English Avenue and Vine City are two adjacent and closely linked neighborhoods of Atlanta, Georgia. Together the neighborhoods make up neighborhood planning unit L. The two neighborhoods are frequently cited together in reference to shared problems and to shared redevelopment schemes and revitalization plans.Thomas Wheatley, "Ambitious parks plans could give Vine City, English Avenue another chance", Creative Loafing, December 8, 2011"grants to the Vine City and English Avenue communities" in "Vine City targeted for revitalization", Atlanta Journal-Constitution, October 23, 2010"The Vine City and English Avenue neighborhoods have voiced their support" in Sunset Avenue Historic District
English Avenue is bounded by the railroad line and the Marietta Street Artery neighborhood to the northeast, Northside Drive, the North Avenue railyards and downtown Atlanta to the east, Joseph E. Lowery Blvd. (formerly Ashby St.) and the Bankhead neighborhood to the west, and Joseph E. Boone Blvd. (called Simpson St. until 2008) and Vine City to the south. Its population was 3,309 in 2010.2010 U.S. census figures as tabulated by WalkScore
Vine City is bounded by Joseph E. Boone Blvd. (Simpson) and the English Avenue neighborhood to the north, Northside Drive and downtown Atlanta to the east, Martin Luther King Jr. Dr. (formerly Hunter St.) and the Atlanta University Center to the south, and Joseph E. Lowery Blvd. (Ashby) and the Washington Park neighborhood to the west. Its population was 2,785 in 2010.
A section of the area, "The Bluff," is infamous throughout Metro Atlanta as a high crime area, but in late 2011, English Avenue and Vine City were the focus of multiple improvement plans, including a network of parks and trails, increased police presence, and "rebranding" for a more positive image."The Bluff: Atlanta's forgotten neighborhood", 11 Alive News (Atlanta) Efforts included the Rodney Cook Sr. Park, completed June 29, 2021.
History
Development What is now the English Avenue neighborhood was purchased in 1891 by son of Atlanta mayor James W. English, James W. English Jr., a hot-headed man who earned income by subletting convict labor. It was created as a white working-class neighborhood. Simpson Road was located along a residential race barrier with whites to the north and blacks to the south. Today's English Avenue was known at different times as Bellwood"Years of neglect turn English Avenue home into rotted shell", Atlanta Journal-Constitution, May 26, 2002 and as Western Heights. In 1910 the Western Heights school (later renamed Kingbery after a principal of the school, then renamed English Avenue Elementary School) was built at the northeast corner of English Ave. and Pelham St.
Overcrowding in the neighborhood's school is documented as a serious issue from at least 1910 through 1946 (photo), notwithstanding multiple expansions of the facility."Citizens ask for better facilities: Crowded condition of Western Heights school cause of complaint", Atlanta Georgian and News, August 19, 1910, p.8Clifford M. Kuhn et al., Living Atlanta: An Oral History of the City, 1914–1948"Crowded schools: more students than ever before threaten to clog all facilities" Life magazine, October 7, 1946, p.40
The area south of Simpson Road — today's Vine City — was settled at the end of the 1800s by large land owners, and a predominantly African-American residential area was established, though there were also white subdivisions, schools, and churches. A mix of social classes were present. In 1910 Alonzo F. Herndon, founder of the Atlanta Life Insurance Company, built his home at 587 University Place, now listed on the National Register and open to visitors.
Racial tension and transition The Great Atlanta fire of 1917 contributed to the already great need for housing for African Americans and by the 1920s-1940s, despite violence and bombings trying to prevent it, black residents started to move north across Simpson Road.
In 1941, the Eagan Homes and Herndon Homes public housing projects opened and as a result, the black population in the area increased. On Hunter Street (now Martin Luther King Jr. Drive), white business owners once lived behind their stores, but in the 1940s, black owners started taking over these businesses. In 1947 Paschal's Restaurant, an Atlanta soul food landmark and meeting place for civil rights leaders, opened in its original location on West Hunter Street. In 1951, the English Avenue Elementary School's designation was changed from white to black in response to most whites having moved out of the area."Furtive Dynamiters Blast Big Atlanta Negro School", Meriden Record, December 13, 1960
Heyday and Civil Rights During the mid-20th century, the area was a middle-class African-American neighborhood. Commercial areas included English Avenue; Simpson Street/Road, in its heyday in the 1950s and 1960s; and Bankhead Highway, which was part of the US Highway system, and was in its splendor in the 1960s. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. moved to the area in 1967, and his widow Coretta Scott King continued to live here until she moved to a Peachtree Road luxury condominium purchased for her by Oprah Winfrey in 2004.
In 1960, the English Avenue elementary school was dynamited, likely in retaliation for civil rights demonstrations by Black activists. Mayor William B. Hartsfield condemned the dynamiting as the work of those from outside Atlanta, "the outhouse set". The area experienced notable pro- and anti-Black Power riots in 1966"Forming Mobs Turn into Anti-Black Power Rally", Lodi News-Sentinel, September 6, 1966 and 1967."Negro Disorders Erupt in Atlanta Slum Section", Rome News-Tribune, October 24, 1967
Decline and crime
Suburbanization started draining the area's vitality starting in the 1970s. Over the following decades, it attracted buyers and sellers of heroin, and deteriorated into a corner of poverty in the city, characterized by large numbers of abandoned, boarded-up houses.
