Atlanta Zero Mile Post

The Atlanta Zero Mile Post is a stone marker which marked the terminus of the Western and Atlantic Railroad in Atlanta. It was located in a disused building in Downtown Atlanta, within the Underground Atlanta Historic District, under the Central Ave. viaduct, between Alabama and Wall streets.[2][3] The Zero Mile Post was recognized with a historical marker by the Georgia Historical Commission in 1958[4] and entered into the National Register of Historic Places in 1977.[5] It was delisted in 2019.

Western and Atlantic Railroad Zero Milepost
Formerly listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Atlanta Zero Mile Post
Location	Central Ave. between Wall St. and Railroad Ave., Atlanta, Georgia
Area	less than one acre
Built	1842 (1842)
NRHP reference No.	77000435[1]
Significant dates
Added to NRHP	September 19, 1977
Removed from NRHP	April 26, 2019

Secured behind a locked fence, the building and Zero Mile Post were last accessible to the public in 1994 when the structure served as a passenger depot for the New Georgia Railroad, a tourist rail line that ceased operation. Inside the same structure, access to the Zero Mile Post was limited in recent years to appointments approved by the Georgia Building Authority.

The Zero Mile Post on display in the Atlanta History Center (December 8, 2018)

In October 2018, the Zero Mile Post was carefully and successfully relocated to the Atlanta History Center from the Georgia Building Authority's property located underneath the Central Avenue Bridge. The building that housed the Zero Mile Post is slated for demolition before the end of 2018 to accommodate the rebuilding of the Central Avenue and Courtland Street bridges.

The Zero Mile Post is now accessible to the public and is preserved and interpreted in an exhibition, Locomotion: Railroads and the Making of Atlanta, with the recently restored Texas locomotive, one of the two remaining Western & Atlantic locomotives that would have passed by that very mile post scores of times during its service. Railroads built and created Atlanta, and these two objects tell Atlanta's origin story like no others

Usually placed along rail lines at each mile, markers informed train crews where they were along a specific route. The above-ground portion of the rectangular marker measures approximately 1 foot wide on each side and 42 inches tall. The crown is pyramidal, and one side the 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”. When entirely exposed, the marker measures 7 feet 5 inches, and weighs approximately 800 pounds.

When construction replica of the Zero Mile Post will be installed on the exact GPS coordinates of the location and paired with an interpretive marker provided by The Georgia Historical Society.

External links

• Jackie, Goldstein. "In search of Atlanta's Zero Mile Post". Curbed Atlanta. Retrieved 8 August 2016.
• Zero Mile Post historical marker

References

1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. November 2, 2013.
2. "Western & Atlanta Railroad Zero Milepost", Atlanta: a National Register of Historic Places Travel Itinerary, National Park Service
3. "ACTUAL FACTUAL GEORGIA: Zero Mile Post marks city's start", June 13, 2016, Atlanta Journal-Constitution
4. "Zero Mile Post". Georgia Historical Society. Georgia Historical Society. Retrieved 24 April 2018.
5. "Western and Atlantic Railroad Zero Milepost". National Register Digital Assets. National Park Service. Retrieved 24 April 2018.