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128-587: Cascade Heights is an affluent neighborhood in southwest Atlanta . It is bisected by Cascade Road, which was known as Sandtown Road in the nineteenth century. The road follows the path of the ancient Sandtown Trail which ran from Stone Mountain to the Creek village of Sandtown on the Chattahoochee River and from there on into Alabama. Ironically, the name lived on even after the Indians were expelled in

256-464: A nominal gross domestic product (GDP) of $ 473 billion in 2021, Atlanta has the 11th-largest economy among cities in the U.S. and the 22nd-largest in the world. Its economy is considered diverse, with dominant sectors in industries including transportation, aerospace, logistics, healthcare, news and media operations, film and television production, information technology, finance, and biomedical research and public policy. Atlanta established itself on

384-616: A Jewish-American factory superintendent, was convicted of the murder of a 13-year-old girl in a highly publicized trial. He was sentenced to death but the governor commuted his sentence to life. An enraged and organized lynch mob took him from jail in 1915 and hanged him in Marietta . The Jewish community in Atlanta and across the country were horrified. On May 21, 1917, the Great Atlanta Fire destroyed 1,938 buildings in what

512-447: A blacksmith shop, a grocery store, and nothing else". A year later, the area around the milepost had developed into a settlement, first known as Terminus , and later Thrasherville , after a local merchant who built homes and a general store in the area. By 1842, the town had six buildings and 30 residents and was renamed Marthasville to honor Governor Wilson Lumpkin's daughter Martha. Later, John Edgar Thomson , Chief Engineer of

640-614: A city of the " New South " that would be based upon a modern economy and less reliant on agriculture. By 1885, the founding of the Georgia School of Technology (now the Georgia Institute of Technology ) and the Atlanta University Center , a consortium of historically Black colleges made up of units for men and women, had established Atlanta as a center for higher education. In 1895, Atlanta hosted

768-492: A decreasing portion of the population, from a high of 67% in 1990 to 54% in 2010. From 2000 to 2010, Atlanta gained 22,763 white residents, 5,142 Asian residents, and 3,095 Hispanic residents, while the city's Black population decreased by 31,678. Much of the city's demographic change during the decade was driven by young, college-educated professionals: from 2000 to 2009, the three-mile radius surrounding Downtown Atlanta gained 9,722 residents aged 25 to 34 and holding at least

896-611: A direct link to poor education. If blacks moved into a neighborhood, home values in that neighborhood would decrease as a result of federal and local policies. Since white homeowners took great pride in their homes and often viewed them as their life investment, they deeply feared that allowing one black family to move into their neighborhood would ruin their investments. To prevent their neighborhoods from becoming racially mixed, many cities kept their neighborhoods segregated with local zoning laws. Such laws required people of non-white ethnic groups to reside in geographically defined areas of

1024-587: A four-year degree, an increase of 61%. This was similar to the tendency in other cities for young, college educated, single or married couples to live in downtown areas. Between the mid-1990s and 2010, stimulated by funding from the HOPE VI program and under leadership of CEO Renee Lewis Glover (1994–2013), the Atlanta Housing Authority demolished nearly all of its public housing, a total of 17,000 units and about 10% of all housing units in

1152-430: A house. Land installment contracts were historically predatory agreements in which buyers made payments directly to sellers over a period of time in order to obtain the legal title to the home only when the full purchase price had been paid. The harsh terms of these contracts and inflated prices often led to foreclosure, so these houses had a high turnover rate. With blockbusting, real estate companies legally profited from

1280-489: A labor shortage in northern and western cities. To fill war industries and shipyards, these cities recruited tens of thousands of black and white people, including those from the South. Resistance to this loss of cheap labor in the South meant that northern recruiters had to act in secret or face fines or imprisonment. Southern authorities tried to prevent black flight by arresting migrants at railroad stations and arresting them on

1408-575: A loss. After utilizing one of the tactics above, real estate agents would place their cards in the mailboxes of frightened white residents, offering to buy their houses immediately at a discounted price. These agents aimed to convince white property owners that their home values would decline, owing to the influx of new minorities onto their blocks. After these white homeowners hurriedly sold their homes, middle-class African Americans were then offered admittance into white neighborhoods that had previously been denied to them at artificially inflated prices. Given

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1536-626: A major organizing center of the American civil rights movement , with Martin Luther King Jr. , Ralph Abernathy , and many other locals becoming prominent figures in the movement's leadership. In the modern era, Atlanta has remained a major center of transportation, with Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport becoming the world's busiest airport by passenger traffic in 1998 (a position it has held every year since, except for 2020), with an estimated 93.7 million passengers in 2022. With

1664-690: A major role in Atlanta's economy, as the city claims the nation's third-largest concentration of Fortune 500 companies (tied for third with Chicago ). It also hosts the global headquarters of several corporations such as The Coca-Cola Company , The Home Depot , Delta Air Lines , Arby's , AT&T Mobility , Georgia-Pacific , Chick-fil-A , Church's Chicken , Dunkin Donuts , Norfolk Southern Railway , Mercedes-Benz USA , NAPA Auto Parts , Papa Johns , Porsche AG , Newell Brands , Rollins, Inc. , Marble Slab Creamery , and UPS . Over 75% of Fortune 1000 companies conduct business operations in

1792-584: A portion of the city extends into neighboring DeKalb County . With a population of 510,823 living within the city limits, Atlanta is the eighth most populous city in the Southeast and 37th most populous city in the United States according to the 2020 U.S. census . It is the principal city of the much larger Atlanta metropolitan area , the core of which includes Cobb , Clayton and Gwinnett counties, in addition to Fulton and DeKalb. Metro Atlanta

1920-409: A postwar suburban layout. These include Collier Heights and Cascade Heights , historically home to much of the city's upper middle-class African-American population . Northwest Atlanta contains the areas of the city to west of Marietta Boulevard and to the north of Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, including those neighborhoods remote to downtown, such as Riverside, Bolton and Whittier Mill. The latter

