Who Really Founded Atlanta? A Local’s Guide to the City’s Origins

When people ask “Who founded Atlanta?” they’re usually imagining a single person who picked a spot on a map and said, “Here’s the city.”
Atlanta’s story is more complicated—and more interesting—than that.

If you live in Atlanta, are visiting, or just want to understand the city’s roots, it helps to know that Atlanta did not have one clear, singular “founder.” Instead, it grew out of railroads, politics, land displacement, and a few key figures who shaped what would become the city.

The Short Answer: Atlanta Has No Single Founder

Unlike some American cities that were formally founded by a specific individual, Atlanta developed as a railroad crossroads in the 1840s rather than as a traditional settlement with an official founder.

However, several people played major roles in Atlanta’s creation and early growth:

• Moses W. Formwalt – Atlanta’s first mayor
• Samuel Mitchell – Landowner who sold the land where downtown rail lines met
• Lemuel P. Grant – Engineer often linked to Atlanta’s layout and defense
• J. Edgar Thomson – Railroad engineer who chose the terminus location
• John Thrasher – Early railroad contractor who built “Thrasherville,” a work camp that helped seed the community

If you’re trying to answer “Who founded Atlanta?” for a school project, tour group, or your own curiosity, the most accurate answer is:

Before Atlanta: The Land and Its Original Inhabitants

Long before railroads and city streets, the land that is now Atlanta was home to Indigenous peoples, including the Muscogee (Creek) and Cherokee.

Key points to understand:

• Treaties and forced removal in the early 1800s pushed Native communities off this land.
• The area then became part of DeKalb County, Georgia, mostly rural and forested.
• What is now downtown Atlanta was once farmland and crossroads—not yet a town.

For modern Atlantans, this background is important when walking through places like Downtown, Five Points, and the Gulch—you’re standing on land with a longer history than just the 1800s.

Why Railroads Created Atlanta

Atlanta exists because of railroads, not because someone decided to create a traditional town.

The Birth of a Terminus

In the 1830s, Georgia leaders wanted a rail line connecting the Midwest to the port of Savannah. They needed a western endpoint—a “terminus”—somewhere in north Georgia.

• The Western & Atlantic Railroad was planned to run from the Chattahoochee River northeastward.
• Engineers looked for high ground and a good central location to connect future rail lines.

J. Edgar Thomson, the chief engineer, chose the spot that became known as “Terminus” in the late 1830s.

This decision is one of the closest things Atlanta has to a “founding moment,” even though it was a technical and economic choice, not a ceremonial city founding.

Key People Often Linked to Atlanta’s Founding

Here’s a simple way to keep the major early figures straight:

J. Edgar Thomson: The Engineer Behind the Location

J. Edgar Thomson, an engineer for the Western & Atlantic Railroad, surveyed and selected the site of the “zero milepost”—the end of the rail line. This marker, which once sat near what is now Downtown Atlanta, made the spot an official rail terminus.

If you visit Underground Atlanta or the surrounding downtown area near Five Points, you’re near where that critical engineering decision took place.

Samuel Mitchell: The Local Landowner

Atlanta’s development also depended on who owned the land.

Samuel Mitchell owned property near the proposed rail terminus and sold four acres to the state for the rail facilities. This land became the core junction where railroads met, helping create the cluster of activity that turned “Terminus” into a proper town.

Mitchell isn’t always mentioned in casual conversations about Atlanta’s founding, but his role was essential in making room for the railroads to meet.

John Thrasher: Building “Thrasherville”

Before “Atlanta” had a name, John Thrasher built housing and facilities for railroad workers in the early 1840s. This area became informally known as “Thrasherville.”

This wasn’t yet a city, but it was one of the first recognizable communities in the area.
If you picture crews building tracks, shops popping up, and workers needing services, you’re seeing the roots of what would become Atlanta.

From Terminus to Marthasville to Atlanta

The city changed names as it grew:

• Terminus (late 1830s–1843) – A practical name for the rail endpoint
• Marthasville (1843–1847) – Named in honor of Governor Wilson Lumpkin’s daughter, Martha
• Atlanta (from 1847 on) – Adopted as a more permanent city name

Many historians point out that “Atlanta” is likely derived from “Atlantic,” tying back to the idea of a rail line connecting inland Georgia to the Atlantic coast.

