A LOOK BACK

This Month in History

Ann Taylor Boutwell

October 1957: Fortune magazine listed Mayor William Berry Hartsfield among the top ten United States mayors and also ranked Atlanta first in its regional planning and noise abatement success.

Oct. 1, 1923: The 10-story Glenn Building opened to tenants. The prolific Washington, D.C., architect Waddy Butler Wood designed the limestone, concrete and steel structure with terra cotta detailing. Located on the corner of Marietta and Spring streets, the site opened in January 2006 as the Glenn Hotel, one of the city's first boutique hotels. In July 2006, the adaptive reuse renovation captured an Urban Design Award.

Oct. 3, 1935: The police committee of the Atlanta City Council decided it was time for the city to have parking meters. After a few weeks, two thousand new meters were installed in the Downtown area. The cost was a nickel for one hour.

Oct. 5, 1925: The Atlanta Chamber of Commerce launched the Forward Atlanta campaign to boost the city. In the next five years more than 760 businesses valued at $35 million relocated to Atlanta.

Oct. 6, 1920: A fire at the Piedmont Driving Club destroyed the old New York Building designed by architect Charles Norris Hoar. It was built on the club’s property for the 1895 Cotton States and International Exhibition, and used for years for balls and entertainment. Defective wiring was the cause for the blaze.

Oct. 12, 1958: A dynamite blast rips a gaping hole in a wall of Atlanta's oldest reform synagogue, The Temple. It was a warning to Jacob Rothschild, The Temple's outspoken rabbi, who had encouraged the congregation to support integration. The bombing of The Temple on Peachtree Street outraged residents of Atlanta. Mayor William Hartsfield went immediately to the side of Rabbi Rothschild and offered a $1,000 reward for information leading to conviction. On Oct. 17, a Fulton County grand jury indicted five members of the National States Rights Party, but they were ultimately set free and the charges dropped for lack of evidence.

Oct. 14, 1964: Martin Luther King, Jr. was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. At age 35, he would youngest recipient of the prize. King would be presented with the award in a ceremony in Oslo, Norway on Dec. 10, 1965. The $54,000 in prize money was donated to the civil rights movement.

Oct. 18, 1996: The Coca-Cola Annex Building located at 187 Edgewood Ave. was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. In 1903, the three-story classical revival site was built to house the now defunct Coca-Cola Chewing Gum Company. In 1905 when the beverage company dropped the product it became office space for the bottling company and a highly automated factory was located in the basement where the fizzy drink was produced.

Oct. 26, 1995: Atlanta Mayor Bill Campbell and former mayors Ivan Allen, Sam Massell, and Maynard Jackson along with 200 officials unveiled the public monument "Atlanta from the Ashes," also known as the "Phoenix." The 18-foot sculpture depicts a woman lifting a phoenix above her head. The 25-year-old sculpture was relocated from an island between Forsyth and Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive beside the old Rich's department store building to Woodruff Park ahead of the 1996 Summer Olympics.

Oct. 30, 1974: A groundbreaking ceremony is held in west Downtown for the Georgia World Congress Center.