The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1895-11-23

Northern cities. Endless trains were
coming and going and numberless cleo
trio cars were appearing and disappearing
in every direction. Close to the station
is the great Kimball HOUSE, truly mann
moth and palatial hotel and a magnifi-
cent pile, architectually. Big, handsome
business blocks arose on every side. A
short distance from the station is the i'm
posing post office building and close be-
side 1T is the statue of Henry Gardy.
Crowds OF people thronged the sidewalk
and were pouring in and out at every
doorway. The stores of every kind were
as overfiowing with tastefully and tempt
ingly arranged goods as in New York
itself. Especially was this true of the
markets and fruit stands.
.All manner Of special Exposition goods,
souvenirs, and trinkets and baubles,
many of them very cleverly conceived,
were everywhere displayed. The fakirs
and peddlers were shouting their wares
and cut-rate ticket dealers by the score
were adding to the uproar. 1t was a
gala place indeed. The city, itself, had
the aspect of great fair and promised
we'll for what we should see out at the
Exposition grounds the next day.
We felt that we were indeed in the very
centre of the New South and glance at
Atlantas history intensifies this feeling.
Only half century ago that bustling
Union station square where a dozen rail
roads pour together their vast freights of
goods and people, with the big hotel and
business blocks around it, was practically a
wilderness. The country roads from Mari
eta and Decatur and some famous peach-
tree plantations happened to cross at that
point And that is why the great South
ern metropolis happens to be where it is
and why its principal streets, now lined
with big city buildings and palatial
private homes, and paved with vitried
brick and perfect asphalt and traversed
by electric cars, are nam ed Marietta, De-
catur and Peachtree
There is no other reason why Atlanta
should be where it is, no natural adyant-
age of location, no attraction of water
priv lege. 1t spreads its large dimensions
over the huge mounds of red earth that
constitute this plateau region, which
is some 1900 feet above the sea. These red
hills are just as good for city building
purposes 202 mills away as they are at
| Atlanta.
Back in the forties they wanted to ex-
tend the railroad up to Decatur, a little
town few miles south of the site of At
lanta. But the good old conservative
planters of Decatur were Mortified at the
idea of railroad terminus. They would
be flooded with obnoxious strangers and
they wouldn't have it. So the railroad
had to be extended beyond and it stopped
at the crossroads above mentioned be-
cause the owner of the region gave them
the land for STATEN and because it was
q place of cross roads. The peculiar con-
ditions of the giving of the land for the
station are the direct cause of the only
present blemish upon Atlanta's fair
municipal personality.
The land was given on condition that
it should always be used for a station OF
else be forfeited to the heirs of the donor
A village sprang up around the station
and grew apace. At first it was called
Terminus 1t was later called
Marthasville after the. daughter of 9
popular governor. 1t soon became city
and though nearly destroyed in the Re
+ bellion is now fourishlng as healthfully
as any metropolis of the country.
The station is on the old spot and it il
= the wrong spot. There isn't half enough
room and worse still, it is in the very
middle of the busiest business activities
of the city, that surge all around it ane
/ are bothered and endangered by it,
, The streams of teams and people that
must cross the half dozen tracks are con
, stantly blockaded by the trains There
i are no gates They would be of no use
, They would have to be closed all the time
or open all the time, one or the other
} is simply matter Of lodging across a
{ you get opportunity. The citizens mus
. have become very export at lodging, TO-
there are surprisingly few accidents con
sidering. The station is very small ant
' inadequate to accommodate the vas
: business. 1t is a scramble, attended witt
' no little anxiety, to find your train be
r fore it starts.
The heirs of the original donor hav
S now become numerous and declare tina
/ they will take possession if the station
s moved. The city can do nothing. 1t al
o lies with the railroads and they will no
Y consent to the great trouble and expens
: of change, although new station, t.
J. relieve the pressure somewhat, is nov
g being built in the outskirts.
q Some idea of the crowd at Atlanta ma,
/ be obtained by the experience of Port
@ land man who was there just before W
S were. There are many large hotels il
Q the city, but he could only find one littl
+ cot for himself and wife. He refuses
S that and waited his chance hoping tina
t something would turn up. He was stand
ing at the clerks desk as one of the guest
n came to give up his room. He secures
9 tho vacant room and had to pay 81 da
g for it.
: The writer found friend in SINAI
r room in one hotel in which six men wer