Remember when Atlanta's upstanding residents torched Snake Nation?
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Former Atlanta Mayor Jonathan Norcross. Credit: Public Domain
Atlanta was just four years old when a tug of war between its upstanding business class and denizens of drinking houses and bordellos threatened to pull the railroad town apart.
Why it matters: The civic and political battles over quality of life, the city's reputation and nightlife businesses are as old as Atlanta and time itself.
Flashback: In 1850, Atlanta was home to roughly 2,500 people and a hangover-inducing 40 saloons, according to Atlanta Magazine.
Catch up quick: That year, the newly elected mayor Jonathan Norcross of the Moral Party promised to crack down on Atlanta's vice enterprises — the enthusiasts of which sided with the opposition Free and Rowdy political party — in rough-and-tumble areas known as Slabtown and Snake Nation.
- Not long after taking office, Norcross presided over police court and the power keg erupted: a Rowdy rounded up for street fighting brandished a knife and threatened to kill the mayor before escaping.
Threat level: The following night, a crowd of drunken Rowdies fired a cannon filled with sand and gravel at Norcross' storefront to force the mayor to resign, according to Saporta Report.
- The Morals and their supporters mobilized a whitecap militia and burned the bars and bordellos of Slabtown and Snake Nation, scoring a victory for the law and order crowd.
State of play: Slabtown, which was located along Decatur Street near where the Corey Tower stands today, remained a red-light district for years to come.
- Scorched Snake Nation properties sat vacant for years and were later scooped up by a merchant named Daniel Castleberry. Today the general area is known as Castleberry Hill.
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