It is a bit of a blessing William Bagley did not live to see what became of his beloved community in Buckhead in the mid-1900s.
The events that brought him to the area were much more heinous than what Fulton County did to get rid of the all-black neighborhood off Pharr Road beginning in 1945, but it would have marked the second time he was forced from land he owned on account of the color of his skin.
Bagley’s story was narrated by his granddaughter, Elon Butts Osby, to the Buckhead Heritage Society, a transcript of which is available on the nonprofit’s website. Osby’s mother Willie Mae Bagley was born in Macedonia Park, a black community comprised of about 400 families spread over 21 acres in the heart of Buckhead.
Though the community dated back to the 1870s, white developer John Owens formally incorporated it as Macedonia Park in 1921 by building several modest homes on small lots. Two grocery stores, two churches and a blacksmith served the neighborhood.
The earliest record of William Bagley is in 1870, when he was just 3 years old living in Forsyth County, according to Nasir Muhammad, who operates black history tours throughout Atlanta. This is an important piece of information and is directly related to his turning up in Buckhead four decades later.
As recounted by his granddaughter, a terrible crime was committed in Forsyth County in 1912. Two black males were accused of raping a white woman. When the community learned of the allegations, it turned against the black residents. The result was the largest exodus of African Americans in the history of the country, according to Muhammad.
As much as 98 percent of blacks living in Forsyth Country were forced to leave as white mobs set fire to homes and murdered innocent men, women and children. The violence spread to the surrounding counties as well. In some areas every black resident fled fearing for their lives, never to return.
Bagley was one of them. According to his granddaughter, he had to abandon 84 acres in Forsyth County. He relocated his family to Macedonia Park. Osby has heard her grandfather operated a grocery store there, but she said that came from people outside of her family.
Her family knew their grandfather to be a businessman. In 1928 a security note shows he purchased six lots in the subdivision for $2,100. Osby recounted a story of her grandfather going to the corner of Peachtree and Paces Ferry roads, where soldiers frequently gathered, and bringing back the scraps of what had been fed to the horses.
Osby’s mother and father owned a popular rib shack in Macedonia Park, which became known as Bagley Park. She said she thinks her grandfather’s name became associated the community because he was an educated man who rose to be a leader and the unofficial “mayor.” Muhammad said the Bagleys worked tirelessly to create a model black community. Bagley died in 1939 and his wife Ida in 1945.
The rest of the story is pretty well known. As Buckhead grew, white communities encroached on Macedonia Park. There were complaints about crime, noise and pollution. The Ku Klux Klan made regular threatening appearances.
According to a history of Bagley/Frankie Allen Park by Susan Conger, Fulton County passed an ordinance publicly condemning the community.
Between 1945 and 1953 the county acquired all of the lots either by purchase or eminent domain. Land owners were given anywhere from nothing to $5,000. Osby’s mother, the daughter of William Bagley, and father were among the residents forced from their property.
The county destroyed the community and created a public park, calling it Bagley Park. That was the lone concession the county made, that the park would bear the name of William Bagley, Osby said. In 1980 the name was changed to honor Allen, a beloved Buckhead Baseball umpire. Bagley’s name adorns the lone street running through the park.
Read more: Neighbor Newspapers – Column Bagley grew black community in heart of Buckhead
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