Inman Park [Paperback]

The story of Inman Park, Atlanta???s first planned suburb, is one closely tied with transportation ingenuity, trade, and the progressive determination of its citizens. Situated two miles east of downtown Atlanta, Inman Park was farmland when the Civil War ravaged its rolling hills. In the 1890s, Inman Park bloomed into Atlanta???s first residential park, the location of choice for Atlanta???s social elite. The growth of Atlanta, however, struck a blow to the development of this utopian suburb. By the mid-20th century, the suburb fell into dilapidation, abandoned by the prominent families of Atlanta. It was not until the 1970s that the neighborhood, like Atlanta itself, was raised from its ashes to become the celebrated example of Victorian restoration that it is today and was added to the National Register of Historic Places.Publication: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Article Title: A neat neighborhood full of history and hope

Author: Catherine Fox

Date: 10/19/08



Non Fiction.

Inman Park. By Christine V. Marr and Sharon Foster Jones. Arcadia. $19.99. 126 pages.

The verdict: Who knew that sprawl started so elegantly?

Inman Park was Atlanta???s first suburb. Joel Hurt???s concept of a posh neighborhood only a trolley ride from downtown attracted prominent Atlantans such as Asa Griggs Candler and Ernest Woodruff, who built the Victorian manses that still line Edgewood Avenue and hunted foxes in Springvale Park.

The neighborhood has suffered its share of travails. Dark years followed its heyday, 1890 to 1910, when wealthy residents decamped for Druid Hills and later left Atlanta altogether. And the area endured three Battles of Atlanta: Built on the ruins of Civil War plantations, it narrowly avoided being plowed under for a 12-lane expressway in the early ???60s, and its residents spent the ???80s fighting Freedom Parkway.

Inman Park has its battle scars. Steps to nowhere on North Highland Avenue, l3µ