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Place Name
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Atlanta
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Place Status (Type)
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city
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Capital Of
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Ga. state and Fulton County
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Population
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394,017 (1990)
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Location
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Fulton County, Georgia (GA), United States, North America
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Latitude
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33°46'N
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Longitude
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84°25'W
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Atlanta
, city ( 132 sq mi/342 sq km;
1990 pop. 394,017),  Ga. state and Fulton co., NW Ga., near the
Appalachian foothills and the Chattahoochee R.; elev.
1,050 ft/320 m; 33°46'N 84°25'W. It is the
largest metropolitan area in the state with a pop. in excess of
3.7 million in the late 1990s; the cultural, industrial,
transportation, financial, and commercial center of the state; a port
of entry; and one of the leading cities of the South. Major industries
include textiles, furniture, food and beverages, telecommunications
hardware, steel, paper, and chemicals. There are motor vehicle and
aircraft assembly plants, insurance companies, and printing and
publishing houses; and it is a major television broadcasting center.
Atlanta is the home of numerous corporate hq., most notably Coca-Cola,
which was founded here in 1892, United Parcel Service (UPS), Ga.
Pacific, and Delta Airlines. Site of the 1996 Centennial Summer
Olympics and the Paralympic games. Atlanta is a major warehouse and
distribution center as well as the largest retail hub in the Southeast
U.S. Also a major convention center with extensive facilities,
including many large hotels. Hartsfield Internatl. Airport to S, one of
the busiest in the world, and the subway system attest to Atlanta's
continuing reputation as a transportation center. Hardy Ivy, the 1st
settler, built (1833) a cabin on what had been Creek tribal land. The
town, founded (1837) as Terminus, the end of a RR line, was inc. 1843
as Marthasville and renamed Atlanta in 1845. It became a RR and
marketing hub and in the Civil War was an important communication and
supply center; it fell to Gen. W.T. Sherman on Sept. 2, 1864. Most of
the city was burned on Nov. 15, before Sherman began his march to the
sea. The city was rapidly rebuilt and thrived as a commercial and
industrial center. It was chosen temporary state capital in 1868 and
became permanent capital following a popular vote in 1877. A number of
conventions and expositions in the 19th and 20th cent. drew attention
to Atlanta's strategic location. In 1973, Atlanta became the 1st major
city in the South to elect an Afr.-Amer. mayor. The city has
experienced rapid suburban growth, especially along the N I-285
perimeter highway; interstates 20, 75, and 85 pass through the city.
I-285 serves as a 64 mile/103 km loop around Atlanta. The
hq. of the Ga. Ports Authority, with its deepwater ports at Brunswick
and Savannah, Ga., is here. Altanta is home to major TV
affiliates and several cable television stations, such as TNT,
WTBS, and CNN. Points of interest include the capitol (1889), housing
the state lib.; the city hall (1929); the High Mus. of Art (1984), part
of the Robert R. Woodruff Arts Center; the Coca-Cola mus.;
Fernbank Mus. of Natural History, the state archives bldg., containing
a historical mus. and lib.; the bldg. housing the huge Cyclorama
of the Battle of Atlanta, which includes the reenactment of the
battle bet. Generals Hood and Sherman and the burning of Atlanta made
famous in Margaret Mitchell's book Gone with the Wind;
Oakland Cemetery, containing Civil War dead; “Underground Atlanta,”
a 4-block tract covered for 50 years by a vast viaduct system, restored
in the 1970s and again in the early 1990s; the Martin Luther King
(MLK), Jr., Historic Site and the MLK Center for Nonviolent Social
Change, which includes the Civil Rights leader's grave; Ebenezer
Baptist Church, and the Sweet Auburn dist. of Atlanta, where King was
born and lived (maintained by the Natl. Park Service); and Grant Park,
with Zoo Atlanta and Confederate Fort Walker (restored). The Carter
Presidential Center (1986) contains a mus. and lib. dedicated to former
President Jimmy Carter as well as a forum (part of Emory Univ.) for the
scholarly discussion of internatl. issues. The Federal penitentiary
here (est. 1899) is one of the most widely known prisons in the U.S.
Many depts. of the Federal govt. have branches here, including the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; seat of natl. hq. of the
Amer. Cancer Society, several univs., Fort McPherson, hq. of the U.S.
Third Army, and a naval air station. The city's neighborhoods and
parks are famous for their dogwood trees and azealeas. The annual fall
arts festival of Atlanta attracts 1 million visitors each year.
Nearby is Stone Mountain Park, with enormous relief carvings of
Confederate figures and a 19th-cent. plantation, reminiscent of the
Atlanta depicted in the film Gone With the Wind (1939). Also
in the area are Kennesaw Mountain Natl. Battlefield Park and Six Flags
Over Georgia, a large theme park, and Olympic City theme park. Seat of
several private univs., including Emory, Agnes Scott, and Oglethorpe
univs., the Atlanta Col. of Art, and the Atlanta Univ. center
consisting of Spelman, Morehouse, Morros Brown, and Clark Atlanta
cols., the Interdenominational Theological Center and Morehouse School
of Medicine, the largest consortium of private Afr.-Amer. institutes of
higher learning in the country with an annual enrollment in excess of
12,000 students. The several institutions representing the Univ. System
of Ga. include 2 research univs., the Ga. Inst. of Technology, Ga.
State Univ., Kennesaw State Univ., Clayton Col. and State Univ., S
Polytechnic State Univ. and 2-year cols. including Dekalb and Atlanta
Metropolitan cols. There is a symphony orchestra; Lenox Square (one of
the largest shopping centers in the U.S.); the Georgia Dome, home for
the city's professional football team (NFL Falcons); Turner Field
(Natl. League Braves); a new coliseum (now under construction) for
Atlanta's professional basketball team (NBA Hawks), and professional
hockey team (the Thrashers) in 2000. Inc. as a city 1847.
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