Atlanta History: Edgewood

Modern-day Edgewood has a lot to offer. Sitting just east of Moreland Ave, it’s bound on the north by Dekalb Ave and by Memorial Drive on the south. It boasts a bustling retail district, a diverse population, and a tight-knit community.

Edgewood was its own town until it was annexed into Atlanta in 1909. The result of a Reconstruction-era residential boom, it was originally intended as a home for blue collar workers. Because of that, the neighborhood’s historic architecture is mostly made up of Craftsman bungalows.

Like many Atlanta neighborhoods, Edgewood comes with a storied and complicated history. Having been established in a time when racial segregation and inequality ran deep, Edgewood was inhabited mostly by Black residents, while white residents lived in the more prominent locations and maintained control of most commercial activity in the first half of the 20th century.

One notable exception was Dr. Ross Douthard, the local Black doctor. An anchor of Edgewood’s Black community, he practiced medicine from his home and ran a small pharmacy in the neighborhood. His family residence was the only Black home facing the prominent street of Boulevard until the 1950s, and the home remained in his family until his son’s passing in 2006. It still stands on modern Hosea Williams Drive, so when you pass by you can imagine the life lived there and the crucial role the home once played for its community.

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