Midtown Atlanta

After the Civil War locals called the area around Tenth Street “Tight Squeeze,” a wooded ravine where the lawless hung out. The narrow road made traveling by wagon difficult. Bandits also hid in the wooded ravine and surrounding forests to rob travelers heading north out of the city. The area became, therefore, a “tight squeeze” for riders trying to pass through with their money and their lives. During the latter part of the nineteenth century, wealthy people built homes in the area. By the 1900s those homes gave way to office and retail business as the commercial district expanded; and during the 1950s and 1960s, the area housed the South’s largest hippie district. But in recent years the area has undergone significant change. In 1999 the Midtown Historic District was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Special attractions: The Margaret Mitchell House & Museum, Georgia Institute of Technology, Coca-Cola headquarters, the Varsity restaurant, the Fox Theater, old churches, and other historic buildings.