Saturday, January 7, 2012

Remnants of Terminal Station

In January 1990 I took this photo of what remained of Atlanta's once spectacular Terminal Station which was demolished in 1972: the interlocking tower (basically a control tower for the station) , the adjacent storage shed, and the triangular platform to the right. The actual station was located just beyond the bridge seen here, now the site of the Richard Russell federal building. The pullman cars in the photo were being used by the New Georgia Railroad tourist trains that ran from Underground Atlanta to Stone Mountain during the late '80s and early '90s.




The 1906(!!!)-vintage Nelson Street bridge, my vantage point in the above photo, is crumbling and has been fenced off. There's the spot from where I took the original photo. I can almost see my 21 year old self standing out there.




Incredibly, the old tower and the triangular platform are both still there. Terminal Station, which was adorned in the same tan brick and red tile roof seen here, opened in 1905 and I presume that this tower was built at the same time.




Did I ever mention that the "photostitch" function is one of my favorite things in the world? The construction project in the background is the new Mitchell Street bridge which replaces the previous one built in 1924.




Here's a view of Terminal Station from the 1930s, the tower and Nelson Street bridge are at far left.




A detail of the same scene.



The statue at the bottom of this photo will be the subject of a later post.

4 comments:

  1. Very interesting. In 1991 I think it was I took a photo of the still under construction Georgia Dome from pretty much the same exact spot. I was inspired to go back to the area yesterday after seeing this entry. I used to park in the area fairly regularly when I would go into the Russell Building and had no idea the bridge had been closed. I certainly know what you mean when you tell of ghosts of yourself. Dome photo available on request. I'd like to do an after from (almost) the same spot.

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  2. I'd love to see the dome photo!

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    1. My attempt to post it here was a fail. If you have an email you prefer I'll send it along.

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  3. Would that be Elliott Street in the background at the top of the embankment? Where the Elliott St Grill and Pub is today? My father was born in a home next door to the pub building that was 20 Elliott at that time. I have tried and tried to find photos showing the buildings on Elliott Street at that location during those years.

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