Atlanta City Council moves to protect historic Just Us Neighbors community with landmark designation

Atlanta City Council moves to protect historic Just Us Neighbors community with landmark designation

The Atlanta City Council has taken a major step toward preserving one of the Westside's most historic communities.

Council members voted Monday to begin the historic landmark designation process for the Just Us Neighbors community, setting protections in motion for an area deeply rooted in Atlanta's civil rights and Black history.

Widely recognized as Atlanta's very first Black-owned and Black-developed subdivision, Just Us Neighbors holds the distinction of being the city's smallest official neighborhood. Tucked away on the Westside, the tight-knit enclave is easy to miss. It consists of just two streets, Fountain Drive and Morris Brown Drive, which form a single residential loop.

The community's origins date back to the 1940s during the height of Jim Crow segregation, when Black business leaders purchased land from Morris Brown College to create a self-sustaining neighborhood. For decades, it served as home to prominent educators, doctors, and civic pioneers who fought off redlining and encroaching highway projects to keep the community intact.

That deep history is felt by multi-g...