In 1871, H.I. Kimball tried to set the state up with a new Capitol building, his opera house on Marietta Street. Through a weird mixture of city ownership, leases to the state and combined with the problems of Governor Rufus Bullock; the state got the building but Bullock and Kimball left the state in the midst of scandal and bankruptcy. But after the destruction of the first Kimball House by fire, city fathers convinced him to return to town to rebuild his namesake hotel. He did that and much more.

He rebuilt the Kimball House into this wonderous gothic structure:

brought a world's fair to town in 1881, built our current Capitol building, built a cotton mill on the site of CNN Center and began to build a suburban neighborhood called Peters Park on 180 acres of prime land just north of town owned by Richard Peters.

That project would end up wiping him out financially for a second time and he left town for good afterwards.


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This is midtown from roughly Cherry Street in Georgia Tech to W. Peachtree stretching from North Avenue to Fifth Street. The stadium depicted is actually fairly close to where Bobby Dodd stadium is today.

Raising $230,000 (now more than $5 million), assembling the property, setting up the corporation and engaging the movers and shakers is described in detail in a March 30, 1884 article from the Atlanta Constitution below. He engaged landscape engineer Nathan F. Barrettwho had worked on George Pullman's company town in Chicago, to survey the land and begin improving it. The plan was to have only homes and schools served by two existing streetcar lines with a large boulevard diagonally across the development. By May of 1885, $50,000 (over a million dollars today) had been spent on improving the site and George Adair was ready to start auctioning off the large home lots. The prices were high, the restrictions on what could be built were onerous and no one bought. They struggled on for a while but ended up abandoning the project. Much of the land ended up as Georgia Tech's campus and the rest was parceled out as regular town lots. Peters Park never achieved the goals so optimistically outlined in a very boosterish article from March of 1884:
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Something like three months ago we printed an interview with Mr. H.I. Kimball in which he outlined a scheme to build a suburban town in or near Atlanta.

Since then but little has been said of this enterprise. Other schemes have been started and it was thought that we had missed our reckoning, in expressing confidence in Mr. Kimball's plans. We are able to announce this morning that Mr. Kimball has not only selected the site for the projected town; but that the company has been organized, the land purchased, every dollar of the stock subscribed and the charter applied for.

The land selected is land lot No.80 (excepting a dozen acres) that belonged to Mr. Richard Peters. It is about 180 acres. The price paid is $1,000 an acre or $180,000 for the lot. The capital of the company is $300,000, of which $230,000 was to be sold and $70,000 kept in the treasury. Of the $230,000 the sum of $180,000 is set aside to pay for the land and $50,000 as an improvement fund. The $70,000 of stock in the treasury will be used as the stockholders direct. The $230,000 was subscribed the first day the books were opened and at night the subscriptions were scaled down from 30 to 50 per cent so as to bring it within the limits. Work will be begun as soon as the charter is obtained.

This is much the largest transaction in real estate ever made in Atlanta, and we believe the largest purchase of city real estate ever made in Georgia. It will result in great benefit to Atlanta and will give it a beautiful suburb. What will be done with it, why it was bought, and all the details concerning it, will be found herewith in interviews with Mr. H.I. Kimball, Mr. Richard Peters, and Mr. George W. Adair, the three gentlemen most conversant with it.

What Mr. Kimball Says.

A Suburb the size of Pullman -- the plans for improving it -- an interesting talk.

We found Mr. Kimball in his office, busy as usual, but ready to talk on the scheme in which he was so deeply interested. Clearing the papers off his table he said:

"This is a very important matter, and we'll get it straight at the start. To begin with, we have bought 180 acres in one body from Mr. Richard Peters at $1,000 per acre. I closed the trade with him, as you know, at 12 o'clock on Wednesday, and we had agreed to sell $50,00 worth of stock above the $180,000 necessary to pay for the land. For it will be paid for in full and fee simple titles made to the company the day it organizes. This was taken, every dollar of it, by 9 o'clock Wednesday night and more than that, I have declined offers of twice as much since then."

"Who has taken this stock?"

