ANN TAYLOR BOUTWELL’S A LOOK BACK

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, 2,000 new meters were installed in the Downtown area. The cost was 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. 30, 1974: A groundbreaking ceremony is held in west Downtown for the Georgia World Congress Center.