NeReporterwspapers A LOOK BACK

This Month in History

January 1971: “Ali on Peachtree,” an essay by the late playwright and critic Jack Richardson, appeared in Harper’s Magazine. Richardson’s cynical wit captured the night of Oct. 26, 1970, when Muhammad Ali’s legend was reborn in Atlanta. In three-rounds, he defeated boxer Jerry Quarry to mark his return to the ring after a ban of three and a half years for refusing conscription into the US Army.

public female high school opened, she closed her school and began teaching there. In the summer of 1877, she was named principal. In 2000, Haygood was inducted into the Georgia Women of Achievement.

Jan. 19, 1973: The Wheat Street Towers located at 375 Auburn Ave.was dedicated. The $3.7 million, 14-story, 210 unit high-rise, was built by the Wheat Street Charitable Foundation to provide a home for low-income elderly and persons with physical challenges. During the 1960s, Rev. William Holmes Border, Sr. of Wheat Street Baptist Church was known for initiating effective urban development in the Old Fourth Ward. He established the nation’s first federally subsidized, church-operated housing project.

Jan. 11, 1955: Georgia’s former governor John Marshall Slaton died today. He served two non-consecutive terms, 1911-12 and 1913-15. He was also a lawyer, state representative and state senator. Slaton’s still remembered for commuting Leo Frank’s death sentence in 1915 to life imprisonment. Frank had been convicted in the murder of Mary Phagan during a sensational trial on questionable evidence, and Gov. Slaton’s courageous act ended his political career and threatened his life.

Jan. 14, 1867: Laura Askew Haygood, founder and principal of the McDonough Street Female Academy in southeast Atlanta, placed a notice in the Atlanta Intelligencer. Terms were $5 a month in advance. Music and piano were 80 cents a lesson. In January 1872, when Girl’s High, Atlanta’s first

Jan. 19, 1951: e two-story Gulf Oil Re ning building at 131 Ponce de Leon formally opened. e minimalist building in Midtown was designed by architect I.M. Pei, perhaps best known for designing the Louvre’s courtyard pyramid in Paris. From 1961 to 1978, Crawford & Company, an Atlanta risk-management service rm occupied the site, followed by various other tenants. e building was dismantled in early 2013 and removed from the site to make way for the 131 Ponce apartment complex. Portions of the building were reassembled on the site to create o ce space.

January 28, 1928: Blanchard Brothers undertaking establishment at 1088 Peachtree Street burned that Saturday afternoon. The building was a vintage two-story foursquare house. Live sparks from the chimney caused the fire, detected by the manager of the gas station across the street. Estimated damage was $20,000. Today 1010 Midtown stands on the site.

Ann Taylor Boutwell is an Atlanta historian, tour guide and docent at the Margaret Mitchell House & Museum. Email her at annboutwell@bellsouth.net.

By Tim Sullivan

Reunions are nervy, emotional twitchfests that just enough people relish for them to be organized in the rst place and at my age you almost can’t avoid them. Somebody, somewhere, that I spent a chunk of time with at some point is just itching to get the old crew back together. If my buddy Hugh’s collarbone heals correctly then maybe I’ll recount the recent reunion with my post-college Winnebago travel buddies with next month’s column. But rst let’s make sure that we all still agree it was a fun weekend… e two schools carry the banner of being the most played college rivalry ever and marked this by playing the 150th meeting in Yankee Stadium on Nov. 21. It was a major event. e game sold out in seven seconds or something like that. Flights were booked. Blocks of hotel rooms were reserved. e Empire State building was to be lit up and most importantly, old familiar faces would be seen.

It’s a lot easier to go to someone else’s reunion. My wife Kristen went to Lehigh University in Pennsylvania in the mid 90’s and their football rival is Lafayette College.

An alumni party was planned where people were (genuinely) encouraged to dig deep into their closets to “ nd their old drinking shoes.” e entire bar was rented out and unless the party drank a certain amount the organizer would be on