If you’re in Atlanta today, neighborhoods like Downtown, Castleberry Hill, and the Gulch sit near the heart of this original rail hub.

Moses W. Formwalt: Atlanta’s First Mayor

Once the rail community started to grow, it needed formal governance.

• Atlanta was incorporated as a city in 1847.
• Moses W. Formwalt was elected as the first mayor in 1848.

His role:

• Organized early city services
• Helped oversee growth in a rough, quickly developing railroad town
• Represented the first stage of Atlanta’s transition from a rail camp into an organized municipality

You won’t see Formwalt’s name on as many buildings as later figures, but in discussions about “who started Atlanta’s city government,” his name is central.

Lemuel P. Grant: The Engineer Who Shaped the City’s Land

Lemuel P. Grant was a civil engineer and railroad man who later became one of the city’s important landowners and planners.

He is best known for:

• Designing defensive fortifications for Atlanta during the Civil War
• Donating land that became Grant Park, one of Atlanta’s oldest public parks

Today, if you visit:

• Grant Park (840 Cherokee Ave SE, Atlanta, GA 30315)
  you’re directly experiencing part of the legacy of an early figure who helped shape the city’s physical landscape.

Grant is sometimes loosely referred to as a “founder,” not because he created the city from scratch, but because his engineering, land, and planning decisions helped define early Atlanta.

How the Railroads Turned a Terminus into a City

To understand Atlanta’s founding, it helps to picture intersecting railroads rather than a town square.

By the mid-1800s, several key lines met in what is now central Atlanta:

• Western & Atlantic Railroad
• Georgia Railroad
• Macon & Western Railroad

This created a major transportation hub, bringing:

• Freight and goods
• Travelers and migrants
• Businesses, hotels, shops, and warehouses

The intersection of these lines is near today’s Five Points area. If you’re standing near the Five Points MARTA Station, you’re close to where the original railroad crossings supported Atlanta’s earliest growth.

Where to See Atlanta’s Early History Today

If you want to experience pieces of Atlanta’s founding story in person, a few locations are especially helpful.

1. Downtown & Five Points

• Area: Around Peachtree St, Decatur St, and Marietta St
• Why it matters: This is roughly the site of the original railroad terminus and junction
• What to notice:
  • The Gulch and rail lines
  • The network of streets that grew out of those old tracks

2. Underground Atlanta Area

• Location: 50 Upper Alabama St SW, Atlanta, GA 30303
• Why it matters: Close to the historical location of the zero milepost
• What to notice:
  • Old rail-adjacent structures
  • How the modern city is built on layers of earlier development

3. Atlanta History Center

• Address: 130 West Paces Ferry Rd NW, Atlanta, GA 30305
• Phone: (404) 814-4000
• Why it matters: Offers exhibits on Atlanta’s early railroad days, the Civil War, and the city’s growth
• Tip: This is one of the best places to get a visual, in-depth look at how a rail terminus became the Atlanta people know today.

4. Grant Park

• Address: 840 Cherokee Ave SE, Atlanta, GA 30315
• Why it matters: Land donated by Lemuel P. Grant, a key figure in early Atlanta history
• What to notice:
  • One of the oldest surviving planned green spaces in the city
  • Its role in Atlanta’s transition from a rough rail town to a more formal, livable city

How to Explain “Who Founded Atlanta” in Simple Terms

If you need a quick, clear way to answer this question for kids, visitors, or tour groups in Atlanta, you can use something like this:

• Atlanta doesn’t have a single founder like some older cities.
• It grew up around a railroad terminus chosen in the 1830s and 1840s.
• Key people in its creation include:
  • J. Edgar Thomson, who chose the rail endpoint
  • Samuel Mitchell, who sold land for the tracks
  • John Thrasher, who built one of the first worker communities
  • Moses W. Formwalt, the first mayor
  • Lemuel P. Grant, the engineer and land donor

This way, you stay true to the local history without oversimplifying it into a single name that doesn’t really fit.

In Atlanta, understanding who founded the city means understanding that railroads, land deals, and several key figures together gave rise to the place you live in or are exploring today.