Joel Hurt

Joel Hurt (1850–1926) was an important businessman and developer in Atlanta active in the late 19th century through the early 20th century.

Early Life

Born in Hurtsboro, Alabama, to Joel Hurt, Sr. (1813-1861), and his wife Lucy Long Hurt (1822-1915) -- the town (originally Hurtville) was named for Joel Hurt, Sr. -- Joel Hurt, Jr., attended Auburn University and graduated from the University of Georgia in 1871. He began his career in the railroad business, surveying first in the western United States the bed that became the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe. He also surveyed a small spur off the Richmond and Danville line to Athens, Georgia.

Career

In 1875, Hurt moved to Atlanta, where he organized the Atlanta Building and Loan Association, which he ran for thirty-two years. He also co-founded the Trust Company of Georgia - now part of Suntrust - and, starting in 1895, was its president for nine years. In 1882, he organized the East Atlanta Land Company, where he designed and developed Inman Park, a residential area connected to the city center by his Atlanta and Edgewood Street Railway Company, which opened along Edgewood Avenue in 1886. It was Atlanta's first electric streetcar line, and it was the first profitable electric line in America. In 1880, he filed what would be US 365258  for an interesting thermal water valve. ^ Then in 1887, he filed No. 374,188 for a new style of valve cock for faucets handling water under pressure. ^