Southside Atlanta Memories

Steven Bramlett, King of the Southside. Long live the King.

What a heartbreak for all, and certainly anyone concerned with Atlanta and Georgia history. Steven

EP photo taken for a far away friend and researcher, looking for signs of her mom. Historic preservation is about more than a name on a social register, or a property title.

Bramlett left us on April 29th at the age of 46.  If you've ever wanted to research Tommy Roe, Marta, Blount Carriage Factory- Bartow M Blount was the founder of the Capital City Club-The Buggy Works,

Click for picture, courtesy Atlanta History Center

Greenbriar, the Airport, Candler Field, Mary Phagan, Leo Frank, the Georgia DOT, Oh -LET"S NOT FORGET- Patricia Radcliff! Mary Shotwell Little, Dianne Shields, Delta Airlines- just to name a few- They're all from East Point.

He was certainly a true friend to Southside Atlanta Memories and to this writer. He always included me in information that I might enjoy, and went out of his way to assist me in my way too infrequent visits to the lovely East Point Historical Society Museum on Norman Berry Drive. 

His knowledge and dedication to East Point and the living historians still there will be irreplaceable. They're not making them like Steven anymore.

Following are excerpts from a letter published in the ajc letters, on the Opinion page. The page is crappily titled "Tri-cities- College Park." Steven would get why that's so ridiculously incorrect, as would my uncle Horace Blount, also irreplaceably gone, and if you are reading this you probably do, too. East Point is its own city, with a rich and important history, and the ajc just throws another clod on its own grave when it stints its few loyal demo like this.

Steven, I pray you are truly resting in peace, with only an uneasy thought now and then of how you left us really needing your passion and your expertise. I hope to see you soon, if not very soon.  You are missed.

Adden. I just went to my files to double check Bartow Blount's name, and I know no one else would appreciate that pieced together chicken scratch -yet well researched- file like Steven. Pang.

From a fun day in East Point. More folks, more fun. More history, more community. More community, more fun.

From Teresa Nelson's Letter to the Editor:

"It takes someone special to chronicle the history of a community. Preserving the bits and pieces of the past requires significant time and dedication. Steve Bramlett was one of those committed volunteers."

Steve loved the work, spending long hours at the Historical Society center organizing and cataloging materials and preparing numerous exhibits. A technology geek, he worked diligently to bring the center’s archaic record keeping into this century. He delighted in finding new material that could shine a light on a forgotten moment in the area’s past. Steve collaborated with other volunteers from Hapeville and College Park to share information and expand the center’s resources. For those seeking historical information on their homes or ancestors, Steve aided in making the center’s resources available.

The Historical Society was once known as being a stagnant organization, and Steve sought to change that reputation. The exhibits became more engaging, and the board and the center’s resources now better reflect the area’s diversity.

The center often is used for community meetings. Steve worked to open the facility’s doors to local neighborhood associations. After an initial visit to attend a meeting, he found people returned to do research and then became supporters of the center.

Steve’s greatest fear was for the facility itself. Local politicians coveted its highly visible location in East Point’s Spring Park. Steve made supporters aware of periodic efforts by the city of East Point to terminate its lease with the facility. He notified key people in the community to create a network of volunteers that would work behind the scenes or go before the council to protect the facility. Though the threat resurfaces periodically, for now the center is not going to be moved to some hidden location or worse, to fade away altogether.

The shock of Steve Bramlett’s sudden death can be readily seen in people’s faces as they learn the news. It was thought he would always be a presence at the East Point Historical Society."

 

Goodbye and a big thank you to CNN co- founder Wussler, and, Atlanta Child Murders, again

Death in the News- specifically Cable News Network-

Do we remember how exotic that sounded at first? "it'll never work..." they said, Well Ted and Emmy award winning Robert Wussler made it work, and changed the way we look at news, and changed the way we southsiders look at the future.

