Lemuel P. Grant
Encyclopedia
Lemuel Pratt Grant was an American engineer and businessman.
He was Atlanta's quintessential railroad man as well as a major landowner and civic leader.
In railroads he served as a laborer, chief engineer, speculator and executive all over the South
.
As part of his speculation, he owned enormous tracts of land in strategic areas.
For example, at one point he owned more than 600 acres (2.4 km²) in what is now Atlanta.
He designed and built Atlanta's defenses during the American Civil War
and afterwards became an important civic leader: donating the land for Grant Park
, Atlanta's first large park, and serving as councilman and on various boards and committees.
, he came south in the 1840s to work on the Georgia Railroad where he started as a laborer.
By 1844 he was buying large tracts of Atlanta real estate, mainly in the Third Ward
.
He and John T. Grant
worked for Augusta, Georgia
-based Fannin, Grant & Co which contracted to build all or parts of the Georgia, the Central
, the Macon & Western, the Western & Atlantic and the Atlanta & West Point Railroads.
Soon after he worked under engineer J. Edgar Thomson as a rod man assisting in surveying where he worked closely then with a man who would become a lifelong friend and business associate, Richard Peters
.
As rod men, their two Massachusetts
-born apprentices also had big futures: Sidney Root
and Joseph Winship.
After completion of the Georgia in 1845, Grant became its Chief Engineer and in March 1849, he began location surveys for the northern terminus of the Atlanta & West Point.
This ended up in what is now Atlanta's East Point
neighborhood and served as the junction between the A&WP and the Macon & Western Railroads.
, William Ezzard
, Clark Howell, Sr., Jonathan Norcross
, Richard Peters, Joseph Winship and N.L. Angier
.
They were warned of Chicago
an George Smith
who was planning on flooding Mid-West banks with Georgia currency so avoided that scandal but eventually went broke and their charter was revoked in 1856.
Grant would try banking again in the 1870s.
In 1857, Fannin, Grant & Co became contractors to the Southern Pacific Railroad
to link Marshall, Texas
to the West Coast
and the next year Lemuel P. Grant was named president of Southern Pacific.
Back in Atlanta in 1860, he and Richard Peters pushed a Georgia Western Railroad against Jonathan Norcross's Air Line.
.
In February 1861, Fannin, Grant & Co sold out to the Southern Pacific and Grant returned to Atlanta.
After the Vicksburg Campaign
, Confederate
Chief of the Engineer Bureau, Dennis Rodman
, contacted him to survey possible enemy crossings of the Chattahoochee River
and defensive works were begun in August, 1863.
Grant explained that fortification of Atlanta would be as difficult as that of Richmond, Virginia
.
He planned a series of 17 redoubt
s forming a 10 mile (16 km) circle over a mile (1.6 km) out from the center of town.
Bounded on the North on high ground present location of the Fox Theatre
, the West by Ashby St, the South by McDonough Dr and the East by Grant Park
.
Gilmer inspected the completed work in December 1863.
Because of how the Battle of Atlanta
unfolded, these fortifications were never really put to the test.
He was superintendent of the Western & Atlantic and Atlanta & West Point Railroads.
In June 1867, he was on the first committee to name streets in Atlanta with Winship and former mayor William Ezzard
.
In 1870, he was part of the committee to lure Oglethorpe University
to Atlanta from Midway
.
In 1873, he organized the Bank of the State of Georgia
.
Throughout the 1870s he represented the Third Ward
in council and served on the Atlanta Board of Education and in the 1880s he served as water commissioner.
In 1882 he donated roughly 100 acre (0.404686 km²) in Land Lot 43 for a park, later named in his honor, and the deed was issued May 17, 1883.
In 1884, he chartered Westview Cemetery
with former mayor James W. English
where he was buried.
He died in 1893, a highly respected founding father of Atlanta.
, in 1843. They had four children: John A., Myra, Lemuel Pratt, Jr., and Lettie.
He was Atlanta's quintessential railroad man as well as a major landowner and civic leader.
