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Here's a circa 1940 photo showing a train preparing to pull out of Union Station. I had a very hard time placing this photo until historian and architect Jeff Morrison stepped in and explained it to me. If you want to know more about Atlanta history and its connection to the railroad gulch, by all means take Jeff's informative tour (details below).
Above the
train is the now-gone Wall Street viaduct that used to
connect Forsyth Street, visible in the distance, to Spring
Street, which would be at the photographer's back.
Scroll down to see a contemporary view as well as a photo
showing this section of the Wall Street viaduct, which
still exists farther east but no longer extends to Spring
Street.
Above: a 1946
aerial photo from the Georgia State University Archives (file
#LBGPF6-037c), showing the former Wall Street viaduct that
connected with Spring Street (visible along the photo's right
edge) and which can be seen in the photo at the top of this
page. Also visible in this shot is the then brand new
Atlanta Constitution building, which is now in ruins and can
be seen in the background of the photo directly below.
Above: At the site of the old Union Station,
Jeff Morrison shares his considerable expertise about the
railroad gulch in downtown Atlanta. His tour is called
the Unseen Underground Walking Tour and it's a unique walking tour of the area
known as the Railroad Gulch. This includes
the railroad junction that was the very reason for
Atlanta's existence, the zero milepost marker at the center
of it all, the elevated viaducts that allowed the streets to
span over the tracks and created the "underground"
condition, and the various railroad stations that are all
long since gone. In the process, he takes the crowd
through a surreal network of spaces concealed beneath the
city streets. And along the way you'll learn
some fun history about how this area has shaped the growth
of our city from the very beginning.
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