2048-696: A strategic hub for the distribution of military supplies. In 1864, the Union Army moved southward following the capture of Chattanooga and began its invasion of north Georgia . The region surrounding Atlanta was the location of several major army battles, culminating with the Battle of Atlanta and a four-month-long siege of the city by the Union Army under the command of General William Tecumseh Sherman . On September 1, 1864, Confederate General John Bell Hood decided to retreat from Atlanta, and he ordered

2176-531: A survey by the Williams Institute , Atlanta ranked third among major American cities, behind San Francisco and slightly behind Seattle , with 12.8% of the city's total population identifying as LGB. The Midtown and Cheshire Bridge areas have historically been the epicenters of LGBT culture in Atlanta. Atlanta formed a reputation for being a place inclusive to LGBT people after former mayor Ivan Allen Jr. dubbed it "the city too busy to hate" in

2304-470: A telegram to the state's Board of Regents requesting Georgia Tech not to engage in racially integrated events, Georgia Tech's president Blake R. Van Leer rejected the request and threatened to resign. The game went on as planned. In the 1960s, Atlanta became a major organizing center of the civil rights movement , with Martin Luther King Jr. , Ralph Abernathy , and students from Atlanta's historically Black colleges and universities playing major roles in

2432-403: A terminus east of the Chattahoochee River , which would be linked to Savannah. After engineers surveyed various possible locations for the terminus, the "zero milepost" was driven into the ground in what is now Foundry Street, Five Points . When asked in 1837 about the future of the little village, Stephen Harriman Long , the railroad's chief engineer said the place would be good "for one tavern,

2560-443: Is 21 miles (34 km) southeast of Marietta , 27 miles (43 km) southwest of Alpharetta , 146 miles (235 km) southwest of Greenville, South Carolina , 147 miles (237 km) east of Birmingham, Alabama , and 245 miles (394 km) southwest of Charlotte, North Carolina . Despite having lost significant tree canopy coverage between 1973 and 1999, Atlanta now has the densest urban tree coverage of any major city in

2688-555: Is a growing population of Mexican ancestry throughout the region, with notable concentrations along the Buford Highway and I-85 corridor, and now extending into Gwinnett County. In 2013, Metro Atlanta had the 19th largest Hispanic population in the United States. The Atlanta area also has a fast growing Asian American population. The largest groups of Asian origin are those of Indian, Vietnamese, Chinese, Korean, Filipino, Pakistani and Japanese descent. Pew Research Center ranks

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2816-693: Is also based just outside of the city in suburban Cobb County . Blockbusting From 1900 to 1970, around six million African Americans from the rural Southern United States moved to industrial and urban cities in the Northern and Western United States during the Great Migration in an effort to avoid the Jim Crow laws , violence, bigotry, and limited opportunities of the South. Resettlement to these cities peaked during World War I and World War II as slowing immigration from Europe created

2944-470: Is dominant. The eastside is marked by historic streetcar suburbs , built from the 1890s to the 1930s as havens for the upper middle class. These neighborhoods, many of which contain their own villages encircled by shaded, architecturally distinct residential streets, include the Victorian Inman Park , Bohemian East Atlanta , and eclectic Old Fourth Ward . On the westside and along

3072-481: Is home to more than 6.3 million people (2023 estimate), making it the sixth-largest U.S. metropolitan area . Situated among the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains at an elevation of just over 1,000 feet (300 m) above sea level, Atlanta features unique topography that includes rolling hills, lush greenery, and the densest urban tree coverage of any major city in the United States. Atlanta

3200-561: Is metro Atlanta's largest employer. UPS , the world's largest courier company, operates an air cargo hub at Hartsfield-Jackson, and has their headquarters in neighboring Sandy Springs . Media is also an important aspect of Atlanta's economy. In the 1980s, media mogul Ted Turner founded the Cable News Network (CNN), Turner Network Television (TNT), HLN (HLN), Turner Classic Movies (TCM), The Cartoon Network, Inc. and its namesake television network , TruTV (truTV) and

3328-624: Is now the Old Fourth Ward , resulting in one fatality and the displacement of 10,000 people. On December 15, 1939, Atlanta hosted the premiere of Gone with the Wind , the epic film based on the best-selling novel by Atlanta's Margaret Mitchell . The gala event at Loew's Grand Theatre was attended by the film's legendary producer, David O. Selznick , and the film's stars Clark Gable , Vivien Leigh , and Olivia de Havilland , but Oscar winner Hattie McDaniel , an African-American actress,

3456-427: Is one of Atlanta's designated Landmark Historical Neighborhoods. Vine City, though technically Northwest, adjoins the city's Downtown area and has recently been the target of community outreach programs and economic development initiatives. Gentrification of the city's neighborhoods is one of the more controversial and transformative forces shaping contemporary Atlanta. The gentrification of Atlanta has its origins in

3584-604: Is water. The city is situated in the Deep South of the southeastern United States among the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains . At 1,050 feet (320 m) above mean sea level, Atlanta has the highest elevation among major cities east of the Mississippi River . Atlanta straddles the Eastern Continental Divide . Rainwater that falls on the south and east side of the divide flows into

3712-511: The BeltLine on the eastside , former warehouses and factories have been converted into housing, retail space, and art galleries, transforming the once-industrial areas such as West Midtown into model neighborhoods for smart growth , historic rehabilitation, and infill construction. In southwest Atlanta, neighborhoods closer to downtown originated as streetcar suburbs, including the historic West End , while those farther from downtown retain

3840-497: The Civil Rights Act of 1866 , thus greatly reducing the profitability of blockbusting. Nevertheless, these regulatory and statutory remedies against blockbusting were challenged in court.  As a result, it was decided that towns cannot prohibit an owner from placing a "FOR SALE" sign before their house, even if prohibiting this practice reduces blockbusting. In the case of Linmark Associates, Inc. v. Willingboro (1977),

3968-530: The Cotton States and International Exposition , which attracted nearly 800,000 attendees and successfully promoted the New South's development to the world. During the first decades of the 20th century, Atlanta enjoyed a period of unprecedented growth. In three decades' time, Atlanta's population tripled as the city limits expanded to include nearby streetcar suburbs. The city's skyline grew taller with

