Timeline of Atlanta

The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Atlanta, Georgia, United States.

This is an incomplete list that may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by expanding it with reliably sourced entries.

19th century

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• 1821 - Creek Indians cede land that is now Metro Atlanta per treaty.^[1]
• 1839 - Settlement of "Terminus" established (at what would be end of Western and Atlantic Railroad).^[2]
• 1843 - Town of Marthasville incorporated.^[1]
• 1845
  • Georgia Railroad (Augusta-Marthasville) begins operating.^[1]
  • Marthasville renamed "Atlanta."^[1]
• 1846 - Macon & Western RR connects Atlanta with port of Savannah.^[1]
• 1847 - Town of Atlanta incorporated.^[3]
• 1848 - Moses Formwalt becomes mayor.
• 1850
  • Population: 2,572.
  • Atlanta Cemetery founded.^[1]
• 1851 - Western and Atlantic Railroad connects Atlanta to The Midwest.
• 1852 - Atlanta & West Point Railroad built.^[1]
• 1853 - Atlanta becomes seat of Fulton County.^[1]
• 1855
  • Atlanta Medical College established.^[4]
  • Gas lighting installed in city.^[5]
• 1860 - Population: 9,554.^[4]
• 1864
  • May–September: Union forces wage Atlanta Campaign.
  • September 2: Union forces take city.^[2]
  • November 15: Burning of Atlanta by Union forces.^[2]
• 1865
  • Civil War ends; slaves freed.
  • Atlanta University, 1st Atlanta black college, founded.
• 1867 - Young Men's Library Association founded.^[6]
• 1868
  • Atlanta becomes Georgia state capital.^[1]
  • Constitution newspaper begins publication.^[7]
• 1869 - Clark College founded.
• 1870 - Population: 21,879
• 1871
  • Horse-drawn streetcar begins operating.^[1][8]
  • Public school system organized.^[4]
• 1877 - Washington Seminary established.
• 1878 - Southern Medical College established.^[4]
• 1879
  • Atlanta Baptist Seminary^[9] and Atlanta Building and Loan Association established.^[10]
• 1880
  • Abyssinian Library established.^[11]
  • Population: 37,409;^[4] Atlanta surpasses Savannah as Georgia's largest city.
• 1881
  • Atlanta Baptist Female Seminary and Morris Brown Colored College founded.
  • International Cotton Exposition held.^[4]
• 1882 - Atlanta Fire Rescue Department established.
• 1883
  • Atlanta Journal newspaper begins publication.^[7]
  • Capital City Club established.
• 1885 - Georgia Institute of Technology founded.
• 1886
  • Ebenezer Baptist Church founded.^[12]
  • Atlanta goes "dry".
  • Coca-Cola first sold.
• 1887
  • Piedmont Exposition held.^[4]
  • Piedmont Driving Club^[13] and Inman Park (first garden suburb) founded.
  • Coca-Cola invents the coupon.
• 1888 - Atlanta Camera Club organized.^[14]
• 1889
  • First electric streetcars enable further expansion of city.
  • Georgia State Capitol building opens.^[4]
  • Grant Park established.
• 1890 - Population: 65,533.^[4]
• 1891 - Atlanta Consolidated Street Railway in business.
• 1892
  • Atlanta Zoo established.^[15]
  • Grady Memorial Hospital opens.^[4]
• 1895
  • Cotton States and International Exposition held.^[4]
  • September: Booker T. Washington gives "Atlanta Compromise" Speech.^[16]
  • Atlanta Woman's Club founded.
• 1896 - Atlanta Conference of the Study of Negro Problems begins.^[17]
• 1899 - Federal penitentiary established.^[2]