Before CNN, we tuned in to watch Johnny Beckman, Monica Kaufmann, Guy Sharpe, John Pruitt, or Jim Axel to find out what had transpired during the day. By 1980, each of the Big  Three network affiliates usually opened with a live shot from somewhere, and then of course "an update on your weather."

(Wow- I pegged it! Wish I could remember my keys like this- watch this clip of Action News on the day the Wayne Williams interrogation was breaking- not sure they even named him! And sorry I forgot Wes Sargenson!)

In 1980. the live shots were often at a street corner in our beloved southside, where many of our grandparents were still living. Street corner shots alternated with shots of empty playgrounds as the terror of what was becoming known as the Atlanta Child Murders began to take hold.

One effect this terror had on us was to instill the idea that we were not ever safe; but certainly not in Atlanta. Realize that most southside moms took a pretty dim view of Atlanta already, dreading the drive up, making sure to take the bypass on the way up to Cumberland or Lenox -we had no where else to shop until Morrow's Southlake opened in c.1978.

In spite of this, we never locked the side door of the house in Fayetteville; our neighbors were right there- wouldn't they call if there were some one in our driveway we needed to know about? We still had no qualms whatsoever about walking from Old Nat'l's Skatetowne to the Steak n Shake(not that our parents ever knew about this!) Yet all we heard for the next several years was that there was a mysterious killer, or killers, stalking children in Atlanta.

I left Fayetteville as quickly as I could upon graduation; it never occurred to me to try Atlanta;  it was already fixed in my mind that Atlanta was a creepy, cold, crime ridden place offering nothing for me. Precisely because of Fayette County's bucolic reputation, newcomers flooded the housing market, driving prices up so high that none of the home folks' kids that did want to stay in FC after college could afford to. SO. They moved to Coweta.

Now there's barely a pine nor an oak between Fort Mac and the Meriwether County Line.

The positive effect I can document only minimally, since I did leave and have not as of yet every returned to live full time. I can only give three examples, but I can attest that the effect is real. As much as I mourn the loss of our excellent local Big Three teams, I am  proud of CNN. We went from being the home of the Atlanta Child Murders to being the Home of CNN! Several of our own classmates Got Jobs At CNN! It never crossed my mind growing up in Kenwood that anyone I knew would work at a TV station, except Todd Landrum, whom I pegged for Johnny's eventual replacement, since he was the funniest and smartest kid I knew. 

But there was Cheryl Fowler, Susanne Black, Toby Blanton! My sister! Suddenly our horizons stretched far; our children's vistas. Never did my girls hear from me, "You'd better get a teaching certificate, just in case."

Thank you Robert Wussler, for opening up our world just a little bit. See his obit at the ajc.com, here.

Tonight, and Sunday night, you can see CNN and their take on the Atlanta Child Murders; go here for an overview and broadcast times. 

Look to your right along the book list and check out Bernard Headly's well researched take on the ACMs. I was amazed at his meticulous examination of the fiber evidence, for example.

If you have cable- enjoy! Can't wait to get ahold of the show somehow.

Headland Highlanders Ride Again! Into Manuel's!

  Just not on a motorcycle.

Oh yes...Some of you know what I'm talking about. BUT I digress-One of the best teachers I ever had, Sharron Bray Reeves is a 1970 graduate of the late great Headland High School (yes-the one the Allanson's lived across the street from chronicled in Ann Rule's true  (that's TRUE, unlike the horrible Lifetime mish mash) "Every Thing She Ever Wanted" )in East Point.

HEre she is with some of her classmates -looking not very different than her teen looking self appeared when she taught her first class at good old Hood Avenue Elementary School. She was so sweet to us and so enthusiastic and cheerful! She taught us the Greek alphabet- which I know to this day, and in fact have taught to my own children as well as a classical studies intro class a few years back.

It looks like a fine time was had by all: Sharron ( I can't help but call her Mrs. Reeves, though.) tells us more:

"This was an all-classes gathering. Headland High was open from 1958 - 1983 in East Point. The largest graduating classes were in the late 60's with around 230 students. We get together annually at the least to keep up. We have many siblings and marriages that cross over various graduation years. We're a rather unusual high school group to be so close even without a building, no teams, no official "Homecomings.""

mix-up, cat finder, new photo IDs, you name it...

