Advocates are calling for the city of Atlanta, as well as companies that benefited from the former brick company, to preserve the site.
Earlier this year, organizers managed to stop construction of a fuel transfer station, but the land is still privately owned.
City Councilman Dustin Hillis represents the area. He says Atlanta passed up multiple opportunities to purchase the land over the years.
“At the end of the day, I want to see a memorial park, and in the land that is not in the floodplain, there’s a chance to look at an eyes on the park-type housing development that contains affordable housing, things like that,” Hillis said.
Share
A consecration ceremony was held over the weekend at the site of the old Chattahoochee Brick Co., where many Black people are believed to have died without proper burials. The brick company was one of many convict labor camps in the post-Civil War South, where Black men, women and children were sold into captivity, many after being arrested on made-up charges. Credit Christopher Alston / WABE
Black community leaders are hopeful they may be making progress in a fight to reclaim land in northwest Atlanta that they say is sacred.
Clergy, activists, lawmakers and members of the community held a consecration ceremony at the site of the old Chattahoochee Brick Co. this past weekend to memorialize the victims of the atrocity that took place there.
Norfolk Southern abandons plans for Atlanta site with ‘painful legacy’
NS will seek other locations for rail transfer facility 676 2 minutes read A Norfolk Southern train heads to its next destination. (Photo: Norfolk Southern)
Norfolk Southern (NYSE: NSC) has nixed plans to build a rail transfer facility at a historical site in Atlanta.
Norfolk Southern (NS) said Thursday that it will cease constructing the facility on the site of the former Chattahoochee Brick Co. City of Atlanta officials filed a petition for a preliminary injunction with the Surface Transportation Board (STB) to stop the project until the city can discuss its concerns with the board.
NS Calls Off Atlanta Rail Transfer Project Written by Marybeth Luczak, Executive Editor
The NS facility was to be located on the former Chattahoochee Brick Co. site, which was said to have relied on convict lease labor to produce millions of bricks between the late 1870s and early 1900s.
Norfolk Southern (NS) has walked away from building a rail transfer facility in Atlanta, Ga., following community opposition and potential litigation.
The Class I railroad’s decision follows the city of Atlanta’s filing Feb. 12 of a petition for preliminary injunction with the Surface Transportation Board (Docket Number: FD 36485; Filing ID: 301626). The filing states: “Despite the historical importance of Chattahoochee Brick, the floodplain, and the environmental conditions on the site, NS and [property owner] Lincoln Terminal have commenced construction of a transload facility on the site without regard to the myriad local health and safe
Rail Terminal At Atlanta s Chattahoochee Brick Site Cancelled wabe.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from wabe.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.