Hardy Ivy

Who was Hardy Ivy?

Hardy Ivy is said to be the first person of European descent to permanently settle in what is now the city of Atlanta, GA.

By 1821 the last of the Native Americans who held claim to the land east of the Chattahoochee River ceded their land to the state of Georgia in the "Creek Indian Cession of 1821". West of the Chattahoochee remained Cherokee territory. Shortly thereafter the land was divided into square land lots of 202½ acres each. In 1833 Mr. Ivy, from the Abbeville district of South Carolina, purchased Land Lot 51 of the 14th district of what was then Dekalb County from Mr. James Paden for the sum of $225. At that time DeKalb County included all of what is now Fulton County in which most of Atlanta City limits currently resides and the lot itself is now bounded by Edgewood on the south, Park Pl. and Peachtree on the west, a line south of Ralph McGill on the north and old Fort St. on the east. His land lot was on the northeastern edge of the heart of the original downtown Atlanta. It is presumed that Mr. Paden had not occupied the land previous to selling it to Mr. Ivy.

At the time Mr.