Historic Sites in Fulton County

The history of Fulton County

Fulton County was created on December 20, 1853, from the western half of DeKalb County, with Atlanta as its county seat. The name is often credited to steamboat inventor Robert Fulton, but research indicates the county was actually named for Hamilton Fulton, a railroad official. The Muscogee (Creek) ceded the southern part of the area to Georgia in 1821, while Cherokee people lived in what became north Fulton. Atlanta began in 1837 as Terminus, the end point of the Western and Atlantic Railroad, was renamed Marthasville in 1843, and took the name Atlanta in the 1840s. Its railroads made it a vital Confederate arsenal and supply center, and after weeks of bombardment Sherman's forces captured the city on September 2, 1864, then destroyed rail lines and much of the town. Atlanta became Georgia's capital in 1868; voters confirmed it in 1877. The city endured a deadly race massacre in 1906, yet its Black colleges, including Morehouse and Spelman, and the churches and businesses of Sweet Auburn made it a center of African American life; Martin Luther King Jr. grew up on Auburn Avenue, where his family worshiped at Ebenezer Baptist Church. On January 1, 1932, Campbell and Milton counties merged into Fulton, nearly tripling its size. Later milestones include the founding of CNN in 1980 and the 1996 Olympic Games.

Sources: georgiaencyclopedia.orggeorgiaencyclopedia.org