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4096-781: The Equitable Building (1892–1971), Terminal Station (1905–1972), and the Carnegie Library (1902–1977). In the mid-1970s, the Fox Theatre , now a cultural icon of the city, would have met the same fate if not for a grassroots effort to save it. More recently, preservationists may have made some inroads. For example, in 2016 activists convinced the Atlanta City Council not to demolish the Atlanta-Fulton Central Library,

4224-601: The Four Seasons Hotel Atlanta (1992). Also completed during the era is the Portman-designed Bank of America Plaza built in 1992. At 1,023 feet (312 m), it is the tallest building in the city and the 14th-tallest in the United States. The city's embrace of modern architecture has often translated into an ambivalent approach toward historic preservation, leading to the destruction of many notable architectural landmarks. These include

4352-588: The Georgia Railroad , suggested the town be renamed Atlanta , supposedly a feminine version of the word "Atlantic", referring to the Western and Atlantic Railroad. The residents approved, and the town was incorporated as Atlanta on December 29, 1847. By 1860, Atlanta's population had grown to 9,554. During the American Civil War , the nexus of multiple railroads in Atlanta made the city

4480-654: The National Housing Act was signed into law by President Franklin D. Roosevelt , establishing the Federal Housing Administration (FHA). The FHA was commissioned by the Home Owners' Loan Corporation (HOLC) to look at 239 cities and create "residential security maps" to indicate the level of security for real-estate investments in each surveyed city. These maps marked neighborhoods by quality from 'A' to 'D', with 'A' representing

4608-665: The North to the Atlanta area. It has long been known as a center of African-American political power, education, entrepreneurship, and culture, often called a Black mecca . However, in the 1990s, Atlanta started to experience Black flight . African Americans have moved to the suburbs seeking a lower cost of living or better public schools. The African-American share of Atlanta's population has declined faster than that of any racial group. The city's share of Black residents shrank from 67% in 1990 to 47% in 2020. Blacks made up nine percent of new Atlanta residents between 2010 and 2020. At

4736-781: The Pew Research Center in 2014, but in recent decades the Roman Catholic Church has increased in numbers and influence because of new migrants to the region. Metro Atlanta also has numerous ethnic or national Christian congregations, including Korean and Indian churches. Per the Public Religion Research Institute in 2020, overall, 73% of the population identify with some tradition or denomination of Christianity ; despite continuing religious diversification, historically African-American Protestant churches continue prevalence in

4864-497: The Turner Broadcasting System (TBS) in the city. Around the same time, Cox Enterprises , now the nation's third-largest cable television service and the publisher of over a dozen American newspapers, moved its headquarters to the city. Notable sports networks headquartered in Atlanta include Warner Bros. Discovery Sports , NBA TV , Bally Sports South , and Bally Sports Southeast . The Weather Channel

4992-629: The arbitrage , the difference between the discounted price paid to frightened white sellers and the artificially high price paid by black buyers whose houses were often foreclosed on as a result of these unfair contracts. They also profited from the commissions resulting from increased real estate sales and their higher-than-market financing of house sales to blacks. The term blockbusting might have originated in Chicago , Illinois , where real estate companies and building developers used agents provocateurs . These were non-white people hired to deceive

5120-480: The "city too busy to hate." Desegregation of the public sphere came in stages, with public transportation desegregated by 1959, the restaurant at Rich's department store by 1961, movie theaters by 1963, and public schools by 1973 (nearly 20 years after the US Supreme Court ruled that segregated public schools were unconstitutional). In 1960, Whites comprised 61.7% of the city's population. During

5248-416: The "worsening" of schools, as results of racial mixing. The Fair Housing Act of 1968 established federal causes of action against blockbusting, including illegal real estate broker claims that non-white people had or were going to move into a neighborhood, and so devalue the properties. The Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity was charged with the task of administering and enforcing this law. In

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5376-511: The 1830s. After the Indian cession, settlement came quickly, and several roads in the area bear the names of early pioneers, including Willis Mill Road, Childress Drive, Herring Road, Dodson Drive, Head Road, and Sewell Road (since rechristened Benjamin E Mays Drive). Part of "Stone's District" in the nineteenth century, the area was dotted with small farms of white farming families, only a few of which were also home to enslaved African Americans. By

5504-400: The 1950s–70s, suburbanization and White flight from urban areas led to a significant demographic shift. By 1970, African Americans were the majority of the city's population and exercised their recently enforced voting rights and political influence by electing Atlanta's first Black mayor, Maynard Jackson , in 1973. Under Mayor Jackson's tenure, Atlanta's airport was modernized, strengthening

5632-586: The 1960s (referring to racial relations). Atlanta has consistently scored 100% on the Human Rights Campaign's Municipal Equality Index that measures how inclusive a city's laws, policies and services are for LGBT people who live or work there. Religion in Atlanta, while historically centered on Protestant Christianity , now encompasses many faiths, as a result of the city and metro area's increasingly international population. Some 63% of residents identified as some type of Protestant according to

5760-498: The 1970s, after many of Atlanta's neighborhoods had declined and suffered the urban decay that affected other major American cities in the mid-20th century. When neighborhood opposition successfully prevented two freeways from being built through the city's east side in 1975, the area became the starting point for Atlanta's gentrification . After Atlanta was awarded the Olympic games in 1990, gentrification expanded into other parts of

5888-552: The 1970s, the area became home to many affluent African-American business professionals, college professionals, celebrities, former pro-athletes, and elected officials and it remains so today. A private or charter school K-12th grade education is most common for children living in the Cascade Heights area. The area experienced some notable decline in the late 20th and early 21st century partly due to many middle-class and upper-middle-class African Americans in Atlanta moving to

6016-550: The 2011 historical fantasy novel Redwood and Wildfire , author Andrea Hairston depicts actors being hired for blockbusting in Chicago, as well as the sense of betrayal experienced by others when they realized some black people were getting rich by participating in these exploitative schemes. The 2014 documentary Spanish Lake describes how blockbusting happened in the St Louis suburb of Spanish Lake, Missouri . Blockbusting

