Top of page

Photo, Print, Drawing Chattahoochee Brick Company, Bounded by the Chattahoochee River to the north, CSX (formerly the Chattanooga, Rome & Columbus) railroad tracks to the east, I-285 and Proctor Creek to the west, and Parrott Avenue NW to the south, Atlanta, Fulton County, GA Lowe, Steele & Co. and B.G. Lockett & Co. General Shale Brick Chattahoochee Divisions Lincoln Terminal

[ Data Pages from Survey HALS GA-7  ]

About this Item

Title

  • Chattahoochee Brick Company, Bounded by the Chattahoochee River to the north, CSX (formerly the Chattanooga, Rome & Columbus) railroad tracks to the east, I-285 and Proctor Creek to the west, and Parrott Avenue NW to the south, Atlanta, Fulton County, GA

Other Title

  • Lowe, Steele & Co. and B.G. Lockett & Co. General Shale Brick Chattahoochee Divisions Lincoln Terminal

Names

  • Historic American Landscapes Survey, creator
  • English, James W.
  • Turner, Daniel H.
  • Gold Lottery of 1832
  • Alexander, Emily
  • English, J. W., Jr.
  • English, Harry Lee
  • Robinson, Harry English
  • Lockett, Benjamin G.
  • Steele, A. B.
  • Parrott, G. W.
  • Lowe, William B.
  • Chattanooga, Rome & Columbus Railroad
  • Westmoreland
  • Smith, Hoke
  • Klein, John C.
  • Rust, R. S.
  • Gordon, A. A.
  • Gordon, Romulus
  • Fourth National Bank of Atlanta
  • Felder, Thomas S.
  • Casey, James
  • Wortham, C. D.
  • Harris, Peter
  • Moore, Arthur
  • Goings, Tim
  • Lincoln Terminal Energy Solutions
  • Norfolk Southern Railroad
  • Clappin, Elizabeth A., historian
  • Spencer, Sarah Kuehn, historian
  • Stevens, Christopher M., transmitter
  • McPartland, Mary, transmitter
  • Stranieri, Marcella, transmitter

Created / Published

  • Documentation compiled after 2000

Headings

  • -  rivers
  • -  creeks
  • -  clay industries
  • -  brick industry
  • -  African Americans
  • -  slavery
  • -  prisons
  • -  prisoners
  • -  people associated with manual labor
  • -  laborers
  • -  kilns
  • -  brick
  • -  railroads
  • -  Georgia--Fulton County--Atlanta

Latitude / Longitude

  • 33.809103,-84.490475

Notes

  • -  Entry 2021 HALS Challenge: Historic Black Landscapes
  • -  Significance: The site of the Chattahoochee Brick Company is significant as the only remaining historic landscape, which illustrates the long history of Black convict leasing in the State of Georgia and the City of Atlanta. The Chattahoochee Brick Company, under the leadership of James W. English, was, from 1885 to 1909, the largest exploiter of the Black convict leasing system in the State of Georgia. This practice allowed businessmen to profit off free labor provided by Black convicts, the majority of who were convicted of no more than petty crimes. This system sold them into slavery by another name and allowed Chattahoochee Brick to become the largest brick manufacturer in the United States, producing the building materials that would help make Atlanta the capital of the “New South”. The architects of this system included the majority shareholder, James W. English, a bank president as well as former Atlanta mayor (1881-1883) and police commissioner (1883-1905). English, as the head of Chattahoochee Brick, controlled the majority of convict laborers in the state of Georgia. During the period beginning in 1885, when English took control of Chattahoochee Brick, thru 1909, when the last convicts were removed from Chattahoochee Brick, thousands of Black convicts lived, and died, in horrible conditions on the site. As a result of the exploitation of both Black convicts and the alluvial clay harvested from banks of the adjacent Chattahoochee River, the landscape was shaped in response to the harvesting of raw materials, the brickmaking processes, and advancements in technology and transportation. The bricks manufactured by convicts at Chattahoochee Brick make up the overwhelming majority of the buildings and public infrastructure of the City of Atlanta. They express genius loci, local character and tradition, as few other materials can. The site, with its few remaining landscape features, contains great significance due to its contributions to the broad patterns of American history in the areas of commerce, transportation, and Black history. The site also has the potential to reveal more significant history due to its archaeological potential, which has never been properly investigated in the post-convict leasing era. Today, it is not the existence of architectural remnants or even archaeological evidence on the site that holds the most significance but rather fact that it is the only remaining landscapes where the conditions the rapidly disappearing history of convict leasing in the American South can be revealed, studied, and utilized to educate the public about this dark period of Black history in the American South.
  • -  Survey number: HALS GA-7
  • -  Building/structure dates: 1882 Initial Construction
  • -  Building/structure dates: 1900 Subsequent Work

Medium

  • Data Page(s): 29

Call Number/Physical Location

  • HALS GA-7

Source Collection

  • Historic American Landscapes Survey (Library of Congress)

Repository

Control Number

  • ga1190

Rights Advisory

Online Format

  • pdf

Rights & Access

The Library of Congress does not own rights to material in its collections. Therefore, it does not license or charge permission fees for use of such material and cannot grant or deny permission to publish or otherwise distribute the material.

Ultimately, it is the researcher's obligation to assess copyright or other use restrictions and obtain permission from third parties when necessary before publishing or otherwise distributing materials found in the Library's collections.

For information about reproducing, publishing, and citing material from this collection, as well as access to the original items, see: Historic American Buildings Survey/Historic American Engineering Record/Historic American Landscape Survey (HABS/HAER/HALS) Collection - Rights and Restrictions Information

Obtaining Copies

If Digital Images Are Displaying

You can download online images yourself. Alternatively, you can purchase copies of various types through Library of Congress Duplication Services.

