The Inman Park neighborhood, located to the east of the city, is Atlantas first planned garden suburb. Begun in the late 1880s by Atlanta developer and businessman Joel Hurt, the neighborhood was home to some of the citys elite until the increase of automobile travel facilitated access to larger lots and newer homes farther from downtown. The neighborhood reached a serious state of decline by the 1950s, a situation exacerbated by the razing of properties by the Georgia Highway Department for a planned expressway.

Inman Park Restoration, Inc., was organized on February 1, 1969, by Robert Griggs and other early "urban pioneers" who purchased the derelict houses and began restoring them. The association spearheaded efforts to fight the proposed highway and to place the neighborhood on the National Register, as well as to encourage more property owners and assist with their restoration projects. The organization continues to foster community pride and activism on behalf of its own and other in-town Atlanta neighborhoods.