Oh please keep your eye out for Tiger! Doesn't he look like Mr Green? Mr Green, incidentally, looked just like the cat we had in high school, named- Tiger. If you live near the airport, or work at the airport- help Tiger get back to his person.

Please see 'summer camp' photos for NEW IDs. It's been a busy week.  Camp Calvin link here. Camp Smyrna link here .

Also, see Go Eagles for pics of a favorite southside Eagle's graduation. Tommy, or 'Little Tommy' as we like to call him, has the cred, as far as Southside goes. His grandfather was Thomas Lipscomb Weller and is featured in the Eagan photo album. An Eagan pioneer, then later an Old National pioneer in the late 1950s, establishing the beautiful spread that became known to me  in the 1960s  as 'Aunt Mitzi and Jeannine's'. Pines, grassy fields, cicadas, cats and dogs of all shapes and sizes. Tommy's dad grew up here, and then 'Little' Tommy in turn. He as well as his cousin attended Ga Southern, and then migrated to Coweta with the rest of the family and most of Fayetteville.  Now Tommy and his good and lovely wife have their own little Eaglet chick with whom to make more and sweeter southside Atlanta memories.   Thanks for the pics, Tommy and keep them coming! On the 'Go Eagles' page is a great pic of Tommy and our cousin's wife. His wife is in lovely pictures he sent to me with their beautiful daughter.

Remember, if you have any southside Atlanta pics or memories, send them in! Would love to put them on!    

marta video

Have had great email response, can't wait to have more participation here! I thought I'd begin at the beginning, and do a post on Egan, Ga. I frankly had never even heard of it until 2003 when I looked up 'Mama' (Lennie Mae Butler Weller Blount) in the 1918 Atlanta City Directory (at the AFPL on Carnegie Way dntwn). Her address was listed as Egan Ga, on the Hapeville car line.  I began to research Egan then, and did not come up with much, until I found the Arcadia publication, WWII in Atlanta , done by Paul Crater of the Atlanta History Center. There is a photo of a ?WPA? run children's nursery in Egan, Ga. too late for me, as that branch of the fam. was in Pike County by the 1930s.   See Georgia Sanborn Fire Insurance here: http://www.libs.uga.edu/maproom/collections/sanborn.html

see 'vanishing GA collection photo of Gate City Mill here

During that summer, a different branch of my family was moving from one Fayetteville home to another. Bob Clifton, who many of you retired Delta pilots from the East Point boards will remember, is the consummate business man, and had gone to some auctions at FT Mac during the 80s, to buy, well whatever he could get for cheap, I suppose. He did outfit the clubhouse at the Links with restaurant plunder, and the garage was full of those always useful 1980s cpus and monitors.  Ok, so in 2002-3, they are moving to the golf course, and this garage has to be emptied. I'm in there plundering and find: my aunt Gaile's (BHS '60) and Aunt Mavis's (BHS '56) childhood scrapbooks! Gaile's is online with the BHS Laureates. Link asap. Three more entirely unrelated (I think at the time) school yearbooks, 1981 Colonial Hills, 1974-75 Lake Harbin Elementary, and a  1984 Russell High School Pointer. I treasured these, and still hope to locate the owner, but I hesitate to blare the name right off. (If you have figured out these are yours, please let me know how to get in touch to get them back. They have the owner's name in them.) I glanced at the yearbooks then, but with all of the 'life' that has continued to roll on, I only a week ago! saw the dedication page in this 1984 Pointer. It gives the history of Russell High School, and Egan Park! I knew it was housing for Egan area workers; my aunt 'Sam' and her son Quenton were both listed as mill workers in the 1920 census, and so I am now trying to find out if Capt Wm Alexander Russell, John Egan's uncle, was related to Benj. Russell who was credited as the founder of Russell Mills, now Russell Atheletic, for whom BIG BOI is a spokesperson. WHHOOAAA Ya'll, indeed!    I'm going to try to put in one of my early film efforts from youtube here.  As it says, 'click here' . For short film.  I told you I was new at this.

click here

Introduction- what's in a name...

