Past Tense GA

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Oglethorpe University train station

This photograph of the Oglethorpe University train station includes a view of Hermance Stadium in the background. The station was located directly across from the Peachtree Road campus in Brookhaven. Photo from the Philip Weltner Library Oglethorpe University.

The September 20, 1916 Atlanta Constitution newspaper announced the opening of Oglethorpe University railroad station. The Cross Keys flag stop closed when Oglethorpe University Station opened.

Students rode the engine, Air-Line Belle, to attend the newly opened Oglethorpe University Station in Brookhaven. Oglethorpe University Station was also home to the new Oglethorpe post office, and the offices of Silver Lake Park Company.  (Atlanta History: A Journal of Georgia and the South, 1995, Paul Hudson)

In an interview with James Magbee, who grew up on Peachtree Dunwoody Road, he recalled the old granite Oglethorpe University station. He remembered that young men from Buford commuted to Oglethorpe University aboard the Air-Line Belle.

The Oglethorpe University post office application shows the location as Land Lot 273, six miles south of the Chattahoochee River and one a half miles south of Nancy Creek, recorded here as Nancy’s Creek. The Chamblee Post Office was two miles away, Atlanta post office ten miles and Dunwoody six and a half miles according to the application.

Albert Martin of the pioneer Goodwin family also recalled the granite depot across the street from the university. Martin remembered that the depot building was home to Pierce Antiques in the 1960s and 1970s. When the Brookhaven Marta station and track were built, the old depot was demolished.

An advertisement for Pierce Antiques which appeared in the 1960s Atlanta newspapers.


Another view of Oglethorpe Station. Photo from the Philip Weltner Library at Oglethorpe University.