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Georgia State University

Photo of the Week: Big Shanty (Kennesaw), GA

Big Shanty (Kennesaw), Georgia, 1887. Atlanta-Journal Constitution Photograph Collection. Courtesy of Georgia State Universty Library.

The Western and Atlantic Railroad track from Terminus (Atlanta) to Cartersville, Georgia was laid about 1846 and passed an area of high ground populated with worker’s shacks.  This stretch was known as “big grade to the shanties” and was later shortened to Big Shanty.  J.C. Stokely (1858-1951) photographed the depot there and neighboring strutures in August 1887, scarely a month before leaders of the settlement petitioned the Georgia State Legislature for incorporation of the City of Kennesaw.

This photo is usually misdated as being from about 1908 and appears in Joe Bozeman’s Kennesaw published for Arcadia’s Images of America series.

To participate in the Photo of the Week forum, please offer a critique of the photograph — its significance, historical value, and importance to you.