A Brief History of the Neighborhood

Ponce de Leon Avenue provides a link between Atlanta, Decatur, Clarkston, and Stone Mountain, Georgia. It was named for Ponce de Leon Springs, in turn from explorer Ponce de Leon. It is often called simply "Ponce".

The original street extended eastward from Peachtree Street and was called Ponce de Leon Circle. In August 1872, a horsecar line that went from downtown Atlanta up Peachtree to Pine, was extended to Ponce de Leon Circle.[1][2] At some point later it was extended to Ponce de Leon Springs, where the Ponce de Leon amusement park would be built; today, Ponce City Market (formerly the Sears building, then City Hall East) stands on the site. Finally in 1889 the line was electrified and extended with the "loop" around what is now Virginia-Highland.

West of Peachtree Street were Kimball Street and 2nd Street, portions of which were renamed Ponce de Leon Avenue. (see maps at Atlanta annexations)

In the 1890s-1910s, Ponce de Leon between Midtown and Moreland Avenue (the border of Druid Hills) was one of the city's premier residential streets lined with large houses of the city's elite. 




"Atlanta's Ponce De Leon Avenue:  A History."

Inman Park resident and author Sharon Foster Jones has released her latest book entitled, "Atlanta's Ponce De Leon Avenue: A History."

The book is loaded with historical details and photos of Ponce's magnificence, as Jones helps promote awareness of this major feature of local heritage. It takes readers on a journey from the discovery of a spring on the site of today's Ponce City Market, to plantations that existed in the area, to the emergence of neighborhoods along Ponce.

The book's pages follow Ponce's rise as a prime address, its tragic decay starting with the great conflagration of 1917, continuing through suburbanization that afflicted most cities starting in the 1950s, and on to the revitalization and re-establishment that will continue for a long time to come.







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