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The Beacon Community

Decatur, DeKalb County, Georgia

Marker Inscription

The Beacon Community. The Beacon Community was the center of Decatur's African-American community until its demolition by the Urban Renewal programs of the mid-1960s. Bounded by N. McDonough Street on the east, W. Trinity Place on the north, Waters Street on the west and Howard Avenue to the south, the area included a tight-knit residential community, schools and churches in addition to numerous African-American owned businesses. Atlanta Avenue once connected Trinity Place West (formerly Herring Street) and Howard Avenue and was the center of the African-American business district. Tyler Funeral Home is the only remaining business. The buildings on this site once housed Beacon Elementary and Trinity High Schools. They served African-American children until 1967 when the integration of the Decatur School System was completed. These schools replaced the Herring Street School that served the community from 1913 to 1956.(Continued on other side) [REVERSE] The Beacon Community (Continued from other side). The Allen Wilson Terrace Public Housing Project, constructed in 1941, was named for the first African-American school principal in Decatur. These school buildings, Lilly Hill Baptist Church, the former Trinity Presbyterian Church on Robin Street and the Allen Wilson Terrace project are the only remaining buildings dating to the early years of this neighborhood. The Beacon Community was home to Henry Oliver, a business owner and resident who was honored in 1902 with a local street named for him. In 1983, the street name was changed to Commerce Drive and his name was given to a meeting room in the new Decatur Conference Center. It was also home to Deacon J.H. Ebster for whom Ebster Park was named; Federal Court Judge Clarence Cooper and Elizabeth Wilson, Decatur's first African-American city commissioner and mayor. FEBRUARY, 1998

Erected by Georgia Historical Commission

The Story

For decades the Beacon neighborhood was the heart of Decatur's African-American life — a tight-knit community of homes, churches, schools, and Black-owned businesses clustered along Atlanta Avenue. Its schools served the community until the Decatur system integrated in 1967, and the neighborhood was leveled by urban renewal in the mid-1960s, leaving only a handful of buildings and one surviving business.

Why it matters

The Beacon Community's rise and demolition capture how mid-century urban renewal reshaped and often erased thriving Black neighborhoods across America, even as its residents produced judges, business owners, and Decatur's first African-American mayor.

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Related people

  • ¡ Henry Oliver
  • ¡ Clarence Cooper
  • ¡ Elizabeth Wilson
  • ¡ Allen Wilson

Related events

  • ¡ Urban Renewal
  • ¡ Decatur school integration

Themes & tags

African American HistoryCivil RightsEducationLandmark

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