In railroads he served as a laborer, chief engineer, speculator and executive all over the South
Southern United States
The Southern United States—commonly referred to as the American South, Dixie, or simply the South—constitutes a large distinctive area in the southeastern and south-central United States...
.
As part of his speculation, he owned enormous tracts of land in strategic areas.
For example, at one point he owned more than 600 acres (2.4 km²) in what is now Atlanta.
He designed and built Atlanta's defenses during the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
and afterwards became an important civic leader: donating the land for Grant Park
Grant Park (Atlanta)
Grant Park refers to the oldest city park in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, as well as the Victorian neighborhood surrounding it.-Park:Grant Park is the fourth-largest in the city, behind Chastain Park, Freedom Park and Piedmont Park...
, Atlanta's first large park, and serving as councilman and on various boards and committees.
Early career
Born in Frankfort, MaineFrankfort, Maine
Frankfort is a town in Waldo County, Maine, United States. The population was 1,041 at the 2000 census.-History:Frankfort is the oldest town on the Penobscot River, first settled in the 1760s by Massachusetts soldiers from nearby Fort Pownall...
, he came south in the 1840s to work on the Georgia Railroad where he started as a laborer.
By 1844 he was buying large tracts of Atlanta real estate, mainly in the Third Ward
Third Ward (Atlanta)
Atlanta's Third Ward was defined in 1880 as the area bounded on the North by Georgia Railroad, West by Butler & McDonough Streets, South and East by the city limits...
.
He and John T. Grant
John T. Grant
John Thomas Grant was an American railroad man.He was born and raised on a farm near Athens, Georgia and graduated from the University of Georgia in 1833 with a degree in Forestry....
worked for Augusta, Georgia
Augusta, Georgia
Augusta is a consolidated city in the U.S. state of Georgia, located along the Savannah River. As of the 2010 census, the Augusta–Richmond County population was 195,844 not counting the unconsolidated cities of Hephzibah and Blythe.Augusta is the principal city of the Augusta-Richmond County...
-based Fannin, Grant & Co which contracted to build all or parts of the Georgia, the Central
Central of Georgia Railroad
The Central of Georgia Railway started as the Central Rail Road and Canal Company in 1833. As a way to better attract investment capital, the railroad changed its name to Central Rail Road and Banking Company of Georgia. This railroad was constructed to join the Macon and Western Railroad at...
, the Macon & Western, the Western & Atlantic and the Atlanta & West Point Railroads.
Soon after he worked under engineer J. Edgar Thomson as a rod man assisting in surveying where he worked closely then with a man who would become a lifelong friend and business associate, Richard Peters
Richard Peters (Atlanta)
Richard Peters was an American railroad man and a founder of Atlanta.Grandson of Judge Richard Peters, Jr...
.
As rod men, their two Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
-born apprentices also had big futures: Sidney Root
Sidney Root
Sidney Root an American businessman.Root was born in Montague in western Massachusetts, but early in his life his family moved to Vermont, where his boyhood days were spent in the shadow of the Green Mountains. On his father's plantation he acquired the industrious habits which characterized him...
and Joseph Winship.
After completion of the Georgia in 1845, Grant became its Chief Engineer and in March 1849, he began location surveys for the northern terminus of the Atlanta & West Point.
This ended up in what is now Atlanta's East Point
East Point, Georgia
The city of East Point is southwest of the neighborhoods of Atlanta in Fulton County, Georgia, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 33,712...
neighborhood and served as the junction between the A&WP and the Macon & Western Railroads.
Banker
On January 27, 1857 he founded the Atlanta Bank with John MimsJohn Mims
John F. Mims sixth mayor of Atlanta and agent of the Georgia Railroad & Banking Company.In the late 1840s he founded a flour mill with Lemuel Grant, Richard Peters and his younger brother William Peters but it didn't do well with competition from Mark A...
, William Ezzard
William Ezzard
William E. Ezzard was a Southern United States politician who served as the 11th, 13th and 19th Mayor of Atlanta, Georgia, in the 19th century....
, Clark Howell, Sr., Jonathan Norcross
Jonathan Norcross
Jonathan Norcross , fourth Mayor of Atlanta, GA. Dubbed the "Father of Atlanta" and "hard fighter of everything." - Henry W. Grady - Personal life :...
