[SIZE=5][/SIZE]
[SIZE=5]History on Martin's Landing[/SIZE]
[SIZE=5]Martin's Landing broke ground circa 68-69 on old farm land. The idea was to draw a higher tax base to this part of Fulton County. At the time ML was part of unincorporated Fulton County (along with everything East of the 400/Holcomb Bridge Road). [/SIZE]
[SIZE=5]Though ML had it's own volunteer fire department it was soon clear that the fire and police needed to support the sprawling community was insufficient. In the mid seventies ML was annexed into Roswell which practically doubled it's population.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=5]Development started around the lake and grew outward until the late seventies/early eighties. Two developments, North and South Shore featured an asundry of modern and contemporary designs--the noted 70's style, slanting boards and an all-concrete and glass house with a solarium. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=5] Initially the homes cost about $60-80'000 with an average interest rate of 15%. The Condos (the Sails) broke ground in the mid-seventies and the apartments a few years later. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=5] Today ML is very diverse with Hispanic, African-American, Indian and Asian families. But in the seventies the demographics in ML was all white and largely from other parts of the country. Southern Roswell was suddenly awash in the "New Yankee invasion." [/SIZE]
[SIZE=5]In 1972 Crestwood High School was built to relieve the population at Roswell High. Most ML students went to Crestwood. The school was designed by an architectural firm that designed prisons---the same firm that built the Sandy Springs government building still standing near Morgan Falls Landing. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=5] Crestwood was best known for having no windows, all-rubber floors and surrounded by a desolate desert of mica-dirt. Crestwood's most noted graduate was Pete Buck, base guitarist for R.E.M. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=5] [/SIZE]
[SIZE=5]A few years later, Esther Jackson Elementary was built inside ML. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=5]Crowley's pub and diner on the corner of Roswell Road and the Chattahoochee River become the meeting place of students from both, Roswell and Crestwood high for many years. It is now a pawn shop and Mexican restaurant.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=5]Commercial building came later--Roswell village, the first McDonalds and movie theatre were built to accommodate Martin Landing's growing population. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=5] At the time Roswell Road was awash in farms and for years sported an annual rodeos. These farms were slowly sold off and developed. Richway department store was built across from Roswell village in an expansive strip mall in the mid-seventies---the two level mall never really took off and most of it' bottom floor was vacant.
There was also a large batting cage and nearbye putt-putt course that was abandoned and eventually tore down. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=5]ML looks much the same way it did in the early seventies, though the neighborhoods are more mature and the houses are looking their age. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=5]Other changes
- Roswell High School was torn down and rebuilt.
- Crestwood High School was torn down and was not rebuilt.
- The average price of a ML home now is 275-350K.
- In it’s early days ML was all-white but now is extremely diverse.
Richway closed in the eighties and was replaced by Target which, because of the declining demographics was sold off to a series of bargain basement department stores. The area now serves low income families and is a scary place to be at night. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=5][/SIZE][SIZE=4] [/SIZE]
[SIZE=4][/SIZE]
Welcome to City-Data.com forum! Make sure to register - it's free and very quick! You have to register before you can post and participate in our discussions with 700,000 other registered members. User profiles and some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your free account you will be able to customize many options, you will have the full access to over 15,000 posts/day about local topics and you will see fewer ads. 
Linear Mode
