Rucker Building (dem.)
158-160 Auburn Avenue
Sweet Auburn Historic District, Atlanta, Georgia

 

Original Owner: Henry Rucker
Built: 1904
Cost: $5,000.00
Architectural Style:
Original Use: This building served as the first black owned office space for African Americans on Auburn Avenue.

Readaptive Use: The building had to be demolished in September of 2001 when a vehicle lost control and ran into

                              the front support column causing the building to collapse. The building had been weakened by

                              water entry.

 

Recorded dates:
1852 - Nov 14. Henry Rucker is born a slave in Wilkins County, GA.

1866 - Arrived in Atlanta with family and attended the first school for freedmen held in the Tabernacle Church

            Building on Armstrong Street (now Jenkins Street).

1880 - Henry Rucker serves as a delegate from Georgia to the Republican National Convention in Chicago.

1887 - Rucker purchases a home on Piedmont Avenue.

1897 - Rucker is named by President William McKinley as collector of internal revenue, the only African American to

            ever hold this position.

1904 - Rucker builds a 3-story office building on the corner of Piedmont Avenue and Auburn Ave as the first office 

            building for African American's and owned by African Americans in Atlanta. It is constructed of red brick

            with retail space on the 1st floor and professional office space on the 2nd and 3rd floor.

2001 - After the week-end proceeding 9/11 the building was demolished. There is an empty lot at the buildings

            original location at this time.

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