Monday Morning Reads — July 16

The Emory maps are a real trove for historians. showing both the original streets and their modern day counterparts. In the case of Briarcliff / Moreland, it appears that this has always been the case, at least back as far as 1928. You can see the logic, with Briarcliff essentially being a residential street while Moreland was a heavier commercial street.

As a streetcar enthusiast, the 1928 maps are also useful in that they show all of the streetcar trackage, not just the car lines only. Georgia Railway and Power had a siding into a quarry that was located near Maddox Park on (then) Bankhead Highway.

Taking the historical perspective, you also can see what once was, places like Buttermilk Bottom, Pittsburgh. At one point, there was a racial component to street name changes. Now, the name changes just serve to confuse old dinosaurs such as myself. What used to be Simpson Road…….

But, things have changed in other ways, too. What was recently (okay, the 1950’s) the Pullman Company car shops on Rogers Street was originally N. P. Pratt Chemical Works. In the 1915 era, they were taking pyrites mined in north Georgia and burning them in piles which left copper metal and showered the neighborhood with sulfuric acid. Time changes things.