"Mr. Peters, myself, Messrs C.W. Hunnicut, George Cook, J.W. English, E.P. Howell, Jacob Elias, R.J. Lowry, J.W. Murphy, W.C. Morrill, A.E. Buck, B.H. Hill Jr, W.T. Newman, Rufus T. Dorsey, H.W. Grady, Judge W.R. Hammond, R.D. Adair, Henry L. Wilson, J.C. Kimball, T.P. Westmoreland, James Morrow, John R. Gramling, Jack Johnson, L.J. Hill, E.S. McCandless, A.W. Hill, D.M. Bain, Andrew Clark, Dr. F.H. Orme and a great many others whose names I do not now recall. The list is made up of strong men, and the number of subscribers was limited only by the amount of stock we had determined to sell."

"Where is the property located?"

"It is bounded on the east by West Peachtree and on the south by North avenue. It extends nearly to Marietta street."

"You consider the property cheap?"

"I certainly do. Better than that, it is admirably located. That is of first importance. It is perfectly adapted to our purposes. That is of the next importance. The, it is very cheap. It could not have been bought for $225,000 in cash. Mr. Peters said that had he not been able, by taking a large block of the stock, to retain a large interest in its outcome he would not have sold for $50,000 more than we gave him. He was offered $2,500 an acre for 16 acres on North avenue, or $40,000, and $4,000 an acre for 12 acres on West Peachtree, or $48,000. This is $88,000 he has actually refused for 28 acres or about half of what we gave for 180 acres. We have a great bargain in the land."

The Value of a Fine Suburb

"And now your plans?"

"I have always believed, as you know, in a beautiful suburb. By this, I mean a large tract of land improved by one company, under one control, so that every lick struck, and every clod of dirt moved, and every shrub planted, had its relation to the whole. In my late visits north, I have been amazed at the success with which this has been done. Especially have these suburbs paid enormous profits in the growing western cities. A company would buy 100 acres, or more, improve it handsomely, subdivide it, sell alternate lots and make five hundred per cent on the investment besides providing beautiful homes for hundreds of people, and making an ornament for their city. I have been thoroughly impressed into the idea that Atlanta offered advantages for such a suburb not equaled by any city I know of. It has the element that assures success and that is rapid steady and certain growth and expansion. You cannot buy 200 acres anywhere near Atlanta at any price within reason, and simply sold it without getting rich on its increased value. The city is bound to grow."

"We agree with you about that, and then?"

"Then, I began to cast about for the proper location. Everything depends on that, and I should have sacrificed nearly everything to it. You can't drive people where they don't want to go. You can't stop them when they start where they do want to go. You must take the current. I felt therefore, that I must get in the right place and in the direction of a strong current. Of course if we could get the location right, and find piece of property adapted to my views, and at reasonable price, my search was ended. I have been very careful and have spent days and days examining maps and land. I have taken options in every direction and have been tempted in one place by one thing only to find something lacking. At last I determined that this place had the advantage of all the others and I took it. It is located right. The city is rapidly growing towards it, and the Rosenthal-Fox enterprise is its natural ally. It is beautifully adapted to our purpose, being high, rolling and commanding. It is certainly cheap. It is just simply exactly what we wanted and we got it just as we wanted it. In this matter I am greatly indebted to the wise counsel George Adair. I rode with him over dozens of places and at last came back to the very place he had selected at first as the best place for us."

How It Will Be Improved

"And now about improving it."

"Well, we shall make no mistake there. A great deal is lost in building cities by individuals working at cross-purposes. One man improves it in one direction, and another neutralizes it. Then the plans for improvements in cities are frequently changed. It is found that a mistake has been made in streets and sewering or grading and work is ripped up and done over again. These troubles we shall avoid. Not a spade will be put into our ground until the whole plan of improvement has been agreed on. Our first step will be to get the best landscape engineer in the country. With him he will look over the ground and see just precisely what it needs and it what shape it will show best. Every drive or avenue will be outlined, every park located, every building site defined. When that plan is once agreed on an elaborate map will be made and will show precisely how the town will look when it is finished. Not a change will be made and every bit of work done will further the general plan."

"A great deal will be expected?"

"And more will be done. You see, to make a success of it, we must make the new park very much handsomer than any other section of the city. If we simply grade it nicely and level up the gullies, we simply have a real estate speculation in which we make much or little. But if we make it exquisite -- if we make it so handsome that everybody who takes a drive will drive out to see it, and so delightful that everybody who sees it will want to live there, we will be able to sell our lots at our own figures. As to streets, for instance. If the asphalt is the best street we will have the asphalt. If a certain pavement is the best we will take that pavement. In other words, we propose to make the town as perfect as money and taste can make it."

