Venable Street, in the heart of the city's historically black Shermantown neighborhood, is named after James Venable, who founded and was the Imperial Wizard of the National Knights of the Klan from 1963 to 1987. His Ku Klux Klan faction often marched through Shermantown as it held rallies every year on the top of Stone Mountain and on nearby land his family owned. Venable's family owned Stone Mountain and its granite quarry when work on the mountain carving began in 1923. Venable died in 1993 at age 92.
CBS46 News Atlanta (WGCL-TV) interviewed some of Shermantown's residents about the change, including William Woodson Morris, 91.
The city had initially proposed to rename only one block of Venable St. -- between Third and Fourth streets. It ran a legal notice announcing a public hearing for 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, October 1, at City Hall. Under that proposal, none of the 13 properties in Stone Mountain with a Venable St. address would have seen their address change. There are no Venable Street addresses on the block that was initially proposed for renaming.
At a City Council work session in mid-September, Stone Mountain's city manager said a new public hearing would be scheduled and held for a proposal to rename the entire street. She said the City Council would vote to change the name and then, later, issue a proclamation. Two council members indicated their support for the proposal during the meeting.
The public hearing for the revised proposal is likely to be in mid-October.