6144-587: The Atlanta area among the top 10 U.S. metropolitan areas by Indian population in 2019. Early immigrants in the Atlanta area were mostly Jews and Greeks . Since 2010, the Atlanta area has experienced notable immigration from India, China, South Korea, and Jamaica. Other notable source countries of immigrants are Vietnam, Eritrea, Nigeria, the Arabian gulf, Ukraine and Poland. Within a few decades, and in keeping with national trends, immigrants from England, Ireland, and German-speaking central Europe were no longer

6272-681: The Atlantic Ocean, while rainwater on the north and west side of the divide flows into the Gulf of Mexico . Atlanta developed on a ridge south of the Chattahoochee River , which is part of the ACF River Basin . The river borders the far northwestern edge of the city, and much of its natural habitat has been preserved, in part by the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area . Atlanta

6400-689: The Beltline has stimulated new and related development along its path. Under the Köppen classification , Atlanta has a humid subtropical climate ( Cfa ) with generous precipitation year-round, typical for the Upland South ; the city is situated in USDA Plant Hardiness Zone 8a, with the northern and western suburbs, as well as part of Midtown transitioning to 7b. Summers are hot and humid, with temperatures somewhat moderated by

6528-517: The City of Atlanta. In the early 1960s the area was a predominantly white neighborhood. After an African-American physician (Dr. Clinton E. Warner) bought a home in Peyton Forest, white residents in the area feared that their neighborhood would become a victim of blockbusting , a business practice in which real estate agents would profit from the racial fears of white residents while changing

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6656-670: The Civil War ended in 1865, Atlanta was gradually rebuilt during the Reconstruction era . The work attracted many new residents. Due to the city's superior rail transportation network, the state capital was moved from Milledgeville to Atlanta in 1868. In the 1880 Census, Atlanta had surpassed Savannah as Georgia's largest city. Beginning in the 1880s, Henry W. Grady , the editor of the Atlanta Constitution newspaper, promoted Atlanta to potential investors as

6784-537: The Confederacy until it was captured in 1864. The city was almost entirely burned to the ground during General William T. Sherman 's March to the Sea . However, the city rebounded dramatically in the post-war period and quickly became a national industrial center and the unofficial capital of the " New South ". After World War II , it also became a manufacturing and technology hub. During the 1950s and 1960s, it became

6912-935: The Supreme Court from the legal restrictions, it became possible for non-whites to buy homes that had previously been reserved for white residents. Generally, "blockbusting" denotes the real estate and building development business practices which both profit and are fueled by anti-black racism. Real estate companies used deceitful tactics to make white homeowners think that their neighborhoods were being "invaded" by non-white residents, which in turn would encourage them to quickly sell their houses at below-market prices. The companies then sold that property to blacks who were desperate to escape inner-city ghettos at higher-than-market prices. Owing to redlining, African-Americans usually did not qualify for mortgages from banks and savings and loan associations . Instead, they resorted to land installment contracts at above market rates to buy

7040-509: The Supreme Court ruled that such prohibitions infringed on the freedom of expression . Moreover, by the 1980s, as evidence of blockbusting practices disappeared, states and cities began rescinding statutes restricting blockbusting. One of the long-term consequences of blockbusting was the onset of white flight and artificial demand for white-only suburbs. Blockbusting engineered pre-emptive white flight from city neighborhoods and steered Black residents with less free income and opportunities into

7168-696: The Supreme Court's Buchanan v. Warley prohibition of such legal business racism, state courts interpreted the covenants as a contract between private persons, outside the scope of the Fourteenth Amendment. However, in the Shelley v. Kraemer case in 1948, the Supreme Court ruled that the amendment's Equal Protection Clause outlawed the states' legal enforcement of racially restrictive covenants in state courts. In this event, decades of segregation practices were annulled, which had compelled blacks to live in overcrowded and over-priced ghettos . Freed by

7296-561: The US). Atlanta's dialect has traditionally been a variation of Southern American English . The Chattahoochee River long formed a border between the Coastal Southern and Southern Appalachian dialects. Because of the development of corporate headquarters in the region, attracting migrants from other areas of the country, by 2003, Atlanta magazine concluded that Atlanta had become significantly "de-Southernized". A Southern accent

7424-576: The Union army became real, defensive works were built that encircled Atlanta a mile and a half or so from the city center. As the Confederate army was pushed steadily before General Sherman's army in the spring of 1864, there were frantic attempts to extend the fortifications, including one line built southwest of the city along the Sandtown Road. After the Confederate defeat at Kennesaw Mountain,

7552-575: The Union army's crossing of the Chattahoochee River in early July was followed by three awful battles fought later that month: the Battle of Peachtree Creek, north of the city, the so-called Battle of Atlanta on the east, and the Battle of Ezra Church on the west on July 27. During August, as Union artillery laid siege to the city, there were skirmishes all around the southwest side of the city as Sherman attempted to complete his encirclement of

7680-481: The United Kingdom and Germany. Bosnian refugees settled in Atlanta. Vietnamese people, Cambodians, Ethiopians and Eritreans were the earliest refugees formally brought to the city. Of the total population five years and older, 83.3% spoke only English at home, while 8.8% spoke Spanish, 3.9% another Indo-European language, and 2.8% an Asian language. Among them, 7.3% of Atlantans were born abroad ( 86th in

7808-546: The United States and is often called "City of Trees" or "The City in a Forest". Most of Atlanta was burned in the final months of the American Civil War, depleting the city of a large stock of its historic architecture. Yet architecturally, the city had never been traditionally "southern": Atlanta originated as a railroad town rather than a southern seaport dominated by the planter class, such as Savannah or Charleston . Because of its later development, many of

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7936-595: The United States had been segregated for a long time historically, this was not a new idea or reality. In an attempt to continue the path of racial segregation in housing, white homeowners in many U.S. cities regarded blacks as a social and economic threat to their neighborhoods and to maintaining racial homogeneity. Groups of black people would have to join forces and combine income to buy a residency, in turn when they sold their house, it would become cheaper and other black groups could then afford housing. Redlining also made it difficult to afford housing in good areas, which had

