- Displacement today
- Segregation
- 2013–2017
- City of Atlanta
- General area only
Mercedes-Benz Stadium and the Westside churches
The Falcons' new stadium was built on the edge of Vine City. Two historic Black churches, Mount Vernon Baptist and Friendship Baptist, sold their buildings and were demolished to make room for it.
The record
Mount Vernon Baptist held its last service on March 9, 2014, and Friendship Baptist its last in the historic building on May 25, 2014. Friendship, at Mitchell Street and Northside Drive since 1871, is where Spelman College opened in the church basement in April 1881, and where Morehouse College, founded in Augusta in 1867, moved when it came to Atlanta in 1879. Construction began with a groundbreaking on May 19, 2014, and the stadium opened on August 26, 2017; the Georgia Dome, which had displaced the Lightning neighborhood, was imploded on November 20, 2017. Invest Atlanta and the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation each committed $15 million to revitalizing Westside neighborhoods including Vine City and English Avenue.
Today: Mercedes-Benz Stadium and the Home Depot Backyard on the Dome site.