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Atlanta ( or ) is the
capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), and the core city of the United States metropolitan area metropolitan area in the United States. It is the county seat of
Fulton County, Georgia, although portions of the city extend into DeKalb County, Georgia. As of July 2006, the city of Atlanta had a population of 486,411 and a
Atlanta metropolitan area of 5,138,223. The July 2006 census estimate put the combined statistical area (CSA) population at 5,478,667. Residents of the city are known as Atlantans.
Atlanta has in recent years undergone a transition from a city of regional commerce to a city of international influence. Between 2000 and 2006, the Atlanta metropolitan area grew 20.5%, the highest percentage amongst the top-ten metro areas. Atlanta is often considered a
poster child for cities worldwide experiencing rapid growth and urban sprawl.
During the
African-American Civil Rights Movement (1955-1968), Atlanta stood apart from southern cities that supported segregation, touting itself as "The City Too Busy to Hate." The city's progressive civil rights record and existing population of blacks, made it increasingly popular as a relocation destination for black Americans. Blacks soon became the dominant social and political force in the city, though today some measure of demographic diversification has taken place. Along with
St. Louis, Missouri and Los Angeles, California, Atlanta is one of three cities in the United States to have hosted the
Summer Olympic Games.
History
The region where Atlanta and its suburbs were built was originally Creek people and Cherokee
Native Americans in the United States territory. The Creek land in the eastern part of the current metro area (including Decatur) was opened to white settlement in 1823. In 1835, leaders of the Cherokee nation ceded their land to the government in exchange for land out west under the
Treaty of New Echota, an act that eventually led to the
Trail of Tears.
In 1836 the
Georgia General Assembly voted to build the
Western and Atlantic Railroad to provide a trade route to the
Midwestern United States. The initial route was to run from Chattanooga to a spot called simply "Terminus", located somewhere east of the Chattahoochee River, which would eventually be linked to the
Georgia Railroad from Augusta, Georgia and the Macon & Western, which ran from Macon, Georgia to Savannah, GA. Though the initial location of the Terminus was near present-day
Norcross, Georgia, work was moved to Historic ferries of the Atlanta area#Montgomery Ferry for a savings of $18,000 per mile from the geography differences. Several months later in 1837, the legislature finally established the zero-mile marker for the Terminus at a point near the present-day Georgia World Congress Center, chosen because the area was relatively flat and would better allow for turnarounds. The first store, a general store, was opened at the site in 1839 by John Thrasher and a Mr. Johnson.
The area around Atlanta also began to develop. By 1842, the settlement at the Terminus had six buildings and 30 residents. A two-story depot building was constructed, and after a few renames, the Chief Engineer of the Georgia Railroad, (
J. Edgar Thomson) suggested that the area be renamed "Atlantica-Pacifica", which was quickly shortened to "Atlanta". The residents approved, and the town was incorporated as "Atlanta" on December 29, 1847.
house on Whitehall Street
The first Georgia Railroad freight and passenger trains arrived in 1845. In 1846, a third railroad, the Macon & Western, completed tracks to Terminus, connecting the little settlement with Macon and Savannah. The town experienced a small boom and the population grew to 2,500 citizens. In 1848, the first mayor was elected, the first homicide occurred and the first jail was built. Sidewalks were constructed and a town marshal appointed. By 1854 another railroad connected Atlanta to
LaGrange, Georgia. The town had grown to 6,000 residents.
During the
American Civil War, Atlanta served as an important railroad and military supply hub. In 1864, the city became the target of a Atlanta campaign. The area now covered by Atlanta was the scene of several battles, including the Battle of Peachtree Creek, the Battle of Atlanta, and the
Battle of Ezra Church. On
September 1, 1864, Confederate States of America General
John Bell Hood evacuated Atlanta after a four-month siege mounted by Union General
William Tecumseh Sherman and ordered all public buildings and possible Confederate assets destroyed. The next day, Mayor James Calhoun surrendered the city, and on
September 7 Sherman ordered the civilian population to evacuate. He then ordered Atlanta burned to the ground on November 11 in preparation for his punitive march south.
After a plea by Father Thomas O'Reilly of Immaculate Conception Catholic Church, Sherman did not burn the city's churches or hospitals. The remaining war resources were then destroyed in the aftermath, and in
Sherman's March to the Sea. The fall of Atlanta was a crucial event in the Civil War because of the confidence it instilled in the Union.
The rebuilding of the city — immortalized in the city's symbol, the
Phoenix (mythology) — was gradual. From 1867 until 1888, U.S. Army soldiers occupied McPherson Barracks in southwest Atlanta to ensure Reconstruction era (United States) reforms. To help the newly freed slaves, the Federal Government set up a
Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands, which helped establish what is now Clark Atlanta University, one of several historically black colleges in Atlanta.
In 1868, Atlanta became the fifth city to serve as the state capital.
Henry W. Grady, the editor of the
Atlanta Constitution, promoted the city to investors as a city of the "New South", one built on a modern economy, less reliant on agriculture. As part of the effort to modernize the South, Grady and many others also supported the creation of the
Georgia School of Technology (now the Georgia Institute of Technology), which was founded in 1885. In 1880, Sister Cecilia Carroll, RSM, and three companions traveled from Savannah to Atlanta to minister to the sick. The sisters opened the Atlanta Hospital (later to become Saint Joseph's Hospital), the first medical facility in the city after the Civil War.
As Atlanta grew, ethnic and racial tensions mounted. The
Atlanta Race Riot of 1906 left at least 27 dead and over seventy injured. In 1913, Leo Frank, a Jewish supervisor at a factory in Atlanta was put on trial for raping and murdering a thirteen-year old white employee from a suburb of Atlanta, ultimately resulting in Frank's lynching. This became the storyline for the hit 1998 musical Parade (musical)
In the 1930s, the Great Depression hit Atlanta. The federal government established Techwood Homes, the nation's first federal public housing in 1935. With the entry of the United States into
World War II, soldiers from around the
Southeastern United States went through Atlanta to train and later be discharged at Fort McPherson. War-related manufacturing such as the Bell Aircraft factory in the suburb of
Marietta, Georgia helped boost the city's population and economy. Shortly after the war, the Communicable Disease Center (now the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) was founded in Atlanta.
In the wake of the landmark
U.S. Supreme Court decision
Brown v. Board of Education, which helped usher in the
Civil Rights Movement, racial tensions in Atlanta began to express themselves in acts of violence. On October 12,
1958, Bombing of the Hebrew Benevolent Congregation Temple. The "Confederate Underground" claimed responsibility. Many believed that Jews, especially those from the northeast, were advocates of the Civil Rights Movement.
neighborhood was the city's first planned suburb. Today, it features several mansions and many colorful restored
bungalows.In the 1960s, Atlanta was a major organizing center of the US Civil Rights Movement, with
Martin Luther King and students from Atlanta's historically black colleges and universities playing major roles in the movement's leadership. On
October 19, 1960, a sit-in at the lunch counters of several Atlanta department stores led to the arrest of Dr. King and several students, drawing attention from the national media and from presidential candidate
John F. Kennedy. Despite this incident, Atlanta's political and business leaders fostered Atlanta's image as "the city too busy to hate". In 1961, Mayor
Ivan Allen Jr. became one of the few Southern white mayors to support desegregation of Atlanta's public schools. While the city mostly avoided confrontation, minor race riots did occur in 1965 and in 1968.
In 1990, Atlanta was selected as the site for the Centennial Olympic Games
1996 Summer Olympics. Following the announcement, Atlanta undertook several major construction projects to improve the city's parks, sports facilities, and transportation. Former Mayor Bill Campbell allowed many "tent cities" to be built. Atlanta became the third United States city to host the Summer Olympics, after
St. Louis, Missouri and
Los Angeles. The games themselves were marred by numerous organizational inefficiencies as well as the
Centennial Olympic Park bombing.
Geography
Topography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 343.0 km² (132.4 mi²). 341.2 km² (131.8 mi²) of it is land and 1.8 km² (0.7 mi²) of it is water. The total area is 0.51% water. At about 1050 feet or 320 meters above mean sea level (the airport is 1010 ft), Atlanta sits atop a
ridge south of the
Chattahoochee River.
The
Eastern Continental Divide line enters Atlanta from the south, proceeding to downtown. From downtown, the divide line runs eastward along DeKalb Avenue and the
CSX rail lines through Decatur. Rainwater that falls on the south and east side runs eventually into the Atlantic Ocean while rainwater on the north and west side of the divide runs into the
Gulf of Mexico.
The latter is via the
Chattahoochee River, part of the
ACF River Basin, and from which Atlanta and many of its neighbors draw most of their water. Being at the far northwestern edge of the city, much of the river's natural habitat is still preserved, in part by the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area. Downstream however, excessive water use during droughts and pollution during floods has been a source of contention and legal battles with neighboring states Alabama and
Florida.
Climate
Atlanta has a humid subtropical climate, (Cfa) according to the Köppen climate classification, with hot, humid summers and chilly (but not extreme) winters by the standards of the United States. July highs average 90 °F (32 °C) or above, and low average 67 °F (19 °C). Infrequently, temperatures can even exceed 100 °F (38 °C). The highest temperature recorded in the city is 105 °F (40.6 °C), reached on July 13 and
July 17, 1980. January is the coldest month, with an average high of 50 °F (10 °C), and low of 29 °F (-1 °C). Warm fronts can bring springlike temperatures in the 60s and 70s in winter, and Arctic air masses can drop temperatures into the teens as well. The coldest temperature ever recorded was -9 °F on
13 February 1899. A close second was -8 °F, reached on 21 January
1985.
Like the rest of the southeastern U.S., Atlanta receives abundant rainfall, which is relatively evenly distributed throughout the year. Average annual rainfall is 50.2 inches (1275 mm). An average year sees frost on 36 days; snowfall averages about two inches (5 centimeters) annually. The heaviest single storm brought 10 inches on
January 23,
1940. Frequent ice storms can cause more problems than snow; the most severe such storm may have occurred on
January 7, 1973.
{| class="wikitable" "text-align:center;font-size:90%;"|| colspan="13" style="text-align:center;font-size:120%;"|Monthly Normal and Record High and Low Temperatures for Atlanta, GA (30328)|-! style="background: #E5AFAA; color: #000000" height="17" | Month! style="background: #E5AFAA; color:#000000;" | Jan! style="background: #E5AFAA; color:#000000;" | Feb! style="background: #E5AFAA; color:#000000;" | Mar! style="background: #E5AFAA; color:#000000;" | Apr! style="background: #E5AFAA; color:#000000;" | May! style="background: #E5AFAA; color:#000000;" | Jun! style="background: #E5AFAA; color:#000000;" | Jul! style="background: #E5AFAA; color:#000000;" | Aug! style="background: #E5AFAA; color:#000000;" | Sep! style="background: #E5AFAA; color:#000000;" | Oct! style="background: #E5AFAA; color:#000000;" | Nov! style="background: #E5AFAA; color:#000000;" | Dec|-! style="background: #E5AFAA; color:#000000;" height="16;" | Rec High °F| style="text-align:center; background: #E8EAFA; color:#000000;" | 75| style="text-align:center; background: #E8EAFA; color:#000000;" | 80| style="text-align:center; background: #E8EAFA; color:#000000;" | 85| style="text-align:center; background: #E8EAFA; color:#000000;" | 91| style="text-align:center; background: #E8EAFA; color:#000000;" | 95| style="text-align:center; background: #E8EAFA; color:#000000;" | 101| style="text-align:center; background: #E8EAFA; color:#000000;" | 102| style="text-align:center; background: #E8EAFA; color:#000000;" | 100| style="text-align:center; background: #E8EAFA; color:#000000;" | 98| style="text-align:center; background: #E8EAFA; color:#000000;" | 88| style="text-align:center; background: #E8EAFA; color:#000000;" | 84| style="text-align:center; background: #E8EAFA; color:#000000;" | 76|-! style="background: #E5AFAA; color:#000000;" height="16;" | Norm High °F| style="text-align:center; background: #F8F3CA; color:#000000;" | 50| style="text-align:center; background: #F8F3CA; color:#000000;" | 55| style="text-align:center; background: #F8F3CA; color:#000000;" | 63| style="text-align:center; background: #F8F3CA; color:#000000;" | 71| style="text-align:center; background: #F8F3CA; color:#000000;" | 78| style="text-align:center; background: #F8F3CA; color:#000000;" | 84| style="text-align:center; background: #F8F3CA; color:#000000;" | 90| style="text-align:center; background: #F8F3CA; color:#000000;" | 86| style="text-align:center; background: #F8F3CA; color:#000000;" | 81| style="text-align:center; background: #F8F3CA; color:#000000;" | 72| style="text-align:center; background: #F8F3CA; color:#000000;" | 62| style="text-align:center; background: #F8F3CA; color:#000000;" | 53|-! style="background: #E5AFAA; color:#000000;" height="16;" | Norm Low °F| style="text-align:center; background: #C5DFE1; color:#000000;" | 29| style="text-align:center; background: #C5DFE1; color:#000000;" | 32| style="text-align:center; background: #C5DFE1; color:#000000;" | 38| style="text-align:center; background: #C5DFE1; color:#000000;" | 45| style="text-align:center; background: #C5DFE1; color:#000000;" | 54| style="text-align:center; background: #C5DFE1; color:#000000;" | 62| style="text-align:center; background: #C5DFE1; color:#000000;" | 67| style="text-align:center; background: #C5DFE1; color:#000000;" | 66| style="text-align:center; background: #C5DFE1; color:#000000;" | 60| style="text-align:center; background: #C5DFE1; color:#000000;" | 47| style="text-align:center; background: #C5DFE1; color:#000000;" | 39| style="text-align:center; background: #C5DFE1; color:#000000;" | 32|-! style="background: #E5AFAA; color:#000000;" height="16;" | Rec Low °F| style="text-align:center; background: #F8F3CA; color:#000000;" | -9| style="text-align:center; background: #F8F3CA; color:#000000;" | 1| style="text-align:center; background: #F8F3CA; color:#000000;" | 6| style="text-align:center; background: #F8F3CA; color:#000000;" | 24| style="text-align:center; background: #F8F3CA; color:#000000;" | 31| style="text-align:center; background: #F8F3CA; color:#000000;" | 40| style="text-align:center; background: #F8F3CA; color:#000000;" | 48| style="text-align:center; background: #F8F3CA; color:#000000;" | 50| style="text-align:center; background: #F8F3CA; color:#000000;" | 28| style="text-align:center; background: #F8F3CA; color:#000000;" | 25| style="text-align:center; background: #F8F3CA; color:#000000;" | 10| style="text-align:center; background: #F8F3CA; color:#000000;" | -1|-! style="background: #E5AFAA; color:#000000;" height="16;" | Precip (in)| style="text-align:center; background: #E8EAFA; color:#000000;" | 5.34| style="text-align:center; background: #E8EAFA; color:#000000;" | 4.28| style="text-align:center; background: #E8EAFA; color:#000000;" | 5.52| style="text-align:center; background: #E8EAFA; color:#000000;" | 4.04| style="text-align:center; background: #E8EAFA; color:#000000;" | 4.63| style="text-align:center; background: #E8EAFA; color:#000000;" | 3.66| style="text-align:center; background: #E8EAFA; color:#000000;" | 4.17| style="text-align:center; background: #E8EAFA; color:#000000;" | 4.32| style="text-align:center; background: #E8EAFA; color:#000000;" | 3.87| style="text-align:center; background: #E8EAFA; color:#000000;" | 3.58| style="text-align:center; background: #E8EAFA; color:#000000;" | 3.73| style="text-align:center; background: #E8EAFA; color:#000000;" | 4.18|-| colspan="13" style="text-align:center;font-size:90%;"|Source: The Weather Channel|}
Cityscape
Atlanta's skyline is punctuated with highrise and midrise buildings of modern and postmodern vintage. Its tallest landmark – the Bank of America Plaza (Atlanta) – is the 26th-tallest building in the world at , and was one of the ten tallest buildings on Earth when built. It is also the tallest building in the United States outside of
Chicago and
New York City.
in Downtown Atlanta.The city's highrises are clustered in three districts in the city—Downtown, Midtown, and Buckhead. (there are two more major suburban clusters,
Perimeter Center to the north and
Cumberland (Atlanta)/Vinings to the northwest). The central business district, clustered around the
Westin Peachtree Plaza hotel – the tallest building in Atlanta at the time of its completion in 1976 – also includes the newer
191 Peachtree Tower, SunTrust Plaza, Georgia-Pacific Tower, and the buildings of Peachtree Center. Midtown Atlanta, farther north, developed rapidly after the completion of
One Atlantic Center in 1987.
The influx of business to Midtown has continued – the district's newest tower, 1180 Peachtree, opened in 2006 at a height of , and won a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Award that year from the U.S. Green Building Council. Atlanta has been in the midst of a construction and retail boom, with over 60 new highrise or midrise buildings either proposed or under construction as of April 19, 2006. October 2005 marked the opening of Atlantic Station, a former
brownfield steel plant site redeveloped into a mixed-use urban district. In early 2006, Mayor Franklin set in motion a plan to make the 14-block stretch of Peachtree Street in Midtown Atlanta (nicknamed "Midtown Mile") a street-level shopping destination envisioned to rival Beverly Hills'
Rodeo Drive or Chicago's
Magnificent Mile.
In spite of civic efforts such as the opening of
Centennial Olympic Park in downtown in 1996, Atlanta ranks near last in area of park land
per capita among cities of similar population density, with 8.9 acres per thousand residents (36 m²/resident) in 2005. The city has a reputation, however, as a "city of trees" or a "city in a forest"; beyond the central Atlanta and Buckhead business districts, the skyline gives way to a sometimes dense canopy of woods that spreads into the suburbs. Founded in 1985,
Trees Atlanta has planted and distributed over 68,000 shade trees.
The city's northern section,
Buckhead (Atlanta), is consistently ranked by the
Robb Report as one of the most affluent communities in the United States. Since the opening of the intown segment of the
Georgia State Route 400 tollway, which linked the district to the city superhighway system in the early 1990s, Buckhead has developed a dense commercial district, clustered around the high-end retail centers at Lenox Square and Phipps Plaza and including a growing number of office buildings and residential highrises, some in the 40+ story range. The Mansion on Peachtree, a 42 Story Luxury Hotel and Condominium tower will open in Early 2008 and the 50 story 3344 Peachtree/Sovereign, planned to reach , is due for completion in late 2007.
The edge cities clustered around Perimeter Mall and
Cumberland Mall have distinct skylines of their own. The Concourse at Landmark Center, located near Perimeter Mall in Sandy Springs, includes a pair of buildings called the King and Queen that each measure in total height.
Culture
Tourism
district is preserved as the
Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site. has been an Atlanta landmark for over 75 years.. is the city's largest park. A portion of the park is seen here with the
Midtown Atlanta Skyline..
Atlanta hosts a variety of museums on subjects ranging from history to fine arts, natural history, and beverages. Prominent among them are sites honoring Atlanta's participation in the civil rights movement. Reverend Dr.
Martin Luther King, Jr. was born in the city, and his boyhood home on Auburn Avenue in the Sweet Auburn district is preserved as the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site. Meetings with other civil rights leaders, including Hosea Williams and
Congressman John Lewis (politician), often happened at Paschal's, a diner and motor inn which was a favorite for "colored" people, banned from "white" restaurants in an era of racial segregation and intolerance. King's final resting place is in the tomb at the center of the reflecting pool at the King Center.
Other history museums and attractions include the
Atlanta History Center; the Atlanta Cyclorama (a huge painting and diorama in-the-round, with a rotating central audience platform, that depicts the
Battle of Atlanta in the Civil War); the Carter Center; historic house museum
Rhodes Hall; and the Margaret Mitchell House and Museum.
The arts are represented by several theaters and museums, including the Fox Theatre (Atlanta). The
Woodruff Arts Center is home to the Alliance Theatre Company, Atlanta Symphony, and
High Museum of Art. The Atlanta Contemporary Art Center is the city's home for challenging contemporary art and education geared toward working artists and collectors of art. Museums geared specifically towards children include the Fernbank Science Center and Imagine It! Atlanta's Children's Museum. The High Museum of Art is the city's major fine/visual arts venue, with a significant permanent collection and an assortment of traveling exhibitions. The Atlanta Opera, which was founded in 1979 by members of two struggling local companies, is now one of the fastest growing opera companies in the nation and garners attention from audiences around the world.
Atlanta features the world's largest aquarium, the Georgia Aquarium, which officially opened to the public on November 23,
2005. The aquarium features more aquatic life than can be found in any other aquarium, in tanks holding approximately eight million gallons of water. Adjacent is the
World of Coca-Cola which opened in May 2007, featuring the history of the world famous soft drink brand and its well-known advertising. Pemberton Place, the 20 acre site which houses the Georgia Aquarium and the World of Coca-Cola is within walking distance of Centennial Olympic Park, the Georgia Dome, Philips Arena, the CNN Center and other downtown Atlanta tourist attractions. Underground Atlanta, a historic shopping and entertainment complex is situated under the streets of downtown Atlanta. In addition Atlantic Station, a huge new urban renewal project on the northwestern edge of Midtown Atlanta, officially opened in October 2005. While not a museum per se, The Varsity is the main branch of the long-lived fast food chain, featured as the world's largest drive-in restaurant.
Piedmont Park hosts many of Atlanta's festivals and cultural events. In 1887, a group of prominent Atlantans purchased of farmland to build a horse racing track, later developed into the site of the Cotton States International Exposition of 1895, made famous by W.E.B Dubois' "Fingers of the Hand" speech. In 1904, the city council purchased the land for
US$98,000, and today it is the largest park in metro Atlanta, with more than 2.5 million visitors each year. The grounds were part of the
Battle of Peachtree Creek – a Confederate division occupied the northern edge on
July 20,
1864 as part of the outer defense line against Sherman's approach. Next to the park is the Atlanta Botanical Garden. Zoo Atlanta, with a
panda exhibit, is in
Grant Park (Atlanta).
Just east of the city, Stone Mountain is the largest piece of exposed granite in the world. On its face are giant carvings of Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee, and Thomas J. Jackson. It is also the site of laser shows in the summer. A few miles west of Atlanta on
I-20 is the Six Flags Over Georgia, which opened near the city in 1967, and was the second theme park in the
Six Flags chain.
Entertainment and performing arts
Atlanta has a thriving music industry and is home to many famous
hip-hop and
R&B musicians.
Jermaine Dupri's 2001
hip hop music single "
Welcome to Atlanta" (feat. Ludacris) declares Atlanta the "new Motown", referencing the city of
Detroit, Michigan, which was known for its contributions to popular music, fertile job market and affordable urban housing in the 1950s to 1980s. The
Southern rap style of hip-hop emerged in part from Atlanta artists such as Outkast and Goodie Mob. More recently, rapper/producer Lil Jon has been a driving force behind the party-oriented style known as
crunk.
Record Producers Antonio Reid and Babyface founded
LaFace Records in Atlanta in the late-1980s; the label has eventually become the home to multi-platinum selling artists such as Toni Braxton,
TLC (music), OutKast,
Goodie Mob, Monica (singer), Usher Raymond and Ciara, many of whom are Atlantans themselves. It is also the home of So So Def Records, a label founded by Jermaine Dupri in the mid-1990s, that signed acts such as
Da Brat, Jagged Edge (band), Xscape (band) and Dem Franchise Boyz. The success of LaFace and SoSo Def led to Atlanta as an established scene for record labels such as LaFace parent company Arista Records to set up satellite offices. Atlanta is also home to multi-platinum rappers
Ludacris and
T.I., among others. Artists such as Keyshia Cole,
Bow Wow,
B5 (band), Phife Dawg,
T-Pain, and
Brian Littrell of the
Backstreet Boys have moved to the city and made it their home. Atlanta is also a well known place for producers and artists trying to get into the music business.
Atlanta has also produced rock and pop music singers, such as
The Black Crowes, alternative metal band Sevendust, sludge metal band Mastodon (band), ska/punk band
Treephort, rock bands Swimming Pool Q's, Uncle Green (a.k.a 3 Lb. Thrill),
Light Pupil Dilate, Big Fish Ensemble, Collective Soul and
Third Day, the folk-pop Indigo Girls, Butch Walker, and was a proving ground for Connecticut-born pop-rock-blues musician
John Mayer (musician). Mayer, as well as
India.Arie and Shawn Mullins, all performed pre-fame at Eddie's Attic, an independent club in the intown suburb of Decatur. The "Open Mic Shootout" at Eddie's Attic consistently draws singer-songwriter talent from across the nation, and is held every Monday night.
, a division of the Woodruff Arts Center in
Midtown Atlanta.Atlanta's classical music scene includes well-renowned ensembles such as the
Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Atlanta Opera, Atlanta Ballet, period-instrument ensemble
New Trinity Baroque,
Atlanta Boy Choir, and many others. Classical musicians include renowned conductors such as the late
Robert Shaw (conductor) and the Atlanta Symphony's
Robert Spano.
The city has a well-known and active live music scene, though recently rapid gentrification and early venue closing times have hurt small clubs and other music venues. In the early 1980s, Atlanta was the home of a thriving
new wave music scene featuring such bands as The Brains and
The Producers (band), closely linked to the new wave scenes in
Athens, Georgia and other college towns in the southeast.
Historically there have been a variety of live music traditions going back to Cabbagetown country music pioneer
Fiddlin' John Carson, also including a thriving scene in the 90's, also in Cabbagetown, centered around a bar called
Dotties, now known as
Lenny's and relocated a few blocks away. Video Concert Hall, precursor to
MTV, was founded in Atlanta.
Sports
{|class="wikitable"!Club!Sport!League!Venue|-|
Atlanta Falcons|[National Football League|-|[Atlanta Braves|[Major League Baseball, National League|
Turner Field|[Basketball|[Philips Arena|[Ice Hockey|[Philips Arena|[Women's Flat Track Derby Association|[Football (Soccer)|USL First Division|-|[Georgia Force|[Arena Football League|-|[Gwinnett Gladiators|[ECHL|-|[Atlanta Vision|[American Basketball Association (21st century):
Blue ConferenceAtlanta has a rich sports history, including the oldest on-campus Division I football stadium, Bobby Dodd Stadium, built in 1913 by the students of Georgia Institute of Technology. Atlanta also played host to the second intercollegiate football game in the South, played between the
Auburn University and the
University of Georgia in
Piedmont Park in 1892; this game is now called the Deep South's Oldest Rivalry. The city hosts college football's annual Chick-fil-A Bowl (Formerly known as The Peach Bowl) and the
Peachtree Road Race, the world’s largest 10 km race. Atlanta was the host city for the Centennial 1996 Summer Olympics. Centennial Olympic Park, built for 1996 Summer Olympics, sits adjacent to
CNN Center and
Philips Arena. It is now operated by the Georgia World Congress Center Authority.
The city is also host to
U.S. cities with teams from four major sports. The Atlanta Braves baseball team has been the Major League Baseball franchise of Atlanta since 1966; the franchise was previously known as the Boston Braves (1912-1952), and the Milwaukee Braves (1953-1965). The team was founded in 1871 in
Boston, Massachusetts as a National Association club, making it the oldest continuously operating sports franchise in North American sports. The Braves won the
World Series in 1995 and had a recently ended unprecedented run of 14 straight divisional championships from 1991 to 2005. Before the Braves moved to Atlanta, the Atlanta Crackers were Atlanta's professional baseball team from 1901 until their last season in 1965. They won 17 league championships in the minor leagues. The
Atlanta Black Crackers were Atlanta's
Negro League team from around 1921 until 1949.
is one of Atlanta's major Hospitals.
The
Atlanta Falcons American football team plays at the Georgia Dome. They have been Atlanta's National Football League franchise since 1966. They have won the division title three times, and a conference championship once, going on to lose to the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XXXIII. Super Bowl XXVIII and Super Bowl XXXIV were held in the city. In the Arena Football League, The Georgia Force has been Atlanta's team since the franchise relocated from
Nashville in 2002. The 2005 National Conference champions play in
Philips Arena.
The Atlanta Hawks
basketball team has been the National Basketball Association franchise of Atlanta since 1969; the team was previously known as the Tri-Cities Blackhawks (1946-1951), Milwaukee, Wisconsin Hawks (1951-55), St. Louis, Missouri Hawks (1955-68). The team's sole NBA championship was in 1958, when they were the St. Louis Hawks. Atlanta hosted the NCAA Final Four Men's Basketball Championship in April 2007.
From 1992 to 1996 Atlanta was home to the short-lived
Atlanta Knights, an International Hockey League (1945-2001) team. Their inaugural season was excellent for a new team, and was only bested by their sophomore season in which they won the championship Turner Cup. In 1996 they moved to
Quebec City, Quebec and became the Quebec Rafales. In 1999 the
Atlanta Thrashers Ice hockey team became Atlanta's National Hockey League franchise. They replaced the Atlanta Flames which had departed for Calgary,
Alberta in 1980, becoming the Calgary Flames. The Thrashers made it to their first playoffs in 2007. Both the Thrashers and the Hawks play in
Philips Arena.
In golf, the final event of the PGA Tour season, THE TOUR Championship, is played annually at East Lake Golf Club. This golf course is used because of its connection to the great amateur golfer
Bobby Jones (golf), an Atlanta native.
From 2001 to 2003 Atlanta hosted the Atlanta Beat football (soccer) team of the defunct Women's United Soccer Association. They appeared in two of the three Founders Cup championships held, losing to the
Bay Area CyberRays in 2001, and the Washington Freedom team in 2003. Atlanta is the home of the Atlanta Silverbacks of the United Soccer Leagues First Division (Men) and W-League (Women). In 1968 the
Atlanta Chiefs professional soccer team won the NASL championship, playing their home games at the now demolished
Atlanta Fulton County Stadium.
The
Atlanta Kookaburras are a successful Australian rules football club that compete in men's and women's divisions in the
MAAFL and SEAFL and USAFL National Championships. The women's team is known as the Lady Kookaburras.
Other nearby sports facilities include Atlanta Motor Speedway, a 1.5 mile (2.4 km) NASCAR race track in
Hampton, Georgia.
Road Atlanta is another famous local race track, located in Braselton, Georgia. In 2005 Atlanta competed with other major U.S. cities for the NASCAR Hall of Fame. In March 2006, Atlanta lost to Charlotte, North Carolina.
Atlanta also was the home to the now-defunct World Championship Wrestling organization and events, and was originally owned by Atlanta media mogul Ted Turner. In 2001 it was sold to the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWF/E).
Media
Atlanta's only major daily paper is
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Weekly papers include
Creative Loafing,
The Sunday Paper and
Atlanta Nation. A monthly newsprint publication
Stomp And Stammer features local music news,
indie rock record reviews, and cultural commentary. International medical, law, and business publisher
NewsRx is headquartered in the Atlanta suburb of Vinings. The Atlanta Arts community is connected through the
ARTNEWS (list serve).
The Atlanta metro area is served by a wide variety of local television stations, and is the eighth largest designated market area (DMA) in the U.S. with 2,310,490 homes (2.05% of the total U.S.). All of the major networks have stations in the market, along with two PBS stations and some independent ones. Several cable television networks also operate from Atlanta, including
TBS (TV network), CNN,
Cartoon Network, Boomerang, and Turner Network Television. These stations are owned by Turner Broadcasting System (now a subsidiary of
Time Warner). The Weather Channel (United States) (owned by
Landmark Communications) also broadcasts from the Atlanta area. According to
Billboard, the first nationwide music video programming on cable television,
Video Concert Hall was created in Atlanta.
There are also numerous local radio stations serving every genre of music, sports, and talk. The nationally syndicated Neal Boortz and Clark Howard shows are broadcast from Atlanta radio station AM 750
WSB-AM.
Cox Enterprises, which owns the Atlanta Journal-Constitution,
WSB-TV, and WSB-AM-FM, is headquartered in Atlanta.
Cumulus Media, Inc. engages in the acquisition, operation, and development of commercial radio stations in mid-size radio markets in the United States and is also headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. As of
December 31,
2005, it owned and operated 307 radio stations in 61 mid-sized U.S. media markets; and a multimarket network of 5 radio stations in the English-speaking Caribbean; as well as provided sales and marketing services for 2 radio stations under local marketing agreement. Nintendo's American Division has its distribution center based in Atlanta, the primary location from where imported games and products arrive to United States and are often inspected and shipped to stores nationwide.
Religion
There are over 1,000 places of worship within the city of Atlanta. A large majority of Atlantans profess to following a Protestant Christian faith, the city being a major Southern Baptist Convention center. A number of black
megachurches are located in the Atlanta area, including
New Birth Missionary Baptist Church, and
World Changers Ministries, led by Creflo Dollar, and
Greenforest Baptist Church.
Atlanta is also home to a large, vibrant Jewish community estimated to include 120,000 individuals in 61,300 households. This study places Atlanta's Jewish population as the 11th largest in the United States, up from 17th largest in 1996. The Temple, a reform
synagogue, located on Peachtree Street, and its then-rabbi, Alvin Sugarman, were featured in the film
Driving Miss Daisy.
As the see of the
Roman Catholicism Archdiocese of Atlanta, Atlanta serves as the
Provincial See for the Province of Atlanta. The archdiocesan cathedral is the Cathedral of Christ the King and the current archbishop is the
Most Rev. Wilton D. Gregory.
Atlanta is also the Episcopal see of the Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta. This Diocese is headquartered at
Episcopal Cathedral of Saint Philip, Atlanta and is lead by the Right Reverend J. Neil Alexander whose voice within the Church made him a candidate for Presiding Bishop at the 2006
General Convention of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America.
The city is the headquarters of the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Atlanta, with Annunciation Cathedral and Metropolitan Alexios presiding. In total, there are eleven Eastern Orthodox Church parishes in Atlanta, including Greek, The Orthodox Church in America, Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America, Serbian Orthodox Church, Ukrainian and Romanian Orthodox Church.
The
Southeast Conference, United Church of Christ, is also headquartered in Atlanta and serves the states of Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, South Carolina, and central and eastern Tennessee. There are eight
United Church of Christ congregations in the Atlanta metro area.
The headquarters for The Salvation Army's United States Southern Territory is also located in Atlanta. There are eight churches, numerous social service centers, and youth clubs located throughout the Atlanta, Georgia.
Economy
museum reopened at a new location near the
Georgia Aquarium on May 26, 2007.One of seven American cities classified as Global city#Gamma world cities (minor world cities), Atlanta ranks third in the number of Fortune 500 companies headquartered within city boundaries, behind
New York City and Houston. Several major national and international companies are headquartered in Atlanta or its nearby suburbs, including four Fortune 100 companies: The Coca-Cola Company, Home Depot, and
United Parcel Service in adjacent Sandy Springs, Georgia. The headquarters of
AT&T Mobility (formerly Cingular Wireless), the largest
mobile phone service provider in the United States, can be found a short distance inside the Perimeter beside
Georgia State Route 400.
Newell Rubbermaid is one of the most recent companies to relocate to the metro area; in October 2
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Atlanta ( or ) is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), and the core city of the
United States metropolitan area metropolitan area in the
United States. It is the county seat of Fulton County, Georgia, although portions of the city extend into
DeKalb County, Georgia. As of July 2006, the city of Atlanta had a population of 486,411 and a
Atlanta metropolitan area of 5,138,223. The July 2006 census estimate put the combined statistical area (CSA) population at 5,478,667. Residents of the city are known as Atlantans.
Atlanta has in recent years undergone a transition from a city of regional commerce to a city of international influence. Between 2000 and 2006, the Atlanta metropolitan area grew 20.5%, the highest percentage amongst the top-ten metro areas. Atlanta is often considered a
poster child for cities worldwide experiencing rapid growth and
urban sprawl.
During the African-American Civil Rights Movement (1955-1968), Atlanta stood apart from southern cities that supported segregation, touting itself as "The City Too Busy to Hate." The city's progressive civil rights record and existing population of blacks, made it increasingly popular as a relocation destination for black Americans. Blacks soon became the dominant social and political force in the city, though today some measure of demographic diversification has taken place. Along with
St. Louis, Missouri and
Los Angeles, California, Atlanta is one of three cities in the United States to have hosted the Summer Olympic Games.
History
The region where Atlanta and its suburbs were built was originally Creek people and
Cherokee Native Americans in the United States territory. The Creek land in the eastern part of the current metro area (including Decatur) was opened to white settlement in 1823. In 1835, leaders of the Cherokee nation ceded their land to the government in exchange for land out west under the Treaty of New Echota, an act that eventually led to the Trail of Tears.
In 1836 the Georgia General Assembly voted to build the Western and Atlantic Railroad to provide a trade route to the
Midwestern United States. The initial route was to run from Chattanooga to a spot called simply "Terminus", located somewhere east of the Chattahoochee River, which would eventually be linked to the
Georgia Railroad from
Augusta, Georgia and the Macon & Western, which ran from Macon, Georgia to Savannah, GA. Though the initial location of the Terminus was near present-day Norcross, Georgia, work was moved to Historic ferries of the Atlanta area#Montgomery Ferry for a savings of $18,000 per mile from the geography differences. Several months later in 1837, the legislature finally established the zero-mile marker for the Terminus at a point near the present-day Georgia World Congress Center, chosen because the area was relatively flat and would better allow for turnarounds. The first store, a general store, was opened at the site in 1839 by John Thrasher and a Mr. Johnson.
The area around Atlanta also began to develop. By 1842, the settlement at the Terminus had six buildings and 30 residents. A two-story depot building was constructed, and after a few renames, the Chief Engineer of the Georgia Railroad, (J. Edgar Thomson) suggested that the area be renamed "Atlantica-Pacifica", which was quickly shortened to "Atlanta". The residents approved, and the town was incorporated as "Atlanta" on December 29,
1847.
house on Whitehall Street
The first Georgia Railroad freight and passenger trains arrived in 1845. In 1846, a third railroad, the Macon & Western, completed tracks to Terminus, connecting the little settlement with Macon and Savannah. The town experienced a small boom and the population grew to 2,500 citizens. In 1848, the first mayor was elected, the first homicide occurred and the first jail was built. Sidewalks were constructed and a town marshal appointed. By 1854 another railroad connected Atlanta to
LaGrange, Georgia. The town had grown to 6,000 residents.
During the
American Civil War, Atlanta served as an important railroad and military supply hub. In 1864, the city became the target of a Atlanta campaign. The area now covered by Atlanta was the scene of several battles, including the Battle of Peachtree Creek, the Battle of Atlanta, and the
Battle of Ezra Church. On
September 1,
1864,
Confederate States of America General
John Bell Hood evacuated Atlanta after a four-month siege mounted by Union General William Tecumseh Sherman and ordered all public buildings and possible Confederate assets destroyed. The next day, Mayor James Calhoun surrendered the city, and on September 7 Sherman ordered the civilian population to evacuate. He then ordered Atlanta burned to the ground on
November 11 in preparation for his punitive march south.
After a plea by Father Thomas O'Reilly of Immaculate Conception Catholic Church, Sherman did not burn the city's churches or hospitals. The remaining war resources were then destroyed in the aftermath, and in
Sherman's March to the Sea. The fall of Atlanta was a crucial event in the Civil War because of the confidence it instilled in the Union.
The rebuilding of the city — immortalized in the city's symbol, the
Phoenix (mythology) — was gradual. From 1867 until 1888, U.S. Army soldiers occupied McPherson Barracks in southwest Atlanta to ensure Reconstruction era (United States) reforms. To help the newly freed slaves, the Federal Government set up a
Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands, which helped establish what is now
Clark Atlanta University, one of several historically black colleges in Atlanta.
In 1868, Atlanta became the fifth city to serve as the state capital.
Henry W. Grady, the editor of the
Atlanta Constitution, promoted the city to investors as a city of the "New South", one built on a modern economy, less reliant on agriculture. As part of the effort to modernize the South, Grady and many others also supported the creation of the
Georgia School of Technology (now the Georgia Institute of Technology), which was founded in 1885. In 1880, Sister Cecilia Carroll, RSM, and three companions traveled from Savannah to Atlanta to minister to the sick. The sisters opened the Atlanta Hospital (later to become Saint Joseph's Hospital), the first medical facility in the city after the Civil War.
As Atlanta grew, ethnic and racial tensions mounted. The Atlanta Race Riot of 1906 left at least 27 dead and over seventy injured. In 1913,
Leo Frank, a Jewish supervisor at a factory in Atlanta was put on trial for raping and murdering a thirteen-year old white employee from a suburb of Atlanta, ultimately resulting in Frank's lynching. This became the storyline for the hit 1998 musical
Parade (musical)In the 1930s, the Great Depression hit Atlanta. The federal government established Techwood Homes, the nation's first federal public housing in 1935. With the entry of the United States into World War II, soldiers from around the
Southeastern United States went through Atlanta to train and later be discharged at Fort McPherson. War-related manufacturing such as the Bell Aircraft factory in the suburb of Marietta, Georgia helped boost the city's population and economy. Shortly after the war, the Communicable Disease Center (now the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) was founded in Atlanta.
In the wake of the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision
Brown v. Board of Education, which helped usher in the Civil Rights Movement, racial tensions in Atlanta began to express themselves in acts of violence. On
October 12, 1958, Bombing of the Hebrew Benevolent Congregation Temple. The "Confederate Underground" claimed responsibility. Many believed that Jews, especially those from the northeast, were advocates of the Civil Rights Movement.
neighborhood was the city's first planned suburb. Today, it features several mansions and many colorful restored
bungalows.In the 1960s, Atlanta was a major organizing center of the US Civil Rights Movement, with
Martin Luther King and students from Atlanta's historically black colleges and universities playing major roles in the movement's leadership. On
October 19, 1960, a sit-in at the lunch counters of several Atlanta department stores led to the arrest of Dr. King and several students, drawing attention from the national media and from presidential candidate
John F. Kennedy. Despite this incident, Atlanta's political and business leaders fostered Atlanta's image as "the city too busy to hate". In 1961, Mayor Ivan Allen Jr. became one of the few Southern white mayors to support desegregation of Atlanta's public schools. While the city mostly avoided confrontation, minor race riots did occur in 1965 and in 1968.
In 1990, Atlanta was selected as the site for the Centennial Olympic Games 1996 Summer Olympics. Following the announcement, Atlanta undertook several major construction projects to improve the city's parks, sports facilities, and transportation. Former Mayor
Bill Campbell allowed many "tent cities" to be built. Atlanta became the third United States city to host the Summer Olympics, after
St. Louis, Missouri and
Los Angeles. The games themselves were marred by numerous organizational inefficiencies as well as the
Centennial Olympic Park bombing.
Geography
Topography
According to the
United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 343.0 km² (132.4 mi²). 341.2 km² (131.8 mi²) of it is land and 1.8 km² (0.7 mi²) of it is water. The total area is 0.51% water. At about 1050 feet or 320 meters above mean sea level (the airport is 1010 ft), Atlanta sits atop a
ridge south of the
Chattahoochee River.
The Eastern Continental Divide line enters Atlanta from the south, proceeding to downtown. From downtown, the divide line runs eastward along DeKalb Avenue and the CSX rail lines through Decatur. Rainwater that falls on the south and east side runs eventually into the
Atlantic Ocean while rainwater on the north and west side of the divide runs into the Gulf of Mexico.
The latter is via the
Chattahoochee River, part of the ACF River Basin, and from which Atlanta and many of its neighbors draw most of their water. Being at the far northwestern edge of the city, much of the river's natural habitat is still preserved, in part by the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area. Downstream however, excessive water use during droughts and pollution during floods has been a source of contention and legal battles with neighboring states
Alabama and
Florida.
Climate
Atlanta has a
humid subtropical climate, (Cfa) according to the Köppen climate classification, with hot, humid summers and chilly (but not extreme) winters by the standards of the United States. July highs average 90 °F (32 °C) or above, and low average 67 °F (19 °C). Infrequently, temperatures can even exceed 100 °F (38 °C). The highest temperature recorded in the city is 105 °F (40.6 °C), reached on
July 13 and July 17, 1980. January is the coldest month, with an average high of 50 °F (10 °C), and low of 29 °F (-1 °C). Warm fronts can bring springlike temperatures in the 60s and 70s in winter, and Arctic air masses can drop temperatures into the teens as well. The coldest temperature ever recorded was -9 °F on 13 February
1899. A close second was -8 °F, reached on 21 January
1985.
Like the rest of the southeastern U.S., Atlanta receives abundant rainfall, which is relatively evenly distributed throughout the year. Average annual rainfall is 50.2 inches (1275 mm). An average year sees frost on 36 days; snowfall averages about two inches (5
centimeters) annually. The heaviest single storm brought 10 inches on January 23, 1940. Frequent ice storms can cause more problems than snow; the most severe such storm may have occurred on
January 7, 1973.
{| class="wikitable" "text-align:center;font-size:90%;"|| colspan="13" style="text-align:center;font-size:120%;"|Monthly Normal and Record High and Low Temperatures for Atlanta, GA (30328)|-! style="background: #E5AFAA; color: #000000" height="17" | Month! style="background: #E5AFAA; color:#000000;" | Jan! style="background: #E5AFAA; color:#000000;" | Feb! style="background: #E5AFAA; color:#000000;" | Mar! style="background: #E5AFAA; color:#000000;" | Apr! style="background: #E5AFAA; color:#000000;" | May! style="background: #E5AFAA; color:#000000;" | Jun! style="background: #E5AFAA; color:#000000;" | Jul! style="background: #E5AFAA; color:#000000;" | Aug! style="background: #E5AFAA; color:#000000;" | Sep! style="background: #E5AFAA; color:#000000;" | Oct! style="background: #E5AFAA; color:#000000;" | Nov! style="background: #E5AFAA; color:#000000;" | Dec|-! style="background: #E5AFAA; color:#000000;" height="16;" | Rec High °F| style="text-align:center; background: #E8EAFA; color:#000000;" | 75| style="text-align:center; background: #E8EAFA; color:#000000;" | 80| style="text-align:center; background: #E8EAFA; color:#000000;" | 85| style="text-align:center; background: #E8EAFA; color:#000000;" | 91| style="text-align:center; background: #E8EAFA; color:#000000;" | 95| style="text-align:center; background: #E8EAFA; color:#000000;" | 101| style="text-align:center; background: #E8EAFA; color:#000000;" | 102| style="text-align:center; background: #E8EAFA; color:#000000;" | 100| style="text-align:center; background: #E8EAFA; color:#000000;" | 98| style="text-align:center; background: #E8EAFA; color:#000000;" | 88| style="text-align:center; background: #E8EAFA; color:#000000;" | 84| style="text-align:center; background: #E8EAFA; color:#000000;" | 76|-! style="background: #E5AFAA; color:#000000;" height="16;" | Norm High °F| style="text-align:center; background: #F8F3CA; color:#000000;" | 50| style="text-align:center; background: #F8F3CA; color:#000000;" | 55| style="text-align:center; background: #F8F3CA; color:#000000;" | 63| style="text-align:center; background: #F8F3CA; color:#000000;" | 71| style="text-align:center; background: #F8F3CA; color:#000000;" | 78| style="text-align:center; background: #F8F3CA; color:#000000;" | 84| style="text-align:center; background: #F8F3CA; color:#000000;" | 90| style="text-align:center; background: #F8F3CA; color:#000000;" | 86| style="text-align:center; background: #F8F3CA; color:#000000;" | 81| style="text-align:center; background: #F8F3CA; color:#000000;" | 72| style="text-align:center; background: #F8F3CA; color:#000000;" | 62| style="text-align:center; background: #F8F3CA; color:#000000;" | 53|-! style="background: #E5AFAA; color:#000000;" height="16;" | Norm Low °F| style="text-align:center; background: #C5DFE1; color:#000000;" | 29| style="text-align:center; background: #C5DFE1; color:#000000;" | 32| style="text-align:center; background: #C5DFE1; color:#000000;" | 38| style="text-align:center; background: #C5DFE1; color:#000000;" | 45| style="text-align:center; background: #C5DFE1; color:#000000;" | 54| style="text-align:center; background: #C5DFE1; color:#000000;" | 62| style="text-align:center; background: #C5DFE1; color:#000000;" | 67| style="text-align:center; background: #C5DFE1; color:#000000;" | 66| style="text-align:center; background: #C5DFE1; color:#000000;" | 60| style="text-align:center; background: #C5DFE1; color:#000000;" | 47| style="text-align:center; background: #C5DFE1; color:#000000;" | 39| style="text-align:center; background: #C5DFE1; color:#000000;" | 32|-! style="background: #E5AFAA; color:#000000;" height="16;" | Rec Low °F| style="text-align:center; background: #F8F3CA; color:#000000;" | -9| style="text-align:center; background: #F8F3CA; color:#000000;" | 1| style="text-align:center; background: #F8F3CA; color:#000000;" | 6| style="text-align:center; background: #F8F3CA; color:#000000;" | 24| style="text-align:center; background: #F8F3CA; color:#000000;" | 31| style="text-align:center; background: #F8F3CA; color:#000000;" | 40| style="text-align:center; background: #F8F3CA; color:#000000;" | 48| style="text-align:center; background: #F8F3CA; color:#000000;" | 50| style="text-align:center; background: #F8F3CA; color:#000000;" | 28| style="text-align:center; background: #F8F3CA; color:#000000;" | 25| style="text-align:center; background: #F8F3CA; color:#000000;" | 10| style="text-align:center; background: #F8F3CA; color:#000000;" | -1|-! style="background: #E5AFAA; color:#000000;" height="16;" | Precip (in)| style="text-align:center; background: #E8EAFA; color:#000000;" | 5.34| style="text-align:center; background: #E8EAFA; color:#000000;" | 4.28| style="text-align:center; background: #E8EAFA; color:#000000;" | 5.52| style="text-align:center; background: #E8EAFA; color:#000000;" | 4.04| style="text-align:center; background: #E8EAFA; color:#000000;" | 4.63| style="text-align:center; background: #E8EAFA; color:#000000;" | 3.66| style="text-align:center; background: #E8EAFA; color:#000000;" | 4.17| style="text-align:center; background: #E8EAFA; color:#000000;" | 4.32| style="text-align:center; background: #E8EAFA; color:#000000;" | 3.87| style="text-align:center; background: #E8EAFA; color:#000000;" | 3.58| style="text-align:center; background: #E8EAFA; color:#000000;" | 3.73| style="text-align:center; background: #E8EAFA; color:#000000;" | 4.18|-| colspan="13" style="text-align:center;font-size:90%;"|Source: The Weather Channel|}
Cityscape
Atlanta's skyline is punctuated with highrise and midrise buildings of modern and postmodern vintage. Its tallest landmark – the
Bank of America Plaza (Atlanta) – is the 26th-tallest building in the world at , and was one of the ten tallest buildings on Earth when built. It is also the tallest building in the United States outside of Chicago and
New York City.
in Downtown Atlanta.The city's highrises are clustered in three districts in the city—Downtown, Midtown, and Buckhead. (there are two more major suburban clusters,
Perimeter Center to the north and
Cumberland (Atlanta)/Vinings to the northwest). The central business district, clustered around the Westin Peachtree Plaza hotel – the tallest building in Atlanta at the time of its completion in 1976 – also includes the newer
191 Peachtree Tower, SunTrust Plaza,
Georgia-Pacific Tower, and the buildings of Peachtree Center.
Midtown Atlanta, farther north, developed rapidly after the completion of
One Atlantic Center in 1987.
The influx of business to Midtown has continued – the district's newest tower,
1180 Peachtree, opened in 2006 at a height of , and won a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Award that year from the U.S. Green Building Council. Atlanta has been in the midst of a construction and retail boom, with over 60 new highrise or midrise buildings either proposed or under construction as of April 19, 2006. October 2005 marked the opening of
Atlantic Station, a former brownfield steel plant site redeveloped into a mixed-use urban district. In early 2006, Mayor Franklin set in motion a plan to make the 14-block stretch of Peachtree Street in Midtown Atlanta (nicknamed "Midtown Mile") a street-level shopping destination envisioned to rival Beverly Hills' Rodeo Drive or Chicago's Magnificent Mile.
In spite of civic efforts such as the opening of Centennial Olympic Park in downtown in 1996, Atlanta ranks near last in area of park land
per capita among cities of similar population density, with 8.9 acres per thousand residents (36 m²/resident) in 2005. The city has a reputation, however, as a "city of trees" or a "city in a forest"; beyond the central Atlanta and Buckhead business districts, the skyline gives way to a sometimes dense canopy of woods that spreads into the suburbs. Founded in 1985, Trees Atlanta has planted and distributed over 68,000 shade trees.
The city's northern section, Buckhead (Atlanta), is consistently ranked by the
Robb Report as one of the most affluent communities in the United States. Since the opening of the intown segment of the Georgia State Route 400 tollway, which linked the district to the city superhighway system in the early 1990s, Buckhead has developed a dense commercial district, clustered around the high-end retail centers at Lenox Square and Phipps Plaza and including a growing number of office buildings and residential highrises, some in the 40+ story range. The Mansion on Peachtree, a 42 Story Luxury Hotel and Condominium tower will open in Early 2008 and the 50 story 3344 Peachtree/Sovereign, planned to reach , is due for completion in late 2007.
The edge cities clustered around
Perimeter Mall and
Cumberland Mall have distinct skylines of their own. The
Concourse at Landmark Center, located near Perimeter Mall in Sandy Springs, includes a pair of buildings called the King and Queen that each measure in total height.
Culture
Tourism
district is preserved as the
Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site. has been an Atlanta landmark for over 75 years.. is the city's largest park. A portion of the park is seen here with the
Midtown Atlanta Skyline..
Atlanta hosts a variety of museums on subjects ranging from history to fine arts, natural history, and beverages. Prominent among them are sites honoring Atlanta's participation in the civil rights movement. Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was born in the city, and his boyhood home on Auburn Avenue in the Sweet Auburn district is preserved as the
Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site. Meetings with other civil rights leaders, including Hosea Williams and
Congressman John Lewis (politician), often happened at Paschal's, a diner and motor inn which was a favorite for "colored" people, banned from "white" restaurants in an era of racial segregation and intolerance. King's final resting place is in the tomb at the center of the reflecting pool at the King Center.
Other history museums and attractions include the
Atlanta History Center; the
Atlanta Cyclorama (a huge painting and
diorama in-the-round, with a rotating central audience platform, that depicts the Battle of Atlanta in the Civil War); the
Carter Center; historic house museum
Rhodes Hall; and the Margaret Mitchell House and Museum.
The arts are represented by several theaters and museums, including the
Fox Theatre (Atlanta). The
Woodruff Arts Center is home to the
Alliance Theatre Company, Atlanta Symphony, and
High Museum of Art. The Atlanta Contemporary Art Center is the city's home for challenging contemporary art and education geared toward working artists and collectors of art. Museums geared specifically towards children include the
Fernbank Science Center and Imagine It! Atlanta's Children's Museum. The High Museum of Art is the city's major fine/visual arts venue, with a significant permanent collection and an assortment of traveling exhibitions. The Atlanta Opera, which was founded in 1979 by members of two struggling local companies, is now one of the fastest growing opera companies in the nation and garners attention from audiences around the world.
Atlanta features the world's largest aquarium, the Georgia Aquarium, which officially opened to the public on November 23,
2005. The aquarium features more aquatic life than can be found in any other aquarium, in tanks holding approximately eight million gallons of water. Adjacent is the World of Coca-Cola which opened in May 2007, featuring the history of the world famous soft drink brand and its well-known advertising. Pemberton Place, the 20 acre site which houses the Georgia Aquarium and the World of Coca-Cola is within walking distance of Centennial Olympic Park, the Georgia Dome, Philips Arena, the CNN Center and other downtown Atlanta tourist attractions.
Underground Atlanta, a historic shopping and entertainment complex is situated under the streets of downtown Atlanta. In addition
Atlantic Station, a huge new urban renewal project on the northwestern edge of Midtown Atlanta, officially opened in October 2005. While not a museum per se,
The Varsity is the main branch of the long-lived fast food chain, featured as the world's largest drive-in restaurant.
Piedmont Park hosts many of Atlanta's festivals and cultural events. In 1887, a group of prominent Atlantans purchased of farmland to build a horse racing track, later developed into the site of the Cotton States International Exposition of 1895, made famous by W.E.B Dubois' "Fingers of the Hand" speech. In 1904, the city council purchased the land for US$98,000, and today it is the largest park in metro Atlanta, with more than 2.5 million visitors each year. The grounds were part of the Battle of Peachtree Creek – a Confederate division occupied the northern edge on
July 20, 1864 as part of the outer defense line against Sherman's approach. Next to the park is the
Atlanta Botanical Garden.
Zoo Atlanta, with a panda exhibit, is in
Grant Park (Atlanta).
Just east of the city, Stone Mountain is the largest piece of exposed granite in the world. On its face are giant carvings of Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee, and
Thomas J. Jackson. It is also the site of laser shows in the summer. A few miles west of Atlanta on
I-20 is the
Six Flags Over Georgia, which opened near the city in 1967, and was the second theme park in the
Six Flags chain.
Entertainment and performing arts
Atlanta has a thriving music industry and is home to many famous hip-hop and
R&B musicians. Jermaine Dupri's 2001
hip hop music single "Welcome to Atlanta" (feat. Ludacris) declares Atlanta the "new
Motown", referencing the city of
Detroit, Michigan, which was known for its contributions to popular music, fertile job market and affordable urban housing in the 1950s to 1980s. The
Southern rap style of hip-hop emerged in part from Atlanta artists such as
Outkast and Goodie Mob. More recently, rapper/producer Lil Jon has been a driving force behind the party-oriented style known as
crunk.
Record Producers Antonio Reid and
Babyface founded LaFace Records in Atlanta in the late-1980s; the label has eventually become the home to multi-platinum selling artists such as Toni Braxton, TLC (music),
OutKast,
Goodie Mob, Monica (singer),
Usher Raymond and
Ciara, many of whom are Atlantans themselves. It is also the home of
So So Def Records, a label founded by Jermaine Dupri in the mid-1990s, that signed acts such as
Da Brat, Jagged Edge (band), Xscape (band) and Dem Franchise Boyz. The success of LaFace and SoSo Def led to Atlanta as an established scene for record labels such as LaFace parent company Arista Records to set up satellite offices. Atlanta is also home to multi-platinum rappers Ludacris and
T.I., among others. Artists such as Keyshia Cole, Bow Wow,
B5 (band), Phife Dawg,
T-Pain, and
Brian Littrell of the
Backstreet Boys have moved to the city and made it their home. Atlanta is also a well known place for producers and artists trying to get into the music business.
Atlanta has also produced rock and pop music singers, such as The Black Crowes, alternative metal band Sevendust, sludge metal band Mastodon (band), ska/punk band Treephort, rock bands
Swimming Pool Q's,
Uncle Green (a.k.a
3 Lb. Thrill),
Light Pupil Dilate,
Big Fish Ensemble, Collective Soul and
Third Day, the folk-pop
Indigo Girls,
Butch Walker, and was a proving ground for Connecticut-born pop-rock-blues musician John Mayer (musician). Mayer, as well as India.Arie and Shawn Mullins, all performed pre-fame at Eddie's Attic, an independent club in the intown suburb of Decatur. The "Open Mic Shootout" at Eddie's Attic consistently draws singer-songwriter talent from across the nation, and is held every Monday night.
, a division of the
Woodruff Arts Center in
Midtown Atlanta.Atlanta's classical music scene includes well-renowned ensembles such as the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Atlanta Opera, Atlanta Ballet, period-instrument ensemble
New Trinity Baroque, Atlanta Boy Choir, and many others. Classical musicians include renowned conductors such as the late Robert Shaw (conductor) and the Atlanta Symphony's Robert Spano.
The city has a well-known and active live music scene, though recently rapid gentrification and early venue closing times have hurt small clubs and other music venues. In the early 1980s, Atlanta was the home of a thriving
new wave music scene featuring such bands as The Brains and
The Producers (band), closely linked to the new wave scenes in
Athens, Georgia and other college towns in the southeast.
Historically there have been a variety of live music traditions going back to Cabbagetown country music pioneer
Fiddlin' John Carson, also including a thriving scene in the 90's, also in Cabbagetown, centered around a bar called Dotties, now known as
Lenny's and relocated a few blocks away. Video Concert Hall, precursor to
MTV, was founded in Atlanta.
Sports
{|class="wikitable"!Club!Sport!League!Venue|-|
Atlanta Falcons|[National Football League|-|[Atlanta Braves|[Major League Baseball, National League|
Turner Field|[Basketball|[Philips Arena|[Ice Hockey|[Philips Arena|[Women's Flat Track Derby Association|[Football (Soccer)|USL First Division|-|[Georgia Force|[Arena Football League|-|[Gwinnett Gladiators|[ECHL|-|[Atlanta Vision|[American Basketball Association (21st century):Blue ConferenceAtlanta has a rich sports history, including the oldest on-campus Division I football stadium, Bobby Dodd Stadium, built in 1913 by the students of Georgia Institute of Technology. Atlanta also played host to the second intercollegiate football game in the South, played between the Auburn University and the
University of Georgia in Piedmont Park in 1892; this game is now called the Deep South's Oldest Rivalry. The city hosts college football's annual Chick-fil-A Bowl (Formerly known as The Peach Bowl) and the
Peachtree Road Race, the world’s largest 10 km race. Atlanta was the host city for the Centennial 1996 Summer Olympics.
Centennial Olympic Park, built for 1996 Summer Olympics, sits adjacent to
CNN Center and Philips Arena. It is now operated by the
Georgia World Congress Center Authority.
The city is also host to U.S. cities with teams from four major sports. The Atlanta Braves
baseball team has been the
Major League Baseball franchise of Atlanta since 1966; the franchise was previously known as the Boston Braves (1912-1952), and the Milwaukee Braves (1953-1965). The team was founded in 1871 in Boston, Massachusetts as a National Association club, making it the oldest continuously operating sports franchise in North American sports. The Braves won the World Series in 1995 and had a recently ended unprecedented run of 14 straight divisional championships from 1991 to 2005. Before the Braves moved to Atlanta, the
Atlanta Crackers were Atlanta's professional baseball team from 1901 until their last season in 1965. They won 17 league championships in the minor leagues. The
Atlanta Black Crackers were Atlanta's Negro League team from around 1921 until 1949.
is one of Atlanta's major Hospitals.
The Atlanta Falcons
American football team plays at the Georgia Dome. They have been Atlanta's
National Football League franchise since 1966. They have won the division title three times, and a conference championship once, going on to lose to the
Denver Broncos in
Super Bowl XXXIII.
Super Bowl XXVIII and Super Bowl XXXIV were held in the city. In the
Arena Football League, The
Georgia Force has been Atlanta's team since the franchise relocated from
Nashville in 2002. The 2005 National Conference champions play in Philips Arena.
The
Atlanta Hawks basketball team has been the National Basketball Association franchise of Atlanta since 1969; the team was previously known as the Tri-Cities Blackhawks (1946-1951),
Milwaukee, Wisconsin Hawks (1951-55), St. Louis, Missouri Hawks (1955-68). The team's sole NBA championship was in 1958, when they were the St. Louis Hawks. Atlanta hosted the
NCAA Final Four Men's Basketball Championship in April 2007.
From 1992 to 1996 Atlanta was home to the short-lived
Atlanta Knights, an International Hockey League (1945-2001) team. Their inaugural season was excellent for a new team, and was only bested by their sophomore season in which they won the championship Turner Cup. In 1996 they moved to
Quebec City, Quebec and became the Quebec Rafales. In 1999 the Atlanta Thrashers
Ice hockey team became Atlanta's National Hockey League franchise. They replaced the Atlanta Flames which had departed for Calgary,
Alberta in 1980, becoming the
Calgary Flames. The Thrashers made it to their first playoffs in 2007. Both the Thrashers and the Hawks play in Philips Arena.
In golf, the final event of the
PGA Tour season,
THE TOUR Championship, is played annually at East Lake Golf Club. This golf course is used because of its connection to the great amateur golfer
Bobby Jones (golf), an Atlanta native.
From 2001 to 2003 Atlanta hosted the Atlanta Beat
football (soccer) team of the defunct Women's United Soccer Association. They appeared in two of the three Founders Cup championships held, losing to the
Bay Area CyberRays in 2001, and the Washington Freedom team in 2003. Atlanta is the home of the
Atlanta Silverbacks of the
United Soccer Leagues First Division (Men) and W-League (Women). In 1968 the Atlanta Chiefs professional soccer team won the NASL championship, playing their home games at the now demolished Atlanta Fulton County Stadium.
The Atlanta Kookaburras are a successful Australian rules football club that compete in men's and women's divisions in the
MAAFL and SEAFL and USAFL National Championships. The women's team is known as the Lady Kookaburras.
Other nearby sports facilities include Atlanta Motor Speedway, a 1.5 mile (2.4 km) NASCAR race track in
Hampton, Georgia. Road Atlanta is another famous local race track, located in
Braselton, Georgia. In 2005 Atlanta competed with other major U.S. cities for the NASCAR Hall of Fame. In March 2006, Atlanta lost to Charlotte,
North Carolina.
Atlanta also was the home to the now-defunct
World Championship Wrestling organization and events, and was originally owned by Atlanta media mogul Ted Turner. In 2001 it was sold to the
World Wrestling Entertainment (WWF/E).
Media
Atlanta's only major daily paper is
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Weekly papers include
Creative Loafing,
The Sunday Paper and
Atlanta Nation. A monthly newsprint publication
Stomp And Stammer features local music news, indie rock record reviews, and cultural commentary. International medical, law, and business publisher
NewsRx is headquartered in the Atlanta suburb of Vinings. The Atlanta Arts community is connected through the
ARTNEWS (list serve).
The Atlanta metro area is served by a wide variety of local television stations, and is the eighth largest designated market area (DMA) in the U.S. with 2,310,490 homes (2.05% of the total U.S.). All of the major networks have stations in the market, along with two PBS stations and some independent ones. Several cable television networks also operate from Atlanta, including TBS (TV network), CNN,
Cartoon Network,
Boomerang, and Turner Network Television. These stations are owned by
Turner Broadcasting System (now a subsidiary of
Time Warner). The Weather Channel (United States) (owned by
Landmark Communications) also broadcasts from the Atlanta area. According to Billboard, the first nationwide
music video programming on cable television,
Video Concert Hall was created in Atlanta.
There are also numerous local radio stations serving every genre of music, sports, and talk. The nationally syndicated Neal Boortz and Clark Howard shows are broadcast from Atlanta radio station AM 750 WSB-AM.
Cox Enterprises, which owns the Atlanta Journal-Constitution,
WSB-TV, and WSB-AM-FM, is headquartered in Atlanta.
Cumulus Media, Inc. engages in the acquisition, operation, and development of commercial radio stations in mid-size radio markets in the United States and is also headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. As of
December 31,
2005, it owned and operated 307 radio stations in 61 mid-sized U.S. media markets; and a multimarket network of 5 radio stations in the English-speaking Caribbean; as well as provided sales and marketing services for 2 radio stations under local marketing agreement. Nintendo's American Division has its distribution center based in Atlanta, the primary location from where imported games and products arrive to
United States and are often inspected and shipped to stores nationwide.
Religion
There are over 1,000 places of worship within the city of Atlanta. A large majority of Atlantans profess to following a Protestant Christian faith, the city being a major Southern Baptist Convention center. A number of black megachurches are located in the Atlanta area, including
New Birth Missionary Baptist Church, and World Changers Ministries, led by
Creflo Dollar, and Greenforest Baptist Church.
Atlanta is also home to a large, vibrant Jewish community estimated to include 120,000 individuals in 61,300 households. This study places Atlanta's Jewish population as the 11th largest in the United States, up from 17th largest in 1996. The Temple, a reform
synagogue, located on Peachtree Street, and its then-rabbi, Alvin Sugarman, were featured in the film
Driving Miss Daisy.
As the see of the
Roman Catholicism Archdiocese of Atlanta, Atlanta serves as the
Provincial See for the Province of Atlanta. The archdiocesan cathedral is the Cathedral of Christ the King and the current archbishop is the
Most Rev. Wilton D. Gregory.
Atlanta is also the Episcopal see of the
Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta. This Diocese is headquartered at
Episcopal Cathedral of Saint Philip, Atlanta and is lead by the Right Reverend J. Neil Alexander whose voice within the Church made him a candidate for
Presiding Bishop at the 2006 General Convention of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America.
The city is the headquarters of the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Atlanta, with Annunciation Cathedral and Metropolitan Alexios presiding. In total, there are eleven Eastern Orthodox Church parishes in Atlanta, including Greek, The Orthodox Church in America, Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America,
Serbian Orthodox Church, Ukrainian and Romanian Orthodox Church.
The
Southeast Conference, United Church of Christ, is also headquartered in Atlanta and serves the states of Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, South Carolina, and central and eastern Tennessee. There are eight United Church of Christ congregations in the Atlanta metro area.
The headquarters for The Salvation Army's United States Southern Territory is also located in Atlanta. There are eight churches, numerous social service centers, and youth clubs located throughout the Atlanta, Georgia.
Economy
museum reopened at a new location near the
Georgia Aquarium on
May 26, 2007.One of seven American cities classified as
Global city#Gamma world cities (minor world cities), Atlanta ranks third in the number of
Fortune 500 companies headquartered within city boundaries, behind
New York City and
Houston. Several major national and international companies are headquartered in Atlanta or its nearby suburbs, including four Fortune 100 companies: The Coca-Cola Company, Home Depot, and
United Parcel Service in adjacent Sandy Springs, Georgia. The headquarters of AT&T Mobility (formerly Cingular Wireless), the largest
mobile phone service provider in the United States, can be found a short distance inside the Perimeter beside Georgia State Route 400. Newell Rubbermaid is one of the most recent companies to relocate to the metro area; in October 2
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