8064-492: The ability to relocate to the suburbs. As a result, the city began to make up an ever-smaller proportion of the metropolitan area's population. African-American veterans returned from World War II seeking full rights in their country and began heightened activism. In exchange for support by that portion of the Black community that could vote, in 1948 the mayor ordered the hiring of the first eight African-American police officers in

8192-585: The aftermath of World War I and World War II, they struggled to find adequate housing and jobs in the cities that they had left. They were confined to the most decrepit and oldest housing stock in the least desirable yet most densely populated areas. The areas that non-whites were allowed to live in were substandard. This was in part because of the overcrowding, which was exacerbated by the Great Migration. Often, several families were crowded into one unit. Because non-whites were confined to these small areas of

8320-603: The area from 1802 to 1825. The Creek were forced to leave the area in 1821, under Indian Removal by the federal government, and European American settlers arrived the following year. In 1836, the Georgia General Assembly voted to build the Western and Atlantic Railroad in order to provide a link between the port of Savannah and the Midwest . The initial route was to run southward from Chattanooga to

8448-502: The area. Willis' Mill on the south fork of Utoy Creek and Herring's Mill on the north fork were critical for not only grinding corn and sawing lumber, but also for the chance to socialize. A cotton gin also operated on a site just west of what is now the Cascade Nature Preserve, and it also would have been a place that nearly everyone in the area used at one time or another. In early 1864, as the prospect of invasion by

8576-484: The arrival of European settlers in North Georgia , the indigenous Creek people and their ancestors inhabited the area. Standing Peachtree , a Creek village where Peachtree Creek flows into the Chattahoochee River , was the closest Native American settlement to what is now Atlanta. Through the early 19th century, European Americans systematically encroached on the Creek of northern Georgia, forcing them out of

8704-514: The case of Jones v. Alfred H. Mayer Co. (1968), the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Thirteenth Amendment authorized the federal government's prohibiting of racial discrimination in private housing markets. It thereby allowed black American legal claims to rescind the usurious land contracts (featuring over-priced houses and higher-than-market mortgage interest rates), as a discriminatory real estate business practice illegal under

8832-433: The city approved the $ 2.8 billion BeltLine project. It was intended to convert a disused 22-mile freight railroad loop that surrounds the central city into an art-filled multi-use trail and light rail transit line, which would increase the city's park space by 40%. The project stimulated retail and residential development along the loop, but has been criticized for its adverse effects on some Black communities. In 2013,

8960-400: The city due to discriminatory government and private industry practices, in an attempt to try and make up for the reductions in the tax base caused by white flight, further exacerbating the precarious social and financial positions imposed upon non-white city residents.   The acclaimed but short-lived dramatic television series East Side, West Side (1963–1964) deals with this issue in

9088-468: The city in the following decade. During the 2000s, the city of Atlanta underwent a profound physical, cultural , and demographic change. As some of the African-American middle and upper classes also began to move to the suburbs, a booming economy drew numerous new migrants from other cities in the United States, who contributed to changes in the city's demographics. African Americans made up

9216-411: The city limits. Notable current and former residents of Cascade Heights include: 33°43′20″N 84°27′48″W  /  33.72222°N 84.46333°W  / 33.72222; -84.46333 Atlanta Atlanta ( / æ t ˈ l æ n t ə / at- LAN -tə ) is the capital and most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia . It is the seat of Fulton County , and

9344-402: The city's economy to this day. In 2021, major freight railroad Norfolk Southern moved their headquarters to Atlanta, and the city hosts major classification yards for Norfolk Southern and CSX . Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport is the world's busiest airport , and the headquarters of Delta Air Lines . Delta operates the world's largest airline hub at Hartsfield-Jackson and

9472-629: The city's elevation. Winters are overall mild but variable, occasionally susceptible to snowstorms even if in small quantities on several occasions, unlike the central and southern portions of the state. Warm air from the Gulf of Mexico can bring spring-like highs while strong Arctic air masses can push lows into the teens °F (−7 to −12 °C). July averages 80.9 °F (27.2 °C), with high temperatures reaching 90 °F (32 °C) on an average of 47 days per year, though 100 °F (38 °C) readings are not seen most years. January averages 44.8 °F (7.1 °C), with temperatures in

9600-615: The city's landmarks share architectural characteristics with buildings in the Northeast or Midwest, as they were designed at a time of shared national architectural styles. During the late 20th century, Atlanta embraced the global trend of modern architecture , especially for commercial and institutional structures. Examples include the State of Georgia Building built in 1966, and the Georgia-Pacific Tower in 1982. Many of

9728-409: The city's metro area, and the region hosts offices of over 1,250 multinational corporations. Many corporations are drawn to the city by its educated workforce; as of 2014 , 45% of adults aged 25 or older residing in the city have at least four-year college degrees, compared to the national average of 28%. Atlanta was born as a railroad town, and logistics continue to represent an important part of

9856-617: The city's role as a transportation center. The opening of the Georgia World Congress Center in 1976 further confirmed Atlanta's rise as a convention city. Construction of the city's subway system began in 1975, with rail service commencing in 1979. Despite these improvements, Atlanta lost more than 100,000 residents between 1970 and 1990, over 20% of its population. At the same time, it developed new office space after attracting numerous corporations, with an increasing portion of workers from northern areas. Atlanta

9984-443: The city's uptown district, is eight miles (13 km) north of Downtown and the city's third-largest business district. The district is marked by an urbanized core along Peachtree Road , surrounded by suburban single-family neighborhoods situated among woods and rolling hills. Surrounding Atlanta's three high-rise districts are the city's low- and medium-density neighborhoods , where the craftsman bungalow single-family home

10112-454: The city, landlords were able to exploit their residents by charging high rents and ignoring repairs. In addition to being refused equal access to the housing market, blacks were relegated to the lowest-paying, more dangerous jobs as well as being barred from joining many unions. Some companies would only hire these returning veterans and other black workers as strikebreakers, widening the divide between black and white workers further. Housing in

