Atlanta on the move: A stone railroad marker that survived the Civil War got a new home while a replica was put in place

Replica Zero Mile Post and interpretive signs in downtown Atlanta (Picket photo)

On Nov. 14, 1864, the eve of the beginning of the March to the Sea, brevet Lt. Col. Orlando Poe, chief engineer of the Military Division of the Mississippi, supervised demolition of the main passenger depot in downtown Atlanta.

Lt. Col. Poe

Poe’s troops used a battering ram to knock out the support columns of the “car shed,” a cooperative venture of the four railroads that served the Georgia city and the Confederacy. The station had been a fixture for about 10 years.

The loss of the structure was just one of many blows to the city when Union Gen. William T. Sherman ordered the destruction of buildings and supplies that could possibly help the Southern cause after his men left town on their campaign to bring the Civil War to civilians.

Not far from the northeast corner of the shed stood a stubby granite post that is associated with the birth of the city. Since 1850, the so-called Zero Mile Post marked the southeastern terminus of the Western & Atlantic Railroad, one of several rail companies vital to the growth of a young Atlanta.

In addition to the car shed, a succeeding depot is long gone. And Zero Mile Post departed in 2018 for a new home at the Atlanta History Center, several miles to the north.

A replica post (right), interpretive panel and revamped metal sign were put in place earlier this year.

The Georgia Building Authority decided to move Zero Mile Post because a building in which it was enclosed needed to be torn down for a viaduct improvement project.

The relocation idea was opposed by the Atlanta City Council and preservation and civic groups, which argued that the landmark should stay put. They complained about the move’s secrecy.

George Barnard's view of the car shed in 1864 (Library of Congress)

The view today (Picket photo)

The history center and the Georgia Building Authority said the relocation would protect the post and improve its accessibility to the public. The authority feared motorists or pedestrians might damage the post because it would be exposed after the building was razed, officials said.

The Georgia Battlefields Association called the debate a “different sort of preservation issue,” given you could see both sides of the argument – while the post’s significance was due to its location, how to protect it once it was out in the open?

Sherman's men destroy track; car shed rubble at right (Library of Congress)

“The mile post had not been routinely accessible in several years since it was in a closed state government building,” the preservation group said in a newsletter this month. “The explanatory historical marker had been in the hard to access basement of a nearby state government building.”

Now, those curious about Zero Mile Post, the Civil War and the city’s rich railroad history can go to two locations, in a scenario that might appear to be a compromise.

(Georgia Battlefields Association)

The original marker (right) is in a gallery at the Atlanta History Center, next to the restored locomotive Texas, famous for its part in the Great Locomotive Chase.

The replica milepost is accessible under the Central Avenue Bridge near its intersection with Wall Street.

The interpretive panel and an updated Georgia Historical Society marker detail the landmark’s significance. Sunlight filters into the dark and dank parking street and parking area where the replica marker juts out from a bed of gravel. (Click here for text of GHS sign)

The building that surrounded the post for three decades was torn down. It had been used as a tourist trolley and police station.

Markers like Zero Mile Post informed train crews where they were along a route. One side of this marker is engraved with "W&A RR OO" – the W & A indicating the Western & Atlantic Railroad and the double-zero designating the beginning of the rail line.

The other side of the marker is engraved “W&A RR 138.” That indicates the 138 miles from downtown Atlanta to the W&A’s endpoint in Chattanooga, Tenn.

The original 800-pound marker measures 7 feet 5 inches, and weighs approximately 800 pounds. That is how the Atlanta History Center displays it, as opposed to 42 inches exposed in its old location.

Mile post before it was enclosed (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

Wartime sites, including car shed (Georgia Battlefields Assn.)

Jackson McQuigg, vice president of properties for the Atlanta History Center, said the Georgia Building Authority asked the center to remove the original post.

“It's worth noting that the replica is on the exact spot of the original. GBA surveyors used GPS to locate the original site (where) the old marker was installed; they came back when we installed the replica."

Building that housed Zero Mile Stone has been demolished (Picket photo)