By the end of the year, Atlanta boasts 22 private schools but no public schools. The legislature approves a public-school system, but lacking funds, none exists until 1873. The legislature also approves convict labor being hired out to private firms, thrie first contract being to the Georgia and Alabama Railroad. Gold is discoverd in Randall Mill Road area, but not enough to justify mining. Atlanta Gas Light Co starts lighting the streets again for the first time since Sherman burned the place.
Italian opera is performed in Atlanta for the first time, and opera becomes all the rage.
Atlanta University is chartered. The Federal Government leases property southwest of the city for encamping soldiers. The location, at that time a race track, later became site of Ft. McPherson and Spelman College. Atlanta is named headquarters of the Third Military District under the U.S. Reconstruction Act, and Gen. John S. Pope is put in command.