Atlanta’s population is estimated at 105,600. By the census of 1900 it was 89,872. The census of 1880 gave Atlanta a population of 39,000, and by the city assessment of the next year the real estate was valued at $14,721,883, and the personal property at $7,474,258. By 1890 the population had grown to 65,000 and real estate was valued at $39,729,894. In the same period personal property grew to $11,906,605. The decade between 1880 and 1890 was a period during which Atlanta made remarkable advance, but during the great depression through which the whole country has passed since 1890 the progress of this city has been astonishing. In spite of a somewhat lower scale of valuation for suburban real estate, the assessor’s report for 1903 showed realty valued at $49,728,034, and personalty $13,628,201. This value was created in thirty-nine years, for Atlanta came out of the Civil War naked and desolate.
By census taken in 1900 the population of Atlanta, by wards, was found to be as follows:
| First Ward | 15,596 | |
| Second Ward | 14,628 | |
| Third Ward | 12,943 | |
| Fourth Ward | 17,072 | |
| Fifth Ward | 12,415 | |
| Sixth Ward | 14,754 | |
| Seventh Ward | 2,464 | |
| ——— | ||
| Total | 89,872 |
Since then the population has increased to 105,600.
Area and Expansion.
Atlanta is a city of magnificent distances, covering about eleven square miles. With abundance of room and fresh air, the circular form of the city makes it compact, and the residence portions are, as a rule, equidistant from the business center. The corporate line is described by a radius of a mile and three-quarters. In two places this circle is expanded to take in suburban communities which had been formed with irregular boundaries before the circular corporation line reached them. These are Inman Park and West End, which extend from half a mile to a mile beyond the circle which elsewhere forms the corporate limits.
Atlanta is situated on rolling ground, which gives every facility for drainage and contributes materially to the effectiveness of the elaborate system of sewers. This rolling country extends in every direction, and suburban communities are rapidly extending. The electric lines reach out for six or eight miles on all sides of the city, and afford quick and cheap access for the outlying towns. As a result of this elaborate system of rapid transit, there has been a remarkable expansion of the city within the past ten years, and the pressure on the center has been greatly relieved. It is estimated that the suburban trains and street-car systems of Atlanta bring in and carry out 30,000 people a day.
CENTURY BUILDING.