The Beltline at Virginia Avenue 1995 / 2012

These two photos were taken from the Virginia Avenue bridge over the Norfolk Southern "Decatur Belt" which is now being redeveloped as the Atlanta BeltLine. The top photo was taken on a gorgeous autumn afternoon, November 26, 1995. The second one was taken on a slightly dreary winter morning in February 2012. The railroad crossing seen here is (or was) at Monroe Drive. Piedmont Park is just beyond that and the skyline of midtown is in the distance. I'll come back to get a third photo once the BeltLine is complete.

I've been told many times that animated gifs annoy people, so at the risk of annoying you, here are the same two photos superimposed and animated.

This is a combination of two photos of "unidentified" locations from the Atlanta History Center that were taken in February 1971 just a few yards from where I took the above photos. (Note to the AHC: for a small fee I'd be happy to identify the locations of your photos!) This is looking down Kanuga St. towards Monroe from Virginia Ave. The railroad ran parallel to Kanuga and is to the left of the road in this shot. As you can see, the midtown skyline consisted of a single skyscraper in 1971.

Google map of this location:



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