Boulevard (Atlanta)

Boulevard is a street in and, as a corridor, a subdistrict, of the Old Fourth Ward neighborhood of Atlanta, Georgia. The street runs east of, and parallel to, Atlanta's Downtown Connector. It begins at Ponce de Leon Avenue in the north (north of which it continues as Monroe Drive), passing through the Old Fourth Ward, Cabbagetown, and Grant Park, and forming the border between Chosewood Park on the west and Boulevard Heights and Benteen Park to the east. It ends at McDonough Boulevard in the south, at the Federal Penitentiary.

Boulevard is notable for being a center of high crime and drug activity in Atlanta, as well as the location of the highest concentration of Section 8 housing in the Southeastern United States.

It was not always so. In 1895, shortly after Boulevard was built, author Margaret Severance, in her book "Official Guide to Atlanta", described it as: "a beautiful avenue, [which] will be a great pride to Atlanta in years to come. Its height, width and number of magnificent homes, with their spacious lawns, assure every observer a boulevard that any city may point to with pride. This is one of the most desirable residence streets in the city."

Boulevard remained a white street through the 1910s even as the side streets became increasingly African-American. This trend was due to Blacks moving eastwards from the Sweet Auburn area, seeking to consolidate their businesses and residences into safe, primarily black areas after the traumatic Atlanta race riot of 1906.

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