Part of the reason I have taken so long to get this blog going is the name- Southside? South Metro? Tri-Cities? I loved 404, but of course it is taken as well. I 'googled' several variations of the above and Southside Atlanta Memories brought up Georgia Retail Memories, which I hope you will all visit. I am very new to this, although I have blogged in and followed GRM, atlantalarry, and tried in vain (in spite of the excellent assistance I recieved from the moderators) to join the ABCAtlanta Forum. I recommend all of those, and as I was saying, would love to link to any of them. As soon as I get permission, and figure out how...

Back to the name- I decided to first introduce myself, and went with ms. S outh S ide A tlanta M emories- ms. ssam! I immediatly knew this was the right choice, because one of my earliest connections to SSATL is my aunt's aunt, Delilah Butler McHargue (var. B. McChargue). She was my aunt's favorite person, and at some point in my aunt's early childhood (c. 1920-2, Egan), there were some sort of household repairs being done. The workers called back and forth to each other, and one was named 'Sam.' Linda, my aunt, decided she liked that name, and called her favorite aunt 'Sam'. The name stuck, and I had to dig to even discover DBM's  'real' name.

I was b. in 1965 at Piedmont to a West End girl 'Brown High '53' (my dad was from VA, another story). I was raised by an aunt-in-law, Linda Thomas Weller, with help from her mother, Lennie Mae Butler Weller Blount. We lived in Fayette County, within walking distance of the Fulton or Clayton County lines. Had anyone had a mind to walk anywhere. Which they did not, in 1965, on the southside of Atlanta.
Since I have been researching the various amazing (mostly) women who influenced me so much, I have realized that our families' migration pattern (Georgia/Alabama countryside>town mills or manufacturing>ATL>2nd tier suburbs>Fayette County, and now, >Coweta, which for us is almost back where one branch was at the turn of the 20th century.)  is somewhat common, and I hope others will enjoy sharing memories and looking at pics and 'defenseless ephermera'(Lileks.com) that I post here. I will try to get this looking good asap, but wanted to get it at least going. Please let me know what you think. No mean words, though. 

I have a myspace that has my music likes and dislikes, etc, but I gave it over to my teen children, and some of their 'friends' have used the aforementioned 'mean' words, so I'm considering dumping the thing altogether. I will say that my ATL playlist has Blind Willie McTell doing Atlanta Strut, and Outcast's Train. Also, Bernie Taupin/Elton John comp Writing. I'm so glad Sir Elton moved here, so I could include him. Me and Donna Padgett used to listen to Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, Greatest Hits, and Captain Fantastic and compile long lists of who had the most in common with him, as in which of the two of us would he most likely propose to, in case he were ever riding down Kenwood Road and happened to see us and and feel impelled to marry. A girl. Immediatly. I knew she had me as far a looks (blonde, tall, leggy, true Farrah Fawcett smile [yes she was always FF when we played Charlie's Angels, I, you guessed it, was Sabrina, the -gag- Smart one]) but my strength, as ever, was my weakness; every year a new pair of 1970s horror frames from Pearl Vision across from Stewart Lakewood Shopping Center. We were brothers, or sisters, or something under the skin, Elton and I. I even wore a pair of platform shoes, complete with matching denim outfit, to school in 5th grade, to the amazement of my peers and the marked disdain of the teachers. This outfit came from the Monolith, JC Penney's Outlet Store. Yes that one. I hope they can get the Farmer's Market back on track. I am now going to work on getting some illustrations on here, and some links, etc, but please feel free to share your memories, and tell your friends. I will be working on this as much as I can during this next week, so keep checking back. ms. ssam.