page_title: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
section_title: The Atlanta Constitution
hierarchical_section_title: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution / The Atlanta Constitution
caption_attribution_description: English: Atlanta Constitution Building — Cropped from the full frame version. Below is info from there From the photo caption page [1] "VIEW OF THE SOUTH SIDE AND EAST FRONT ELEVATIONS FACING NORTHWEST" TITLE: Georgia Power Atlanta Division Building, 143 Alabama Street, Atlanta, Fulton County, GA CALL NUMBER: HABS GA-2374-1 CREATOR: Historic American Buildings Survey NOTE: Survey number HABS GA-2374 Building/structure dates: 1947 initial construction Building/structure dates: 1953 subsequent work Significance This Art Moderne six story Flemish bond brick, marble, and limestone building features a flat roof, rounded corners, and horizontal bands of windows. The building was known as the Atlanta Constitution Building until the Atlanta Journal and the Atlanta Constitution consolidated and outgrew this facility in 1955. The building was occupied by the Georgia Power Company until 1972 and has been unoccupied ever since. The building is considered eligible for architecture under National Register Criterion C as one of the earliest, if not the earliest, "Modern" style building in the City of Atlanta. The property also possesses a local level of significance in the area of industry under Criterion A for its association with the Georgia Power Company.
context_page_description: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution is the only major daily newspaper in the metropolitan area of Atlanta, Georgia, United States. It is the flagship publication of Cox Enterprises. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution is the result of the merger between The Atlanta Journal and The Atlanta Constitution. The two staffs were combined in 1982. Separate publication of the morning Constitution and afternoon Journal ended in 2001 in favor of a single morning paper under the Journal-Constitution name.
  The AJC has its headquarters in the Atlanta suburb of Dunwoody, Georgia. It was formerly co-owned with television flagship WSB-TV and six radio stations, which are located separately in midtown Atlanta, however, the AJC remained part of Cox Enterprises, while WSB became part of an independent Cox Media Group. Past issues of the newspaper are archived in the United States Library of Congress.
context_section_description: In 1868, Carey Wentworth Styles, along with his joint venture partners James Anderson and (future Atlanta mayor) William Hemphill purchased a small newspaper,  the Atlanta Daily Opinion which they renamed.The Constitution, as it was originally known, was first published on June 16, 1868.  Its name changed to The Atlanta Constitution in October 1869. Hemphill became the business manager, a position that he retained until 1901. When Styles was unable to liquidate his holdings in an Albany newspaper, he could not pay for his purchase of the Constitution. He was forced to surrender his interest in the paper to Anderson and Hemphill, who then each owned one half. In 1870 Anderson sold his one half interest in the paper to Col. E. Y. Clarke. In active competition with other Atlanta newspapers, Hemphill hired special trains (one engine and car) to deliver newspapers to the Macon marketplace. The newspaper became such a force that by 1871 it had overwhelmed the Daily Intelligencer, the only Atlanta paper to survive the American Civil War. In August 1875 its name changed to The Atlanta Daily Constitution for two weeks, then to The Constitution again for about a year. In 1876 Captain Evan Howell (a former Intelligencer city editor) purchased the 50 percent interest in the paper from E.Y. Clarke, and became its editor-in-chief. That same year, Joel Chandler Harris began writing for the paper. He soon created the character of Uncle Remus, a black storyteller, as a way of recounting stories from African-American culture. The Howell family would eventually own full interest in the paper from 1902 until 1950.
  In October 1876 the newspaper was renamed as The Daily Constitution, before settling on the name The Atlanta Constitution in September 1881. During the 1880s, editor Henry W. Grady was a spokesman for the "New South", encouraging industrial development as well as the founding of Georgia Tech in Atlanta. Evan Howell's family would come to own The Atlanta Constitution from 1902 to 1950.
  The Constitution established one of the first radio broadcasting stations, WGM, which began operating on March 17, 1922, two days after the debut of the Journal's WSB. However, WGM ceased operations after just over a year. Its equipment was donated to what was then known as Georgia School of Technology, which used it to help launch WBBF (later WGST, now WGKA AM 920) in January 1924.
  In late 1947, the Constitution established radio station WCON (AM 550). Subsequently, it received approval to begin operating an FM station, WCON-FM 98.5 mHz, and a TV station, WCON-TV, on channel 2.
  But the 1950 merger with the Journal required major adjustments. Contemporary Federal Communications Commission "duopoly" regulations disallowed owning more than one AM, FM or TV station in a given market, and the Atlanta Journal already owned WSB AM 750 and WSB-FM 104.5, as well as WSB-TV on channel 8. In order to comply with the duopoly restrictions, WCON and the original WSB-FM were shut down. The WCON-TV construction permit was canceled, and WSB-TV was allowed to move from channel 8 to channel 2. In addition, in order to standardize with its sister stations, WCON-FM's call letters were changed to WSB-FM.
  Ralph McGill, editor for the Constitution in the 1940s, was one of the few southern newspaper editors to support the American Civil Rights Movement.  Other noteworthy editors of The Atlanta Constitution include J. Reginald Murphy. "Reg" Murphy gained notoriety after being kidnapped in 1974. Murphy later moved to the West Coast and served as editor of the San Francisco Examiner.
  Celestine Sibley was an award-winning reporter, editor, and beloved columnist for the Constitution from 1941 to 1999, and also wrote 25 fiction and nonfiction books about Southern life.  After her death, the Georgia House of Representatives named its press gallery in her honor as a mark of affection and respect.
  From the 1970s until his death in 1994, Lewis Grizzard was a popular humor columnist for the Constitution.  He portrayed Southern "redneck" culture with a mixture of ridicule and respect.
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caption: Atlanta Constitution Building, in abandoned state (1995, Historic American Buildings Survey image.)
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