Skip to main content

Atlantic Steel Company visual arts materials

 Collection
Collection number: ahc.VIS499

Scope and Contents

This collection contains images that document the expansion of the Atlantic Steel Company from 1919 to its closure and eventual demolition in 2001. The bulk of the materials are employee portraits and employee-centered events and plant operations at both the Atlanta, Georgia, and Cartersville, Georgia, plants.

Included are also photographs of Atlantic Steel Company men's and women's amateur sports teams, including the Dixisteel amateur baseball team. Additionally included are sales meetings (in various locations) and stockholders meetings and projects by Atlantic Steel Company subsidiary, Dixisteel Buildings Inc. (later Atlantic Building Systems Inc.), through a collaborative sale of prefabricated building materials with Stran-Steel Buildings.

All photographs refer to Atlantic Steel Company unless otherwise noted. Quotation marks in the inventory are used to note the creator’s original language. All photographs in this collection were taken in Atlanta, Georgia, unless otherwise noted.

Dates

  • 1919-2001, undated

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

This collection is open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

This material is protected by copyright law. (Title 17, U.S. Code) Permission for use must be cleared through the Kenan Research Center at the Atlanta History Center. Licensing agreement may be required.

Biographical / Historical

The Atlantic Steel Company was chartered in 1901 as the Atlanta Steel Hoop Company to manufacture steel ties for bailing cotton and hoops for binding barrels of rosin.

Eight Atlanta entrepreneurs formed the company to provide a local source for the steel ties and binds used to prepare these products for shipment. In 1906, the company name was changed to Atlantic Steel Company. The company was reorganized and incorporated as Atlantic Steel Company in 1915 and became Atlantic Steel Industries, Inc. in 1983.

The Dixisteel trademark was created in 1922 by Charles F. Stone (1883-1970). By the 1950s, Atlantic Steel’s Dixisteel product line included cotton ties, nails, bale ties, woven wire fence, rivets, wrought washers, welding rods, metal forgings and stampings, and various types of wire products, mainly barbed and galvanized. The market for fabricated steel buildings had grown significantly by 1960, and a subsidiary, Dixisteel Buildings, Inc. (later Atlantic Building Systems, Inc.), was created to focus on this product line.

The company built a modernized plant in Cartersville, Georgia, in 1974. In 1979, Atlantic Steel was acquired by Ivaco, Inc. through a stock purchase. The Cartersville plant was sold in 1996, and in the following year Jacoby Development purchased the property on which the main plant was located in the midtown area of Atlanta, Georgia. Atlantic Steel ceased operations on December 31, 1998. The site was later developed into Atlantic Station, a multi-use complex of residential units, offices, shops, restaurants, and entertainment venues.

Extent

19,825 item(s) (10,926 black and white negatives, 5,551 black and white photographic prints, 2,248 color slides, 562 color negatives, 296 color photographic prints, 211 black and white slides, and 31 film reels)

Language

English

Additional Description

Arrangement

This collection is arranged alphabetically by titles supplied by staff. Control numbers are intentionally out of order to maintain alphabetical order.

Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements

Some of the items are located in cold storage (cs) as indicated in the descriptive inventory. Patrons must allow 24 hours after retrieval of cold storage item(s) before viewing material.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Gift, 1998, with subsequent additions.

Related Materials

Atlantic Steel Company Records, MSS 929, Kenan Research Center at Atlanta History Center

Bias in Description

As archivists, we acknowledge our role as stewards of information. We choose how individuals and organizations are represented and described in our archives. We are not neutral, and bias is reflected in our descriptions, which may not accurately convey the racist or offensive aspects of collection materials. Archivists make mistakes and might use poor judgment. In working with this collection, we often re-use language used by the former owners of the material. This language provides context but often includes bias and prejudices reflective of the time in which it was created. The Kenan Research Center’s work is ongoing to implement reparative language where Library of Congress subject terms are inaccurate and obsolete.

Kenan Research Center welcomes feedback and questions regarding our archival descriptions. If you encounter harmful, offensive, or insensitive terminology or descriptions, please let us know by emailing reference@atlantahistorycenter.com. Your comments are essential to our work to create inclusive and thoughtful description.

Processing Information

This collection was processed in 2026.

Subjects

Finding Aid & Administrative Information

Title
Atlantic Steel Company visual arts materials
Subtitle
ahc.VIS499
Author
Caitlin Marshall
Date
September 2026
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin

Repository Details

Repository Details

Part of the Kenan Research Center at Atlanta History Center Repository

http://www.atlantahistorycenter.com/
Contact:
130 West Paces Ferry Road
Atlanta GA 30305
404-814-4040