, Richard Peters, Joseph Winship and N.L. Angier
Nedom L. Angier
Nedom L. Angier was Mayor of Atlanta during the Rutherford B. Hayes visit of 22 September 1877. Hayes' visit was part of a "good-will" trip to continue post-Reconstruction reconciliation with the former Confederate States of America.Born in New Hampshire, he came to Georgia in 1839 and taught...
.
They were warned of Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
an George Smith
George Smith (financier)
George Smith was an important banking figure in the mid-19th century in Chicago.Born in Aberdeen, Scotland, Smith visited Illinois and Wisconsin in 1835 and felt there was money to be made. He returned home and gathered subscribers and back in Chicago used those funds to found the Scottish...
who was planning on flooding Mid-West banks with Georgia currency so avoided that scandal but eventually went broke and their charter was revoked in 1856.
Grant would try banking again in the 1870s.
Heading West
In 1853, he and John T. Grant headed to New Orleans to work on the Cotton Belt Railroad then the Jackson and Great Northern Railroad.In 1857, Fannin, Grant & Co became contractors to the Southern Pacific Railroad
Southern Pacific Railroad
The Southern Pacific Transportation Company , earlier Southern Pacific Railroad and Southern Pacific Company, and usually simply called the Southern Pacific or Espee, was an American railroad....
to link Marshall, Texas
Marshall, Texas
Marshall is a city in Harrison County in the northeastern corner of Texas. Marshall is a major cultural and educational center in East Texas and the tri-state area. As of the 2010 U.S. Census, the population of Marshall was about 23,523...
to the West Coast
West Coast of the United States
West Coast or Pacific Coast are terms for the westernmost coastal states of the United States. The term most often refers to the states of California, Oregon, and Washington. Although not part of the contiguous United States, Alaska and Hawaii do border the Pacific Ocean but can't be included in...
and the next year Lemuel P. Grant was named president of Southern Pacific.
Back in Atlanta in 1860, he and Richard Peters pushed a Georgia Western Railroad against Jonathan Norcross's Air Line.
During the War
The beginning of the war saw Grant still in LouisianaLouisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
.
In February 1861, Fannin, Grant & Co sold out to the Southern Pacific and Grant returned to Atlanta.
After the Vicksburg Campaign
Vicksburg Campaign
The Vicksburg Campaign was a series of maneuvers and battles in the Western Theater of the American Civil War directed against Vicksburg, Mississippi, a fortress city that dominated the last Confederate-controlled section of the Mississippi River. The Union Army of the Tennessee under Maj. Gen....
, Confederate
Confederate States of America
The Confederate States of America was a government set up from 1861 to 1865 by 11 Southern slave states of the United States of America that had declared their secession from the U.S...
Chief of the Engineer Bureau, Dennis Rodman
Dennis Rodman
Dennis Keith Rodman is a retired American Hall of Fame professional basketball player of the National Basketball Association's Detroit Pistons, San Antonio Spurs, Chicago Bulls, Los Angeles Lakers and Dallas Mavericks. Born in Trenton, New Jersey, he was nicknamed "Dennis the Menace" and "The...
, contacted him to survey possible enemy crossings of the Chattahoochee River
Chattahoochee River
The Chattahoochee River flows through or along the borders of the U.S. states of Georgia, Alabama, and Florida. It is a tributary of the Apalachicola River, a relatively short river formed by the confluence of the Chattahoochee and Flint Rivers and emptying into Apalachicola Bay in the Gulf of...
and defensive works were begun in August, 1863.
Grant explained that fortification of Atlanta would be as difficult as that of Richmond, Virginia
Richmond, Virginia
Richmond is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. It is an independent city and not part of any county. Richmond is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Greater Richmond area...
.
He planned a series of 17 redoubt
Redoubt
A redoubt is a fort or fort system usually consisting of an enclosed defensive emplacement outside a larger fort, usually relying on earthworks, though others are constructed of stone or brick. It is meant to protect soldiers outside the main defensive line and can be a permanent structure or a...
s forming a 10 mile (16 km) circle over a mile (1.6 km) out from the center of town.
