Atlanta Catholic Centennial

Conception and Birth

The year 1837 saw the location of Atlanta actually determined by the driving of a stake at what is now the southwest corner of the junction of Central Avenue and Wall Street. This location was chosen by Stephen H. Long, Engineer-in-Chief of the authorized Western and Atlantic Railroad in compliance with an act of the Georgia Legislature and signed by Governor William Schley in December, 1836.

It is doubtful whether the Governor or any of the legislators had the slightest idea that they had ordered the selection of a site for a town, let alone the metropolis of Atlanta, when they ordered a point selected for a railroad junction. It is also very doubtful if any of them knew within a dozen miles of where the junction would be located.

Let us read what they ordered in the act, -- “a railroad communication as a State work, and with the funds of the State, shall be made from some point on the Tennessee line near the Tennessee River, commencing at or near Rossville, in the most direct and practical route to some point on the South-eastern bank of the Chattahoochee River, which shall be most eligible for the extension of branch railroads thence to Athens, Madison, Milledgeville, Forsyth and Columbus, and to any other points which may be designated by the engineer or engineers surveying the same as most proper and practicable, and on which the legislature may hereafter determine. Provided that no sum greater than three hundred and fifty thousand dollars shall be appropriated annually to the work contemplated by this act unless a future legislature shall otherwise direct.”

This act was amended the next year: -- “That the Western and Atlantic Railroad shall continue from the southeastern bank of the Chattahoochee River, to some point, not exceeding eight miles, as shall be most eligible for the running of branch roads thence to Athens, Madison, Milledgeville, Forsyth and Columbus, and that the same shall be surveyed and located by the engineer-in-chief, upon the ground most suitable to answer the purposes herein expressed.”

The Central of Georgia Railroad runs along the crest of a ridge from Macon to Atlanta without crossing even a creek. The Atlanta and West Point runs along the southeastern edge of the Piedmont Plateau which ends in a ridge forming the southeastern boundary of the Chattahoochee Valley for over fifty miles before crossing a small creek. The Georgia Railroad follows the edge of the Piedmont Plateau in the opposite direction. The ridge makes a sharp eastward turn at the site of the old Union depot and the Georgia railroad follows it to beyond Stone Mountain. The Western and Atlantic runs along the crest of a ridge between Procter and Peachtree Creeks to a high bluff at the Chattahoochee River bridge. In addition to this natural convergence of high ridges, the location of Atlanta is the most practical northern point for traffic around the southern end of the Blue Ridge Mountains. You might say that God formed this spot for a city when the mighty powers of natural forces formed its topography.

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