"When will you sell lots?"

"Not until everything is ready, and then only a few at a time. My idea is while we are working the general scheme of improvement, to take a special quarter and make it perfect -- say a space of half a mile. We will give it streets, prominent lights, water, etc., and then sell alternate lots to the number of ten or a dozen, keeping the lawns perfect on our unsold lots. With part of the proceeds of the sale we will declare dividends; with the remainder we will extend our special improvements, and when they are finished sell a few more lots. You see we have $50,000 cash capital with our land entirely paid for, and we have $70,000 of stock in the treasury. We can sell this to our stockholders today at a premium. But if we sell it at par, we would have $120,000 cash to spend before we need to sell a lot. That's a heap of money to spend, when every dollar is spent so as to help every other dollar, and there's no ripping up and doing over to expect." 

"And about the profit?"

"That will be certain and large. You will see twenty acres of our land sold for more than the entire capital of the company, and you will never see one acre of it sold for less than $5,000. I don't calculate on having more than 100 acres to sell. It will take nearly one-fifth of the whole or 30 acres for streets. This gives us wide and ample streets. We shall then need 50 acres for park purposes, perhaps making of this a half dozen small parks, or circles. This makes 180 acres, and leaves 100 acres for actual lots. As a rule, these ill be divided into lots of 100 by 200 feet feet, or two lots to the acre. At $50 a front foot they would bring $10,000 an acre. You'll see them bring much more than this in alternate lots. I do not, however, doubt that we can carry the work ahead and divide $50,000 a year for ten years, and we ought to do a great deal better than this. In fact I would not be surprised to see it run to $100,000 per annum -- a man nowdays thinks nothing of paying from $10,000 to $20,000 for a home lot.

"That is pretty rapid doubling up!"

"But you can't conceive unless you reflect on it how rapidly this city is growing. Take an example. I bought eight years ago eight acres of land for $8,000, and put up my house. That was a bigger purchase for the Atlanta of that day, and at a bigger price, and further away from the pulse of the city, than this purchase is for the Atlanta of today. I was alone and without money -- but I managed to put my block of land in shape. I spent more on my land than I did on my house. But the lawn was so beautiful that people rode all the way out just to see it and it soon attracted customers. There was mighty little of the present Peachtree there, but it came right along, and that eight acres with every house off of it would bring $100,000 at auction today. But here is a later example. Less than four years ago the back part of my lot was comparatively worthless. I offered Buck for $500 what $15,000 wouldn't buy now, I sold three years ago a piece for $750 to Judge Woods. He sold it in a year to Morrill for $2,000 and now $5,000 wouldn't touch it. I sold J.C. Kimball three years ago the corner back of me for $750 that he could get $6,000 for without the house. This is due to the steady growth of West Peachtree street, which has been growing of its own motion. You know that we could fill your paper with similar instances."

"Is there no fear of overdoing the thing?"

"There is, if we agree that Atlanta has quit growing. If no more people are coming here there is no pressing need for our enterprise. But there is no possibility of that. Atlanta is growing, and will continue to grow more rapidly that she ever has. No observant man doubts that in the next ten years Atlanta will have practically 100,000 inhabitants. Less than half that increase will be more than is needed to take all that we offer. Indeed, I can name a half dozen houses that will be started as soon as we offer lots for sale. These are for people who have been waiting for our new town to be located. They felt that no matter where it went, they wanted homes in a community where the ugly and objectionable features of regular city life would be eliminated as far as possible. I have an offer from a gentleman who wants to put up a small family hotel, just as handsome and as superbly fitted up as the best hotel anywhere. Such a hotel, located on beautiful grounds, by a pretty little park or lake would be kept full of the best people all the year round. There will not be the slightest trouble in filling up the new tract -- unless, as I said before, Atlanta stops growing and everything in Atlanta pretty much is pitched on the idea that she can't stop."

"Then on the other hand, isn't your new purchase too small?"

"Do you know much 180 acres is? Why it is just about the size of the town of Pullman. It is all we need, or will need. When we get every foot of that paved, powered, lighted and built up, we will have plenty of time to buy more."

When Work Will Begin

"When will you get to work?"

"The very day our plans are perfected, and by the time we make a perfect topographical chart and our directors have approved it, the charter will be ready and we will then put large forces of men to work, and work absolutely to the line laid out and approved just as fast as possible. We will make a surprising show this summer."

