The decades-old dream of creating one of Atlanta’s largest public parks from a historic former prison farm site has new momentum. 

City of Atlanta Department of Parks and Recreation officials have scheduled a community meeting Saturday to gather early input and relay city planners’ general vision for turning the long-abandoned Atlanta Prison Farm site into a greenspace and memorial.

The meeting is scheduled from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Feb. 7 at Coan Park Recreation Center in Kirkwood (1530 Woodbine Ave. SE). Planning efforts are being referred to as “The Restoration Memorial and Preserve Masterplan.” 

Feedback gathered during input sessions will help guide the planning process, per parks and recreation officials. 

The city-owned site is situated off Key Road in southwest DeKalb County, just east of Moreland Avenue near the Starlight Drive-In Theatre and Flea Market. It has “potential to become one of Atlanta’s largest public greenspaces—a place of restoration, memory, and public access,” according to a parks and recreation department announcement. 

Overview of Atlanta Prison Farm ruins at the southside site off Key Road today. City of Atlanta Department of Parks and Recreation

Overview of the Old Atlanta Prison Farm site, prior to full development of the 85-acre police and fire department training center. Google Maps

Formerly the property of Muscogee Native American people and farmers, the land was purchased by the City of Atlanta in 1911 and first used as a crematory, later a city-run dairy farm, and most recently as the city’s official prison farm for inmate labor, according to Atlanta History Center. 

The Atlanta Prison Farm operated (often with hundreds of hogs and cattle onsite) from the mid-1920s to the 1990s and has been the subject of repurposing talks for years—including discussions regarding the acreage becoming parkland that date to at least 2002, per the history center. 

A portion of the site was recently redeveloped as the controversial, 85-acre Atlanta Public Safety Training Center. 

The remaining, vacant portion of the former prison farm spans more than 200 acres (larger than Piedmont Park), with features that include two large lakes, historic ruins, a cemetery, and South River frontage, as preservationists have noted over the years. 

Planned location of the public memorial and greenspace in relation to downtown Atlanta, the airport, and other landmarks. Google Maps

For anyone who can’t attend the Saturday planning meeting, an online community survey is now live for submitting input. 

Any early requests for what the old prison farm site should become?

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