Page 41 - DeKalb Bicentennial Flipbook

Two of the oldest homes in Decatur are the Mary Gay House
and the Swanton House (left), both built prior to 1840.
Emory Village (right) is the historic commercial center on
the edge of the Emory University campus at Oxford and
North Decatur roads.

CITY OF DECATUR

FOUNDED 1823
Mayor Patti Garrett

Decatur was incorporated as the county seat on December 10, 1823. Its location was a trading post at the
intersection of two native trails. It is named in honor of Commodore Stephen Decatur, perhaps the most
popular American hero of that time. Decatur led daring raids in the wars against the Barbary pirates on
the coast of Africa and returned home a hero in 1805. He was honored also for his role in the War of 1812.

ailroads were expanding by the 1840s, but Frederick Law Olmsted. The architect behind Central Park
it is said that the first residents of Decatur in New York City, Olmsted designed Druid Hills as one of
resisted hosting a rail stop in town because of Atlanta’s first suburbs and to provide a shaded, cool refuge
R atmospheric and noise pollution. The Western from the metro center. Winding roads, eclectic architecture
and Atlantic Railroad moved seven miles to the west in a and green canopy survive today. Druid Hills is home to
settlement called Terminus – ultimately named Atlanta. art and culture, distinct parks, world-renowned Emory
Downtown Decatur is surrounded by beautiful University and public health organization, the Centers for
historic neighborhoods reflecting a variety of architectural Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
styles, including Craftsman bungalows, Victorian homes, In the 1970s the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid
townhouses, and new homes. Decatur is also home to the Transit Authority (MARTA) set up in Decatur at the Church
Atlanta Quaker group’s meeting house and to a Buddhist Street Station. By 1979 when the first trains departed,
temple, among its diverse religious organizations. Decatur and other stops were transformed by pedestrian-
Decatur founded its own independent school system in friendly sidewalks, restaurants, galleries, retail stores, and
1901, which includes its neighborhood elementary schools, a downtown living.
middle school, and Decatur High School. Did you know? Huddle House restaurant group started
Agnes Scott College, whose 100-acre campus is here in the 1960s. The Georgia Center for the Book, the state

designated a National Historic District, and Columbia affiliate of Center for the Book at the Library of Congress, is
Theological Seminary are in Decatur. Both institutions are here at the DeKalb County Public Library.
education centers nurtured by the Presbyterian Church. Notable residents have included writer Roy Blount, Jr.;
The Druid Hills Historic District is deserving of a actress Julia Roberts; musicians Emily Saliers of the Indigo
designation on the National Register of Historic Places. The Girls and Andre Benjamin of OutKast; Olympian track
distinct linear park and parkways were designed at the turn runner Gwen Torrence; and Congressman and founder of the
of the 20th century by the father of landscape architecture, Georgia Conservancy, James Mackay.

Sp i rit o f D eK alb – B i centen n ial 1822-2022 39