Battleofatlanta.myajc.com Website Review

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and the Atlanta History Center present War in our backyards 150 years ago, Atlanta became a decisive turning point in American No man’s land was a scarred field during the siege of Atlanta. Georgia Tech’s administration building is located there today. To understand how the 1864 battles around Atlanta changed history, it helps to know about the city on the eve of war. Founded just 23 years earlier and located in the backcountry environs of North Georgia, Atlanta was closer to a frontier town than a bustling city. Its growth was fueled primarily by the junction of four railroad lines -- the Western & Atlantic, the Georgia Railroad, the Atlanta & West Point, and the Macon & Western -- that connected Georgia’s products and merchants to markets westward. Yet three things were about to propel the town of less than 10,000 into history's path: the confluence of those railroads, a unique entrepreneurial spirit among its inhabitants, and the American Civil War. The 1860 federal census showed a population approaching 10,000 -- a remarkable number for a crossroads that didn't even take its present name until 1847. Such growth spurred Atlanta into the 100 most populous U.S. cities, but barely. Even in the less-populated South, Atlanta was behind places such as Wheeling, Va. (now W. Va.), and Wilmington, N.C. Use the tabs to view by region. Use the small scroll-down bar at right to see the entire U.S. list. You can click on a city name to see where it is on the map. You also can hover over the red circles to see each city's population. Booming job markets included railroads, construction and prostitution. The 1860 Census reveals a strange mix in the 2,484 job descriptions given by Atlantans, exclusive of the work done by the city's 1,900 ensl*ved residents. Five houses still stand inside I-285 from antebellum Atlanta: the Goodwin House (left) at 3931 Peachtree Road; the Peachtree Golf clubhouse at 4600 Peachtree Blvd; the Judge William Wilson home at 501 Fairburn Road SW; Meadow Nook at 2420 Alston Drive SE; and the Tullie