- John H. James
John H. James (
July 14 ,1830 –July 14 ,1917 ) [ [http://garrett.atlantahistorycenter.com/gdetail.php?idnum=55463 Franklin Garrett Necrology Database - Atlanta History Center] ] was an American banker, politician, and businessman who served as the mayor ofAtlanta, Georgia , in 1871.James was born in
Henry County, Georgia , where he farmed until moving to Atlanta in 1850 to clerk for $10 a month and after three years was making $700 a year. ["Atlanta Journal", June 16, 1883] After that he went into sales, running auctions of books, jewelry and other valuables throughout theSouthern states .During the
American Civil War he and his wife travelled toCanada andNassau, Bahamas , and afterwards they returned to Atlanta where he founded the James Bank. In 1869, he purchased a large city lot that stretched from Peachtree to Spring Street along Cain (today's International Blvd) and built a large mansion. Within a year it was purchased by the state of Georgia to become the Governor's mansion for which purpose it surved until the 1924 [Garrett, vol II, p. 213] . He made over $30,000 on the deal and immediately built his next home on the south end of that same block (where the old Macy's building stands today).He won nearly 100% of the December 1871 mayoral election as a Democrat which put an end to the brief surge of Radical Republican power in the city. He sold his home at Ellis and Peachtree in 1883 to the Capital City Club who used it until their new building on Harris was completed in 1913.
Notes
References
*Garrett, Franklin, "Atlanta and Its Environs", 1954.
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.