Terminal Station (Atlanta)

Former railway station in Atlanta, Ga., USA (demolished 1972)

For other uses, see Terminal Station.

Terminal Station

Inter-city rail

Terminal Station in 1918.

General information
Location| 75 Spring Street SW
Atlanta, Georgia, United States
Coordinates| 33°45′11″N 84°23′46″W﻿ / ﻿33.753°N 84.396°W﻿ / 33.753; -84.396
History
Opened| May 1905[1]
Closed| June 1970 (demolished 1972)[1]
Rebuilt| 1947[2]
Former services
| Preceding station  | Atlanta, Birmingham and Coast Railroad | Following station

|
|

Terminus |  | Atlanta – Waycross

until mid-1930s

|  | Ben Hill

toward Waycross

Preceding station  | Central of Georgia Railway | Following station
Terminus |  | Main Line  |  | Fort McPherson

toward Savannah

| Suburban trains  |  | Mitchell Street

toward Jonesboro

Preceding station  | Seaboard Air Line Railroad | Following station
Floyd

toward Birmingham

|  | Birmingham – Monroe |  | Emory

toward Monroe

Preceding station  | Southern Railway | Following station
Chattahoochee

toward Birmingham

|  | Main Line  |  | Atlanta Peachtree

toward Washington, D.C.

Austell

toward Chattanooga

|  | Chattanooga – Jacksonville |  | Roseland

toward Jacksonville

Roseland

toward Columbus, GA

|  | Columbus, GA – Atlanta |  | Terminus
Terminus |  | Atlanta – Fort Valley |  | Roseland

toward Fort Valley

Preceding station  | West Point Route | Following station
East Point

toward Montgomery

|  | Main Line  |  | Terminus

Terminal Station was the larger of two principal train stations in downtown Atlanta, Union Station being the other. Opening in 1905, Terminal Station served Southern Railway, Seaboard Air Line, Central of Georgia (including the Nancy Hanks to Savannah), and the Atlanta and West Point. The architect was P. Thornton Marye, whose firm also designed the Fox Theater[1] and Capital City Club in downtown Atlanta, as well as the Birmingham Terminal Station.

At the station's opening in 1905 the military band of the 16th Infantry Regiment played "Down in Dixie" according to a report that appeared in the Atlanta Journal.[3] On May 21, 1910, a statue of Samuel Spencer, who had served as the first president of Southern Railway, was dedicated at the station, where it would remain until the station's closing.[4]

In its 20th century heyday, Terminal Station was used by such well-known trains of the time as the Crescent, Man o' War, Nancy Hanks, Ponce de Leon, and Silver Comet. A veritable rail-travel crossroads of the American south-east, it was a critical railroad link between the warm climate of Florida and the Gulf Coast, and the rather colder, more densely populated states of the north-east and mid-west. For many residents of the Northeast, Terminal Station was the gateway to the sunshine. The Atlanta Convention Bureau released a postcard in the 1920s that claimed that Terminal Station was served by 86 trains per day.[5]

The train shed that had originally been built alongside the head house was torn down in 1925.[6] The Southern Railway built an office building next door to the station at 99 Spring Street that is still standing, although the Southern eventually moved their local offices to another building in Atlanta.[6] On 17 May 1938 a five-story Terminal Hotel, that had been built across the street from Terminal Station, burned in a disaster that claimed 27 lives.[7][8]

Terminal Station showing its shortened towers, c. 1949

The station head house was renovated in 1947 just after World War II.[2]

After Terminal Station closed in June 1970, Southern continued to operate its Southern Crescent and Piedmont passenger trains using the much smaller Peachtree Station, commonly known as Brookwood Station and built as a suburban station, as their only stop in Atlanta. The only other passenger train remaining at that time that had been using Terminal Station, the Nancy Hanks, used a makeshift ticket office and waiting room in the Southern office building next door.

Terminal Station was razed in 1972, and the Richard B. Russell Federal Building,[1] built in 1979, currently occupies the site.[9]

The last remains of the station were an interlocking tower and a portion of one of the station platforms retained by the Southern, the former demolished in June, 2018, and the latter demolished November, 2019.

