Exceptional Merit for Community and Historic Preservation

Collier Heights Community Association, City of Atlanta

Planned and developed specifically as a suburban community for upper and middle class African Americans, Collier Heights includes some 1,700 homes. Built primarily in the 1950s, 60s and 70s, the community housed many of the region’s most prominent leaders over the years, from Herman Russell and Donald Lee Hollowell, to Ralph David Abernathy the third and the Reverend Martin Luther King Sr.

Thanks to the efforts of the Collier Heights Community Association and Georgia State University, the community was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2009 and became the first mid-century neighborhood ever to gain City of Atlanta historic district status. This ensures that new development and renovations to existing properties will be in keeping with the historic residential integrity of the community.