I often refer to my copies of “Atlanta and Environs,” by Franklin Garrett, when I have a question about Atlanta history. He wrote two volumes of “Atlanta and Environs, a chronicle of its people and events,” published in 1954. The text for these two books totals 2,034 pages which begins in the 1820s with a brief description of Native American history and continues through the 1930s by the end of Volume two. Volume three was written by Harold H. Martin in 1987 and includes the years 1940 through 1970.
Franklin Garrett has been referred to as “Atlanta’s official historian.” He was born in 1907 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and came to Atlanta with his parents and sister in 1914. From the time he arrived in Atlanta, the events of his life helped him become an expert on the places and people of the city. (“Atlanta History: A Journal of Georgia and the South,” Spring 2000,“Franklin Garrett, Sept. 25, 1907-March5, 2000, A Tribute”)
The Garrett family settled on 13th Street near Piedmont Park and Franklin attended elementary school at Tenth Street School. He maneuvered around Atlanta on his bicycle and by trolley. He recalled taking the trolley to Oglethorpe University, which he described as “considered on the far urban fringe.” He walked from the trolley stop to Silver Lake.
Garrett attended high school at Tech High, graduating in 1924. While in school he worked at Marshall’s Drug Store. After graduating, he worked at Western Union.
He began collecting city directories and one day in 1927 entered the law office of Eugene Mitchell, asking to see the firm’s directories. Mitchell founded the Atlanta Historical Society in 1926 and was the father of Margaret Mitchell, author of “Gone with the Wind.” Eugene Mitchell invited Garrett to join the Atlanta Historical Society.
Beginning in 1930, Garrett began riding his bicycle all over DeKalb and Fulton County recording the names and details of those buried in cemeteries. Sometimes he was able to identify unmarked graves by talking with local citizens. The documents are held in the archives of Atlanta History Center as Franklin Garrett’s Necrology.
This cemetery research is a significant collection of data useful to historians and genealogists; however it is limited by Garrett’s concentration on white males who were buried in the Atlanta area up until December 31, 1931.
In 1939, Garrett began a 28-year career with Coca-Cola Company and in 1942 he became president of the Atlanta Historical Society. His career was interrupted by World War II, when he was called to serve at Fort McPherson inducting new recruits.
Garrett spoke to the Sandy Springs Historic Research Committee and Dunwoody Oral History Committee in 1994. Attendees included Ethel Spruill, Glenn Austin and Bill Wynne, co-chairman of the Sandy Springs committee. Garrett told the group, “One thing led to another and my interest in Atlanta has never failed or slowed down.” He also gave the group advice on the collection of oral history. (Video recording. Franklin Garrett presents to Sandy Springs and Dunwoody group, 1994, Dunwoody Preservation Trust archives)
He told his audience how he rode his bicycle to the Sandy Springs Methodist Cemetery on April 17, 1931, and recorded the names and details of the burials. He said Arlington Cemetery was just one lot adjoining Sandy Springs Methodist Cemetery at that time.
DeKalb County historian and author of “History of DeKalb County, 1822-1900” Vivian Price knew Franklin Garrett and saw him speak. She recalls, “He personified the phrase ‘walking encyclopedia’ He was a tall, imposing man, and had a quiet, courtly bearing, but he was always approachable. I can still hear his rumbling bass voice.”
Marc Hayes of Brookhaven also saw Garrett speak and met him at a book signing in Atlanta. Hayes recalls hearing Garrett on WSB Radio with his “Stump Garrett” program, where Atlantans called in with questions about local history with hopes that Garrett might not know the answer. He usually knew not only the answer but plenty of additional details.
In the 1980s, the Atlanta History Center held several events called “Stump Franklin Garrett,” where history fans asked questions either to learn more from Garrett or find gaps in his Atlanta history knowledge. Marc Hayes shared his memory of hearing Garrett speak at the AHC, at a book signing, and hearing his Stump Garrett program on WSB radio. Hayes recalls that Garrett often knew the answer to who lived at a certain address in a particular year in Atlanta. (Marc Hayes recollections)
Hayes and a friend phoned Garrett in the mid-1970s to talk about history, back when telephone numbers were readily available in a paper phone book. They called from a speaker phone, which Garrett was not pleased with, and his response to one of the questions was the answer was in his book “Atlanta and Environs Volume 2.”
At a 1983 Stump Franklin Garrett night at AHC, almost every seat in McElreath Hall was filled. The first question asked was, “Did William Tecumseh Sherman ever sleep in the Tullie Smith House?” Garrett proclaimed that to be false, adding that Sherman did stay in a home that is now the clubhouse at Peachtree Golf Club. In 1864, this was the home of Samuel House. (Atlanta Constitution, Feb.24, 1983, “Garrett takes the stump in new Battle of Atlanta”)
There are Stump Franklin Garrett videos available on YouTube which include audience member questions about street names. In a 1988 video, Garrett answers a question about the historical connection between Ivy Street, Cain Street and Harris Street in downtown Atlanta. He explained only Ivy and Cain are connected, Ivy was the man who built the first home in what is now downtown Atlanta and Cain was his son-in-law. Harris Street was named for Atlanta’s first city clerk.
On the same evening, he was asked the family name of three women for which Wieuca Road is named. He could not recall their last name but knew that their first names were Wilma, Eugenia, and Catherine. The first two letters of each name together form Wieuca. Then, he added the fact that Wieuca Road was previously known as Stephens Mill Road.
When the Atlanta Railroad line from Atlanta to Augusta was in its final days in 1983, the engine was named in honor of Franklin Garrett. People had the opportunity to ride the train one last time and the train enthusiasts on board with Garrett heard him talk about trains and sing about trains.
The engineer was Bill Mauldin and Garrett spent time riding aboard the engine and even operated the engine with Mauldin’s guidance. Garrett told passengers he first rode that train over 60 years earlier. Then he sang two old train songs, “Casey Jones” and “The Wreck of the Old 97.” Casey Jones began with, “Come all you rounders, if you wanna hear, the story about a brave engineer. Casey Jones was the roller’s name, on a 6-8-wheeler course he won his fame.”
Garrett lamented how railroad travel had suffered with the speed of airline travel. “It is a bit frustrating to me and somewhat ironic that a city that was born of trains and railroads has only one daily passenger train now,” he told the other passengers. He considered train travel, with the ability to move around, a dining car and a bar car to be superior to airplane travel. He also preferred how trains could take one right into the middle of a town. (Atlanta History Center, audio recording, 1983)
Franklin Garrett died in March of 2000 at age 93 and is buried at Oakland Cemetery. His Atlanta Constitution obituary summed up a life spent learning and loving Atlanta history. “Franklin Miller Garrett was not born in Atlanta, but he spent a lifetime making up for that inconvenient fact.”