Georgia and Georgians - the Digital Library of Georgia

,' GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 2863and 4s now attorney for the marshal of the Municipal Court of Atlanta. Oneof the most prominent members of the Atlanta bar, he also belongs to theAtlanta Chamber of Commerce, and is a citizen who for a number of yearshas taken a very active part in public affairs. A democrat in. politics, heserved four years as a member of the general council from the Ninth Ward,being chairman of the committee on public buildings and grounds, later chairman of the committee on streets, .and still later chairman of the committee onsewers and^, drains. He served on the electric .committee during the full fouryears, anA on the prison committee three years. During his membership inthe city council he was one of the leaders of that body and took a most activepart in shaping the city's legislation. He was a member of the special committee which had charge of the establishment and erection of the Battle HillSanatorium which in fact was the first municipal tuberculosis hospital erectedin the Southern states. Among his other useful labors he served as chairmanof a special committee of the council which abolished the former unsatisfactory custom of having ward physicians and established the present methodof having two city physicians. He was chairman of a sub-committee whichhad charge of the negotiations with the Georgia Railway and Electric Company soon absorbed by the Georgia Railway and Power Company that resulted in a reduction of 25 per cent in the rates for electric light and powerto its consumers in Atlanta. Another important service he rendered was aschairman of the sewer committee of the council during the period in whichthe city constructed its three magnificent sewage purification plants, the firstof their type to be built in America, and since followed as models by a number of the leading cities of the United States and Canada. Mr. Chambers wasa member of the Atlanta Board of Education in 1915-16, and declined re-election. In 1912 he was a candidate for mayor of the city and received a veryflattering vote, lacking but little of election.Mr. Chambers' connection with the movement for the Southeastern Fairhas been a prominent and helpful one. The project of a permanent annualfair, similar to that at Toronto and other cities, and to be located at LakewoodPark, was first suggested by the city hall reporters of the three Atlantanewspapers in a conversation with Mr. Chambers and Mayor Winn 's secretaryduring the spring of 1912. The idea was submitted to Mayor Winn and heapproved it heartily, while the newspapers gave prominence to the "story,"and endorsed the plan. It was intended to open the first exposition in 1914,but this could not be done, owing to opposition from the present mayor, whoregarded it as a scheme to take Lakewood Park away from the City of Atlanta.Mayor Woodward's opposition having been overcome, however, the fairopened in the fall of the year 1915. This matter and others recentlyled to a warm controversy between Mr. Chambers and the mayor, in whicheach party stated his position with great emphasis, Mr. Chambers provinghimself a powerful champion of what he believes to be the right. He is religiously affiliated with the Wesley Memorial Methodist Episcopal Church ofAtlanta, in which he is a steward. Fraternally he belongs to the Masons,Knights of Pythias and Odd Fellows, being a member of E. A. Minor Lodge,No. 603, Free and Accepted Masons; Mt. Zion Chapter, No. 16, Royal ArchMasons, and Coeur de Lion Commandery, Knight Templars, No. 4, all ofAtlanta, and to Piedmont Lodge, No. 190, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of which he is a charter member and past grand.On August 2, 1905, Mr. Chambers was married to Miss Eunice EthelJones, who died July 27, 1911, leaving two children: Francis Ethel, bornJune 4, 1906, and John Thomas, born April 21, 1909. He was married,secondly, to his present wife, June 7, 1913, she being then Miss Hattie BelleSpeers of Atlanta, but a native of Baltimore. At the time of her marriageMrs. Chambers was principal of the Forest Avenue City School.