Atlanta’s Sweet Auburn Historic District, a neighborhood along Auburn Avenue, was once home to one of the country’s largest concentrations of African American businesses.
Its heritage was established by churches, newspapers, and businesses and nightclubs like the Atlanta Life Insurance Company and The Royal Peacock Club (which hosted local and national acts like B.B. King and Gladys Knight), but it later fell victim to lack of investment and crime.
In 1992, the National Trust for Historic Preservation recognized it as one of America’s 11 Most Endangered Historic Places, establishing the Historic District Development Corporation to start a renewal project.
— Morgan Fayard, 360 Media, Inc.