HABS/HAER/HALS materials have generally been scanned at high resolution that is suitable for most publication purposes (see Digitizing the Collection for further details about the digital images).

  • Photographs--All photographs are printed from digital files to preserve the fragile originals.
    • Make note of the Call Number and Item Number that appear under the photograph in the multiple-image display (e.g., HAER, NY,52-BRIG,4-2).
    • If possible, include a printout of the photograph.
  • Drawings--All drawings are printed from digital files to preserve the fragile originals.
    • Make note of the Survey Number (e.g., HAER NY - 143) and Sheet Number (e.g., "Sheet 1 of 4"), which appear on the edge of the drawing. (NOTE: These numbers are visible in the Tiff "Reference Image" display.)
    • If possible, include a printout of the drawing.
  • Data Pages
    • Make note of the Call Number in the catalog record.

If Digital Images Are Not Displaying

In the rare case that a digital image for HABS/HAER/HALS documentation is not displaying online, select images for reproduction through one of these methods:

  • Visit the Prints & Photographs Reading Room and request to view the group (general information about service in the reading room is available at: https://aj.sunback.homes/rr/print/info/001_ref.html). It is best to contact reference staff in advance (see: https://aj.sunback.homes/rr/print/address.html) to make sure the material is on site. OR
  • P&P reading room staff can provide up to 15 quick copies of items per calendar year (many original items in the holdings are too old or fragile to make such copies, but generally HABS/HAER/HALS materials are in good enough condition to be placed on photocopy machines). For assistance, see our Ask a Librarian page OR
  • Hire a freelance researcher to do further selection for you (a list of researchers in available at: https://aj.sunback.homes/rr/print/resource/013_pic.html).
  • You can purchase copies of various types, including quick copies, through Library of Congress Duplication Services (price lists, contact information, and order forms for Library of Congress Duplication Services are available on the Duplication Services Web site):
    • Make note of the Call Number listed above.
    • Look at the Medium field above. If it lists more than one item:
      • The entire group can be ordered as photocopies or high-quality copies.
      • All the items in a particular medium (e.g., all drawings, all photographs) can be ordered as photocopies or high-quality copies.

Access to Originals

Please use the following steps to determine whether you need to fill out a call slip in the Prints and Photographs Reading Room to view the original item(s). In some cases, a surrogate (substitute image) is available, often in the form of a digital image, a copy print, or microfilm.

  1. Is the item digitized? (A thumbnail (small) image will be visible on the left.)

    • Yes, the item is digitized. Please use the digital image in preference to requesting the original. All images can be viewed at a large size when you are in any reading room at the Library of Congress. In some cases, only thumbnail (small) images are available when you are outside the Library of Congress because the item is rights restricted or has not been evaluated for rights restrictions.
      As a preservation measure, we generally do not serve an original item when a digital image is available. If you have a compelling reason to see the original, consult with a reference librarian. (Sometimes, the original is simply too fragile to serve. For example, glass and film photographic negatives are particularly subject to damage. They are also easier to see online where they are presented as positive images.)
    • No, the item is not digitized. Please go to #2.

  2. Do the Access Advisory or Call Number fields above indicate that a non-digital surrogate exists, such as microfilm or copy prints?

    • Yes, another surrogate exists. Reference staff can direct you to this surrogate.
    • No, another surrogate does not exist. Please go to #3.
  3. If you do not see a thumbnail image or a reference to another surrogate, please fill out a call slip in the Prints and Photographs Reading Room. In many cases, the originals can be served in a few minutes. Other materials require appointments for later the same day or in the future. Reference staff can advise you in both how to fill out a call slip and when the item can be served.

To contact Reference staff in the Prints and Photographs Reading Room, please use our Ask A Librarian service or call the reading room between 8:30 and 5:00 at 202-707-6394, and Press 3.

Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

Historic American Landscapes Survey, Creator, James W English, Daniel H Turner, Gold Lottery Of 1832, Emily Alexander, J. W English, Harry Lee English, et al. Chattahoochee Brick Company, Bounded by the Chattahoochee River to the north, CSX formerly the Chattanooga, Rome & Columbus railroad tracks to the east, I-285 and Proctor Creek to the west, and Parrott Avenue NW to the south, Atlanta, Fulton County, GA. Atlanta Georgia Fulton County, 2000. translateds by Stevens, Christopher M.Mitter, Mcpartland, Marymitter, and Stranieri, Marcellamitter Documentation Compiled After. Photograph. https://aj.sunback.homes/item/ga1190/.

APA citation style:

Historic American Landscapes Survey, C., English, J. W., Turner, D. H., Gold Lottery Of 1832, Alexander, E., English, J. W. [...] Spencer, S. K. (2000) Chattahoochee Brick Company, Bounded by the Chattahoochee River to the north, CSX formerly the Chattanooga, Rome & Columbus railroad tracks to the east, I-285 and Proctor Creek to the west, and Parrott Avenue NW to the south, Atlanta, Fulton County, GA. Atlanta Georgia Fulton County, 2000. Stevens, C. M. M., McPartland, M. & Stranieri, M., transs Documentation Compiled After. [Photograph] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://aj.sunback.homes/item/ga1190/.

MLA citation style:

Historic American Landscapes Survey, Creator, et al. Chattahoochee Brick Company, Bounded by the Chattahoochee River to the north, CSX formerly the Chattanooga, Rome & Columbus railroad tracks to the east, I-285 and Proctor Creek to the west, and Parrott Avenue NW to the south, Atlanta, Fulton County, GA. trans by Stevens, Christopher M.Mitter, Mcpartland, Marymitter, and Stranieri, Marcellamitter Documentation Compiled After. Photograph. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <aj.sunback.homes/item/ga1190/>.