## Major trains

[edit]

* Atlanta & West Point; and Southern Railway
* Crescent: New York - New Orleans
* Central of Georgia Railway
* Man O'War: Atlanta - Columbus
* Nancy Hanks: Atlanta - Savannah
* Southland: Chicago- St. Petersburg, Sarasota and Miami
* Seaboard Air Line (Seaboard Coast Line after 1967)
* Cotton Blossom: New York - Birmingham
* Passenger Mail and Express: Washington and Portsmouth - Birmingham
* Silver Comet: New York and Portsmouth - Birmingham
* Southern Railway
* Florida Sunbeam (winter only): Chicago, Detroit and Cleveland - Miami
* Kansas City–Florida Special: Kansas City - Jacksonville
* New Yorker: New York - Atlanta
* Peach Queen: New York - Atlanta, with through sleepers continuing west to Shreveport on the Southwestern Limited
* Piedmont Limited: New York - Atlanta
* Ponce de Leon: Cincinnati - Miami and St. Petersburg
* Royal Palm: Cincinnati - Jacksonville
* Southerner: New York - Birmingham
* Sunnyland: Atlanta - Birmingham
* Washington-Atlanta-New Orleans Express

## See also

[edit]

* Atlanta Union Station (1930)

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b c d Storey, Steve. "Atlanta Terminal Station". Retrieved December 30, 2010.
2. ^ a b Pyron, Berry O. "Atlanta History Center Album. Terminal Station". Retrieved December 31, 2010.
3. ^ Sabin, Pat. "Terminal Train Station-Atlanta,GA". Retrieved December 31, 2010.
4. ^ Kelley, Collin (May 6, 2014). "A Look Back: This month in Atlanta's history". Atlanta INtown. Retrieved August 11, 2020.
5. ^ "Terminal Station Atlanta, GA". Retrieved December 31, 2010.
6. ^ a b Hayward, Dillon; Kavoori, Nikos. "Atlanta Rails » Atlanta Terminal Station". Retrieved December 31, 2010.
7. ^ Lanham, Jenni. "Atlanta, GA Terminal Hotel Fire, May 1938 : GenDisasters ... Genealogy in Tragedy, Disasters, Fires, Floods". Retrieved December 31, 2010.
8. ^ "Terminal Station and Hotel Atlanta Georgia". Retrieved December 31, 2010.
9. ^ "Richard B. Russell Federal Building". Downtown Atlanta, GA. Retrieved December 30, 2010.

## Bibliography

[edit]

* Loy, Sallie; Hillman, Dick; Cates, C. Pat (2004). The Southern Railway. Images of Rail (1st ed.). Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 978-0-7385-1641-7.

## External links

[edit]

* "Terminal Station, Atlanta, Georgia, detail and facade". Georgia Archives. Retrieved December 31, 2010.

* v
* t
* e

Atlanta landmarks

Current

| Cemeteries|

* Decatur
* Greenwood
* Oakland
* South Bend
* Utoy
* Westview

|

Commercial|

* 200 Peachtree
* Academy of Medicine
* Atlantic Station
* AmericasMart
* Biltmore
* B. Mifflin Hood Brick Company Building
* Clermont Lounge
* Crum & Forster Building
* Fire Station No. 11
* Five Points Coca-Cola sign
* Forsyth-Walton Building
* Georgia World Congress Center
* Kodak Building
* Lenox Square
* M.C. Kiser Company Building
* Magic City
* Manuel's Tavern
* Mary Mac's Tea Room
* Murder Kroger
* Phipps Plaza
* Ponce City Market
* Switchyards Building
* Underground Atlanta
* The Battery Atlanta
* The Varsity

Educational|

* Brittain Dining Hall
* Clough Undergraduate Learning Commons
* Food Processing Technology Building
* Georgia Tech Historic District
* Georgia Tech Library
* Klaus Advanced Computing Building
* Marcus Nanotechnology Building
* Omega Chapter of the Chi Phi Fraternity
* Student Competition Center
* Tech Tower
* Technology Square

Governmental|

* Atlanta City Hall
* Elbert P. Tuttle United States Court of Appeals Building
* Federal Penitentiary
* Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta
* Georgia Governor's Mansion
* Georgia Railroad Freight Depot
* Georgia State Capitol
* Miss Freedom

