Key Points:
- Consultants on the Chattahoochee Brick Co. and Atlanta Riverlands project discussed the historical, archeological, and architectural plans for the project at a community open house on Nov. 8
- The project will include a public greenspace, riverfront trails, and a memorial to the brick company’s history of convict leasing.
- The next public engagement event will be on Jan. 31.
The team behind the forthcoming Chattahoochee Brick Co. and Atlanta Riverlands project in West Atlanta kicked off their community engagement series on Nov. 8 with presentations and an open house that shared the site’s history, detailed the project’s scope, and gathered community feedback.
Representatives of the City of Atlanta’s Office of Design in the Department of City Planning, landscape architecture firm Scape, MASS Design Group, New South Associates archeology firm, Jones Archeology consulting firm, and community engagement firm Chrysalis Lab spoke at English Park Recreation Center about their contributions to the project, which will include a public greenspace, enhanced trails along the Chattahoochee River, and a memorial to the history of the site.
The Chattahoochee Brick Company, owned by former Atlanta Mayor James W. English, supplied bricks for the construction of industrial buildings and city of Atlanta infrastructure. The factory utilized leased convict labor after the abolition of slavery under the 13th amendment, which still legalizes slavery as a punishment for a crime. Primarily African American men, who were arrested under petty or dubious charges, worked at the factory under brutal and sometimes fatal conditions.
The buildings on the site were demolished in 2011, and the City purchased the 77-acre property in 2022.
Anthony Knight, the City’s African American History Coordinator for the project, detailed this history during Saturday’s presentation, while also acknowledging the indigenous Muscogee history that preceded the European colonization of the land. Evidence of the indigenous history of the site, as well as potential cemeteries and remains, will be further uncovered by New South Associates and Jones Archeology and protected when necessary.
“This project is really one that will endeavor to encompass as much of the Chattahoochee Brick Company site as is humanly possible,” Knight said. “It is not only about James English, it is not only about making bricks. It is U.S. history… How do we use the site to tell multiple stories? How do we use the site to, in some way, heal the transgressions of the past and use this site as that connective tissue from those generations of individuals to us who are here and responsible for this information today?”
Following the presentation, attendees were invited to speak directly with the project’s team at an open house to ask questions and share insights into their own desires for the project.
Saturday’s event was the first of five community engagement events throughout the process of the project. Existing conditions of the site and community outreach strategies will be shared on Jan. 31; archeological findings and the memorialization process will be shared on April 25; concept alternatives for the site and trail alignments will be shared on July 25; and the preferred concept for the site will be presented on Oct. 1.
To sign up for details about upcoming events and to learn more about the project, visit atlcitydesign.com/chattahoocheebrickandriverlands.
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