Tenth Street (Atlanta)

The area around what is now Tenth and Peachtree Streets began as Tight Squeeze, a lawless shantytown during the period following the American Civil War.

It consisted of shanties, together with a blacksmith shop and several small wooden stores, beside a 30-foot-deep ravine, still visible to the east of Peachtree north of 10th Street.

During the desperate times after the Civil War, the hungry, homeless, wounded, and hopeless filled Atlanta's streets.

Just north of the ravine where Peachtree crossed a country road (now 14th Street), was a wagon yard, where freight was unloaded, destined for the merchants in the city, which lay further south.

[1] Today Tenth Street west of Piedmont Avenue is an integral part of the Midtown Core high-rise business and residential district.