Bounded on the North on high ground present location of the Fox Theatre
Fox Theatre (Atlanta)
The Fox Theatre , a former movie palace, is a performing arts venue located at 660 Peachtree Street NE in Midtown Atlanta, Georgia, and is the centerpiece of the Fox Theatre Historic District....
, the West by Ashby St, the South by McDonough Dr and the East by Grant Park
Grant Park (Atlanta)
Grant Park refers to the oldest city park in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, as well as the Victorian neighborhood surrounding it.-Park:Grant Park is the fourth-largest in the city, behind Chastain Park, Freedom Park and Piedmont Park...
.
Gilmer inspected the completed work in December 1863.
Because of how the Battle of Atlanta
Battle of Atlanta
The Battle of Atlanta was a battle of the Atlanta Campaign fought during the American Civil War on July 22, 1864, just southeast of Atlanta, Georgia. Continuing their summer campaign to seize the important rail and supply center of Atlanta, Union forces commanded by William T. Sherman overwhelmed...
unfolded, these fortifications were never really put to the test.
After the war
The most important shopping area in town was Broad St and Market St which were separated by the railroads and a wooden bridge had been built to span the distance; when it burned, Grant designed and built a new one which was completed in July 1865.He was superintendent of the Western & Atlantic and Atlanta & West Point Railroads.
In June 1867, he was on the first committee to name streets in Atlanta with Winship and former mayor William Ezzard
William Ezzard
William E. Ezzard was a Southern United States politician who served as the 11th, 13th and 19th Mayor of Atlanta, Georgia, in the 19th century....
.
In 1870, he was part of the committee to lure Oglethorpe University
Oglethorpe University
Oglethorpe University is a private liberal arts college in Brookhaven, Georgia, an inner suburb of Atlanta. It was chartered in 1835 and named after James Edward Oglethorpe, the state's founder.-History:...
to Atlanta from Midway
Midway-Hardwick, Georgia
Midway-Hardwick is a census-designated place in Baldwin County, Georgia, United States. The population was 5,819 at the 2000 census. It is laid out around central state hospital. It is part of the Milledgeville Micropolitan Statistical Area. The zip code for Hardwick is 31034...
.
In 1873, he organized the Bank of the State of Georgia
Bank of the State of Georgia
The Bank of the State of Georgia was organized in Atlanta on April 1, 1873.The founders were Francis M. Coker , Lemuel P. Grant, developer Thomas G. Healey and future mayor Robert F. Maddox.It was liquidated in 1917....
.
Throughout the 1870s he represented the Third Ward
Third Ward (Atlanta)
Atlanta's Third Ward was defined in 1880 as the area bounded on the North by Georgia Railroad, West by Butler & McDonough Streets, South and East by the city limits...
in council and served on the Atlanta Board of Education and in the 1880s he served as water commissioner.
In 1882 he donated roughly 100 acre (0.404686 km²) in Land Lot 43 for a park, later named in his honor, and the deed was issued May 17, 1883.
In 1884, he chartered Westview Cemetery
Westview Cemetery
Westview Cemetery, located in Atlanta, Georgia, is the largest cemetery in the South East, comprising over , 50% of which is undeveloped. Westview includes the graves of more than 100,000 people.- History:...
with former mayor James W. English
James W. English
James Warren English was an American politician, bank president, and a staff officer during the American Civil War. He was a postbellum mayor of Atlanta, Georgia, from 1881 until 1883....
where he was buried.
He died in 1893, a highly respected founding father of Atlanta.
Family
Grant married Laura Loomis Williams, daughter of prominent DeKalb County businessman Ammi WilliamsAmmi Williams
Ammi Williams was an early settler and prominent businessman of DeKalb County, Georgia. Williams married Laura Loomis in 1810. The couple had two daughters, Laura , wife of Lemuel Grant, and Martha Buckingham...
, in 1843. They had four children: John A., Myra, Lemuel Pratt, Jr., and Lettie.