Historic aerial of Scottdale Mill
Where is Cedar Park?
Cedar Park is located at 3165 Cedar Street in historic Scottdale, Georgia. This neighborhood park is just a stone's throw from Robert Shaw Elementary Theme School and the Hamilton Recreation Center.
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The Stone Mountain PATH multi-use trail passes two blocks west of the park, and the headwaters of Indian Creek start their long journey to the Atlantic Ocean at Cedar Park.
Cedar Park Context
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The Stone Mountain Trail is a 19 mile paved path which links Midtown Atlanta to Stone Mountain Park. It includes the Freedom Park Trail and intersects with the Atlanta BeltLine along the way.
An international farmers market that
provides consumers with fresh foods from a
global market. Your DeKalb Farmers Market
originated on June 3, 1977 in Decatur, not
far from its home today.
A leading structural steel fabricator located in Scottdale. The company provides structural steel erection services to general contractor, owners, and developers for both public and private projects.
The Robert Shaw Traditional Theme School offers students a comprehensive, interdisciplinary educational program in a highly-structured setting.
Though hard to see due to invasive plants, Indian Creek starts right in Cedar Park where it starts its 2.5-mile journey east, where it joins Snapfinger Creek right next to Indian Creek MARTA station
DeKalb Elementary School of the Arts is a magnet school with 580 students ranging from grades K-7. The building was constructed in 1937, and it has been a magnet school since 1990.
Cedar Park Existing Conditions
Thank you to our partners at DeKalb County Department of Recreation, Parks, & Cultural Affairs for this great drone footage of the park, taken in August of 2020.
Cedar Park Area History
Scottdale has a fascinating history as an industrial center in DeKalb County that goes back over 100 years! Check out our timeline below. If you're interested in learning more, visit these websites:
Pre-1821
The Muscogee (Creek) Confederacy controlled vast stretches of land in present-day Georgia, including all of DeKalb County. These lands were lost through a series of territorial concessions, and over 20,000 Moscogee People were forcibly removed from the land via the Trail of Tears in 1836/7. Today, the Muscogee Nation is is prospering in Oklahoma.
1900
George Washington Scott founds Scottdale Mills, where workers spin and weave bales of cotton into textiles.
1900-1915
Scottdale Mills Village is built south of the mill on the east side of the Georgia Railroad. Many of the houses still survive on small streets between Annie Street and E. Ponce de Leon Avenue.
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The village provides housing to mill workers, as well as health services, a general store, laundry, childcare, and recreation, including a baseball team and the Scottdale Mills marching band.
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Workers could rent homes in the Scottdale Mills Village for 25 cents per week.
1916
The Scott family opens a new mill, Georgia Duck and Cordage Mill. In addition to this new mill and Scottdale Mills, the family also owns and operates Whittier Mills, on Atlanta's west side.
1924
Scottdale Mills Elementary School is built.
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The same year, George Francis Willis purchases the nearby area called Ingleside and develops it into a planned community called "Avondale Estates."
1940
Steel, LLC opens in Scottdale.
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Street lights are installed in Scottdale for the first time.
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The neighborhood east of East Ponce de Leon Avenue (around present-day Cedar Park) is settled by Black mill workers, while White mill workers settled on the west side of East Ponce.
1951
Local businessman and entrepreneur Robert Shaw donates 11 acres for an elementary school for African American students in Scottdale. The building, designed by Bothwell and Nash in the International Style, is built in 1954 and named Robert Shaw Elementary. It opens in 1955, with 741 students.
1954
Mr. C. H. Watford purchases many of the parcels in the Cedar Park area, including a large holding from Mrs. Annie L. Jackson, which included the future park.
Present-day
Cedar Park
1960
Tobie Kendall Grant (1887-1968), a well-known "sense-giver," spiritualist, and fortune teller, donated 40 acres for a recreation center and library for the community's children.
1969
Robert Shaw Elementary is closed, along with Hamilton High School, in compliance with court-ordered desegregation.
1977
Decatur Federal Savings and Loan makes a deed-of-gift to DeKalb County all of the land that is now Cedar Park.
1979
DeKalb County engages landscape architecture firm Baldwin Associates, Inc. to design the master plan and produce construction documents for Cedar Park (then known as Scottdale Park). Baldwin Associates was the firm of Harry Joseph Baldwin, FASLA, who was a highly influential landscape designer in Atlanta, with a career that spanned over 60 years and included several DeKalb County parks. Cedar Park retains its overall form from Baldwin's design. Baldwin's drawings and papers are available for research at the Atlanta History Center.
1981
Cedar Park opens to the public. By 1981, the park's official name had changed from Scottdale Park to Cedar Park, though the reason for this is unclear.
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Note the water feature in the rendering (enlargement below).
1982
Scottdale Mills closes.
1998
Georgia Duck and Cordage Mill is sold to another corporation, then to Fenner Dunlop.
2010
Former Georgia Duck and Cordage Mill property is annexed by City of Avondale Estates.
2019
The large historic oak tree at the center of the park is removed due to advanced decay in the main trunk.
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A house sign for Scottdale is designed by neighborhood resident Charles Fleming.
2020
Friends of Cedar Park engages Park Pride to facilitate a vision plan for Cedar Park.
