This historical marker locates the spot where Atlanta began. In 1839 a man named "Cousin John" Thrasher founded a settlement he called Thrasherville, from which the city would arise. He established Thrasherville to house the workers he hired to build a railroad embankment that would link two railroads, the Monroe Railroad and the Western Atlantic Railroad. The settlement was located near the planned terminus of the W.A. Railroad. Construction took two years, long enough for the settlement to become permanent. Here were Atlanta's many firsts, including the first store, religious service, labor unrest, social event, and baby. The settlement had a few unofficial names but was finally officially called Marthasville in 1843 before being reincorporated as Atlanta in 1845.
The ten-story building at 110 Marietta St. NW was designed as an office building in the western part of downtown Atlanta. Completed in December 1923, the Glenn Building was named for the late John Thomas Glenn, the Mayor of Atlanta from 1889 to 1891. The two street sides are faced in brown limestone while the two other facades are brick. Terra cotta lion heads peek out from the attic level. The long-vacant Glenn Building became a boutique hotel (The Glenn Hotel) in 2006 after extensive renovations, as part of Marriott International's Autograph Collection. In 2008, the Glenn Building was added to the National Register of Historic Places for its Neoclassical Revival architecture and its relation to the history of downtown Atlanta commerce.
Originally built by the Third Baptist Church and opened in 1911 as the Baptist Tabernacle and Institute Building, today the "Tabby" is used primarily as a performance venue. The structure is located in downtown Atlanta at 152 Luckie Street, seats approximately 2600 individuals, and is managed by Live Nation Entertainment.
The sixteen-story Gothic Revival Healey Building opened its doors in 1914 and stands today as the last major skyscraper built in Atlanta during the pre-World War I construction boom. The second tower that was to connect to the first tower never came to fruition, mostly due to World War I.
The original Rialto Theater opened at this location in 1916 as the Piedmont. The theater soon changed its name to the Rialto and operated until 1962 when it was demolished and replaced by a larger and more modern theater. That second Rialto operated until 1989 when declining traffic in the neighborhood, which was once the city's central business district, led to the theater's closure and the building's rapid decline. This theater was constructed in its place between 1994 and 1996 and is operated by Georgia State University, Rialto Center for the Arts. The theater offers an 833-seat theater that hosts touring shows, special arts series, and performances by the Georgia State University School of Music.
Completed in 1897, Atlanta's Flatiron Building was designed by New York architect Bradford Gilbert. Gilbert was a former student of renowned architect Daniel Burnham, who designed New York's Flat Iron Building, which shared the unique wedge-shaped design and was constructed five years later. Atlanta's Flatiron Building was the second skyscraper built in Atlanta and stands as the oldest standing steel-framed skyscraper in the city. Rufus Brown Bullock was one of the principal figures involved in the English-American Trust & Loan Company and had previously served as Georgia governor during the Reconstruction Era and sought better economic and political rights for African Americans. The KKK and other groups helped push him out of the state because he supported Reconstruction, but he returned years later and became a successful Atlanta businessman.
Completed in 1898, the W.D. Grant Building is one of the oldest steel buildings in Atlanta, representing a period of growth and change for the city following a period of slow recovery from the destruction of the Civil War. In the final decades of the 19th century, Atlanta grew into a metropolitan center with the core of commercial growth clustering around the first skyscrapers such as the W.D. Grant Building. Known originally as the Prudential Building, this structure was soon joined by other skyscrapers at the turn of the century.
The high-rise building northeast of the intersection of N. Broad St. and Marietta St. NW was once the tallest building in Atlanta. Constructed as the Empire Building from 1900 to 1901, the office building was one of the city's first steel-framed buildings. From 1919 to 1929, the building was called the Atlanta Trust Building. New owners in 1929 redesigned the first three floors to become the headquarters for Citizens & Southern National Bank (later NationsBank, then Bank of America). In 1972, the building was added to the National Register of Historic Places' it became an Atlanta Landmark Building in 1992. The structure became the home of the Georgia State University School of Business in the 2010s; a Bank of America location still occupies the first floor. The building appeared in the 2016 film The Founder, starring Michael Keaton as McDonald's CEO Ray Kroc.
Jacobs' Pharmacy was the first establishment to serve the now famous beverage, Coca-Cola, on May 8, 1886. Jacobs' acquired the building in 1884 and sold his interest in Coca-Cola to Asa Candler, who later took control of the company from the drink's inventor, John Pemberton. The building has long since been demolished, but this historical marker, installed in 2016, represents the history of the pharmacy and its now-famous beverage.
Built by famous Atlanta architects Ivey and Crook in the midst of the Great Depression, this pie-shaped building is best known for its iconic Coca-Cola sign. The building was donated to the city of Atlanta to help support their effort in bringing the Olympics to Atlanta in 1996. It went under restoration after many years listed as an endangered historic landmark and reopened in 2016. The building now stands where Atlanta’s first post office and general store once stood.
This Tour is a Walking Tour.
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Explore this unique downtown Atlanta community by foot in the area west of Peachtree and north of Decatur, stopping by historical markers on the city's origin and its most famous drink. Buildings dating from the 1890s to the 1930s are highlighted stops.
