Collier Heights

Content sourced from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Collier Heights is a historic, middle‑class neighborhood in western Atlanta that was built starting in 1948. It became one of the first upscale communities in the United States planned and built by African Americans for the African American middle class. The area is bordered by Fairburn Road to the west, Hamilton E. Holmes Drive to the east, Donald L. Hollowell Parkway to the north, and the I‑20 bridge at Linkwood Road to the south. It includes about 1,750 homes, mostly brick ranch houses from the 1950s and 1960s.

Originally, land buyers viewed the area as undesirable, but Collier Heights grew into Atlanta’s largest and most desirable African American residential community in the mid‑20th century. The neighborhood has been recognized in national and local history, being added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2009 and receiving local historic designation in 2013. After a decline in the 1990s and 2000s due to crime and blight, investments and revitalization since the 2010s have helped improve its desirability and property values.

Many notable African Americans have lived in Collier Heights, including Cynthia McKinney, Jasmine Guy, Keisha Lance Bottoms, Andre Dickens, and civil rights leaders such as Martin Luther King, Sr., Ralph David Abernathy, and Juanita Abernathy.

Two community associations serve Collier Heights. The Collier Heights Community Association (founded in 1968) and the larger Historic Collier Heights Community Association coordinate events and neighborhood improvements. Regular activities include National Night Out, Christmas parties, and the annual Salute To Legends, which honors famous residents. The associations hold meetings each month at local churches and stay active online.

Collier Heights is served by MARTA at the Hamilton E. Holmes station, and its main street is Collier Drive, with other streets like Waterford Road and Harwell Road nearby. In 2009, Atlanta and Fulton County both proclaimed Collier Heights Day to honor the community.