Downtown Flashback Feature

Each month, EPMSA will dig through the East Point Historical Society's archives to provide you with that month's "Flashback Feature". Each feature will highlight a photo and/or article from East Point's vibrant history. The photos/articles will give you a brief look at East Point back then . . . more information about East Point's history is available at the East Point Historical Society located at 1685 Norman Berry Drive, East Point, GA 30344. You can contact them at (404) 767-4656 or visit www.eastpoinths.org. All "Flashback Features" will be archived on the website and can be accessed at any time.

East Point: City of Transportation

Central of Georgia Passenger Depot , around 1900

If you cross Main Street at the light at West Cleveland Avenue, you will find a historic marker at the steps leading to the pedestrian bridge over the railroad tracks. The marker reads in part as follows:

“East Point owes its origin to an 1847 Act incorporating the Atlanta & LaGrange RR (now Atlanta & West Point). The charter stated its eastern terminus should be at a convenient point on the Macon & Western RR (now Central of Georgia) between the City of Griffin and the Town of Atlanta. This exact spot is marked by a bronze disk set in a short concrete post.”

This “convenient point” became the City of East Point. The trains not only delivered goods to and from the many businesses that sprang up along the railroad, but they delivered passengers and the U.S. mail as well. Prior tothe construction of MARTA, West Cleveland Ave. crossed directly over the railroad tracks (becoming E. Cleveland Ave.). If you stand on the pedestrian bridge facing north, you can look down and see the remains of the asphalt road. Looking in the same direction, you will see where the two railways split-- Atlanta & West Point to your left and the Central of Georgia to your right.

Central of Georgia Freight Depot

Between this split, on the north side of East Cleveland Ave., was the Central of Georgia passenger depot (see photo). Across the tracks to the east of this depot was the Central of Georgia freight depot (see photo). The Atlanta & West Point passenger depot (see photo) was located south of the pedestrian bridge between the tracks facing west (or Main Street).

Atlanta & West Point Passenger Depot, 1935

These three buildings are no longer standing; however, the City of East Point continues to be a hub of transportation. Through many mergers over the years, the Atlanta & West Point has been incorporated into the CSX Transportation network and the Central of Georgia is now part of the Norfolk Southern Corporation. These tracks led East Point straight into the future by allowing us to be located directly on the MARTA rail line as well as convenient to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.

-Marguerite Murray, EPHS

Sources:
- Pictorial History of East Point, Georgia, published by East Point Historical Society, Inc., 1982, reprinted
- 2004.dlg.galileo.usg.edu/sanborn/Year/EastPoint1911/, “Sanborn® Fire Insurance Maps for Georgia Towns and Cities, 1884-
- 1922”www.railga.com, “Georgia’s Railroad History & Heritage”

Be sure to visit the East Point Historical Society at 1685 Norman Berry Drive to learn more about our city’s history.

- Marguerite Murray, EPHS