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I would like to know if you could help me. I'm looking for the name and any other information about the person that named atlanta. thanks in advance and this is a very good site.
ken thompson
Ken
Atlanta was named by J. Edgar Thomson, Chief Engineer of the Georgia Railroad. Mr. Thomson gave varying stories about how he came up with the name, but our personal favorite is that the city was named for former Governor Wilson Lumpkin's daughter's. Her middle name was Atalanta, after the fleet-footed goddess.
Fleet-footed goddess Atalanta
The city of Atlanta was named for Martha Atalanta Lumpkin twice.
Standing Peachtree was the name of the fort built on the Georgia frontier by future governor, then Lt. George Gilmer. It may also have been the name of an old Indian village in the area. Early settlers called the area Canebreak or Canebrake, depending on which history you're reading. On June_9, 1835 the federal government recognized the area with the Whitehall Post Office. Hardy Ivy was an early citizen and it was on his property that Stephen Long established the end of the Western and Atlantic Railroad. Colonel Abbott Hall Brisbane, Chief Engineer of the W&A named the area Terminus in September, 1837.
The name Terminus was never an official name and between 1837 and 1842 the area was also called Deanville (for Lemuel Dean) and Thrasherville (for John J. Thrasher).
In 1842 former governor Wilson Lumpkin, then president of the W&A suggested either the name Lumpkin or Mitchell for the town (Samuel Mitchell had given land to build the actual terminus). On December 23, 1842, the tiny town was incorporated as Marthasville in honor of his daughter, Martha Atalanta. The origin of this name may have been an unknown Milledgeville clerk or, more likely, Charles Felton Mercer Garnett, who was then Chief Engineer of the Western and Atlantic Railroad. Anyway, in 1845 Atlanta finally got its name, and has been stuck with it ever since.
By the way, Martha Lumpkin liked the story of the city being named in her honor so much that see altered the family bible and added the initial A. In fact, Thomson probably just created a feminine form of Atlantic, a popular practice of the day.
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