10240-495: The city, stimulated by infrastructure improvements undertaken in preparation for the games. New development post-2000 has been aided by the Atlanta Housing Authority 's eradication of the city's public housing. As noted above, it allowed development of these sites for mixed-income housing, requiring developers to reserve a considerable portion for affordable housing units. It has also provided for other former residents to be given vouchers to gain housing in other areas. Construction of

10368-480: The city. After reserving 2,000 units mostly for elderly, the AHA allowed redevelopment of the sites for mixed-use and mixed-income, higher density developments, with 40% of the units to be reserved for affordable housing. Two-fifths of previous public housing residents attained new housing in such units; the remainder received vouchers to be used at other units, including in suburbs. At the same time, in an effort to change

10496-634: The city. Much controversy preceded the 1956 Sugar Bowl , when the Pitt Panthers , with African-American fullback Bobby Grier on the roster, met the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets . There had been controversy over whether Grier should be allowed to play due to his race, and whether Georgia Tech should even play at all due to Georgia's Governor Marvin Griffin 's opposition to racial integration. After Griffin publicly sent

10624-419: The city. On August 4–7, the Union and Confederate armies met at the Battle of Utoy Creek, fought in and around what is now the Cascade Nature Preserve. Union losses were put at 850, and the Confederate line held with a loss of only 35 killed, wounded, or missing. The area remained mostly rural farmland throughout the nineteenth century, Cascade Springs was one of several sites around the city hoping to cash in on

10752-520: The commissions they earned when fearful homeowners sold their properties, often at a loss, in order to escape the area. In an infamous 1962–63 episode that came to be called "the Peyton Road Affair ", Atlanta mayor Ivan Allen responded to residents' fears of blockbusting by directing city staff to erect barricades on Peyton Road and Harlan Road to restrict access to Cascade Heights, thus preventing African-American homeseekers from getting to

10880-526: The construction of the Equitable , Flatiron , Empire , and Candler buildings. Sweet Auburn emerged as a center of Black commerce. The period was also marked by strife and tragedy. Increased racial tensions led to the Atlanta Race Riot of 1906, when Whites attacked Blacks, leaving at least 27 people dead and over 70 injured, with extensive damage in Black neighborhoods. In 1913, Leo Frank ,

11008-465: The country questioned Atlanta's motto "the City Too Busy to Hate". The walls were torn down when, on March 1, 1963, a court ruled them to be unconstitutional. White homeowners fled the neighborhood after the barricades were removed. By the end of July 1963, only 15 white homeowners remained in Peyton Forest. By the late 1960s the Cascade Heights neighborhood was predominantly African-American. In

11136-453: The culture of those receiving subsidized housing, the AHA imposed a requirement for such residents to work (or be enrolled in a genuine, limited-time training program). It is virtually the only housing authority to have created this requirement. To prevent problems, the AHA also gave authority to management of the mixed-income or voucher units to evict tenants who did not comply with the work requirement or who caused behavior problems. In 2005,

11264-413: The destruction of all public buildings and possible assets that could be of use to the Union Army. On the next day, Mayor James Calhoun surrendered Atlanta to the Union Army, and on September 7, Sherman ordered the city's civilian population to evacuate. On November 11, 1864, Sherman prepared for the Union Army's March to the Sea by ordering the destruction of Atlanta's remaining military assets. After

11392-496: The episode "No Place to Hide," tracing the evolution of two couples, one black, one white; the latter ostensibly champions the cause of the former as unscrupulous realtors attempt to 'block-bust' their newly integrated suburban neighborhood. The serious-comic television series All in the Family (1971–1979) featured "The Blockbuster", a 1971 episode about the practice, illustrating some real estate blockbusting techniques. In

11520-589: The grounds of vagrancy. Racial and class antagonisms heightened across the urban United States as a result of this influx of black residents, and in part owing to the overcrowding of cities. The Great Migration highlighted racial divisions of the North that black Americans so desperately tried to flee from in the South: police killings of unarmed African American men and inequalities and biases in employment, housing, health care, and education. As black soldiers returned home in

11648-468: The higher-income neighborhoods and 'D' representing the lower-income neighborhoods. Neighborhoods with some black population were given a 'D' rating and residents of those areas were refused loans. This practice, called redlining , gave whites an economic incentive to keep blacks out of their communities. In 1917, in the case of Buchanan v. Warley , the Supreme Court of the United States voided

11776-428: The lack of housing options available to black buyers, many had no choice but to pay these exorbitant costs. Blockbusting was very common and profitable. For example, by 1962, when blockbusting had been a common practice for some fifteen years, the city of Chicago had more than 100 real estate companies that had been, on average, "changing" two to three blocks a week. In 1962, "blockbusting" – real estate profiteering –

11904-430: The last building designed by noted architect Marcel Breuer . Atlanta is divided into 242 officially defined neighborhoods . The city contains three major high-rise districts, which form a north–south axis along Peachtree : Downtown , Midtown , and Buckhead . Surrounding these high-density districts are leafy, low-density neighborhoods, most of which are dominated by single-family homes. Downtown Atlanta contains

12032-412: The late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Very little remains besides an exceptionally fine spring house sheltering the original spring. Today the term Cascade , much like the term Midtown , can refer to a much larger area than what might be shown on official maps. Generally today Cascade might be bounded by I-20 on the north, I-285 on the west, the ridges on the south side of Utoy Creek, and

12160-604: The longest paved trail surface in the U.S. totaling about 300 miles (480 km). Atlanta's cultural offerings expanded during the 2000s: the High Museum of Art doubled in size; the Alliance Theatre won a Tony Award ; and art galleries were established on the once-industrial Westside . The College Football Hall of Fame relocated to Atlanta and the National Center for Civil and Human Rights museum

12288-490: The majority of Atlanta's foreign-born population. The city's Italians included immigrants from northern Italy, many of whom had been in Atlanta since the 1890s; more recent arrivals from southern Italy; and Sephardic Jews from the Isle of Rhodes, which Italy had seized from Turkey in 1912. Europeans from Great Britain , Ireland and Germany settled in the city as early as the 1840s. Most of Atlanta's European population are from

