Atlanta History
Atlanta was founded in 1837 as the end of the Western & Atlantic railroad
line (it was first named Marthasville in honor of the then-governor's daughter,
nicknamed Terminus for its rail location, and then changed soon after to Atlanta,
the feminine of Atlantic -- as in the railroad). Today the fast-growing
city remains a transportation hub, not just for the country but also for the
world: Hartsfield Atlanta International Airport is one of the nation's busiest
in daily passenger flights. Direct flights to Europe, South America,
and Asia have made metro Atlanta easily accessible to the more than 1,000
international businesses that operate here and the more than 50 countries
that have representation in the city through consulates, trade offices, and
chambers of commerce. The city has emerged as a banking center and is
the world headquarters for 13 Fortune 500 companies.
Atlanta is the Capital city of the southeast, a city of the future with strong
ties to its past. The old in new Atlanta is the soul of the city, the
heritage that enhances the quality of life in a contemporary city. In
the turbulent 60's, Atlanta was "the city too busy to hate."
And today, in the 21st Century, Atlanta is the "city not too busy to
care".
For more than four decades Atlanta has been linked to the civil rights movement.
Civil Rights leaders moved forward, they were the visionaries who saw a new
south, a new Atlanta. They believed in peace. They made monumental sacrifices
for that peace. And because of them Atlanta became a fast-pace modern
city which opened its doors to the 1996 Olympics.
Die-hard Southerners view Atlanta as the heart of the Old Confederacy, Atlanta
has become the best example of the New South, a fast-paced modern city proud
of its heritage.
In the past two decades Atlanta has experienced unprecedented growth -- the
official city population remains steady, at about 420,000, but the metro population
has grown in the past decade by nearly 40%, from 2.9 million to 4.1 million
people. A good measure of this growth is the ever-changing downtown
skyline, along with skyscrapers constructed in the Midtown, Buckhead, and
outer perimeter (fringing I-285) business districts.
Since the late 1970s dozens of dazzling skyscrapers designed by such luminaries
as Philip Johnson, I. M. Pel, and Marcel Breuer have reshaped the city's profile.
Twenty-first Century, in Atlanta, history is being written...
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