Monuments|

* Statue of Ellis Arnall
* Atlanta from the Ashes (The Phoenix)
* Autoeater
* Carnegie Education Pavilion
* Confederate Obelisk
* Continuing the Conversation
* Albert Einstein Memorial
* Erskine Memorial Fountain
* Statue of Evander Holyfield
* Expelled Because of Color
* Five Points Monument
* The First Graduate
* Free Nelson Mandela
* Gateway of Dreams
* Statue of Henry W. Grady
* Homage to King
* Hope Moving Forward
* Statue of Jimmy Carter
* Statue of John Brown Gordon
* Statue of John Stith Pemberton
* Kessler Campanile
* Statue of Martin Luther King Jr.
* Sidney Lanier Monument
* Millennium Gate
* Peace Monument
* Pioneer Women
* Statue of Samuel Spencer
* Thomas W. Talbot Monument
* Statue of Eugene Talmadge
* The Three Pioneers
* Statue of Thomas E. Watson
* Statue of Dominique Wilkins
* World Athletes Monument

Museums|

* APEX Museum
* Atlanta Contemporary Art Center
* Atlanta Cyclorama & Civil War Museum
* Atlanta History Center
* Callanwolde Fine Arts Center
* Children's Museum of Atlanta
* College Football Hall of Fame
* Delta Flight Museum
* Fernbank Museum of Natural History
* Fernbank Science Center
* Fire Station No. 6
* Hammonds House Museum
* High Museum of Art
* Jimmy Carter Library and Museum
* Joel Chandler Harris House (Wren's Nest)
* King Plow Arts Center
* Margaret Mitchell House and Museum
* Martin Luther King Jr. National Historical Park
* Michael C. Carlos Museum
* Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia
* Museum of Design Atlanta
* National Center for Civil and Human Rights
* Rhodes Memorial Hall House Museum
* Robert C. Williams Paper Museum
* William Breman Jewish Heritage & Holocaust Museum
* World of Coca-Cola

Parks and
wildlife|

* Atlanta Botanical Garden
* BeltLine
* Burger Bowl
* Centennial Olympic Park
* Chastain Park
* Chattahoochee River
* Fernbank Forest
* Georgia Aquarium
* Grant Park
* Historic Fourth Ward Park
* Liberty Plaza
* Piedmont Park
* Playscapes
* Stone Mountain
* Woodruff Park
* Zoo Atlanta

Performing
arts|

* Alliance Theatre
* Atlanta Symphony Hall
* Atlanta Civic Center
* Buckhead Theatre
* Center for Puppetry Arts
* Center Stage
* Coca-Cola Roxy
* Donna and Marvin Schwartz Center for Performing Arts
* Ferst Center for the Arts
* Fox Theatre
* Goat Farm Arts Center
* King Plow Arts Center
* Madison Theatre
* Plaza Theatre
* Rialto Center for the Arts
* Shakespeare Tavern
* Strand Theatre
* The Masquerade
* The Tabernacle
* Tara Theatre
* Variety Playhouse
* Woodruff Arts Center

Religious|

* Al-Farooq Masjid
* All Saints' Episcopal
* Annunciation Greek Orthodox
* Antioch Baptist Church North
* Big Bethel AME
* Buckhead
* Central Presbyterian
* The Church at Ponce & Highland (Druid Hills Baptist Church)
* Church of the Apostles
* Congregation Beth Jacob
* Druid Hills Presbyterian
* Ebenezer Baptist
* First Church of Christ, Scientist
* First Congregational
* First Presbyterian
* First United Methodist
* Grace United Methodist
* Immaculate Conception
* Lutheran Church of the Redeemer
* North Avenue Presbyterian
* Peachtree Presbyterian
* Rock Spring Presbyterian
* Sacred Heart of Jesus
* St. Bartholomew's Episcopal
* St. John's Lutheran
* St. Luke's Episcopal
* St. Mark United Methodist
* St. Paul United Methodist
* St. Philip AME
* St. Philip's Cathedral
* The Temple
* Wheat Street Baptist

