Decatur Station circa 1987 courtesy of RailPictures.net
So I realize that the railroad lines in Decatur are anything but “hidden”.
Horns blare. Trains regularly stop traffic. Especially this week, as CSX has caused major traffic havoc along Decatur streets, closing the South McDonough and Candler Street intersections for rail maintenance.
But have you ever considered: why IS there a train line in Decatur? Or perhaps a better question is “why was a railroad built through Decatur?”
Quite often the location of cities and towns are highly influenced by the natural landscape. This is most obvious in cities situated along rivers, lakes and oceans. Cities more likely to survive and thrive exist in areas when the natural landscape provides them with an advantage over other areas. Think about the “natural ports” of New York City, Charleston and Savannah.
Decatur – and Atlanta’s – natural advantage isn’t quite as noticeable as a large body of water or a rushing river. Yes, Atlanta has a river, but the fact that it’s no where near the population center is a good clue that it wasn’t a major influencing factor in the settlement and success of the city.
To see Atlanta and Decatur’s natural advantage, you actually gotta look at a topographic map.
From Decatur’s Transportation Plan
And there it is in all its beautiful mauve and brown glory – the Eastern Continental Divide! – running northeast to southwest thru the city with the CSX line closely following its path.
The Eastern Continental Divide runs down from western New York State/Pennsylvania to the western edge of North & South Carolina. It then sorta follows I-85 [see Duluth’s somewhat recent attempt to “cash in” on the Divide] before veering off that course a bit and running from Clarkston down through Downtown Decatur. It continues to downtown Atlanta and then, somewhere close to Five Points, takes a pretty hard turn to the south toward the airport before heading down thru South Georgia and Florida.
Map courtesy of Wikipedia
If you’ve been around Decatur a while, you’ve probably heard how rain that falls north of the tracks drains to the Gulf of Mexico, while rain that falls south drains to that Atlantic. That’s because of the Eastern Continental Divide.
But why build a railroad line on it? Well, the Eastern Continental Divide is nice and flat through Decatur, making it the perfect landscape for a railroad. (A railroad buff could probably provide a more detailed explanation. Please do!)
So there you have it. Decatur has a major train line running through it – major enough that Sherman tore it up during the Civil War – in large part because it sits on the Eastern Continental Divide. And while the Eastern Divide may provide the reason for the presence of the railroad in Decatur, it also may help disprove the old wives tale that Decatur turned down becoming the railroad hub that eventually became Atlanta.
Look back to the map above. The Divide’s dramatic sharp turn near Five Points is no coincidence. A city situated at that turn would be most easily accessible to rail lines from all directions, which were furiously being built in the mid-1800s. Atlanta’s Wikipedia entry provides this history of the event that chose the location of “Terminus”.
A U.S. Army engineer, Colonel Stephen Harriman Long, was asked to recommend the location where the Western and Atlantic line would terminate. He surveyed various possible routes, then in the autumn of 1837 drove a stake into the ground near what is now the intersection of Forsyth and Magnolia Streets, about 3-4 blocks southeast of today’s Five Points.[7][8] The zero milepost was later placed to mark that spot.[9][10]
So there you go. Just a few lines on why Decatur sits on a major rail line.
Now, instead of cursing CSX and the railroad as you sit in traffic this afternoon, you have a base knowledge that justifies you in rolling down your car window and startling passersby with a yell of, “Damn you, Eastern Continental Divide!”.
Some additional links on GA’s railroad history:
- Georgia Railroad Line [RailGA]
- Railroads [Georgia Encyclopedia]
Bravo! Excellent piece. Notice Morse Hill in Glennwood Estates. I have been told it was used as a surveying point due to its excellent vantage point of Decatur and its being a natural landmark.
Thanks. Yes! There’s a whole other post that could be written about other interesting elements of Decatur’s topography. The spurs that jut out from the Continental Divide, how they influence the neighborhoods, explain why there are so many “Heights” neighborhoods, etc.
Creeks are another great topic, but there’s been a lot of great pieces (and books!) written about those.
Also, a “where are the steepest hills in Decatur?” post! Ok, maybe I’m getting a little out of hand.
Steepest hills? Look on the map for where three or more colors are close together — from the creek below the cemetery up to the top of the hill in Glenwood Estates . Though nothing in Decatur is as steep as hills in Lake Claire.
I think the issue of where the terminus was built had mostly to do with keeping the North Eastern and North Western railroads at the highest elevations possible without having to go so high up on the slope of the Appalachians that they had to dig a bunch of tunnels through ridges.
Yes on the hills. But I was thinking you could go more in-depth. Maybe even go to Lake Claire, like you mentioned!
Steep ones from an occasional runner’s perspective:
Adams Hill up from Oakview — very short, but damn steep!
Superior Ave from N Decatur to Scott
Just outside city limits, but Coventry Hill merits mention, just when you think you’ve hit the top when crossing the tracks, you go around the corner and see just a little more…
Sneaky uphill from Glenlake Park to the top of Glenn Circle
Coventry? Meh. Vickers is the real mother of steep hills locally! A long time ago when I was in much better shape I used to run sprints up that sucker. A few weeks ago I walked it and had to take a breather half way because I thought I was having a heart attack!
Winner. Vickers is a monster for runners.
Kirk Road heading toward S. Candler is also an attention-getter.
please write that post. I would like to read it. Where exactly is Morse Hill? Street names?
Hey, I made that map! Cool (though in hindsight I could have picked better colors).
Ha, that’s pretty funny. Colors aside, it’s the best topo map out there to clearly see the Continental Divide thru Decatur.
+1!
Great post! Very interesting. It’s amazing how that continental divide helped to shape the development of the area.
In this history it would be nice to include the observation that Indian trails usually followed ridge lines and European settlers turned them into roads. Think about our major roads: Claremont., Peachtree St., etc. Also, to a large extend Decatur grew up around the railroad rather than the railroad being built through Decatur.The latter in contrast to MARTA that was diverted from the railroad tracks into downtown Decatur at great cost, after lobbying by Decatur politicians.
I agree! I’m thinking roads and topography could be a follow up post. Sycamore was a very important trail early on.
Kudos, this is great.
Interesting article. Thanks.
There is of course, that great mural celebrating the ECD at Arizona and DeKalb Ave. It’s my favorite around Atlanta.