About 40 former and current residents of Decatur rallied Friday afternoon in support of a local historic designation for about 3 acres of vacant land that constitutes the only passive green space left in downtown Decatur.
City Schools of Decatur owns the land and plans to build an early learning center there. But it is part of Beacon Hill, a former Black neighborhood that ceased to exist after residents were forced out over about three decades starting in the early 1940s.
For the past three years, the vacant field has been the site of Decatur Day, a celebration of the small city’s Black history.
Activists will ask the Decatur City Commission on Tuesday to expedite their application for a historic designation and preserve the space as a passive park. They envision benches and plaques with information about the neighborhood’s history.
“This is where the Black community has its roots,” said Doris Sims Johnson, 76, of Lithonia, whose family was forced out of Beacon Hill in 1970. “Our whole lives were built around this space. This is sacred ground to us.”
The land in question sits at the intersection of Trinity Place and Electric Avenue, across from the Ebster Recreation Center. Black families lived in houses there until the city seized the land and homes in 1941 to build the segregated Allen Wilson Terrace Apartments, which Johnson and others referred to as “the old projects.”
The apartments were demolished in 2014. The school district bought the land three years later from the Decatur Housing Authority for $4.4 million.
Credit: (Ben Gray for the AJC)
Credit: (Ben Gray for the AJC)
Bernadette Ferrell, 77, and a few other former residents of the apartments attended Friday’s rally. Ferrell pointed to the corner where her family’s apartment sat. Recently, the space has hosted farmers’ markets and at least one wedding reception, Ferrell said.
“I’d like to see it available,” she said.
Said Abdikadir, a 17-year-old junior at Decatur High School, lives nearby and has attended birthday parties and Atlanta Falcons watch parties in the grassy field.
“This space basically means a lot to us as a Black community,” he said.
Johnson and others applied Thursday to the city’s historic preservation commission for a local historic designation. Neither the applicants nor the city provided the application Friday upon request.
The historic preservation commission oversees work in five districts around the city and two other properties. The Trinity Place land does not fall within an existing district but is eligible for historic designation, said Aileen de la Torre, the city’s historic preservation planner.
Credit: (Ben Gray for the AJC)
Credit: (Ben Gray for the AJC)
Even if the land receives a historic designation, the school district could still build on it, depending on the guidelines the city adopts for the property, de la Torre said. The application does not propose guidelines, she said.
The city must hold at least one public hearing before adopting a historic designation. A designation report must be submitted to the Georgia Department of Community Affairs at least 30 days before the hearing.
Decatur Mayor Tony Powers declined to comment on the application until he had conferred with city staff.
The school district was scheduled to begin construction last month on the $23 million Early Childhood Learning Center, but postponed the groundbreaking after residents objected in court to the bond debt funding the project. A DeKalb County judge ultimately ruled for the school district.
The early learning center would enroll between 135 and 150 children from infancy through preschool, according to the school district. Some families would pay full tuition, while others would pay reduced tuition or receive scholarships, the school district said. Low-income families would be prioritized for enrollment.
A school district spokesperson did not respond to questions about the historic designation application and its impacts on the project.
Credit: (Ben Gray for the AJC)
Credit: (Ben Gray for the AJC)
Some said Friday that the school district had other locations available for an early learning center. Speakers from the Save Decatur Schools group criticized the school board for planning new construction while also proposing to close a K-2 school.
Johnson organizes Decatur Day with Wanda Sims Watters, her sister and the vice chair of Decatur’s reparations task force. The city last year apologized for its treatment of Black residents, but Watters said losing the Decatur Day site is an echo of the destruction of Beacon Hill.
“The dispossession of this land, it permeates the history of Decatur,” Watters said. “We want to stop it. They acknowledged that it was wrong.”
About the Author
Keep Reading
The Latest
Featured
