The original street extended eastward from Peachtree Street and was called Ponce de Leon Circle. In August 1872, a horsecar line that went from downtown Atlanta up Peachtree to Pine, was extended to Ponce de Leon Circle.[1][2] At some point later[specify], it was extended to Ponce de Leon Springs, where the Ponce de Leon amusement park would be built; today, Ponce City Market (formerly the Sears building, then City Hall East) stands on the site. Finally in 1889, the line was electrified and extended with the "loop" around what is now Virginia-Highland.
West of Peachtree Street were Kimball Street and 2nd Street, portions of which were renamed Ponce de Leon Avenue. (See maps at Atlanta annexations.)
In the 1890s-1910s, Ponce de Leon between Midtown and Moreland Avenue (the border of Druid Hills) was one of the city's premier residential streets lined with large houses of the city's elite. With the arrival of the automobile, the richest families started to move further out, to what is today Buckhead, to Ansley Park and to Druid Hills. Upscale apartment buildings started to appear on the boulevard. Ponce, as did much of the city, lost many of its middle- to upper-middle-class residents in the 1950s and 1960s, and large parking lot areas and new buildings built away from the street made Ponce lose much of the walkability that it had - and its focus gave way fully to automobile traffic. Though a renaissance was beginning in the 1970s, Ponce still was renowned for prostitution, drug sales, but also for its eclectic character up to the turn of the 21st century, celebrated in books such as George Mitchell's Ponce Deleon : An Intimate Portrait of Atlanta's Most Famous Avenue and Sharon Foster's Atlanta's Ponce de Leon Avenue: A History. Today, the areas that Ponce passes on its way from Midtown to Druid Hills are largely affluent: Midtown, the Old Fourth Ward where gentrification is well underway, and fully gentrified Poncey-Highland and Virginia-Highland.[3]
The Druid Hills Historic District incorporates the earlier Druid Hills Parks and Parkways Historic District that was listed on the National Register in 1975, specifically recognizing the parks and parkways along Ponce de Leon Avenue.[7]
The road begins to gradually curve back and forth, and is followed on its south side by South Ponce de Leon Avenue, the land between them being Oak Grove Park. A second segment of linear park is called Dellwood Park, and around Clifton Road it finally leaves the city, just before passing the south side of the Fernbank Museum of Natural History. A third segment called North Ponce de Leon Avenue surrounds a heavily forested county park called Deepdene Park,[8] and on its south side, mainline Ponce de Leon Avenue loses U.S. 278 and Georgia 10 at a split with East Lake Road.
Decatur
After a northward curve, it loses its other four route numbers at a split with Scott Boulevard, and continues eastward into the city of Decatur as West Ponce de Leon Avenue. Crossing the centerpoint of downtown at Clairemont Avenue (north) and McDonough Street (south), near city hall and the DecaturMARTAstation, it becomes East Ponce de Leon Avenue.
East of Decatur
It then continues on through Scottdale and downtown Clarkston to become Main Street southward through downtown Stone Mountain, then becoming Stone Mountain Lithonia Road on its way south to Lithonia.
It is also an exit at mile 40 off Interstate 285 ("the Perimeter") north. The only way to access I-285 south is to exit onto Church Street, since this is a split diamond interchange, and the two roads run parallel to each other separated by a railroad line.
Improvements
Ponce de Leon Avenue in the City of Atlanta is included in the Ponce/Moreland Corridors Plan as part of the city's comprehensive development plan.[9]
As of April 2011[update], the Georgia Department of Transportation has decided to begin the design of safety improvements for pedestrians on the two-mile stretch of Ponce between Piedmont and N. Highland/Moreland. Changes proposed include the conversion of an eastbound traffic lane into a two-way left-turn lane and bike lanes in both directions. The land would include intermittent traffic islands and "HAWK" pedestrian crossing signals at selected crosswalks where no traffic signals currently exist.[10]
Major intersections
as East Ponce de Leon Avenue (Decatur east to Stone Mountain)
Northbound entrance and southbound exit, I-285 south can be accessed by accessing Church Street, as it is parallel with East Ponce de Leon Avenue, and both roads are separated by a railroad track.