Residential
(former)|

* Asa G. Candler Jr. (Callanwolde)
* Water T. Candler (Lullwater)
* Joel Chandler Harris (Wren's Nest)
* Alonzo F. Herndon (Herndon Home)
* Edward H. Inman (Swan House)
* Martin Luther King Jr.
* Ferdinand McMillan (The Castle)
* Margaret Mitchell
* Edward C. Peters (Ivy Hall)
* Amos Giles Rhodes (Rhodes Hall)
* Rufus M. Rose
* Craigie House

Skyscrapers|

| Historic
(pre-WWII)|

* Bona Allen (1923)
* Candler (1906)
* Carnegie (1925)
* Connally (1916)
* Cox-Carlton (1925)
* Flatiron (1897)
* Georgian Terrace (1911)
* Glenn (1923)
* Healey (1914)
* Hurt (1926)
* J. Mack Robinson (Empire) (1901)
* The Metropolitan (1911)
* Ponce de Leon Apartments (1913)
* Rhodes-Haverty (1929)
* Southern Bell (1929)
* William-Oliver (1930)
* Winecoff Hotel (1913)
* W. D. Grant (1898)

|

Downtown|

* 25 Park Place (Trust Company of Georgia)
* 55 Marietta Street (Fulton National Bank)
* 101 Marietta Street
* 191 Peachtree Tower
* Coastal States Building
* Equitable
* Five Points Plaza
* Fourth National Bank building
* Georgia Power
* Georgia-Pacific Tower
* Hyatt Regency Atlanta
* Marriott Marquis
* One Park Tower
* Peachtree Center
* Peachtree Summit
* State of Georgia Building
* Truist Plaza
* TWELVE Centennial Park
* Westin Peachtree Plaza Hotel

Midtown|

* 999 Peachtree
* 12th & Midtown
* 1010 Midtown
* 10 Sixty Five Midtown
* 1075 Peachtree
* 1100 Peachtree
* 1180 Peachtree
* 1280 West
* Tower Square
* Regions Plaza
* Atlantic Station
* 171 17th Street
* The Atlantic
* Bank of America Plaza
* Coca-Cola
* Colony Square
* CNN Center
* Four Seasons Hotel Atlanta/GLG Grand
* Mayfair Condominiums
* One Atlantic Center (IBM Tower)
* One Georgia Center
* Promenade II
* Spire
* Ten Peachtree Place
* ViewPoint
* Yoo on the Park

Buckhead|

* 2828 Peachtree
* 3344 Peachtree
* 3630 Peachtree
* Atlanta Financial Center
* Atlanta Plaza
* Buckhead Grand
* Mandarin Oriental
* Paramount at Buckhead
* Park Avenue Condominiums
* Park Place
* The Pinnacle
* Realm
* Resurgens Plaza
* Terminus
* Tower Place

Perimeter Center|

* Concourse Corporate Center V & VI (King & Queen towers)
* Park Towers I & II
* Three Ravinia Drive

Former

* 688 Club
* Alex Cooley's Electric Ballroom
* Atlanta Cabana Motel
* Atlanta Hotel
* Atlanta (Confederate) Rolling Mill
* Atlantic Steel Mill
* Church of Our Father
* Coca-Cola Olympic City
* Confederate Soldiers' Home
* DeGive's Opera House
* Equitable Building (1892)
* First Universalist
* Fourth National Bank
* 3rd Georgia Governor's Mansion (John H. James mansion)
* Henry Grady Hotel
* Hotel Ansley
* Hotel Aragon
* Judge William Wilson House
* Junior's Grill
* Kimball House
* Leyden House
* Loew's Grand Theatre
* Majestic Hotel
* Masonic Temple
* National Museum of Patriotism
* Neely Nuclear Research Center
* Pappenheimer Mansion
* Paramount Theatre
* Peachtree Arcade
* Piedmont Hotel
* Ponce de Leon amusement park
* Ponce de Leon Springs
* Republic Block
* Rich's
* Riverbend Apartments
* Roxy Theatre
* SciTrek
* State Square
* Terminal Station
* Trout House
* Turner Broadcasting tower
* Union Stations:
* 1853
* 1871
* 1930
* Post Office and Customs House/City Hall (1911–1930)
* Walton Spring
* Washington Hall

Planned

* 1105 West Peachtree
* Atlanta Multi-Modal Passenger Terminal
* Atlanta Symphony Center
* Midtown Union
* Opus Place
* The Stitch

See also: Atlanta sports venues
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