Republic Block

{{Short description|Former commercial construction in Atlanta, Georgia}}

{{Use American English|date = March 2020}}

{{Use mdy dates|date = March 2020}}

File:Republic Block Atlanta 1878.JPG

File:Atlanta Sanborn fire map 1886 Decatur at Pryor - Republic Block and Kimball House.JPG showing the Republic Block and Kimball House]]

The Republic Block (completed in 1873) was at the time of its completion one of the most remarkable commercial constructions in Atlanta. It faced Pryor Street between Decatur St. and Railroad Ave. (now Wall St.), now site of Georgia State University buildings. It faced the Kimball House which stood across Pryor St. to the northwest. The block was built on the initiative of William Goodnow, a manager for the Republic Insurance Company of Chicago,[https://books.google.com/books?id=fl6xNpS6qUUC&pg=PA896 Atlanta and Environs: A Chronicle of Its People and Events, Volume 1, Franklin Miller Garrett, p.896] with partners ex-governor Joseph E. Brown, Judge O. A. Lochrane, and others[https://books.google.com/books?id=AE0UAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA13&lpg=PA13 Atlanta illustrated, 1881, Edward Young Clarke, p.53] Its first tenants were hardware mostly wholesale and other dealers (hardware, diamonds, jewelry, millinery, dry goods, boots and shoes, clothing, tobacco and cigars), as well as an architect, attorney, a bank, the Atlanta Chamber of Commerce, as well as the Republic Insurance Company.

The "Republic block" was demolished in 1940 and replaced with a garage and automobile filling station.{{cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/398207170/|title=Old landmarks make way for Progress, Half Business Block is to be Torn Away|page=Eight K|publisher=The Atlanta Constitution|date=February 18, 1940}}