12416-789: The most notable examples from this period were designed by world renowned Atlanta architect John Portman . Most of the buildings that define the downtown skyline were designed by Portman during this period, including the Westin Peachtree Plaza and the Atlanta Marriott Marquis . In the latter half of the 1980s, Atlanta became one of the early homes of postmodern buildings that reintroduced classical elements to their designs. Many of Atlanta's tallest skyscrapers were built in this period and style, displaying tapering spires or otherwise ornamented crowns, such as One Atlantic Center (1987), 191 Peachtree Tower (1991), and

12544-425: The most office space in the metro area, much of it occupied by government entities. Downtown is home to the city's sporting venues and many of its tourist attractions. Midtown Atlanta is the city's second-largest business district, containing the offices of many of the region's law firms. Midtown is known for its art institutions, cultural attractions, institutions of higher education, and dense form. Buckhead ,

12672-454: The most severe occurring on January 7, 1973. Tornadoes are rare in the city itself, but the March 14, 2008, EF2 tornado damaged prominent structures in downtown Atlanta. The 2020 United States census reported that Atlanta had a population of 498,715. The population density was 3,685.45 persons per square mile (1,422.95/ km ). The racial and ethnic makeup of Atlanta (including Hispanics)

12800-479: The movement's leadership. While Atlanta in the postwar years had relatively minimal racial strife compared to other cities, Blacks were limited by discrimination, segregation, and continued disenfranchisement of most voters. In 1961, the city attempted to thwart blockbusting by realtors by erecting road barriers in Cascade Heights , countering the efforts of civic and business leaders to foster Atlanta as

12928-485: The neighborhood from Gordon Road (now MLK Drive). He took the action at the urging of white residents of southwest Atlanta (in particular, one of his high-level employees who lived a short distance from Peyton Road). After the barricades went up, December 18, 1962, the incident quickly drew national attention. The barrier was compared to the Berlin Wall and nicknamed the "Atlanta Wall". Some newspapers in other parts of

13056-593: The population was living below the poverty line in 2022. Circa 2024, of the Atlanta residents, 391,711 of them lived in Fulton County and 28,292 of them lived in DeKalb County. In the 1920s, the Black population began to grow in Southern metropolitan cities like Atlanta, Birmingham , Houston , and Memphis . The New Great Migration brought an insurgence of African Americans from California and

13184-483: The posting of "FOR SALE" signs, and authorized government licensing agencies to investigate the blockbusting complaints of buyers and sellers in order to revoke the real estate sales licenses of blockbusters. Likewise, other states' legislation allowed lawsuits against real estate companies and brokers who cheated buyers and sellers with fraudulent representations of declining property values, changing racial and ethnic neighborhood populations, increasing crime rates, and

13312-401: The pre-1954 city limits around Greenwood Cemetery. In the period between the world wars, Adams Park and Beecher Hills began to develop, and after World War II, explosive suburban growth produced Audubon Forest, Peyton Forest , West Manor , Sewell Manor, and Mangum Manor as the old farms in this part of Fulton County were subdivided and developed in the 1950s. In 1953, the area was annexed into

13440-604: The project received a federal grant of $ 18 million to develop the southwest corridor. In September 2019 the James M. Cox Foundation gave $ 6 Million to the PATH Foundation which will connect the Silver Comet Trail to The Atlanta BeltLine which is expected to be completed by 2022. Upon completion, the total combined interconnected trail distance around Atlanta for The Atlanta BeltLine and Silver Comet Trail will be

13568-414: The proportion of whites in the city had strong growth. In two decades, Atlanta's White population grew from 33% to 39% of the city's population. Whites made up the majority of new Atlanta residents between 2010 and 2020. The Hispanic and Latino populations of metro Atlanta have grown significantly in recent years. The largest Hispanic ancestries in Atlanta are Mexican , Puerto Rican and Cuban . There

13696-431: The racial makeup of a white residential area. When African Americans moved into a neighborhood, many whites believed that property values would automatically plunge, which was a self-fulfilling prophecy as so many homes went on the market at the same time as whites fled first West End and then Cascade Heights, Adams Park, and most of the rest of southwest Atlanta. Real estate agents stirred up racial tension and benefited from

13824-685: The racial residency statutes that forbade blacks from living in white neighborhoods. The court ruled that the statutes violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution . However, whites found a loophole in this case by using racially restrictive covenants in deeds , and real estate businesses informally applied them to prevent the sale of houses to black Americans in white neighborhoods. To thwart

13952-503: The rising middle class. Ponce de Leon Springs was the most successful perhaps, but in the springs near the old ford for the Sandtown Road over Turkeyfoot Creek was the genesis of Cascade Heights, or simply Cascade. The springs were christened "Cascade" after the three small waterfalls that spill away from the road, now in the northeast corner of the Cascade Spring Nature Preserve. A small resort developed there in

14080-401: The same time, Atlanta is home to a sizable foreign-born Black population, notably from Eritrea , Ethiopia , Ghana , Somalia , Liberia , and Nigeria . With many notable investments occurring in Atlanta initiated by the 1996 Summer Olympics , the non-Hispanic white population of Atlanta began to rebound after several decades of white flight to Atlanta's suburbs. Between 2000 and 2020,

14208-512: The suburbs for newer constructed homes or lower crime. Since 2018, many desired improvements have come to the area since interest in city living has become popular again. Also since 2018, Cascade Heights began to increase in racial diversity and higher income individuals again due to its proximity to downtown , the Hartsfield–Jackson International Airport , and having some of the most affordable renovated large homes within

14336-413: The suburbs slightly cooler due largely to the urban heat island effect. Lows at or below freezing can be expected 36 nights annually, but the last occurrences of temperatures below 10 °F (−12 °C) were December 24, 2022 , and January 2014 , eight years apart. Extremes range from −9 °F (−23 °C) on February 13, 1899 to 106 °F (41 °C) on June 30, 2012 . Average dewpoints in

