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.

[Illustration: CENTURY BUILDING.]

[Illustration: PRUDENTIAL AND EMPIRE BUILDINGS.]

C