In 1995 the English Avenue Elementary School closed.
In 2006, a "no-knock raid" in search of a drug dealer, burst into the home of Kathryn Johnston. Ms. Johnston, in her 80s, opened fire on the officers and wounded three and was killed by return fire from the officers. The incident resulted in much anger in the neighborhood and in close scrutiny of police use of "no-knock warrants" in drug raids.Patrik Jonsson, "After Atlanta raid tragedy, new scrutiny of police tactics", Christian Science Monitor, November 29, 2006
The 2008 tornado caused major damage in areas of Vine City (photos).
The 2010s foreclosure crisis hit the neighborhoods hard. In April 2012, Creative Loafing reported that "on some streets more houses are boarded up than are lived in". Occupy Atlanta protested the Vine City foreclosure of Mrs. Pamela Flores by Bank of America.
The desperate state of the area was described by reporter Thomas Wheatley in Creative Loafing in September 2012 as:"The Stadium Effect", Thomas Wheatley, Creative Loafing, September 6, 2012 "boarded-up homes built among the trees along the narrow streets,…people loitering in the middle of vacant lots, casting hollow stares at passing motorists, and…young men hanging out on street corners, hollering at passers-by and then to lookouts down the street"
Revitalization
1990s: Failed "empowerment zone" In November 1994, the Atlanta Empowerment Zone was established, a 10-year, $250 million federal program to revitalize Atlanta's 34 poorest neighborhoods including the Bluff. Scathing reports from both the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Georgia Department of Community Affairs revealed corruption, waste, bureaucratic incompetence, and interference by mayor Bill Campbell."Empowerment zones: Boondoggle or aid to poor?", Atlanta Business Chronicle, November 6, 2000Scott Henry, "Federal grants go to groups with shaky past", Creative Loafing, September 26, 2007
Replacement of public housing projects As part of the Atlanta Housing Authority's systematic replacement of public housing projects by mixed-income communities (MIC), Eagan Homes was demolished and the Magnolia Park MIC replaced it. Herndon Homes was demolished in 2011.Joeff Davis, "Photo of the Day: Herndon Homes demolition", Creative Loafing, February 2010]
Historic Westside Village and Walmart
In 1999, the Atlanta Housing Authority first announced plans for the "Historic Westside Village", a $130 million commercial, residential and retail project at the area's southern end near Martin Luther King Jr. Dr. at Ashby St."Westside due a $130 million redo", Atlanta Journal-Constitution, March 16, 1999 A Publix supermarket opened in May 2002"A DREAM FULFILLED: Intown Publix to open", Atlanta Journal-Constitution, May 30, 2002 but the overall project stalled by 2003 as further anchor tenants did not materialize.David Pendered, "Entangled in Vine City; 'The city lost control': Officials scramble to save project to renew Historic Westside Village" , Atlanta Journal-Constitution, July 28, 2003 This, along with disappointing sales, caused the Publix - the only full-sized supermarket for miles around - to close in December 2009. Creative Loafing called the project the most notorious "municipal boondoggle...to have tarred Atlanta" during mayor Bill Campbell's era; the project "fell victim to...cronyism, bureaucratic incompetence and a flagrant disregard for federal lending guidelines".Scott Henry, "Westside Do-over", Creative Loafing, April 26, 2006 In December 2010 things looked up as the Atlanta Development Authority announced plans for Wal-Mart to open a store on the site, which Mayor Kasim Reed called "an end to the food desert in the area". In January 2013 the Wal-Mart opened for business."Vine City/AUC Walmart Grand Opening on Wednesday 1/23: Walmart has said they are ready to open to the public", Marc Richardson, Cascade Patch, January 21, 2013
Black-white coalition The Christian Science Monitor reported that by 2008, businessman John Gordon and Rev. Anthony Motley, a 20-year resident of The Bluff, "Atlanta's roughest 'hood", had "formed a black-white coalition seeking angel investors" and brought together "local businesses, neighboring Georgia Tech, and church leaders to inspire not just city and private investment, but also to light a spark of hope among law-abiding residents – many of them older people fearful of the streets outside their front doors. Their unusual friendship" had "helped inspire two massive clean-up efforts, a small but significant drop in crime, and glimmers of fresh paint and clean-swept front walks.""New Life for Atlanta's English Avenue", Patrik Jonsson,Christian Science Monitor, December 11, 2008
Rodney Cook Sr. Park Cook Park is under construction by a partnership consisting of the City of Atlanta's Department of Watershed Management, The Trust for Public Land of Georgia, and the National Monuments Foundation. The park will consist of a system of storm water management including a retention pond similar to the one in nearby Historic Old Fourth Ward Park, walking trails and amenities including a terraced amphitheater and splash pad and statues and monuments honoring a number of prominent Atlantans and Civil Rights leaders, including Martin Luther King Jr. and Booker T. Washington.