How would you explain to someone from out of town why there is a statue of henry grady in atlanta?

The reason why there is a statue of Henry Grady in Atlanta is that Henry W. Grady was a very important journalist, also known as the "Spokenman of the New South", after the Civil War. He is well-known for helping reintegrate the Confederate States; his primary mission was to bring economic growth and prosperity to the state of Atlanta and to the rest of the South.  

a drastic rise in oil prices ended decades of postwar.