IN ATLANTA'S HISTORY
| 1814 | The U.S. military outpost Fort Gilmer is established at Standing Peachtree, and Indian Village situated where Peachtree Creek flows into the Chatahoochee. | |
| 1821 | Permanent non-Indian settlers begin moving into former Creek Indian lands that would eventually become Metro Atlanta. | |
| 1830 | 10,000 settlers inhabited the area now known as Fulton & Dekalb Counties | |
| 1833 | Hardy Ivy became the first permanent non-Indian settler in what is known as Downtown Atlanta. | |
| 1837 | Surveyors for the Western and Atlantic Railroad determine southern terminum for rail line from Tennessee. Settlement called "Terminus" began to take shape around that point. | |
| 1842 | Passenger Train Service - from Terminus began with Christmas Eve run to Marietta and back to Terminus. | |
| 1843 | Terminus incorporated as the town of Marthasville, named for a daughter of former governor Wilson Lumpkin. | |
| 1845 | Marthasville renamed Atlanta. The new name, coined
by railroad executive J. Edgar Thomason, probably represented
the feminine form of Atlantic. Georgia Railroad completed, Augusta to Atlanta. |
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| 1846 | Officially organized churches became part of
the Atlanta Scenery, Catholic and Episcopal Parishes formed first,
followed by Baptist, Methodist and Presbyterian congregations
in 1848. The Atlanta Hotel and Washington Hall became the City's
first hostelries. Macon and Western Railroad, now Central Georgia, completed Macon to Atlanta. |
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| 1847 | Atlanta's first bank "established as an agency of the Georgia Railroad". Around 2,000 inhabitants lived in the newly chartered City of Atlanta. | |
| 1848 | The City of Atlanta elected its first Mayor, "Moses W. Formwalt", and its first City Council. | |
| 1849 | Atlanta's first "successful" newspaper,
The Intelligencer, started. Telegraph service was initiated at the Macon and Western depot. |
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| 1850 | City purchases original acreage of OAKLAND Cemetery.
First Fire Company was formed of Volunteers. Population: 2,569 |
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| 1851 | The "Moral Party" won over the "Free & Rowdy Party" in a spirited city election . | |
| 1852 | Atlanta & West Point Railroad was completed to Atlanta. | |
| 1853 | First official city map of Atlanta drawn by Vincent,
Edward A. City limits radiate 1 mile from the center of the town. |
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| 1854 | Fulton Co. organized from portions of Dekalb
County. A combination City Hall and Fulton County Courthouse
erected in spot where the State Capitol now stands. Atlanta Medical College was chartered. |
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| 1855 | On Christmas Day the streets of Atlanta were gas lit for the first time. | |
| 1856 | The Atlanta Gas Light Company officially incorporated. The AGLC was the City of Atlanta's FIRST INCORPORATION. |
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| 1857 | Atlanta first designated the "Gate City" for its increasing importance as a Rail Center. | |
| 1859 | City Directory of Atlanta was published. | |
| 1860 | 4 independent volunteer fire companies merged
into a volunteer fire dept. Population: 9,554 |
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| 1862 | Atlanta becomes a major Confederate Military Post, supply hub and hospital relief center. | |
| 1863 | Under the supervision of Lemuel P. Grant, the city's defense lines are constructed. | |
| 1864 | In July Federal forces cross the Chattahoochee
in their approach of Atlanta. The City pounded by full-scale
artillery assault throught Agusut. July 27- Sherman's Army of the Tennessee was now in place along a rural road west of Atlanta that lead to Ezra Methodist Church. They were ready to advance on ground that Hood has vowed that Confederate generals Stephen D. Lee and A.P. Stewart should not give up. Just after noon, the Battle of Ezra Church began. Unfortunately, the Confederates had but three divisions to face the 15th, 16th, and 17th Corps of the Army of the Tennessee. Moreover, command blunders for the Confederates meant their attacks were never coordinated. Despite bravery in the face of death, the Confederates withdrew from the battlefield with terrible loses--3,000 dead and wounded compared to less than 600 for Federal troops. Hood had been under intense pressure from Richmond to produce a victory. Federal Forces began their occupation of Atlanta on Sept. 2 as Mayor James M. Calhoun officially surrenders the undefended City. General William T. Sherman orders Atlanta citizens to leave the City. By mid-November Sherman's forces end their occupation of Atlanta, they left most of the City in ruins as they begin their March to the Sea. The exiled city of Atlanta residents (Atlantans) began returning home to their devastation in late December. |
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| 1865 | By order of the Federal Government - Atlanta became a U. S. Military Post. The gradual return of its citizens continued. | |
| 1866 | New permanent buildings began to appear along the Atlanta streets to replace the ones that were erected so quickly in 1865 upon their return home. | |
| 1867 | Atlanta University was chartered - Center for
Higher Education of Black Students. The first Rich's store opened in a one-story wooden building on Whitehall St. Atlanta's Jewish Community formed a Hebrew Benevolent Congregation. Providing the inspiration for an eventual library system, the Young Men's Library Association was founded. * See 1870 - Kimball House Hotel started construction.* |
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| 1868 | Atlanta replaced Milledgeville as Georgia's capital.