"You are pleased with the natural features of the purchase?"

"More than pleased. The most cursory survey discloses many points that can be made striking and handsome. Mind you it is proposed to make the whole tract a park and every foot of it handsome, and I hope the board will name it "Peters park." If there is a natural curve or break that is picturesque or pretty, we will give that up to being picturesque and pretty and try to make it prettier. With thirty acres allowed for streets and fifty acres for little parks, squares and circles, we have enough margin to preserve every pretty feature and give it a handsome setting of grass and trees. You may say to the people that this portion of the city will be as handsome as any in the country. I don't care where it is -- and I know a pretty thing when I see it. You understand, of course, that these are only my own ideas. The board of directors when elected will manage the whole affair and they may not see the matter exactly as I do."

A Talk With Mr. Peters

His Investments In Atlanta -- What They Have Amounted To -- Some Summing Up

This sale confirms Mr. Peters as one of the richest men in the state.

It has been hard to estimate his worth until some of his land was sold in bulk, so that the value of his estate might be defined. This sale at $180,000, or $1,000 an acre, makes a basis. Mr. Peters owns ten acres of Peachtree that is worth $100,000. He has about 100 acres on the east of Peachtree, that lies nearer to that street than the lot he has just sold and a good deal of which fronts Ponce de Leon avenue. This added to his street car lines, his blocks in the heart of the city, interest in the Kimball house, his stocks, he takes place among the richest of Georgians.

A Constitution man called on Mr. Peters yesterday to talk about the late trade. We found him in excellent trim, hearty looking and happy as a man who has just done a good thing and feeling good about it. He said:

"How did you know about it? Well it's all right. I have sold the land. The papers are drawn and signed and I reckon there is no harm it its being known."

"How came you to make the sale?"

"I have always had it in my mind to do something of this sort. I have felt that the city demanded something of the sort, and the pressure on me to sell has been so great that I determined to sell in bulk and try and do something more with the land than merely parceling it out to single buyers. As it is now it will be made a succession of little parks with lakes and groves that will be not only good investment to the stockholders but a comfort and a pleasure to the people at large. No land is better for this purpose than the land I have just sold. It has water, hills, dales, forest and every natural element. It is flanked on either side by leading streetcar lines -- (for it reaches nearly to Marietta St) -- either or both of which can be turned directly into the new purchase. It is the best point without comparison for the proposed improvements. Had I not felt that this was so I would not have sold, and having sold, would not have taken so much of the stock and I don't think I would have made this arrangement for any other man living than Kimball to execute, but with a good board of directors I feel that he will make it a great success."

A Retrospective View

"Mr. Peters, what did you Peachtree property cost you?"

"It cost me $2,000. I was running a mill in the center of the city, and I wanted fuel. I thought it was cheaper to buy land and cut the wood myself. So I bought two land lots of 202.5 acres each -- No.47 and No.80 -- paying $1,000 each for them. No. 47 covered Peachtree clear across to West Peachtree where it joined No.80 -- the lot I have just sold.

"How much of these lots have you sold?"

"I have sold about eighty acres of lot No. 47, and have reserved for myself and wife and children as lots or homes about ten acres. The eighty acres sold have averaged considerably over $1,000 an acre. Some of the land I sold during the war at one hundred dollars an acre in gold, but after the war I found that the parties I sold to were going to sell it out in twenty foot lots to small settlers. I bought it back for $1,000 an acre and sold it for $1,500 an acre.

"Of lot 80 I have sold only twelve acres, exclusive of what I have sold to this company. I sold that for $1,000 an acre. So that on that investment of $2,000 made in 1855, I have sold $272,000 worth of land, and still own ten acres of the best land on Peachtree, and about 100 acres just east of it and on Ponce de Leon avenue, much of which I have been offered $5,000 an acre for. That shows what Atlanta will do for those who believe in her future. I have confidence in this city going squarely to 100,000 inhabitants. Had I invested my $2,000 in stocks that paid 10 per cent at year it would have given me less than one sixth of what the real estate has paid me, and I have had little trouble and no risk with it. I believe in the future of Atlanta stronger now than I ever did."

"It has had a steady growth for years?"

