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History
Four Corners Park is situated in a central location within the existing historic neighborhood of Peoplestown and nearby redevelopment opportunities associated with the Atlanta BeltLine.
A comprehensive knowledge of the area's history plays a crucial role in shaping its design. Presented below is a timeline that provides insights into the past of the park.
10,000 BCE – 1550
Pre-contact societies
Indigenous Americans evolved over the course of thousands of years. Laced through the landscape are architectural traces of these first people, whose tales are told through the artifacts they left behind, including soapstone vessels, burial mounds, and trails - many of which are today's roads.
Photo credit: Herb Roe, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
1550 – 1821
The Muscogee Confederacy
As European conquest of North America began, independent towns of Muscogee-speaking peoples united as a loose confederacy for joint defense and organization. The Muscogee Confederacy grew through absorption of neighboring villages and assimilation of refugees fleeing European expansion.
Photo credit: Hemperley, Marion R., Georgia Early Roads and Trails Circa 1730-1850. 1932, DeKalb History Center
1825
Muscogee Displacement
For most of Georgia’s colonial period, Muscogee people outnumbered both European colonists and enslaved Africans and occupied more land than these newcomers. Not until the 1760s did the Muscogee become a minority population in Georgia. They were forcibly removed from their ancestral land in the 1830s in an event commonly known as the Trail of Tears.
Photo credit: New York Public Library Digital Collections
1885
Establishment of Peoplestown
In 1885, Atlanta Electric Railway constructed a line on Capitol Avenue, sparking housing development in what is now Peoplestown. The neighborhood was named after the Peeples family, who owned land there. It comprised white, integrated, and Black sections, with white areas primarily located on the western side and Black sections on the eastern side of the neighborhood.
Photo credit: Atlanta Georgian and News (1910).
1940-1950
Migration of
residents & white flight
By the 1930s, utilities started to be provided to the Black areas of Peoplestown. However, in the 1920s and 1930s, affluent whites, who could afford cars, began to move to northside neighborhoods and commute to downtown jobs. Despite this shift, the 1960 census still indicated a neighborhood that was approximately equally divided between white and Black residents.
1960
Construction of Downtown Connector
The construction of the Downtown Connector (I-75 / I-85) in the 1960s destroyed large segments of many communities, including Auburn Ave, Summerhill, and Peoplestown.
The first photo shows the area southeast of Downtown Atlanta in the 1950s, when demolition was just beginning for Interstate 75 & 85.
The next photo shows the area after the interstate construction was completed. neighborhoods are unrecognizable. Many homes were lost, and street-level connectivity is deadened by the highways.
Photo credit: GSU Digital Collections with annotations from Darin Givens.
1967
Photo credit: Boyd Lewis and Atlanta History Center
Emmaus House
Founded in 1967 by Father Austin Ford for the Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta, Emmaus House has been a consistent presence in Peoplstown neighborhood. It opened in the wake of groundbreaking civil rights legislation and amidst local struggles with school desegregation, low-income housing shortages, and growing poverty. This led to Emmaus House's early focus on capacity-building among poor and marginalized residents.
Picture to the left depicts the groundbreaking of Emmaus House.
1970
Four Corners Park
Four Corners Park is established on April 23rd, 1970. According to Columbus Ward (Executive Director at Peoplestown Revitalization), the name Four Corners comes from Dennis Goldstein (a local resident and volunteer at Emmaus House), and his favorite passtime of the "funky four corners" dance.
Photo credit: Historical Aerials
1973-1976
Establishment of Peoplestown Youth Center
A youth center named "Peoplestown Youth Center" was established in 1973 in Four Corners Park. The center is built at the request of young people and adults in the area who felt a recreation facility was needed.
The invitation list for the ribbon-cutting celebration includes Atlanta Mayor Sam Massell. The cost of the building was $27,000 that was funded through Model Cities supplemental funds along with Atlanta Parks and Recreation Department support.
In 1976, Four Corners Park was selected as one of the five locations for a public art financing set by the City of Atlanta Bureau of Cultural and International Affairs. The $14,000 award would go towards the commission of Egle Gatin, who had children of the area produce their images of Black leaders as elements of the picture.
Credit: The Atlanta Voice (1973) on Newspapers.com (2023)
1983
Park vandalism and youth center closure
City officials grew concerned about park vandalism that was on the rise throughout Atlanta parks. In response, the Parks Department ordered a compilation of the incidence of vandalism and the cost to the city. Due to budget cuts, the youth center was added to the list of buildings to be closed down and marked for demolition.
Photo credit: Rough Draft Atlanta (2011)
1990
Major park developments
Local businesses, labor unions, city officials, and residents of the neighborhoods rallied around Four Corners Park and successfully managed to revive the youth center that had been closed since 1982 and scheduled for demolition.
The facility was reopened as the Rick McDevitt Youth Center, named after the local children's advocate who pulled together the public-private partnership that provided the money, material, and labor to save it.
The picture above is the new plan developed for Four Corners Park by the City's Department of Park and Recreation. Below, Rick McDevitt (adult, right) is pictured with Peoplestown children in front of the basketball court in Four Corners Park.
Photo credit: Rough Draft Atlanta (2011)
1996-1999
Public art commissions
During this period, two art pieces were commissioned to be placed at Four Corners Park. The first one was a bronze monument titled 'Spirit, Family, Community (aka The Peoplestown Monument) made by local artist Ayokunle Odeleye. The monument was erected in 1996, which prompted the community to use it as a representation of Mechanicsville and Peoplestown on various media.
The second art piece is a blue-and-yellow playhouse sculpture by sculptor Eleanor Hand. Hand involved local children, neighbors, artists, and other benefactors in the process of creating the art piece. The sculpture was finished in 1999.
2006-2008
Park expansion
From 2006-2008, the park's square foot grew bigger. This include a major purchase of ten individual parcels in 2006 - which includes a parcel of a church, and another parcel purchase in 2008. The purchase was made by the Trust for Public Land before being conveyed to the City of Atlanta.
June 2023
MARTA Bus Rapid Transit
The 5-mile roundtrip route will connect Downtown Atlanta to the Capitol Gateway, Summerhill, Peoplestown, and the Atlanta BeltLine with transit service. The Peoplestown station will be in the northeast corner of Four Corners Park. The project had its groundbreaking in Summer 2023 and is planned for completion in Summer 2025.
Illustration credit: MARTA (2023).