Gilliam Park

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Gillem Park:: Jesse Clay, the first owner of the land, is thought to have emigrated from Bradford County, Virginia and first settled in Jasper County, Georgia, where he shows on the Federal Census of 1820 along with his wife, children, and six slaves. He purchased Land Lots 206 and 207 of the 15th District, DeKalb County, from Taylor & Watts of Jasper County in 1826. He made the final payment on the land after traveling to South Carolina and back by horseback. He initially lived on the property in a tent and drew water from a spring at Wade’s Place Hollow (now Gilliam Park).

He cleared and farmed approximately 850 acres (3.4 km2) that ranged from the curve of Gilliam Park south to Memorial Drive until his death in 1871. His son Cleveland, a Confederate veteran of the Civil War, inherited the land. The majority of the land was first subdivided and sold to the Atlanta Suburban Land Company in 1892 with the family retaining the Clay home at Boulevard Dekalb (now Hosea Williams Drive) between Clay and Wyman Streets, the family burial grounds nearby, and other parcels.

The sale was prompted by increased Kirkwood development following installation of one of Atlanta’s first trolley lines in the early 1870’s. That line’s right of way bordered soon to be Gilliam Park and explains the curved shape of the park’s border. In the late 1910’s consolidation of the many electric trolley companies in Atlanta led to the founding of today’s Georgia Power Company. The Atlanta Suburban Land Company held the park parcel until approximately 1922, when they collapsed during a land fraud scandal.

Between 1922 and 1924 the City of Kirkwood (incorporated in1892) was annexed in a long and at times contentious political and legislative process. General practice lawyer Rufus F. Gilliam, a former mayor of Kirkwood, was an active proponent of annexation. He lived on nearby Rogers Street with his wife Elsa and son Edwin.

The annexation agreement between the two cities included a commitment by Atlanta to create city parks in Kirkwood. Today’s park was acquired from the many parcels available after failure of the Atlanta Suburban Land Company and named after Mr. Gilliam. It has remained in Atlanta’s park inventory since.