page_title: History of Atlanta
section_title: From railroad terminus to Atlanta: 1836–1860
hierarchical_section_title: History of Atlanta / From railroad terminus to Atlanta: 1836–1860
caption_attribution_description: English: Marker for the terminus of the Western and Atlantic Railroad from Chattanooga, TN. The terminus is now known as Atlanta, GA.
context_page_description: The history of Atlanta dates back to 1836, when Georgia decided to build a railroad to the U.S. Midwest and a location was chosen to be the line's terminus. The stake marking the founding of "Terminus" was driven into the ground in 1837. In 1839, homes and a store were built there and the settlement grew. Between 1845 and 1854, rail lines arrived from four different directions, and the rapidly growing town quickly became the rail hub for the entire Southern United States. During the American Civil War, Atlanta, as a distribution hub, became the target of a major Union campaign, and in 1864, Union William Sherman's troops set on fire and destroyed the city's assets and buildings, save churches and hospitals. After the war, the population grew rapidly, as did manufacturing, while the city retained its role as a rail hub. Coca-Cola was launched here in 1886 and grew into an Atlanta-based world empire. Electric streetcars arrived in 1889, and the city added new "streetcar suburbs".
context_section_description: In 1836, the Georgia General Assembly voted to build the Western and Atlantic Railroad to provide a link between the port of Savannah and the Midwest. The initial route of that state-sponsored project was to run from Chattanooga, Tennessee, to a spot east of the Chattahoochee River, in present-day Fulton County. The plan was to eventually link up with the Georgia Railroad from Augusta, and with the Macon and Western Railroad, which ran between Macon and Savannah. A U.S. Army engineer, Colonel Stephen Harriman Long, was asked to recommend the location where the Western and Atlantic line would terminate. He surveyed various possible routes, then in the autumn of 1837, drove a stake into the ground between what are now Forsyth Street and Andrew Young International Boulevard, about three or four blocks northwest of today's Five Points. The zero milepost was later placed to mark that spot.
  In 1839, John Thrasher built homes and a general store in this vicinity, and the settlement was nicknamed Thrasherville. A marker identifies the location of Thrasherville at 104 Marietta Street, NW, in front of the State Bar of Georgia Building, between Spring and Cone Streets.
  (33°45.409′N 84°23.542′W) At this point, Thrasher built the Monroe Embankment, an earthen embankment to carry the Monroe Railway to meet the W&A at the terminus. This is the oldest existing man-made structure in downtown Atlanta.
  In 1842, the planned terminus location was moved, four blocks southeast (two to three blocks southeast of Five Points), to what would become State Square, on Wall Street between Central Avenue and Pryor Street. (33°45.141′N 84°23.317′W). At this location, the zero milepost can now be found, adjacent to the southern entrance of Underground Atlanta. As the settlement grew, it became known as Terminus, literally meaning "end of the line". By 1842, the settlement at Terminus had six buildings and 30 residents.
  Meanwhile, settlement began at what became the Buckhead section of Atlanta, several miles north of today's downtown. In 1838, Henry Irby started a tavern and grocery at what became the intersection of Paces Ferry and Roswell Roads.
  In 1842, when a two-story brick depot was built, the locals asked that the settlement of Terminus be called Lumpkin, after Governor Wilson Lumpkin. Gov. Lumpkin asked them to name it after his young daughter (Martha Atalanta Lumpkin) instead, and Terminus became Marthasville; it was officially incorporated on December 23, 1843.  In 1845, the chief engineer of the Georgia Railroad (J. Edgar Thomson) suggested that Marthasville be renamed "Atlantica-Pacifica", which was quickly shortened to "Atlanta". Wilson Lumpkin seems to have supported the change, reporting that Martha's middle name was Atalanta. The residents approved the name change, apparently undaunted by the fact that not a single train had yet visited. Act 109 of the Georgia General Assembly enacted the name change, which was approved December 26, 1845, and signed into law 3 days afterward. In the same act, the election precinct known as the Whitehall precinct (in the home of Charner Humphries) was also changed to Atlanta. In 1847, the city's charter was approved, elections were held, and the first slate of councilmen and the mayor took office in January 1848.
  AN ACT to change the name of Marthasville, in DeKalb County, to that of Atlanta; also, to change the election precinct now held at the house of Charner Humphries, known as the Whitehall precinct, to Atlanta.
  SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Georgia, in General Assembly met, and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the same, That from and after the passage of this act, the name of Marthasville, in DeKalb county, shall be changed to that of Atlanta.
  SEC. 2. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the election precinct now established by law at the house of Charner Humphries, known as the Whitehall precinct, be and the same is hereby changed to Atlanta.
  SEC. 3. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That all laws 
caption: Western & Atlantic Railroad's Zero Mile Post
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