Ken has put together an amazing presentation about the city in the summer of 1864, before somebody got a little careless with fire. You can find it here

There a a whole bunch of thought-provoking questions in there but I'm going to concentrate on one for now but don't let that hold anyone else back. This is really fascinating.

The location of Washington Hall and what did it look like (see picture Four and Sixteen in the presentation). First off, I don't have the answer, but some clues. Here's a section of Edward Vincent's 1853 map:


G is the passenger depot, D & F are warehouses, Z & a(corner Alabama & Pryor) are labeled "Hotel", V is Thompson's Hotel (usually called Atlanta Hotel), W is Lloyd's Hotel, X is labeled "City Hotel" and k is Atlanta Bank. The 1859 city directory lists four hotels

1. Planter's Hotel southeast corner Alabama & Pryor (run by Geo. Johnson)

2. Washington Hall East end of Passenger Depot (run by E.R. Sasseen)

3. City Hotel corner Hunter & Washington (not the same City Hotel as above)

4. Tennessee House east side Lloyd between Alabama & Hunter (run by Mrs. M.A. Holland)

That description of Washington Hall sure makes it look like it might be W on the map above.

In Picture Four, Ken guesses one building might be Washington Hall:

Look at that roof-line. Doesn't it resemble this picture in Norman Shavin's book Whatever Became of Atlanta?

Where he describes it: "Also this year [1846] Atlanta's second hotel, Washington Hall, opens, facing Loyd (now Central) St. Destroyed by war in 1864"

Now here's one last picture from Barnard after Atlanta's destruction. It's labeled Washington Hall


I'm embarrassed to admit I don't recognize the building with the cupola in the background. Anyways that covers one of the questions!

Post edited by: trainiac, at: 2009/06/03 14:09

Hi - the lower picture is the Western & Atlantic RR depot. It was located above Broad Street and above the depot was the roundhouse. The Depot stood astride all the rail lines leading north out of town. The ruins in the foreground are probably the mechanic's building, where the RR produced armaments under Confederate contract.

jstagg over at Atlanta Metblogs wrote a nice piece on Shoupades used along the Chattahoochee


He has a picture of one that still sort of exists in Smyrna. Here's his succinct definition of a Shoupade:
They’re called “Shoupades” after their designer, Francis Shoup, a Indiana-born Confederate Brigadier General.

The Shoupade is sort of arrowhead-shaped with the business end pointed towards the advancing foe. A particular advantage is that two Shoupades could provide crossfire into an area that would typically be defended by a longer, traditional trench. Focused point defenses can, in the right terrain, be murderously effective. And it could be done with fewer defenders, meaning more would be available for flanking counterattacks.

Worth a read:
http://atlanta.metblogs.com/2010/03/29/shoupade-at-river-line-park-in-smyrna