The Atlanta Constitution was founded, first issue June 16, 1868. |
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| 1869 | Atlantans elected the first board of education. (Full public school system was in place by 1873). Boys High and Girls High were among the original schools. | |
| 1870 |
1870 - "The Kimball House Hotel opened
on the site where the Atlanta Hotel stood in pre-CW days. Despite
the controversy surrounding the financial aspects of the Kimball
Opera House, opened to the public & on the evening of January
12, 1869, held a gala event. The Atlanta Constitution reported
the next morning that - "Last evening presented a scene
long to be remembered by our citizens who had the pleasure of
being present at the opening of the "so-called" Opera
House, which, from dome to basement, was brilliantly illuminated
with gas. The exterior of the edifice presents a perfect blaze
of light that arrested the attention of every passerby, and the
immense throng of people who were hurrying toward the building
gave evidence that everybody, and his wife, if not invited, were
quite sure to be present on the night of opening this beautiful
establishment."
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| 1871 | Entered the ease and convenience of Atlantas first railed street cars. The street cars were horse and mule drawn. | |
| 1872 | The radical reconstruction rule ended. | |
| 1873 | The Church of Immaculate Conception completed
its new building. The Atlanta and Charlotte Airline Railroad (today's Southern), was completed. |
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| 1875 | Lakewood Park was the site of the first Atlanta's public water works system - went into operation at today's Lakewood Park | |
| 1877 | Telephones introduced into Atlanta. | |
| 1878 | At Kimball House - the first official weather office for Atlanta was opened. | |
| 1879 | Morehouse college moved from Augusta to Atlanta.
The Southern Medical College founded . |
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| 1881 | Atlanta puts on the first of 3 international
cotton expos. Morris Brown College founded. Population: 37,409 |
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| 1882 | A paid "professional" Fire Department replaced the Volunteer Dept. | |
| 1883 | "The Atlanta Journal" begans to cover "DIXIE". | |
| 1884 |
First subdivision of the City of Atlanta was created Peter's
Park - near current day GA Tech campus.
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| 1885 | On November 13, 1884, construction on the new
capitol began, although it was ten months before the cornerstone
was laid. On September 2, 1885, an estimated 10,000
people were present to watch the setting of the marble cornerstone. The Georgia School of Technology was created by a legislative act. |
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| 1886 | Baltimore Block was completed - it was the first
Atlanta apartment complex. Coca-Cola was introduced as a new beverage. |
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| 1887 | Piedmont Expo was held in current Piedmont Park
and was attended by President Grover Cleveland. On December 5, 1877, voters across Georgia reaffirmed Atlanta as the capital city of Georgia by a vote of 99,147 to 55,201 |
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| 1889 |
Although the original act authorizing construction of the capitol had stipulated a completion date of January 1, 1889, it was not until March 20, 1889 that construction was formally completed and the keys delivered to Governor John B. Gordon. The Kimball Opera House had continued to serve as Georgia's statehouse, but on July 3, 1889, the members of the General Assembly marched as a body from the Kimball building to the new capitol. On that next day, July 4th, formal dedication of the capitol occurred. In thanking the members of the commission which had overseen the construction, Governor Gordon concluded his remarks by saying: Built upon the crowning hill of her capital city, whose transformation
from desolation and ashes to life, thrift and beauty, so aptly
symbolizes the State's resurrection, this proud structure will
stand through the coming centuries a fit memorial of the indomitable
will of this people. THUS.... the Georgia State Capitol stood
as completed with its gold dome. |
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| 1890 | Population grew to 65,553 | |
| 1892 | Seaboard Air Line Railroad reached Atlanta. | |
| 1893 | DeGive's Opera House opened - later known as Loew's Grand Theater. | |
| 1895 | Piedmont Park was the site of the city's big and final international cotton expo. | |
| 1898 | The famed Cyclorama painting was acquired by the City and put on display at Grant Park. | |
| 1900 | Citizen's in Atlanta according to census - 89,872 | |
| 1901 | New creation caused a stir as Atlantas gawked at the first locally owned automobile ... a Locomobile steamer. | |
| 1902 | The Federal Penitentiary opened. The Carnegie Library was dedicated |
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| 1904 | Atlanta extends city limits to include Piedmont Park after they purchased it. | |
| 1905 | Probably the most severe ice storm in Atlanta in Feb. 1905. | |
| 1907 | On Capitol grounds the statue of General John B. Gordon was unveiled. (Borglum's bronze equestrian statue). | |
| 1909 | President William Howard Taft helped Atlanta celebrate the opening of the new Auditorium-Armory. | |
| 1910 | Population - 154,839 The Metropolitian Opera company arrived for their first opera series. |
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| 1911 | Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson & Howard Taft were honored guests at the Southern Commercial Congress. | |
| 1913 | Georgia State University (aka Georgia Tech Evening
