Timeline of Atlanta

19th century

1821 – Creek Indians cede land that is now Metro Atlanta per treaty.

1839 – Settlement of "Terminus" established (at what would be end of Western and Atlantic Railroad).

1843 – Town of Marthasville incorporated.

1845

Georgia Railroad (Augusta-Marthasville) begins operating.

Marthasville renamed "Atlanta."

1846 – Macon & Western RR connects Atlanta with port of Savannah.

1847 – Town of Atlanta incorporated.

1848 - Moses Formwalt becomes mayor.

1849 - Benjamin Bomar becomes mayor.

1850

Population: 2,572

Atlanta Cemetery founded.

1851 - Western and Atlantic Railroad connects Atlanta to The Midwest.

1852 - Atlanta & West Point Railroad built.

1853 - Atlanta becomes seat of Fulton County.

1855

Atlanta Medical College established.

Gas lighting installed in city.

1860

Population: 9,554.

William Ezzard becomes mayor (1860 - 1861).

1861

Jared Whitaker becomes mayor (1861 - 1861 - joined CSA government).

Thomas Lowe becomes mayor (1861 - 1862).

1864

James Calhoun becomes mayor (1862 - 1866).

May–September: Union forces wage Atlanta Campaign.

September 2: Union forces take city.

November 15: Burning of Atlanta by Union forces.

Nov. 26: Col. Luther J. Glenn is appointed commander of the Atlanta Post.

Dec. 5: Cap. Thomas L. Dodd is appointed the Provost-Marshal.

Dec 7: Gen. W. P. Howard sends his report to Governor Brown on the destruction of Atlanta.

1865

Civil War ends; slaves freed.

Atlanta University, first Atlanta black college, founded.

1867 - Young Men's Library Association founded.

1868

Atlanta becomes Georgia state capital.

Constitution newspaper begins publication.

1869 - Clark College founded.

1870 - Population: 21,789.

1871

Horse-drawn streetcar begins operating.

Public school system organized.

1877 - Washington Seminary established.

1878 - Southern Medical College established.

1879

Augusta Institute moves from Augusta to Atlanta and is renamed Atlanta Baptist Seminary.

Atlanta Building and Loan Association established.

1880

Abyssinian Library established.

Population: 37,409; Atlanta surpasses Savannah as Georgia's largest city.

1881

Atlanta Baptist Female Seminary and Morris Brown Colored College founded.

International Cotton Exposition held.

1882 - Atlanta Fire Rescue Department established.

1883

Atlanta Journal newspaper begins publication.

Capital City Club established.

1885 - Georgia Institute of Technology founded.

1886

Ebenezer Baptist Church founded.

Atlanta goes "dry".

Coca-Cola beverage introduced.

1887

Piedmont Exposition held.

Piedmont Driving Club and Inman Park (first garden suburb) founded.

Coca-Cola invents the coupon.

1888 - Atlanta Camera Club organized.

1889

First electric streetcars enable further expansion of city.

Georgia State Capitol building opens.

Grant Park and Atlanta Zoo established.

Fulton Bag and Cotton Mills is incorporated.

1890 - Population: 65,533.

1891 - Atlanta Consolidated Street Railway in business.

1892 - Grady Memorial Hospital opens.

1895

Cotton States and International Exposition held.

September: Booker T. Washington gives "Atlanta Compromise" Speech.

Atlanta Woman's Club founded.

1896 - Atlanta Conference of the Study of Negro Problems begins.

1899 - Federal penitentiary established.

1900s-1940s

1900 - Population: 89,872; metro 419,375.

1901 - Atlanta Theological Seminary established.

1902 - Carnegie Library opens.

1904 - Atlanta Art Association formed.

1905

Atlanta School of Medicine and Associated Charities of Atlanta founded.

Atlanta Mutual Insurance Association in business.

1906 - September 22: Atlanta Race Riot kills 27.

1907 - Atlanta Conservatory of Music founded.

1908 - Atlanta Neighborhood Union organized.

1909 - Architectural Arts League of Atlanta organized.

1910

Population: 154,839; metro 522,442.

Restaurants segregated; other Jim Crow laws follow.

1911 - Atlanta Debutante Club founded.

1913

Georgia Tech starts "evening college", now Georgia State.

Augusta Institute established founded in 1867 is renamed Morehouse College.

1914

Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta established.

Labor strike at Fulton Bag and Cotton Mills.

1915

Emory College relocated to Atlanta.

November: Birth of a Nation film premieres.

Ku Klux Klan refounded in Atlanta.

1916

Streetcar strike.

Utopian Literary Club and Atlanta Junior League founded.

1917 - Great Atlanta fire.

