History of Atlanta - From Railroad Terminus To Atlanta: 1836-1860

From Railroad Terminus To Atlanta: 1836-1860

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 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 the Macon and Western Railroad, which ran from Macon to Savannah. An army engineer, Colonel Stephen Harriman Long, was chosen to recommend the location where the Western and Atlantic line would terminate. He surveyed various possible routes, then in the Fall of 1837 drove a stake into the ground near what is now Forsyth and Magnolia Streets, about 3-4 blocks northwest of today's Five Points. The zero milepost was later placed at that spot. In 1839, John Thrasher built homes and a general store at this location, and the settlement was nicknamed Thrasherville. A marker identifies the location of Thrasherville at 104 Marietta St. NW, in front of the State Bar of Georgia buildling, between Spring and Cone Streets. (33°45.409′N 84°23.542′W / 33.756817°N 84.392367°W / 33.756817; -84.392367 (Thrasherville marker)) It was at this point that Thrasher built the Monroe Embankment, an earthen embankment that was to carry the Monroe Railway to meet the W&A at the Terminus. This is the oldest existing manmade structure in Downtown Atlanta.

In 1842, the planned terminus location was moved, four blocks southeast, (2-3 blocks southeast of Five Points), to what would become State Square, at what is now Wall Street between Central and Pryor (33°45.141′N 84°23.317′W / 33.75235°N 84.388617°W / 33.75235; -84.388617 (Zero milepost marker)). It is at that location that the “zero milepost” marker can be found now, adjacent to the southern entrance to Underground Atlanta. As the area developed, the settlement became known as "Terminus", literally meaning "end of the line". By 1842, the settlement at the Terminus had six buildings and 30 residents. Meanwhile, settlement began at what would become the Buckhead section of Atlanta. In 1838, Henry Irby started a tavern and grocery at what would become Paces Ferry Road and Roswell Road. In 1842, when a two-story depot building was built, the residents asked that the settlement of Terminus be named "Lumpkin," after Wilson Lumpkin, the Governor of Georgia. Gov. Lumpkin asked them to name it after his daughter, instead, and Terminus became Marthasville. In 1845, the Chief Engineer of the Georgia Railroad, (J. Edgar Thomson) suggested that Marthasville be renamed to "Atlantica-Pacifica", which was quickly shortened to "Atlanta." The residents approved, apparently undaunted by the fact that not a single train had yet visited, and the town was eventually incorporated as "Atlanta" in 1847.