Digital Scholarship Commons, Emory Libraries
- 1878 City Atlas of Atlanta, Southern and Southwestern Surveying and Pub. Co.
- 1906 Map of the City of Atlanta, O.F. Kauffman, C.E.
- 1928 Survey of the city
ATLMaps
-1864 Battle Lines
-1959 Map of Atlanta: New Streets from March 16, 1959 to February 1, 1960
Sanborn Fire Insurance
- 1899 Insurance Map
- 1911 Insurance Map
- 1924 Insurance Map
Googling
- 1871 Birds Eye View of the City of Atlanta, A. Ruger, St. Louis, MO
- 1892 Birds Eye View of Atlanta Fulton Co. State Capital, Georgia, H.G. Saunders and W. L. Kline
Facebook
Skip Mason’s Vanishing Black Atlanta History
Washington Park Community Choices, Community Business District 1930-1950, Nov. 2014