History

Early Beginnings

Atlanta started out in 1814 during the War of 1812 when Fort Gilmore (later named Fort Peach Tree) was established in the land of the Creek Indians on the banks of the Chattahoochee and Peach Tree Rivers. Seven years later in 1825 the Creek tribe gave the land surrounding Fort Peach Tree to America. During 1833, the first settler named Hardy Ivy built his cabin on the land once owned by the Creeks. Settlers to the area like Mr. Ivy tended to be farmers and craftsman from Virginia, Carolina and Georgia. These settlers received their land through a lottery system that gave away small pieces of land to the settlers.

In 1836, as expansion of the frontier moved west the Western and Atlantic Railroad of the State of Georgia centralized operations for that part of the country. In order to do this, they established the town of Terminus in1837. Due to the expansion and influx of white settlers to the area, the Native Americans who consisted mostly of Cherokee, Creeks, Choctaws and Seminoles where forced to move in 1838, from the eastern states to Oklahoma. This march West by the Native Americans became known as the “Trail of Tears” because of the 4,000 Native Americans who died during their removal.

In 1843, the town of Terminus changed its name to Marthasville in honor of Governor Lumpkin’s daughter. Shortly thereafter the people of Marthasville changed their name once again to Atlanta in 1845, which it has remained ever since.

Civil War

During the years between 1845 and 1861, the city of Atlanta continues to grow, with a population of 10,000 people, and prosper due to the railways being located within its city. In 1961, because of Abraham Lincoln’s fight against slavery, Georgia along with fifteen other states seceded from the Union and formed the Confederate States of America. In April of that same year the war broke out at Fort Sumter in which the South won its first battle. After three years of fighting the north begins to turn the war and in 1864, the City of Atlanta is attacked by General William T. Sherman. Sherman took the City on September 1^st 1964. In order to keep the Union from getting their supplies, retreating Confederate soldiers destroyed 81 boxcars filled with ammunition which caused some of the destruction of the city due to the fire it caused. Because of the importance of Atlanta to the Confederate Army as a supply source the Union made taking the city a high priority and a necessary goal in its fight to end the war. During their time in Georgia, the Union Army destroyed any buildings that could be used by the confederates. When they were done only 400 buildings still stood in the city. After taking Atlanta, General Sherman continues on his march to the sea in which he cut a 300 mile path 60 miles wide through the state of Georgia destroying factories, railroads and bridges along the way. 

Rebuilding   

In 1865, the war ends and Atlanta starts to rebuild the city. Soon after the war ends the railroad is reestablished and brings Atlanta back to being the thriving city it was before the war. In 1868, Atlanta is named the capital of Georgia, and within two years boasts a population of 21,000 people. By the 1890’s, Atlanta has become the biggest railway hub in the Southeastern United States and with that, an economy that was just as big. Along with this the city began hosting fairs and other events, which brought people and businesses, such as Coca-Cola, to the city and boosted its economy even more.

Atlanta soon becomes the largest city in the state of Georgia and with this comes the states first technical college named Georgia Technical College. With the growth the city experienced, there becomes a need for the building of the Atlanta Federal Penitentiary to house prisoners currently being held in New York. Along with these facilities the city began building up the business and residential districts. At the urging of Joel Hurt who constructed Atlanta’s first skyscraper, the city hired Frederick Olmsted who had previously designed New York’s Central Park and Chicago’s Riverside Park to help design. Along with Joseph Johnson, Olmsted built many of the parks in the city including Inman Park.   

Riots Although the city had been prospering since the end of the Civil War riots, started taking place. The first of which was in 1902, known as the “Pittsburgh Riot” was racially motivated and resulted in the deaths of three police officers, and three civilians. Another riot in September of 1906 took place, after gubernatorial candidate Hoke Smith promised to take away the blacks right to vote. This riot lasted four days and left a total of ten blacks and two whites dead. The next year Hoke Smith becomes Governor of Georgia. In the fall of 1966, a race riot lasting six days takes place when a white officer shoots a suspected black criminal. During the riot 138 people are arrested and there are no fatalities as a result of the riot.

Great Atlanta Fire of 1917  On May 21, 1917 Atlanta experienced its worst fire in history when almost 2,000 homes and 300 acres of the city were destroyed by fire. The hardest hit areas were in Northeast Atlanta’s middle class neighborhoods. The cause of the fire was never determined and no one was killed although it left 10,000 people without homes.  Another fire that took place in Atlanta during 1946 was the Winecoff Hotel fire in which 119 people were killed. The hotel was advertised as a fireproof structure and to this day the cause of the fire is still unknown.

The Great Depression

In 1929, the stock market crashed, sending America into the Great Depression. Americans everywhere were feeling the effects during the 1930’s including the people of Atlanta. The city government is also in trouble when the banks refuse to give them credit unless they cut their budget by one million dollars. The city fighting to save money cuts its employees salaries by twenty percent. In 1934 the city recovers from its budget crunch when Coca-Cola loans the city $800,000.

In 1936, the Atlanta United Auto Workers start a push to become a union. By organizing both the black and white workers they are able to start a sit down strike that soon spreads to Michigan where Detroit United Auto Workers follow suit. This leads to the creation of a union in the General Motors Corporation and soon spreads to the other leading automakers.   

It was also in 1936 when the story that made Atlanta famous, Gone with the Wind, is first published. Three years later the movie is premiered at Leow’s Grand Theater on Peach Tree Street.

Civil Rights

Atlanta has been known throughout its history as a place of racial tension, which in some cases led to riots or even murder. One of the most famous leaders of civil rights that ever came from the city of Atlanta was Martin Luther King Jr..  His father was a minister who had led a march in 1934, in order to raise attention and get blacks to vote. His son followed his father’s footsteps which began by entering Morehouse College at the age of fifteen and later going on to Boston University.

In 1955, he joins the boycott in protest of Rosa Park’s arrest and the next year they get a victory when the Supreme Court rules bus segregation is unconstitutional. King goes on to become a minister at several churches including his father’s church, the Ebenezer Baptist Church. During one of King’s sit-in protests, he is arrested at a restaurant and put in jail. He is immediately released when both John F. Kennedy and Robert Kennedy ask for his release.

During his time of protesting and speaking out against racism, he was able to lift the segregation law on interstate travel and launch a project called the Birmingham campaign. It is during this campaign that all of the stores, restaurants and schools are desegregated and all protesters are released from jail. In 1963 he  leads his biggest march ever on Washington in which he gives his “I have a dream speech”. In 1964, King becomes the youngest person, at the age of 35, to win the Nobel Peace Prize. Throughout the rest of his life King is arrested several more times fighting for equality for blacks. On March 4^th 1968 Atlanta’s greatest civil rights leader is shot and killed in the Lorraine Motel in Memphis Tennessee. In 1983, Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday is declared a federal holiday by President Ronald Reagan.

Sports

In 1966 Atlanta gets its first professional sports teams in the form of baseball's, Atlanta Braves and football's Atlanta Falcons. Two years later the city gets its first professional basketball team when the St. Louis Hawks move to Atlanta.

Today

Atlanta today is the thirty-ninth largest city in the U.S. with a population of 416,474 people. It is home to Ted Turner, owner of the Braves along with television's CNN and TBS. It is also the headquarters for Coca–Cola, Bell South and Delta Airlines. It is a thriving city that has overcome war, racial tensions and a depression all of which have helped it become the great city that it is today.      

Last Updated On 04/30/2004