Atlanta has grown over time, mostly due to neighborhoods that have been annexed over time. The area we know today as Atlanta was ceded from the Muscogee and Cherokee in a series of treaties during the early 1800s. Surveyors then divided the land into districts and land-lots, which were auctioned off to ‘fortunate drawers’ in a series of land lotteries. These districts and land-lots still exist to this day in the tax property identification codes, which makes them more reliable than addresses that have often changed with the city limits, post office renumbering schemes, and developers. Kenan Research Center has a variety of resources that cover areas by neighborhood name, address, owner, district and land-lot.
How do I begin researching historic property?
Start with what you know! A street address and current owner is a great place to start, since either of those will allow you to search for the tax property identification number for the parcel of land that you’re researching. Most of Atlanta falls in Fulton or Dekalb counties, both counties use similar software for their Tax Assessor Office. Simply put in the information that you know, and it should give you a Parcel ID that breaks down into District, Land lot, Square, Parcel.
Fulton
17 010600080520
17 – District | 0106 – Land Lot | 0008 – Square | 0520 – Parcel
Dekalb
15 247 06 014
15 – District | 247 – Land Lot | 06 – Square | 014 – Parcel
Additional. Resources.
With this information you can do deeper dives into a variety of resources, while a few of these you can explore at home on your computer, most of these are not yet digitized and will require an appointment at the Kenan Research Center to view.
Dated 1948–1980, these track ownership and parcel information for tax purposes within Fulton County. These are arranged by District and Land lot as well as in intervals of about 10 years—so there might be more than one relevant book here.
These are similar to the above, however they have an individual card for each parcel that sold within two different windows of time. One runs from about 1950-1960 and the other is throughout the 1970s. These include owner information, a sketch of structures on the parcel, and any other pertinent information about the property. They are organized by date and then district and land-lot. You can request these in person at the Kenan Research Center by listing the entire property tax ID and indicating that you’d like the Fulton County Tax Cards.
Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps were made for insurance purposes in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Digital copies are accessible for 1911 and earlier via the overlay, the 1911-1965 maps are only available physically, they are generally searchable by address, although addresses have changed over time! Be sure to verify the historic address on the map itself.
Over the past 100 years we’ve amassed a collection of plat maps from a variety of sources! Most of these were created to document the sale of a parcel of land, or to document the development of different neighborhoods. These are grouped together by District and land lot, however there is no guarantee that all land lots, or multiple years, are represented.
The City Directory for Atlanta contains a wealth of information about its residents. Usually, it includes a reverse lookup by street address (also called a crisscross index) which is helpful when you’re looking for past owners of a specific address. However, street names and numbers have changed over time as Atlanta has grown. If you’re not sure if you have a historic address, start with the 1927 directory which has the largest number of street name changes. Generally, you can track your property back until the address disappears from the reverse index to get a good idea of when a structure was built.
City of Atlanta Building Permits are arranged by street address, and within street address, by date. These permits on microfilm cover 1897–1983 for structures only within city limits at the time of the issue of the permit. So, if a house was built in 1925, but was not within the city limits until 1952, it is likely that the original permit, if any was issued, will not be in this collection. Any subsequent additions, changes, or other permitted actions though from 1952–1983 would be listed in this collection.
Fulton County Building Permits are arranged by date, and within that by street address. These microfilm reels cover 1938–1987 for structures within Fulton County and outside city of Atlanta limits at the time of the issue of the permit.
The Adair Realty Company created broadside advertisements for property sales that they were involved in and collected copies of these in volumes. These are organized by date of property sale; however, they are more easily searched by district and land-lot. The bulk of these have been digitized and are searchable by neighborhood name, street name, and/or district and land-lot.
This collection documents all the property transfers that went through Michell & Mitchell Real Estate. It is arranged by District and Land–Lot; however, it is not inclusive of all transactions for that property. This sometimes also includes sketched plat maps or other supplemental information regarding the property sale/transfer.
Zoning, Easements, and other concerns around property are often discussed by the Atlanta City Council (also known as Board of Aldermen) the minutes for these are arranged by date and indexed by handwritten indexes up until 1983. If there is legislation or ordinances that were resolved by the City of Atlanta, we are typically able to pull the original document as long as we have the meeting date, minute index number, page number, and line number.
These files are artificial collections created by past archivists and librarians that generally contain mass printed items, including newspaper clippings, newsletters, pamphlets, etc. on certain neighborhoods. Subject Files are a great starting point if you’re unsure of where to start or want to first gather a broad base knowledge before diving into an area more.
What should I keep a record of?
Start with a word document where you can track homeowners, address changes, and major events in the area with a simple timeline. Ideally, you should save documents as a pdf or image file, that you can link to in the timeline. Name these files with the year that they were created, and then what they are or where they are from so you can keep them in timeline order.
It is important to keep records of where the materials are from and how they should be cited in case you are interested in reproducing the image in the future.
How can the Kenan Research Center help me?
Once you find some items that you are interested in, schedule a time to visit us! We are open by appointment only Tuesday–Saturday from 10am–5pm. To make an appointment, email Reference@AtlantaHistoryCenter.com or call 404.814.4040 with the day and time you are interested in and the resources that you would like to look at. It is completely free to visit the research center, just park in the free deck, and walk down the hill to McElreath Hall. Once inside, walk down the hall to the right to the double glass doors marked “Kenan Research Center.”
Onsite, we offer free access to the library editions of Ancestry.com and Newspapers.com, both of which can provide a wide range of materials relevant to researching historic houses, neighborhoods, and past owners. Be sure to bring a portable flash drive with you so you can save high resolution images of the materials that you find.
In addition to the collections listed above, we also have numerous manuscript, photograph, and map collections. We are also the repository for the City of Atlanta records which has gems such as the 1896 Atlanta census—a typewritten record of the residents of Atlanta, divided by ward, that includes the resident’s place of birth.
What about finding the Deed Records for my place?
Deeds are kept by the county that the structure is in. These records are usually housed in the courthouse. They are always publicly accessible, although it can sometimes be daunting to go in yourself to look. We have a guide to deed record research to help those that are looking in Fulton, Dekalb, and Cobb counties.
What if I need more help?
We love to talk history with people. If we do not have what you need, we have a wide network of other repositories and researchers that we can connect you with to find what you are looking for! All you need to do is ask us.
Here are some other helpful resources outside of Kenan Research Center: