When was atlanta georgia founded

During the s the white population of the city declined by 60,, while the Black population increased by 68, Changes in the racial makeup of the city were accompanied by equally important changes in the political structure of Atlanta. As dramatic and sudden as these changes seemed to be, they were actually the result of a series of events, legal challenges, court victories, and grudging but gradual accommodations to increasing Black political strength that began in the years after World War II.

The repeal of the poll tax by the Georgia legislature in and the invalidation of the white primary by the U. Supreme Court the following year, for example, removed two very important barriers to Black participation in state and local elections. The greatest impetus to increased Black voter registration in Atlanta, however, was a very successful and well-organized registration drive created and organized in by a number of Black political and civic organizations, leading to the formation of the Atlanta Negro Voters League.

As a result of this drive, almost 14, new African American voters in Atlanta were added to the rolls in three months. After an initial unsuccessful attempt to block Black residential expansion, Allen became an advocate of civil rights and a strong supporter of Martin Luther King Jr.

In he testified before the U. Senate Commerce Committee in favor of a civil rights bill—the only southern elected official to do so. By the end of his term of office in , many of these changes had taken place or were in process. Urban renewal had cleared large tracts of the city, and in some of these areas, new public housing and public facilities including a civic auditorium had been built. In the Atlanta Hawks basketball team relocated to the city from St. Once again the campaign was a success, luring many new businesses to Atlanta.

Business growth was accompanied by a vertical expansion of the city through the construction of new skyscrapers and office buildings. High-rise hotels were a key component of this development, representing both the increasing economic importance of the hospitality and tourism industry to the city and the impact of local architect John Portman.

Air travel also became increasingly important as Atlanta Municipal Airport later Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport emerged as one of the busiest air hubs in the nation. By the number of passengers had quadrupled to more than 14 million annually. Public transit—a key element in the plans for Atlanta during this era—also came into being in as voters approved by a narrow margin the funding and creation of the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority MARTA , which combined public bus routes with rapid rail service.

In the last two decades of the twentieth century, Atlanta experienced a continuation of a number of significant trends that had emerged in the years after World War II as well as the beginnings of new ones. Suburban growth and development continued and in fact accelerated, as the total number of residents in the metropolitan area grew from 2 million in to more than 4 million in Office buildings and retail establishments followed this population growth and movement to the suburbs, especially on the north side of the city.

Racial divisions that had emerged between suburb and city during the s remained evident, with the city retaining a majority Black population while the suburbs were majority white. In the transportation sector airplanes and automobiles continued to have the biggest impact on the metropolitan region. At that time the only true international connection at Hartsfield was a single Eastern Airlines route to Mexico City. A decade later, everything had changed. The deregulation of the airline industry in the late s and the adoption of a hub-and-spoke system suited Atlanta and gained its airport an increasing number of international routes.

By then, Hartsfield-Jackson was the busiest airport in the world, carrying more than 78 million passengers. Automobiles, the transportation mode that had done so much to shape the city in the first half of the twentieth century, continued to affect the layout and lifestyles of metropolitan Atlanta in the last decades of the century.

As the numbers of residents in the outlying areas continued to grow, the Georgia Department of Transportation responded by increasing the number of passenger lanes on Interstates 85, 75, and 20 including the construction of high-occupancy vehicle lanes to encourage carpooling, and later, the introduction of optional toll lanes, which allow motorists the option of avoiding congested routes—provided that they can afford the variable tolls and also on Interstate , the high-speed, limited-access highway that encircles the city.

Georgia , a toll road until , was completed in and intended to connect suburban communities north of Atlanta to the city. By the turn of the century 2. Suburban counties resisted the expansion of MARTA rail and bus lines into their jurisdictions, and rights-of-way for rail expansion in other areas proved extremely costly. New rail stations and track were added, however, to the main north-south line, resulting in a rapid-rail route that stretches from the Chamblee-Dunwoody area in north DeKalb County through downtown Atlanta to the airport on the south side of the region.

The continued expansion of the World Congress Center which was expanded in to total 1. These downtown facilities provided residents and tourists with increased options for entertainment and were seen as a way of combating the movement of most major retail and many commercial enterprises and industries to the outlying suburbs. By , for example, more than 1, foreign companies from 35 foreign countries were located in the metro area, as well as 37 foreign consulates and 20 trade and tourism offices.

Most Atlantans considered the games a success, although some athletes and international visitors and journalists complained of inadequate lodging and transportation facilities. The Olympics were also marred by the explosion of a bomb that killed one person and injured more than others. On the positive side, however, the games contributed to the construction and improvement of many public buildings and facilities in downtown Atlanta, including the Olympic Stadium which became Turner Field and the twenty-one-acre Centennial Olympic Park.

These important trends in population growth, residential distribution and makeup, transportation, and business and commerce characterized a city and metropolitan area that at the turn of the twentieth century appeared to be vibrant, growing, and economically strong.

There were some troubling signs as well, however, associated with these trends. Unchecked suburban growth and widespread automobile use, for example, contributed to difficult traffic problems and environmental issues, including increased pollution. From to the Atlanta area lost some , acres of tree cover to residential and commercial development in the suburban metropolis.

In the region endured a record sixty-nine days of smog alerts, and the average traffic commute of thirty-two minutes, already the longest in the nation, became even slower as well, as interstates and highways filled up with cars. The significant racial divide between city and suburb actually lessened somewhat toward the turn of the century as Black suburbanization increased and a small back-to-the-city movement among white Atlantans gained momentum—trends that only increased in the new century.

Residential segregation continued, however, as did significant differences in income and job opportunities between inner city and suburban residents. At the turn of the century, the poverty rate for the entire metropolitan area was only 9. The city of Atlanta itself is relatively small, with a land area of just over square miles. This trend of declining numbers now appears to have halted; in the total central-city population was , and in it rose to ,, making Atlanta the fortieth largest central city in the United States.

During the s Atlanta outpaced all other metropolitan areas in the United States except Phoenix, Arizona, in its rate of population growth, and in it ranked as the ninth largest metropolitan area in the country. For much of its history Atlanta could be described as a biracial city, with whites and Blacks constituting the vast majority of the resident population. In only 1. By Hispanics constituted 5. In the metropolitan area as a whole, a similar change has been occurring.

Census data from also indicate that approximately Despite these changes, the two largest population groups in the Atlanta metropolitan area continue to be African Americans and whites, with African Americans constituting a majority presence within the city 54 percent in , down from That pattern continues to change as whites move into the city and Black suburbanization continues to accelerate.

Between and , for example, more than 9, new white residents moved into the city. In addition, Atlantans, both Black and white, according to recent surveys, are now more willing to live in integrated neighborhoods—a Brookings Institution study noted that the number of metropolitan Atlanta residents living in the most integrated neighborhoods rose by 2, percent during the s while the number in the most segregated areas dropped by 39 percent.

Residential segregation of the races is still very evident, however, and according to an Associated Press analysis of and Black-white housing patterns, Atlanta remains the most segregated city in Georgia and the second most segregated city in the nation behind Chicago, Illinois.

The city is, by most measures, the business capital of the Southeast. As the capital of Georgia, the city is host to a wide assortment of state departments and agencies. The Atlanta metropolitan area also has the largest concentration of federal agencies outside of Washington, D. Atlanta was the scene of protests against racial segregation led by Martin Luther King Jr. Integration of city schools took place without major incident. Atlanta hosted the Olympic Games.

Although generally considered a success, the games were marred by a bomb attack that killed two persons. Eric Randolph eventually pleaded guilty to the crime. The Atlanta History Center is the largest museum that preserves Atlanta's heritage. Grant Park is the site of Zoo Atlanta. Fernbank Museum of Natural History is located in the largest old-growth urban piedmont forest in the country. Art for adults is on display at the High Museum of Art.

Children are the center of attention at Children's Art Museum. Stone Mountain, outside of Atlanta, was a meeting place for Indians before the arrival of white settlers. He continued to support black communities and black businesses, sowing the seeds for a city that would soon blossom into the capital of the south and the center of black triumph. Visit our Atlanta Black History and Civil Rights Tour for an authentic take on the resilient culture and its heritage, or read our article on the King for more information about this time in Atlanta.

With the construction of the Georgia World Conference Center in , Atlanta rose to become a major convention city. The changing names and faces of Terminus, Marthasville, Atlanta, and ATL are ones that we can only try to keep up with.

They believed in peace. They made monumental sacrifices for that peace. And because of them, Atlanta became a fast-paced modern city which opened its doors to the Olympics. Die-hard southerners view Atlanta as the heart of the Old Confederacy. Atlanta has become the best example of the New South, a fast-paced modern city proud of its heritage.