14464-712: The summer range from 63.7 °F (17.6 °C) in June to 67.8 °F (19.9 °C) in July. Typical of the southeastern U.S., Atlanta receives abundant rainfall that is evenly distributed throughout the year, though late spring and early fall are somewhat drier. The average annual precipitation is 50.43 in (1,281 mm), while snowfall is typically light and rare with a normal of 2.2 inches (5.6 cm) per winter. The heaviest single snowfall occurred on January 23, 1940, with around 10 inches (25 cm) of snow. However, ice storms usually cause more problems than snowfall does,

14592-500: The time of the Civil War there was a post office at Utoy where the Sandtown Road crossed Utoy Creek but no real community center aside from the post office, churches, and mills. Utoy Primitive Baptist Church and Mt. Gilead Methodist Church were both organized in 1824 and flourished throughout the nineteenth and into the twentieth century. In the nineteenth century, the revival camp meetings held at Mt. Gilead campground near Ben Hill from 1835 until 1989 drew thousands from all denominations in

14720-458: The town or city, preventing them from moving to areas inhabited by whites. Restrictive covenants were also introduced in response to the influx of black migrants during the Great Migration and constituted clauses written into deeds that prohibited African Americans from buying, leasing, or living in white neighborhoods. This belief in the need to maintain neighborhood homogeneity, was a present theme in both racist attitudes and legislation. In 1934,

14848-462: The vacancies, thereby self-fulfilling its own prophecies and justifying white flight post-facto. White flight significantly decreased cities' municipal tax revenues and impeded cities' ability to provide minority residents, who were often prevented from fleeing to the suburbs alongside their white peers, with adequate civil services. This was coupled with increased tax rates that city governments imposed on said residents, who were often forced to remain in

14976-410: The white residents of a neighborhood into believing that black people were moving into their neighborhood. The houses that became vacant in that way enabled accelerated immigration of economically successful racial minority residents to better neighborhoods beyond the ghettos . The white residents were encouraged to quickly sell, at a loss, and emigrate to more racially homogeneous suburbs . Blockbusting

15104-460: The whole metropolitan area alongside historic Black Catholic churches. The larger non-Christian faiths according to both studies are Judaism , Islam , and Hinduism . Overall, there are over 1,000 places of worship within Atlanta. With a GDP of $ 385 billion, the Atlanta metropolitan area 's economy is the 8th-largest in the country and the 15th-largest in the world . Corporate operations play

15232-542: The world stage when it won and hosted the 1996 Summer Olympics . The Games impacted Atlanta's development growth into the 21st century, and significantly sparked investment in the city's universities, parks, and tourism industry. The gentrification of some of its neighborhoods has intensified in the 21st century with the growth of the Atlanta Beltline . This has altered its demographics , politics , aesthetics , and culture . For thousands of years prior to

15360-410: Was 51.0% Black or African American, 40.9% non-Hispanic white, 4.2% Asian and 0.3% Native American, and 1.0% from other races. 2.4% of the population reported two or more races . Hispanics and Latinos of any race made up 6.0% of the city's population. The median income for a household in the city was $ 77,655 in 2022. The per capita income for the city was $ 60,778 in 2022. Approximately 17.7% percent of

15488-533: Was barred from the event due to racial segregation laws. Atlanta played a vital role in the Allied effort during World War II due to the city's war-related manufacturing companies, railroad network and military bases. The defense industries attracted thousands of new residents and generated revenues, resulting in rapid population and economic growth. In the 1950s, the city's newly constructed highway system, supported by federal subsidies, allowed middle class Atlantans

15616-452: Was considered a handicap in some circumstances. In general, Southern accents are less prevalent among residents of the city and inner suburbs and among younger people; they are more common in the outer suburbs and among older people. At the same time, some residents of the city speak in Southern variations of African-American English . Atlanta has a thriving and diverse lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community. According to

15744-538: Was constructed. The city of Atlanta was the subject of a massive cyberattack which began in March 2018. In December 2019, Atlanta hosted the Miss Universe 2019 pageant competition. On June 16, 2022, Atlanta was selected as a host city for the 2026 FIFA World Cup . Atlanta encompasses 134.0 square miles (347.1 km ), of which 133.2 square miles (344.9 km ) is land and 0.85 square miles (2.2 km )

15872-676: Was most prevalent on the West Side and South Side of Chicago, and also was heavily practiced in Bedford–Stuyvesant, Brooklyn , New York City ; in the West Oak Lane and Germantown neighborhoods of Northwest Philadelphia ; and on the East Side of Cleveland . The tactics included: Such practices can be described as psychological manipulation that usually frightened the remaining white residents into selling their homes at

16000-410: Was nationally exposed by The Saturday Evening Post with the article "Confessions of a Block-Buster," which explained how realtors gained profit by frightening white Americans to sell at a loss, in order to quickly resettle to racially segregated "better neighborhoods." In response to political pressure from sellers and buyers, states and cities legally restricted door-to-door real estate solicitation,

16128-419: Was originally founded as the terminus of a major state-sponsored railroad, but it soon became the convergence point among several railroads, spurring its rapid growth. The largest was the Western and Atlantic Railroad , from which the name "Atlanta" is derived, signifying the city's growing reputation as a major hub of transportation. During the American Civil War , it served a strategically important role for

16256-458: Was selected as the site for the 1996 Summer Olympic Games . Following the announcement , the city government undertook several major construction projects to improve Atlanta's parks, sporting venues, and transportation infrastructure; however, for the first time, none of the $ 1.7 billion cost of the games was governmentally funded. While the games experienced transportation and accommodation problems and, despite extra security precautions, there

16384-503: Was the Centennial Olympic Park bombing , the spectacle was a watershed event in Atlanta's history. For the first time in Olympic history, every one of the record 197 national Olympic committees invited to compete sent athletes, sending more than 10,000 contestants participating in a record 271 events. The related projects such as Atlanta's Olympic Legacy Program and civic effort initiated a fundamental transformation of

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