School of Commerce) founded in the Walton building of downtown
Atlanta. It would be three years before it graduated its first
7 students. 1913 One of Georgia's most famous -- and in many ways, most infamous -- trials of the century began in Fulton County superior court, with Leo Frank was charged with first-degree murder in the death of 14-year-old Mary Phagan. The first witness called was Mrs. J.W. Coleman, Mary Phagan's mother. She managed to stay collected during most of her testimony, but finally broke down in tears when asked to identify the clothes her daughter had worn on the day she was murdered. Next on the stand was George Epps, a thirteen-year-old boy who also worked at the National Pencil Factory, where Frank was supervisor. Epps had ridden the streetcar with Phagan the morning of April 26th, and the two had agreed to meet for an ice cream and to watch the Confederate Memorial Day Parade at 1:00 p.m. When Mary didn't show, Epps went to a baseball game. The final witness on this day was Newt Lee, the night watchman who discovered Mary Phagan's body and telephoned police. He testified for over two hours, telling the same story he had told police, that he noticed the body when he went into the basement to the restroom. He also told of Leo Frank being nervous because of the presence of John Gantt, who had been recently dismissed from the factory. That night, Frank called Lee to ask if everything was all right, an unusual practice for him |
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| 1914 | A new Fulton County Courthouse opened. Atlanta was named headquarters for the Federal Reserve Bank, 6th District. |
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| 1915 | Emory University was chartered. | |
| 1916 | Ogelthorpe University received its first students at its Peachtree Road campus. | |
| 1917 | Devastating fire temporarily burned out 10,000 citizens in the NE area along Jackson Street and North Boulevard. | |
| 1918 | Southern Railway opened the Brookwood Station
facility - it was designed by Neel Reid. The last of the horse drawn steamers were cut by the fire dept. |
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| 1920 | US Census Population - 200,000 in Atlanta. | |
| 1922 | WSB and WGST - First local Atlanta Stations to air in Atlanta | |
| 1925 | The City leased (and later purchased) Candler Field for a municipal airport - known as Hartsfield or Hartsfield International in later years. | |
| 1926 | Atlanta Historical Society inaugurated. | |
| 1928 | Air Mail Service was introduced in Atlanta. | |
| 1929 | City Hall completed. | |
| 1930 | Delta Airlines - in June of 1930 scheduled passenger
service from Atlanta. Eastern Airlines in December of 1930 scheduled passenger service from Atlanta. Population: 270,366 |
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| 1931 | Gov. Richard Russell signed an act incorporating Milton County into Fulton County, conditioned on approval of a referendum in each county. Voters of both counties ratified the consolidation, which became effective Jan. 1, 1932. | |
| 1932 | With the annexation of Cambell and Milton Counties and of the Roswell District of Cobb County - Fulton exctended their boundaries. | |
| 1935 | Atlanta's public housing project - Techwood Homes which was dedicated by President Franklin D. Roosevelt was a pioneering public housing project. | |
| 1936 | GONE WITH THE WIND is published. ..... David O. Selznick paid Margaret Mitchell $50,000 for the motion picture rights to Gone With the Wind. At the time, more than 200,000 copies of the popular novel had been sold, and the $50,000 was the most ever paid for screen rights for an author's first work. The movie was not premiered in Atlanta until three years later. | |
| 1948 | WSB-TV launched the City's first television station. | |
| 1950 | Population 331,314 | |
| 1960 | ||
| 1977 | As of 1977, only 19 years after gold application to the dome of the Capitol, almost half of the gold was gone from the dome. | |
| 1980 | ||
| 1990 | ||
| 1991 | ||
| 1992 | 1992 Georgia swimmer Angel Martino won the first gold medal of the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain. | |
| 1993 | ||
| 1994 | ||
| 1995 | ||
| 1996 | July 27 - In the early morning hours, downtown
Atlanta was shocked with the Centennial Olympic Park bombing.
The blast killed one woman and injured more than 100 bystanders.
By morning IOC officials decided to continue the 1996 Summer
Olympics on this day (though Olympic flags were flown at half
staff). (July 30) On day 12 of the 1996 Summer Olympics, Olympic Centennial Park is reopened three days after the bombing. |
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| 1997 | July 27 - Over 3,000 explosives were used to implode the 25-year-old Omni coliseum, located several blocks west of the center of downtown Atlanta. Twenty-thousand tons of structure were leveled in seconds. Gone was the long-time home of the Atlanta Hawks, 1988 National Democratic Convention, and countless rock concerts (including a number by Elvis and most of the popular music greats) and other events. What had opened in October 1972 with an Atlanta Flames hockey game will be replaced by a new facility to serve as home court for the Hawks beginning in 1999 | |
| 1998 | ||
| 1999 | ||
| List of Other Capitals of Georgia Up to and Including Atlanta |
1777-78 Savannah |
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| CLICK HERE TO SEE ANIMATED SHOW OF ITEMS IN RE TO GEORGIA'S FULTON COUNTY. Note: Link unavailable at this time - photography being redone on several of the items. | ||
| Site Compilation copyright
- 2002 - Brenda Pierce Last Updated - April 27, 2002 - No further updates to be made to this page. |
Return to Fulton County, Georgia
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