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The area of today`s Atlanta was first discovered by some explorers
who in 1782 found an Indian village at the river Chattahoochee
and called it standing peachtree. Scientists persume that peach
is derived from pitch (Pechkiefer) because peachtrees (Pfirsichbäume)
are not native in this area. Oh, and the area has more than 30 streets
with the word Peachtree in its name....gotta be a record, huh?
In 1812 Fort Peachtree was founded in order to protect the early
settlers from the Indians. Twenty years later the state sold the
Indian land to white settlers. Hardy Ivy from North Carolina was
in 1833 the first white man who settled down there for a longer
time (at today`s crossing Courtland/ Ellis Street).
As the land was still undeveloped to a large extent, the State of Georgia
chartered a railroad to connect farming and cotton states to eastern
markets and ports in 1836. A rail line was built between Atlanta and
Chattanooga and 138 mile markers were placed. The Zero Milepost
still stands at Underground Atlanta today. The first engine, however,
passed over the bridge over the Chattahoochee river only in 1845 --
pulled by some mules because rails had not yet been built. The terminal and the town were named as unimaginative as possible: Terminus. This was the birthname of Atlanta. 17.000 Indians were driven away by force, 4.000 of them died during the 1.280 kilometres march to Oklahoma. As Trail Of Tears this incident entered into history books.
Gradually more and more people settled down there and in 1847 they renamed Terminus into Marthasville referring to the daughter of their governor Wilson Lumpkin. At the same time a 23-year-old second lieutnant of the army, William Tecumseh Sherman, was stationed in Marthasville for two months. Later he should be of great importance for this town.
In 1845 taciturn railway-men complained that the name Marthasville was too long and the 2000 imaginative citizens opted for Atlanta which is the female form of Atlantic.
As a bustling new town Atlanta emerged rapidly around the Zero Milepost. On the eve of the Civil War, Atlanta had 10.000 people. It had already become the trade and cultural center for the South and gained a lot of importance because of its railway lines (today the trains have been replaced by planes concerning this function).
Alabama Street, between Peachtree Street and Central Avenue, was the city`s center, which was to become Underground Atlanta. In 1855 America`s first gas-lamps were lighted in Atlanta.
In 1861 the Civil War broke out and Georgia seceded from the Union in January. Atlanta was a prime target for the Army of General William T. Sherman. At the beginning of the year Atlanta saw an earthquake, later it got strategic importance because it was the railroad center for the South and served as the supply depot of the Confederacy. However, Atlanta`s wish to become the capital of the Confederacy run aground; instead of this Richmond (Virginia) became the capital.
In 1862 James J. Andrews, a spy of the Union, together with some soldiers boarded a train with the engine General. They were pursued by the engine Texas, caught and executed. This event is known as The Great Locomotive Chase. The engine Texas is on view in the Cyclorama Museum, General in the Big Shanty Museum.
Federal shelling into the city`s center damaged the gas-lamp, which still stands at Peachtree and lower Alabama Streets.
In 1864, exactly on July 22, General Sherman invaded Atlanta with 100.000 Union-soldiers and put 60.000 Confederates to flight. The battle lasted six weeks and cost the lives of 66.650 people until the mayor of Atlanta, James Calhoun, walked through the streets with a white flag and capitulated. But that didn`t impress Sherman and so his drunken soldiers passed through the town and reduced it to a smoking ruin. Finally 3300 of the 3600 houses were burned down -- a dramatical scene in Gone With The Wind, a traumatical event for the city and its inhabitants. Atlanta is the only American city that has ever been destroyed during a war.
One year later the Civil War was over and the rebuilding began. The last soldiers of the Confederacy, however, didn`t leave before 1876. Atlantans sifted through the ashes of wartime and the city drew upon its unconquerable spirit and the wise use of carpetbagger money to again become a booming commercial center.
In the five years between 1866 and 1871 the city`s population doubled to 22.000. In 1877 Atlanta became the capital of the State of Georgia.
In 1886 the chemist John S. Pemberton invented the most popular product that has been offered all over the world for 100 years: a drink called Coca-Cola. Two years later Pemberton sold the patent to Asa Chandler for 2300 dollars who developed Coca-Cola into a product for millions of people. Ernest Woodruff, a banker from Atlanta, bought the company in 1916 for 50 mio dollars and became Mr. Coca-Cola. Woodruff endowed 225 mio dollars to Emory University which today would not exist without him.
In 1929 Atlanta`s first airport was opened and became the home-airport of Delta Air Lines.
Seven years later, in 1936, Margaret Mitchell`s novel Gone With The Wind was published, three years later the movie was shown for the first time. Due to segregation blacks were not allowed to watch the film.
In the late 50s Martin Luther King Jr. who was born in Atlanta in 1925 and assassinated in Memphis in 1968 succeeded with his idea of nonviolent resistance. In 1959 segregation was abolished in public transport, two years later at schools and universities. Maynard Jackson was in 1974 the first black mayor of Atlanta, his successor Andrew Young was also black.
Starting in 1960 the unknown architect John Portman made Atlanta a booming city. For example he built the Marchandise Mart, the Portman Center, some towers, famous hotels (like the Hyatt Regency Atlanta which made him famous all over the world) or the Mariott Hotel. Soon another architect, Tom Cousins came. The hard competition between the two architects led to today`s skyline of Atlanta without any order or architectural planning.
In 1979 Atlanta got a modern rapid-rail system: MARTA.
After selection by the International Olympic Committee, Atlanta hosted
the 1996 summer Olympics.
Today Atlanta is the third largest city of the USA, the commercial, industrial
and financial giant of the Southeast. Atlantans call it The Next Great
International City and that shows a certain pride in their booming city. From
an economic perspective, there is ample evidence to support this slogan:
more than 30 international banks have offices there, foreign capital investment
tops $ 6 billion, and there are more than 1.000 facilities either owned or leased
by international companies. The Atlanta International School attracts students
from 48 countries and the city boasts three foreign-language newspapers,
a consular corps representing 22 nations, two dozen international trade and
tourism offices and nine foreign chambers of commerce. The United Nations
is even preparing to move its international training facilities from Switzerland
to Atlanta. And how many cities can claim a chamber of commerce branch
office in Russia? CNN is based there and Coca-Cola claims Atlanta as its
hometown. With low unemployment and a solid, multi-industry economy to
keep the cost of living in check, Atlanta draws annual praise from business
journals as one of the country`s best cities in which to do business.
Some more of the claims to fame are the Hartsfield International Airport which is the largest passenger terminal complex in the world, the Atlanta Ballet (the longest running ballet company in the world) or the Georgia World Congress Center (the most-occupied city convention site in the United States).
And this list could go on and on, so experience it yourself...
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