Submitted by Sammy Smith (sammy@thesga.org)

Keep your eyes peeled for…metal plaques attached to immovable objects like buildings (not that buildings can’t be knocked down, but…).

This plaque is on the outside of a Fire Station in Atlanta, number 19, to be exact. The station is on the northeast corner of North Highland Avenue and Los Angeles Avenue, as shown on the map below.

Note the the Fire Committee includes W.B. Hartsfield, the last name on the list. Notes Louis Williams, in The New Georgia Encyclopedia:

William B. Hartsfield was a man of humble origins who became one of the greatest mayors of Atlanta. He served as mayor for six terms (1937-41, 1942-61), longer than any other person in the city’s history. Hartsfield held office during a critical period when the color line separating the races began to change and the city grew from more than 100,000 inhabitants to a metropolitan population of one million. He is credited with developing Atlanta into the aviation powerhouse that it is today and with building its image as “the City Too Busy to Hate.”

Hartsfield was elected to the Atlanta City Council in 1922, just two years before this plaque was commissioned. In 1937, he became Atlanta’s Mayor. Hartsfield was extremely active in promoting aviation in Atlanta, and across Georgia. Atlanta’s modern international airport, Hartsfield-Jackson, south of Atlanta, is named for William B. Hartsfield, and for a later mayor, Maynard Jackson.

Where to find it

Click above to go to a larger Google interactive map of the area.

Posted online on Tuesday, January 27th, 2009