Q: I know that the Interstate 85/Interstate 285 Interchange — Spaghetti Junction — is officially named the Tom Moreland Interchange in honor of longtime former DOT commissioner Tom Moreland. But for whom is Moreland Avenue (U.S. 23/Ga. 42) named? Are they related?
—Lance DeLoach, Thomaston
A: The busy road we know as Moreland Avenue was once quieter and called County Line Road, according to city documents, when Major Asbury Fletcher Moreland moved to Atlanta with big plans in the years after the Civil War.
He was a cousin of the Hurts, who were already established in that part of Atlanta, and built a home just south of what is now Little Five Points. (I wonder what he would think of what that has become).
He owned quite a bit of land between County Line Road and Pike Road, which is now Euclid Avenue, some of which is now part of the city’s Bass Recreation Center. Ever the businessman, Moreland built rental homes and a park, which featured a pond and animals — appropriately called Moreland Park — that became a summer getaway for city dwellers.
He donated another part of his land to a local school, which was renamed – yeah, you guessed it – the Moreland Park Military Academy. While Maj. Moreland’s name s attached the street he helped develop, Tom Moreland’s name is affixed to that maze of ramps where 85 and 285 come together.
The former Georgia DOT chief who now helps run Moreland Altobelli Associates, a local engineering company, told me last week he “never knew” about Maj. Moreland and doesn’t think he’s related to him.
Moreland is from Chatsworth and graduated from Georgia Tech before spending more than 30 years with the DOT. He said he will look into any possible family connections with Moreland Avenue’s namesake.
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