"Yes, and always in spite of predictions to the contrary. I bought my home lot here in 1845. In 1846 the late Judge Warner asked me to buy him some property here. I got him an offer of the block on which Chamberlin, Boynton & Co. now stands for $400. He said it wasn't worth over $250, and declined it. He then had me to get prices on other property. He never could get enough faith in Atlanta to come to the scratch. He always thought that Atlanta was overrated, though he was its friend and he never bought anything here except a small lot. This was the case with scores of men as wise and as well balanced as Judge Warner. They have had opportunity and invitation to buy in Atlanta at the lowest prices, but have always felt that the town was going to quit growing. This story will be repeated for the next twenty years."

"You have sold much of your property cheaply?"

"Yes; but it has made the rest of my property valuable. I have sold many an acre at $1,000 that is now worth $10,000. But if I hadn't sold a good many acres at that price, the town would have gone in another direction, and none of my land would have been valuable. It has always been my policy to sell to good citizens on the best terms. I never sold less than an acre at a time. I have fought the small lot system steadily, and I have always felt a lively interest in Atlanta and in everything that promised to advance her growth."

There are few men who envy Mr. Peters his good fortune. For more than 40 years he has lived in Atlanta, and he is known and beloved as a man of high character, fine quality, and perfect integrity. He has been the pioneer in many things always a safe leader, long-headed and far-seeing, and has cheerfully borne his share of the public burdens. His face, jovial and cheery, has been for nearly half a century familiar to Atlantians, and its crown of gray hair, shortly worn and honestly, marks the xxxxxxx and happy evening of along and an honorable and a useful life.

Colonel Adair's Statement

The xxxxx of the new town and the purchase of the property was made through Colonel Geo. W. Adair, who has handled all of Mr. Peters' land, and handled it with admirable skill and fidelity.

Colonel Adair is more thoroughly posted on real estate in Atlanta than any man in the city, and he said to a Constitution man yesterday:

"I knew all the time that Kimball would have to light down where he did. I went around with him a while and watched the other boys coquetting with xxxx xxx I knew that whenever he got ready to talk business he'd have to come to the right place. I knew that lot 80 was the best place, and I knew Kimball was looking for the best place. So I just sat down and waited for him. He'll tell you I did. When he did come Mr. Peters was ready, or he'd always been wanting just such an enterprise, and we closed the thing up mighty quick."

"What do you think of the purchase?"

"Ill tell you what I think, and I've never been wrong on Atlanta dirt. Take $50,000 and spend it in beautifying the place, and it will sell for $900,000, or $5,000 an acre, counting in the parks and streets. It would sell today at forced sale for $100,000 advance on the price paid, if it were properly divided up and advertised. You may ask then why I advised Mr. Peters to sell at the price he did. I reply that I would not have advised him to sell for cash at any price. But takes a large part of the stock of the company, and will share largely in the increased value."

"How long have you been dealing in Atlanta real estate?"

"Since 1865. I have handled a great many estates and a great deal of land. Many large owners, as Mr. Peters, for instance, for whom I have sold more than $150,000 worth of property before I sold this, put their property in my hands exclusively, I have also a great many customers who leave money with me to buy with or sell with at my discretion. I have never failed to make a profit on money so left, frequently three or four hundred per cent. Atlanta real estate has hardened and acquired a market value and it's just as good for cash at that figure as a bale of cotton in iron hooks or a government bond.

"Is there much outside demand for property?"

"A great deal. I have just sold a man on the Georgia railroad some handsome property who a few years ago refused to take a lot in the city for $8,000 that was due to him on it. He didn't 'believe in Atlanta'. I sold half that same lot the other day for $12,000. He comes in now and invests here heavily, after having been down on Atlanta for twenty years. They are coming from all quarters and they are buying right along. I have more outside money in my care today for investment than I ever had in my life.

"As to this new town, I predict here that it will be the most beautiful suburb in the southern states and the equal of any suburb. It is right in the city and yet it is retired. It is accessible, and by two streetcar lines and by three beautiful streets. It has besides water, groves, hills, etc, a splendid rock quarry, from which all the rock that is needed can be taken. The sales of the lots in that tract will reach one million dollars in the aggregate and you will see it."

Such in brief are the plans of Mr. Kimball, Mr. Peters and their associates.

They have nothing to ask from the public. All the stock they offered for subscription has been taken, the subscriptions scaled down, and still there is not enough to give all stock who have signed for it. They have no land to sell and none to buy. They will simply go to work and lay out, grade and pave a town that will be as much a park as a town; that will be the pride of the capital city and a credit to the empire state.

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