The Old Fourth Ward is more than a neighborhood; it is a cornerstone of Atlanta's identity. This June 20–21, 2026, the 14th Annual Old Fourth Ward Arts Festival will take place at Historic Fourth Ward Park, 592 N. Angier Ave. NE, Atlanta, GA 30308. The free, all-ages event, which welcomes dogs, features curated artist booths, live DJs, food, and a children's area, set against the backdrop of the Atlanta BeltLine Eastside Trail. But to understand why this festival matters, one must delve into the neighborhood's untold story.
The Old Fourth Ward was home to Morris Brown College, founded in 1881 as the only institution of higher learning in Georgia established by, completely funded by, and created exclusively for African Americans. As Morris Brown College marks its 145th year with a projected 20 percent enrollment growth for the 2026–2027 academic year, its president, Dr. Kevin E. James, notes, 'The Old Fourth Ward is where our roots took hold, and those roots run deep.' The college's legacy of producing leaders in business, politics, medicine, and law underscores the neighborhood's role as an engine of self-determination during an era of profound national injustice.
The neighborhood also gave Atlanta its most iconic street name: Ponce de Leon Avenue. In the late 1860s, a local physician named natural springs east of town 'Ponce de Leon Springs,' inspiring the avenue built to reach them. Historic Fourth Ward Park sits near those springs today, its two-acre lake anchoring the same water table that drew Victorian-era Atlantans. After the Great Atlanta Fire of 1917, the neighborhood reimagined itself around the Ponce de Leon Ballpark and an amusement complex, drawing crowds that ultimately attracted Sears, Roebuck & Company to build its Southern Regional Distribution Center on Ponce de Leon Avenue—now Ponce City Market.
The phrase 'Old Fourth Ward' technically did not exist until 1937, when Georgia legislators restructured Atlanta's ward system. Residents informally began calling their community the 'old' Fourth Ward, and the name stuck even after the ward system was abolished in 1954. This makes O4W one of the few Atlanta communities to outlast the governmental structure that created it.
Long before the BeltLine's 2012 opening, O4W was a canvas for public art. From Living Walls murals to Sol LeWitt's permanent installation 54 Columns, the neighborhood's relationship with public art predates the BeltLine. Artists like HENSE, whose large-scale abstract works have since attracted clients from Apple to the High Museum, cut their public-art teeth on O4W's walls. The neighborhood didn't just host art; it became art.
The Old Fourth Ward Arts Festival is a celebration of this layered history. It is a place where creativity and community are inseparable, set in a park that sits on a water table that once drew Victorian-era Atlantans. The festival runs Saturday, June 20, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sunday, June 21, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is free, and all ages and dogs are welcome. For more information, visit www.oldfourthwardparkartsfestival.com.
