Looking for more information about the Roswell Railroad? Read my past articles published in the Dunwoody Crier newspaper.
A Presidential Visit in 1905, Railroad Section House is Historic Treasure, Ike Roberts and Roswell Railroad’s First Run, Dunwoody Intersection Tells Railroad History, and Remembering the Roswell Railroad.
Roberts Drive in Dunwoody and Sandy Springs is named for the engineer of the Roswell Railroad Isaac (Ike) Roberts. He was the engineer for the entire time the railroad operated-1881 until 1921. People that worked with him and those that lived along the railroad called him Cap’n Ike. The railroad ran between Chamblee and Roswell, with stops at Wilson’s Mill, Dunwoody, and Powers Station.
Captain Isaac Roberts, engineer of the Roswell Railroad from 1881 until 1921.
Isaac Martin Roberts was born in North Carolina February 28, 1953 to John Morgan Roberts and Lucinda Roberts. He walked forty five miles from Gaston County, North Carolina to Spartanburg, South Carolina to work for the construction company building the Atlanta and Charlotte Air Line Railroad in 1872. He was nineteen years old. By 1878, he had worked his way up to engineer.
A few years later, he was among the men who built the Roswell Railroad. When the Roswell Railroad became operational in 1881 he became engineer. He started off living in boarding houses, but built a home for himself and his wife in 1894 at the end of the line near Roswell, just south of the Chattahoochee River.
Roberts also built the Roswell Depot, which stood on a hill on the other side of the road. According to Roswell historian Michael Hitt, the Roswell Depot burned in the 1950’s. The railroad was originally intended to cross the Chattahoochee River and end in the town of Roswell, but the bridge was never built.
The Ike Roberts home, where he lived until 1924, still stands today on Roberts Drive. The house sits on the right, near where Roberts Drive meets Roswell Road and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Isaac Roberts home on Roberts Drive near Roswell Road in Sandy Springs
In 1894, Ike was a witness for a well-publicized homicide trial in Atlanta. The accused had come to Roswell by way of the Roswell Railroad, supposedly to purchase some mules from a local businessman. Engineer Roberts remembered his passenger well and was able to testify as to his travel through Dunwoody and on the Roswell Railroad on more than one occasion.
Families with ancestors with remembered or rode the Roswell Railroad remember Ike Roberts as a friendly engineer, stopping for folks who flagged down the train in between regular stops. People who lived along the line sent produce from their farms to Atlanta.
After the Roswell Railroad stopped operating, Ike Roberts gave the bell from the old engine known as Buck to the Dunwoody Methodist Church. This bell sits today in front of the church.
Cap’n Roberts died in 1930 and is buried at the Roswell Presbyterian Church Cemetery in Roswell, Georgia.
Other sources cited include: The Atlanta Constitution, June 20 1895, Southern (Railroad) News Bulletin.