http://blog.historian4hire.net Writing on historic preservation, oral history, and historical research Tue, 24 Jan 2012 17:13:35 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 http://blog.historian4hire.net/2012/01/13/decatur-urban-renewal/ http://blog.historian4hire.net/2012/01/13/decatur-urban-renewal/#comments Fri, 13 Jan 2012 19:16:38 +0000 David S. Rotenstein http://blog.historian4hire.net/?p=4518 #leftcontainerBox { float:left; position: fixed; top: 60%; left: 70px; } #leftcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; clear:both; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; padding-bottom:2px; } #bottomcontainerBox { height: 30px; width:50%; padding-top:1px; } #bottomcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; height: 30px; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; } Decatur’s Housing Authority was created in 1938 to tackle slum clearance and to provide affordable housing. The following year, the City began a survey to identify blighted areas and in July of 1939 the Decatur City Commission passed a resolution … Continue reading →]]> http://blog.historian4hire.net/2012/01/13/decatur-urban-renewal/feed/ 0 http://blog.historian4hire.net/2012/01/07/rebranding-using-history/ http://blog.historian4hire.net/2012/01/07/rebranding-using-history/#comments Sat, 07 Jan 2012 14:20:22 +0000 David S. Rotenstein http://blog.historian4hire.net/?p=4471 Continue reading →]]> http://blog.historian4hire.net/2012/01/07/rebranding-using-history/feed/ 1 http://blog.historian4hire.net/2012/01/06/mythical-oakhurst/ http://blog.historian4hire.net/2012/01/06/mythical-oakhurst/#comments Fri, 06 Jan 2012 22:36:58 +0000 David S. Rotenstein http://blog.historian4hire.net/?p=4451 #leftcontainerBox { float:left; position: fixed; top: 60%; left: 70px; } #leftcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; clear:both; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; padding-bottom:2px; } #bottomcontainerBox { height: 30px; width:50%; padding-top:1px; } #bottomcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; height: 30px; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; } Back during the contentious effort to create a local historic district in Decatur’s trendy Oakhurst neighborhood, there was some debate about what to call the proposed historic district. Most folks involved in the historic district debate believed that the part … Continue reading →]]> http://blog.historian4hire.net/2012/01/06/mythical-oakhurst/feed/ 0 http://blog.historian4hire.net/2011/12/30/another-decatur-dollar-home-slated-for-teardown/ http://blog.historian4hire.net/2011/12/30/another-decatur-dollar-home-slated-for-teardown/#comments Fri, 30 Dec 2011 12:57:30 +0000 David S. Rotenstein http://blog.historian4hire.net/?p=4437 #leftcontainerBox { float:left; position: fixed; top: 60%; left: 70px; } #leftcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; clear:both; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; padding-bottom:2px; } #bottomcontainerBox { height: 30px; width:50%; padding-top:1px; } #bottomcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; height: 30px; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; } In 1980, Ricky Harris became a new Decatur homeowner. He paid $1 for a house on Ansley Street in South Decatur, an area that in 1975 became an “Urban Homesteading Demonstration Program” community. The program was designed to get foreclosed … Continue reading →]]> http://blog.historian4hire.net/2011/12/30/another-decatur-dollar-home-slated-for-teardown/feed/ 13 http://blog.historian4hire.net/2011/12/23/fifth-avenue-school-saga/ http://blog.historian4hire.net/2011/12/23/fifth-avenue-school-saga/#comments Fri, 23 Dec 2011 12:36:37 +0000 David S. Rotenstein http://blog.historian4hire.net/?p=4415 #leftcontainerBox { float:left; position: fixed; top: 60%; left: 70px; } #leftcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; clear:both; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; padding-bottom:2px; } #bottomcontainerBox { height: 30px; width:50%; padding-top:1px; } #bottomcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; height: 30px; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; } Before the City Schools of Decatur demolished the old abandoned Fifth Avenue Elementary School, there does not appear to have been any discussion of the school’s historical significance. And if the issue of the school’s potential eligibility for listing in … Continue reading →]]> http://blog.historian4hire.net/2011/12/23/fifth-avenue-school-saga/feed/ 1 http://blog.historian4hire.net/2011/12/22/becoming-south-decatur/ http://blog.historian4hire.net/2011/12/22/becoming-south-decatur/#comments Thu, 22 Dec 2011 17:49:17 +0000 David S. Rotenstein http://blog.historian4hire.net/?p=4392 #leftcontainerBox { float:left; position: fixed; top: 60%; left: 70px; } #leftcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; clear:both; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; padding-bottom:2px; } #bottomcontainerBox { height: 30px; width:50%; padding-top:1px; } #bottomcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; height: 30px; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; } History is an imperfect art. I suppose that’s why its products are merely working drafts. While working on the South Decatur urban homesteading project I was reconciling the documented historical boundaries for the area known until recently as South Decatur … Continue reading →]]> http://blog.historian4hire.net/2011/12/22/becoming-south-decatur/feed/ 0 http://blog.historian4hire.net/2011/12/20/decatur-concrete-monuments/ http://blog.historian4hire.net/2011/12/20/decatur-concrete-monuments/#comments Tue, 20 Dec 2011 12:49:48 +0000 David S. Rotenstein http://blog.historian4hire.net/?p=4367 #leftcontainerBox { float:left; position: fixed; top: 60%; left: 70px; } #leftcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; clear:both; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; padding-bottom:2px; } #bottomcontainerBox { height: 30px; width:50%; padding-top:1px; } #bottomcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; height: 30px; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; } Municipal belt-tightening can create some interesting urban landscapes. Abandoned and deteriorating objects, structures, and buildings once hailed as the latest new thing in sanitation, transportation, and community engagement become blighting nuisances in revitalized downtowns and gentrifying residential neighborhoods. Decatur, Georgia, … Continue reading →]]> http://blog.historian4hire.net/2011/12/20/decatur-concrete-monuments/feed/ 0 http://blog.historian4hire.net/2011/12/09/tearing-down-history/ http://blog.historian4hire.net/2011/12/09/tearing-down-history/#comments Fri, 09 Dec 2011 18:01:11 +0000 David S. Rotenstein http://blog.historian4hire.net/?p=4306 Continue reading →]]> http://blog.historian4hire.net/2011/12/09/tearing-down-history/feed/ 11 http://blog.historian4hire.net/2011/10/21/decatur-teardown/ http://blog.historian4hire.net/2011/10/21/decatur-teardown/#comments Fri, 21 Oct 2011 11:54:24 +0000 David S. Rotenstein http://blog.historian4hire.net/?p=4277 Continue reading →]]> http://blog.historian4hire.net/2011/10/21/decatur-teardown/feed/ 2 http://blog.historian4hire.net/2011/10/11/crime-and-historical-memory/ http://blog.historian4hire.net/2011/10/11/crime-and-historical-memory/#comments Tue, 11 Oct 2011 15:47:48 +0000 David S. Rotenstein http://blog.historian4hire.net/?p=4249 Continue reading →]]> http://blog.historian4hire.net/2011/10/11/crime-and-historical-memory/feed/ 0