# 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.$^{:182}$
** Dec. 5: Cap. Thomas L. Dodd is appointed the Provost-Marshal.$^{:182}$
** Dec 7: Gen. W. P. Howard sends his report to Governor Brown on the destruction of Atlanta.$^{:182–185}$$^{:407–412}$
* 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.

## 21st century
### 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.