Timeline of Atlanta

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

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

1900s-1940s

 * 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.
 * 1914–1915 Fulton Bag and Cotton Mills strike.
 * 1915
 * Emory College relocated to Atlanta.
 * November: film The Birth of a Nation 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.
 * 1922 - WSB radio begins broadcasting.
 * 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.
 * WGST radio begins broadcasting.
 * 1930 - Population: 270,366; metro 715,391.
 * 1931 - WATL radio begins broadcasting.
 * 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.
 * 1937 - WAGA radio begins broadcasting.
 * 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.
 * 1948 - WSB-TV (television) begins broadcasting.
 * 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
 * Georgia Board of Regents, votes to allow women into Georgia Tech.
 * Buckhead annexed.
 * 1953 - Links chapter established.
 * 1956
 * 1956 Sugar Bowl first black player to play in a college bowl game in deep south causes riots.
 * 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.
 * 1965 – Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium constructed.
 * 1966
 * State of Georgia Building constructed.
 * Both the relocated Atlanta Braves of Major League Baseball and the expansion Atlanta Falcons of the National Football League begin play at Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium.
 * 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.
 * The Atlanta Flames are established as an expansion team of the National Hockey League.
 * The Omni Coliseum opens as the new home of the NBA's Hawks and NHL's Flames.
 * 1973
 * Maynard Jackson becomes first black mayor of Atlanta.
 * GSU Sports Arena open.
 * 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.
 * Flames hockey team sold and relocated to Calgary, Alberta.
 * 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
 * 6 September: 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
 * Centennial Olympic Park opens.
 * 18 May: Centennial Olympic Stadium opens.
 * 19 July–4 August: 1996 Summer Olympics held.
 * July 27: Centennial Olympic Park bombing.
 * 16–25 August: 1996 Summer Paralympics held.
 * 24 October: Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium closed.
 * Sister city relationship established with Salcedo, Dominican Republic.
 * 1997
 * Centennial Olympic Stadium reconstructed as Turner Field.
 * 2 August: Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium demolished and parking space built for Turner Field.
 * 1998
 * City website online (approximate date).
 * Sister city relationship established with Nuremberg, Germany.
 * 1999
 * Philips Arena opens.
 * Atlanta Thrashers ice hockey team begins play.
 * 2000
 * Freedom Park dedicated.
 * Sister city relationship established with Ra'anana, Israel.
 * Population: 416,474; metro 4,112,198.

2000s

 * 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.

2010s

 * 2010 - Population: 420,003; metro 5,268,860.
 * 2011
 * Thrashers hockey team are sold and relocated to Winnipeg, Manitoba, becoming the new Winnipeg Jets.
 * 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.
 * 2015 - Population: 463,875 (estimate).
 * 2016
 * Murder Kroger closes.
 * Turner Field hosts its last baseball game, with the Braves moving to a new ballpark, SunTrust Park, in Cobb County.
 * 2017
 * Georgia Dome closes.
 * Atlanta United FC begins play in Major League Soccer.
 * Interstate 85 bridge collapse occurs.
 * Turner Field reconstructed as Georgia State Stadium.
 * Mercedes-Benz Stadium opens.
 * 2018
 * Hackers successfully breach the city's servers, encrypting files with ransomware and disrupting services.

2020s

 * 2021
 * The Atlanta spa shootings occur.
 * The Atlanta Braves baseball team win the 2021 World Series.

Published in 19th century

 * 1860s-1870s
 * 1880s-1890s
 * 1880s-1890s
 * 1880s-1890s
 * 1880s-1890s
 * 1880s-1890s
 * 1880s-1890s
 * 1880s-1890s
 * 1880s-1890s
 * 1880s-1890s

Published in 20th century

 * 1900s-1940s
 * ; v.2
 * 1904
 * 1908 ed.
 * 1904
 * 1908 ed.
 * 1904
 * 1908 ed.


 * 1950s-1990s
 * (fulltext via Open Library)
 * Robert D. Bullard et al., eds (2000). Sprawl City: Race, Politics, and Planning in Atlanta. Washington, DC: Island Press.
 * (fulltext via Open Library)
 * Robert D. Bullard et al., eds (2000). Sprawl City: Race, Politics, and Planning in Atlanta. Washington, DC: Island Press.
 * (fulltext via Open Library)
 * Robert D. Bullard et al., eds (2000). Sprawl City: Race, Politics, and Planning in Atlanta. Washington, DC: Island Press.
 * (fulltext via Open Library)
 * Robert D. Bullard et al., eds (2000). Sprawl City: Race, Politics, and Planning in Atlanta. Washington, DC: Island Press.
 * Robert D. Bullard et al., eds (2000). Sprawl City: Race, Politics, and Planning in Atlanta. Washington, DC: Island Press.
 * Robert D. Bullard et al., eds (2000). Sprawl City: Race, Politics, and Planning in Atlanta. Washington, DC: Island Press.
 * Robert D. Bullard et al., eds (2000). Sprawl City: Race, Politics, and Planning in Atlanta. Washington, DC: Island Press.

Published in 21st century

 * (About economic aspects of city)
 * (About economic aspects of city)
 * (About economic aspects of city)
 * (About economic aspects of city)
 * (About economic aspects of city)
 * (About economic aspects of city)