The terminus for the Western & Atlantic railroad line had, in 1842, been moved from land lot #78 onto 5 acres of land donated to the state by Samuel Mitchell, the owner of land lot #77. Former Governor Wilson Lumpkin, who negotiated the land deal with Mr. Mitchell, along with W&A engineer F.C. Arms and others helped Samuel Mitchell draw up plans to subdivide his land into lots, effectively creating the first plans for what would become Atlanta.
The first train in Atlanta, the locomotive “Florida,” had been hauled in by a team of mules and placed on Western & Atlantic’s tracks for first its run to Marietta, which took place in December of 1842. W&A Chief Engineer C.F.M. Garnett had constructed a plank depot and beside it, the area’s first two-story building. That W&W trial run to Marietta would be the only rail activity the community would see for quite a while to come. Progress connecting three rail lines was painfully slow, leading some in the community to doubt the system would ever be built.
It was the arrival of a long-anticipated visitor to the community in 1845 that turned out to be just the push the young town needed. The spark that ignited a city is the subject of this week’s Stories of Atlanta.
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