20th century

1900s-1940s

• 1900 - Population: 89,872;^[4] metro 419,375.
• 1901 - Atlanta Theological Seminary established.^[4]
• 1902 - Carnegie Library opens.^[18]
• 1904 - Atlanta Art Association formed.^[19]
• 1905
  • Atlanta School of Medicine^[4] and Associated Charities of Atlanta^[4] founded.
  • Atlanta Mutual Insurance Association in business.^[20][21]
• 1906 - September 22: Atlanta Race Riot kills 27.^[22]
• 1907 - Atlanta Conservatory of Music founded.^[8]
• 1908 - Atlanta Neighborhood Union organized.^[17]
• 1909 - Architectural Arts League of Atlanta organized.^[19]
• 1910
  • Population: 154,839;^[4] metro 522,442.
  • Restaurants segregated; other Jim Crow laws follow.
• 1911 - Atlanta Debutante Club founded.^[13]
• 1913 - Georgia Tech starts "evening college", now Georgia State.
• 1914 - Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta established.^[23]
• 1915
  • Emory College relocated to Atlanta.
  • November: Birth of a Nation film premieres.
  • Ku Klux Klan refounded in Atlanta.^[21]
• 1916
  • Streetcar strike.^[24]
  • Utopian Literary Club^[20] and Atlanta Junior League^[13] founded.
• 1917 - Great Atlanta fire.
• 1919 - Commission on Interracial Cooperation active.^[21]
• 1920 - Population: 200,616; metro 622,283.
• 1921 - Atlanta Junior Chamber (JCI Atlanta) established.
• 1923 - Spring Street Viaduct opens, downtown rises above train tracks.
• 1926 - Atlanta Historical Society founded.
• 1927 - Atlanta Historical Bulletin begins publication.
• 1928 - Atlanta World newspaper begins publication.
• 1929
  • Atlanta University Center Consortium established.
  • City Hall built.^[2]
• 1930 - Population: 270,366; metro 715,391.
• 1933 - Georgia Municipal Association headquartered in city.
• 1935 - Cascade Theatre opens.^[25]
• 1936
  • Atlanta Dogwood Festival begins.^[26]
  • William B. Hartsfield elected mayor.
  • Techwood Homes built, first public housing in US.
• 1939
  • Plaza Theatre opens.
  • Gone with the Wind world premiere draws 300,000 to streets.
• 1940 - Euclid Theatre opens.
• 1941 - Central Atlanta Progress established.
• 1944
  • Atlanta Campaign National Historic Site established.^[2]
  • Southern Regional Council and Associated Klans of Georgia headquartered in city.
• 1945 - Mary Mac's Tea Room in business.
• 1946 - U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention founded.
• 1949
  • WAGA-TV and WERD-AM radio^[27] begin broadcasting.
  • Atlanta Negro Voters League founded.^[27]
  • Last streetcar line converted to trolleybus.

