The New Student's Reference Work/Atlanta, Ga.

Atlanta, Ga., the capital of the state and county seat of Fulton County, through which county the Chattahoochee River flows. It lies 170 miles west by north of Augusta and about 295 miles northwest of Savannah, both of the latter cities being on the Savannah River. Atlanta, frequently called the Gate City, is an important railroad and commercial center; it is on the Southern, the Seaboard Air Line, the Atlanta & West Point and other railroads. It occupies high ground, and has a mild, equable climate. The city, which dates from about the year 1840, when for some few years it was known as Marthasville, received its charter as a city in 1847, and in 1878 it became the state capital. During the Civil War it played a prominent part as a rallying point and supply center for the Confederate armies, and as such was for several weeks in 1864 invested and finally captured by the federal army under General Sherman, the city being at the time held by the Confederate General Hood, who was compelled to evacuate it after two sanguinary battles had been fought in the vicinity. Later in the year Sherman withdrew his army and started on his march to the sea, when the city was almost totally burned. After the close of the war Atlanta was speedily rebuilt, and in 1895–96 it was chosen as the site of the Cotton States Industrial Exposition. The new city has been substantially and attractively built and besides its civic and municipal buildings it is adorned with a handsome state capitol, together with a number of important educational institutions, including Atlanta University, Clark University, the State School of Technology, Atlanta Baptist College, two Medical Colleges and the city's elementary schools and training institutes. It has, moreover, a large and growing number of industrial establishments, including agricultural implement works, machine-shops, foundries, cotton and paper mills, tobacco factories, etc. The city has made progress since the Civil War, and is now one of the busiest and most flourishing cities of the New South. Population, 154,839.