1918 - 1918 influenza epidemic.

1919 - Commission on Interracial Cooperation active.

1920

Butler Street YMCA opens.

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.

January 15: Martin Luther King, Jr. is born.

1930 - Population: 270,366; metro 715,391.

1933 - Georgia Municipal Association headquartered in city.

1935 - Cascade Theatre opens.

1936

Atlanta Dogwood Festival begins.

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.

Population: 302,288.

1941 - Central Atlanta Progress established.

1944

Atlanta Campaign National Historic Site established.

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.

December 7: Winecoff Hotel fire.

1947 - Regional Metropolitan Planning Commission established.

1949

WAGA-TV and WERD-AM radio begin broadcasting.

Atlanta Negro Voters League founded.

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.

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.

1959 - Trolleybuses, buses, public library desegregated.

Lenox Square mall opens.

Metro population hits 1 million.

1960

Population: 487,455; metro 1,312,474.

March 15: An Appeal for Human Rights is released.

Sit-ins at Rich's lunch counters during the Civil Rights Movement.

Atlanta Inquirer newspaper begins publication.

1961

Ivan Allen, Jr. becomes mayor.

Public schools begin token desegregation.

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.

106 Atlanta art patrons die in Paris air crash.

1963

Atlanta Marathon begins.

Trolleybuses converted en masse to buses.

1964

U.S. Supreme Court decides Heart of Atlanta Motel, Inc. v. United States.

Atlanta Press Club and Atlanta Track Club established.

1966 - State of Georgia Building constructed.

1967

Atlanta Chiefs soccer team begins play.

Sister city relationship established with Salzburg, Austria.

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 and Perimeter freeway open.

Afro-American Police League chapter established.

1970

Peachtree Road Race begins.

Population: 496,973; metro 1,763,626

1971

Atlanta Gay Pride Festival established.

International flights begin at Hartsfield Airport.

1972 - Sister city relationships established with Montego Bay, Jamaica; and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

1973 - Maynard Jackson becomes first black mayor of Atlanta.

1974

Sevananda Natural Foods Market in business.

Sister city relationships established with Lagos, Nigeria; Taipei, Taiwan; and Toulouse, France.

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.

1977

Atlanta Soto Zen Center founded.

Sister city relationship established with Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom.

1979

Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority begins operating.

Atlanta murders of 1979–1981 begin.

1980

Population: 425,022; metro 2,233,324.

All-news television network CNN begins broadcasting; Turner empire takes off.

Al-Farooq Masjid (mosque) and Martin Luther King, Jr., National Historic Site established.

1981

Atlanta Gay Men's Chorus founded.

Sister city relationship established with Daegu, South Korea.

1982

Andrew Young becomes mayor.

Carter Center headquartered in Atlanta.

1983

Atlanta–Fulton Public Library System established.

Sister city relationship established with Brussels, Belgium.

1984 - Sweet Auburn Heritage Festival begins.

1986

Jimmy Carter Library and Museum dedicated.

Midtown Assistance Center established.

1987

John Lewis becomes U.S. representative for Georgia's 5th congressional district.

Sister city relationship established with Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago.

1988

Democratic Convention.

Sister city relationship established with Tbilisi, Georgia.

1990 - Population: 394,017; metro 2,959,950.

1991

Atlanta Bicycle Coalition organized.

Land bank established.

Drepung Loseling Institute opens.

1992

Georgia Dome opens.

SunTrust Plaza and Bank of America Plaza built.

1994 - Sister city relationships established with Bucharest, Romania; and Ancient Olympia, Greece.

1995

October 28: Atlanta Braves baseball team wins 1995 World Series.

Atlanta Downtown Improvement District established.

Sister city relationship established with Cotonou, Benin.

1996

July–August: Summer Olympics.

July 27: Centennial Olympic Park bombing.

Sister city relationship established with Salcedo, Dominican Republic.

1998

City website online (approximate date).

Sister city relationship established with Nuremberg, Germany.

1999

Philips Arena opens.

Atlanta Thrashers ice hockey team begins play.

21st century

2000

Freedom Park dedicated.

Sister city relationship established with Ra'anana, Israel.

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.

Sister city relationship established with Fukuoka, Japan.

2008

Delta becomes world's largest airline.

March 14–15: 2008 Atlanta tornado outbreak.

2010 - Population: 420,003; metro 5,268,860.

2011

July: Atlanta Public Schools cheating scandal investigative report issued.

Atlanta first US city to demolish all public housing projects.

2012 - Part of BeltLine path opens.

2014 - National Center for Civil and Human Rights opens.

2016 - Murder Kroger closes.

2017- interstate 85 One of Atlanta main interstate caught fire and collapse.