Atlanta Stockade Prison (1896-1924)

The oldest part of the towered building at 750 Glenwood Ave. SE was built from 1896 to 1897 as a prison in the Atlanta Stockade complex. The 147-acre site was purchased in 1863 by the city to become a city cemetery but instead became a hospital and then the city jail with a prison farm and rock quarry. The 1897 building had three major additions between 1905 and 1916. Inmates moved out in 1924 and the city's school system used the building for maintenance facilities or furniture storage until it was sold in 1983 and later became low-income apartments named "GlenCastle." The exterior of the Atlanta Stockade prison was designated as historic by the city in 1989 and it became a National Register of Historic Places listing in 1987. The building is now an office space known as Glencastle, and Big Nerd Ranch is one of the tenants in the recently-renovated structure.

The City of Atlanta purchased a 147-acre site east of town in 1863 from the estate of Joshua B. Badger to become a city cemetery. Instead, the property became the site of a hospital or "pest house" for a number of years. The site was chosen to be the new location of the city prison complex or "Atlanta Stockade," which was then moved here. The first jail on this site was a wood frame building; there also was a blacksmith shop and stable used by the city's Public Works Department.

The city jail also included a prison farm and rock quarry where the inmates worked (not part of this complex now). At the quarry, male prisoners were chained together in "chain gangs" to crush rock to become road paving; they were chained while working on paving city streets, too. Female prisoners and children worked on the prison farm and cooked and cleaned in the prison. In 1889, it was estimated that the city received $2,000 worth of free labor each month from the convicts' labors in public works. The prison farm's products fed the convicts and netted a yearly profit of around $1,000. Peas, corn, potatoes, hay, and millet were grown; five thousand pounds of pork were expected from eighteen fattened hogs raised in 1889.

In the 1890s, the city prison was east of a growing residential area near Grant Park. Water lines extended to the Atlanta Stockade in 1895, allowing the antiquated privies and wells to be replaced. Electricity reached the prison in 1896. The oldest part of the towered building now standing at 750 Glenwood Ave. SE was built from 1896 to 1897 as the new jail. Costing slightly over $3,000, the stone structure was two-story, covered 26 by 73 feet, and had two-foot-thick walls. Concrete flooring and roofing plus interior steel beams rendered the building fireproof. The first floor held offices, a kitchen, and storage space. The upper floor, made of cast concrete block, was a dormitory.

The 1896 building had three major additions between 1905 and 1916, to serve a growing incarcerated population. Up until 1900, the prisoners were of both White and Black races and of both sexes. The prison averaged 190 inmates daily in 1900 when segregation began. Women inmates were shifted to being held at the Atlanta Police Station. Capacity was doubled at the Stockade in 1901 with the installation of bunk beds. A national group on charities and corrections met in Atlanta in 1903 and visited the city prison. They called it "a disgrace to the city." This was part of the reason the first of three major additions to the prison was built in 1905. The four-story Gothic towers and a third floor were added, plus the building was enlarged on three sides. The new construction was in concrete and was said to be modeled on Atlanta's Federal penitentiary. Free labor from the inmates was used for the project. A three-story dorm of steel-reinforced concrete was built onto the northeast of the prison in 1907. The final addition, built from stone from the prison's quarry, was a wing on the southeast side built from 1913 to 1916.

The Stockade closed for good in 1924 and inmates were moved elsewhere. There was talk of turning the main building on Glenwood Ave. into a public tech school, but instead, a new school was constructed nearby: Grant Park Elementary opened in 1928. Atlanta Public Schools occupied the former prison building from 1927 to 1938, using it as a maintenance and repair facility. From 1938 to 1962, school furniture was stored in the building; it was mainly vacant after 1962. The Board of Education sold the building to a group in 1983 that turned it into an apartment complex christened "GlenCastle" for the working poor. The exterior of the Atlanta Stockade prison was designated as historic by the city in 1989 and it became a National Register of Historic Places listing in 1987 (including the stable and blacksmith shop outbuildings). Currently office space known as Glencastle after recent renovations, Big Nerd Ranch is one of the tenants.

Anonymous. "Georgia and Florida. News of the Two States Told in Paragraphs." The Morning News (Savannah) November 27th, 1889. 6-6.

City of Atlanta Urban Design Commission. The Atlanta Stockade, Designated: Historic Building Exterior, City of Atlanta, Ga. Property & District Information. October 23rd, 1989. Accessed March 15th, 2023. https://www.atlantaga.gov/government/departments/city-planning/office-of-design/urban-design-commission/the-atlanta-stockade.

Green, Josh. Photos: Touring Grant Park's spooky Atlanta Stockade before redevelopment, Curbed Atlanta. April 25th, 2017. Accessed March 14th, 2023. https://atlanta.curbed.com/2017/4/25/15424732/grant-park-atlanta-spooky-atlanta-stockade-before-redevelopment.

Shifrin, Jean. ""The Atlanta Project" executives leave the GlenCastle Apartments...." Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Atlanta) May 20th, 1992. Photo caption.

Thomas, Kenneth H. Jr. NRHP Nomination of Atlanta Stockade. National Register. Washington, DC. National Park Service, 1987.