Industrial development on Atlanta site with ugly history paused after pressure

The site had been the location of the Chattahoochee Brick Co., a factory that relied on forced convict labor to churn out bricks that helped rebuild Atlanta after the Civil War.

Bita Honarvar / Special to WABE

Updated at 10:35 a.m. Sunday

Norfolk Southern is stopping work on a rail facility in northwest Atlanta that had drawn opposition from local community and environmental groups, as well as from city officials.

On Saturday, the day after Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms’s office announced it had filed a petition with the federal Surface Transportation Board to stop construction of a fuel terminal at the former site of the Chattahoochee Brick Co., Norfolk Southern said it would halt work immediately while the company continues discussions with the city.