1950s-1990s

• 1950
  • Population: 331,314; metro 997,666.
  • Transit strike, Atlanta Transit Co. takes over transit from Georgia Railway and Power.
• 1952 - Buckhead annexed.
• 1953 - Links chapter established.^[20]
• 1956 - Alexander Memorial Coliseum opens.
• 1957 - Southern Christian Leadership Conference headquartered in city.
• 1958
  • October 12: Hebrew Benevolent Congregation Temple bombing.
  • Atlanta Masjid of Al-Islam established.^[28]
• 1959 - Trolleybuses, buses, public library desegregated.
  • Lenox Square mall opens.
  • Metro population hits 1 million.
• 1960
  • Population: 487,455; metro 1,312,474.
  • Civil Rights sit-ins at Rich's, lunch counters.^[29]
  • Atlanta Inquirer newspaper begins publication.^[30]
• 1961
  • Ivan Allen, Jr. becomes mayor.
  • Public schools begin token desegregation.^[30]
  • Rich's desegregates restaurant.
  • John Portman opens Merchandise Mart, kicking off transformation of downtown.
  • One Park Tower built.
• 1962
  • Peyton Road barricades built in Cascade Heights.^[21]
  • 106 Atlanta art patrons die in Paris air crash.
• 1963
  • Atlanta Marathon begins.
  • Trolleybuses converted en masse to buses.
• 1964 - Atlanta Track Club established.
• 1966 - State of Georgia Building constructed.
• 1968
  • King Center for Nonviolent Social Change founded.
  • Peach Bowl annual football game begins.
  • Atlanta Hawks basketball team relocates to Atlanta.
  • Equitable Building constructed.
• 1969
  • Coronet Theater^[25] and Perimeter freeway open.
  • Afro-American Police League chapter established.^[17]
• 1970
  • Peachtree Road Race begins.
  • Population: 496,973; metro 1,763,626
• 1971
  • Atlanta Gay Pride Festival established.
  • International flights begin at Hartsfield Airport.^[31]
• 1973 - Maynard Jackson becomes first black mayor of Atlanta.
• 1974 - Sevananda Natural Foods Market in business.^[32]
• 1975 - Centennial Tower built.
• 1976
  • Atlanta Botanical Garden established.
  • Atlanta Film Festival begins.
  • Georgia World Congress Center opens.
  • National Conference of Black Mayors headquartered in city.^[17][33]
• 1977 - Atlanta Soto Zen Center founded.
• 1979
  • Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority begins operating.
  • Atlanta murders of 1979–1981 begin.
• 1980
  • Population: 425,022; metro 2,233,324.
  • CNN launches, Turner empire takes off.
  • Al-Farooq Masjid (mosque)^[28] and Martin Luther King, Jr., National Historic Site established.
• 1981 - Atlanta Gay Men's Chorus founded.
• 1982
  • Andrew Young becomes mayor.
  • Carter Center headquartered in Atlanta.
• 1983 - Atlanta–Fulton Public Library System established.
• 1984 - Sweet Auburn Heritage Festival begins.
• 1986
  • Jimmy Carter Library and Museum dedicated.
  • Midtown Assistance Center established.^[28]
• 1987 - John Lewis becomes Georgia's 5th congressional district representative.^[34]
• 1988 - Democratic Convention.
• 1990 - Population: 394,017; metro 2,959,950.
• 1991
  • Atlanta Bicycle Coalition organized.
  • Land bank established.^[35]
  • Drepung Loseling Institute opens.^[28]
• 1992
  • Georgia Dome opens.
  • SunTrust Plaza and Bank of America Plaza built.
• 1995
  • October 28: Atlanta Braves baseball team wins 1995 World Series.
  • Atlanta Downtown Improvement District established.
• 1996
  • July–August: Summer Olympics.
  • July 27: Centennial Olympic Park bombing.
• 1999 - Philips Arena opens.

21st century

• 2000
  • Freedom Park dedicated.
  • Population: 416,474; metro 4,112,198.
• 2001 - The Atlanta Journal-Constitution newspaper in publication.
• 2002 - Shirley Franklin becomes mayor.
• 2003 - Fermi Project established.
• 2004 - Atlanta Rollergirls established.
• 2005
  • Airport becomes world's busiest.
  • BeltLine plan adopted, adding 40% to city's green space.
• 2008
  • Delta becomes world's largest airline.
  • March 14–15: 2008 Atlanta tornado outbreak.
• 2010 - Population: 420,003; metro (CSA) 5,729,304.
• 2011
  • July: Atlanta Public Schools cheating scandal investigative report issued.
  • Atlanta first US city to demolish all public housing projects.
• 2014 - National Center for Civil and Human Rights opens.

See also

• History of Atlanta
• List of mayors of Atlanta
• Timeline of mass transit in Atlanta
• Timeline of Savannah, Georgia

References

Further reading

Published in the 19th century

1860s-1870s

• V. T. Barnwell (1867), Barnwell's Atlanta city directory, and strangers' guide, Atlanta: Intelligencer Book and Job Office 
• Atlanta City Directory for 1870. Atlanta, Georgia: William R. Hanleiter. 1870. 
• William Henry Overall, ed. (1870), "Atlanta", Dictionary of Chronology, London: William Tegg, OCLC 2613202 
• Atlanta City Directory for 1872. Atlanta, Georgia: Plantation Publishing Co. 1872. 
• Charles H. Jones (1873), "Atlanta", Appletons' Hand-book of American Travel: the Southern Tour, New York: D. Appleton & Co. 
• Directory of the City of Atlanta for 1877. A.E. Sholes. 1877. 
• E.Y. Clarke (1877), Illustrated History of Atlanta, J. P. Harrison 

1880s-1890s

• Atlanta City Directory. Sholes & Co. 1882. 
• Jacob D. Cox (1882), Atlanta, New York: C. Scribner's Sons 
• I.W. Avery (1885). Atlanta: the leader in trade, population, wealth and manufactures in Georgia. Atlanta: Constitution Publishing Co. 
• Wallace Putnam Reed (1889), History of Atlanta, Georgia, Syracuse, N.Y: D. Mason & Co. 
• Atlanta City Directory. Atlanta, Ga.: R.L. Polk & Co. 1891. 
• E.R. Carter (1894), The black side: a partial history of the business, religious and educational side of the Negro in Atlanta, Ga., Atlanta 
• Atlanta City Directory for 1896. Franklin Printing and Publishing Co. 1896. 
• Atlanta City Directory for 1898. Bullock and Saunders. 1898. 
• Handbook of the City of Atlanta, Atlanta: Atlanta City Council, 1898 
• "City of Atlanta", Rand, McNally & Co.'s Handy Guide to the Southeastern States, Chicago: Rand, McNally & Co., 1899 

Published in the 20th century

• "Atlanta", Chambers's Encyclopaedia, London: W. & R. Chambers, 1901 
• Edward Young Clarke, ed. (1902), Atlanta: greatest city of the great South 
• Thomas H. Martin (1902), Atlanta and its builders, Atlanta: Century Memorial Publishing Co. ; v.2
• Pioneer citizens' history of Atlanta, 1833-1902, Atlanta, Ga.: Pioneer Citizens' Society, 1902, OCLC 1850685 
• Atlanta, Carnegie Library of (March 1903), "Finding List Georgia Collection: Atlanta", Carnegie Library Bulletin (Atlanta, Ga.) 1 (8) 
• Atlanta City Directory. Foote & Davies Co.  1904
  • 1908 ed.
• Atlanta, a twentieth-century city, Atlanta: Atlanta Chamber of Commerce, 1904 
• J.D. Cleaton (1907), Atlanta: Metropolis of the South, Atlanta: Franklin-Turner 
• "Atlanta", United States (4th ed.), Leipzig: K. Baedeker, 1909, OCLC 02338437 
• "Atlanta, Georgia". The Modern City (League of American Municipalities) 3. December 1918. 
• Atlanta City Directory. Atlanta City Directory Co. 1919. 
• Atlanta City Directory. 1922. 
• "Atlanta, Pacesetter City of the South", National Geographic Magazine (Washington DC) 135, 1969 
• James C. Starbuck (1974), Historic Atlanta to 1930: an indexed, chronological bibliography, Monticello, Ill., OCLC 933763 
• George J. Lankevich (1977), Howard B. Furer, ed., Atlanta: a chronological & documentary history, 1813-1976, American Cities Chronology Series, Dobbs Ferry, N.Y.: Oceana Publications, ISBN 0379006189 
• Ory Mazar Nergal, ed. (1980), "Atlanta, GA", Encyclopedia of American Cities, New York: E.P. Dutton, OL 4120668M 
• Clarence N. Stone (1989). Regime Politics: Governing Atlanta, 1946-1988. Studies in Government and Public Policy. University Press of Kansas. ISBN 0700604154. 
• George Thomas Kurian (1994), "Atlanta, Georgia", World Encyclopedia of Cities, 1: North America, Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-CLIO  (fulltext via Open Library)
• "Georgia: Atlanta", USA, Australia: Lonely Planet, 1999, p. 541+, OL 19682441M 

Published in the 21st century

• Robert D. Bullard et al., eds (2000). Sprawl City: Race, Politics, and Planning in Atlanta. Washington, DC: Island Press.
• Larry Keating (2001). Atlanta: Race, Class And Urban Expansion. Temple University Press. ISBN 978-1-4399-0449-7. 
• Paul S. Boyer, ed. (2001). "Atlanta". Oxford Companion to United States History. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-508209-8. 

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Atlanta, Georgia.

• "Atlanta", New Georgia Encyclopedia (Georgia Humanities Council) 
• Digital Public Library of America. Items related to Atlanta, various dates.
• Europeana. Items related to Atlanta, Georgia, various dates.

Coordinates: 33°45′18″N 84°23′24″W / 33.755°N 84.39°W / 33.755; -84.39

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