With so many agricultural goods to get to the market, people in the South liked the idea of building railroads to ship heavy bales of cotton and tobacco. In 1833 investors got a charter for the Georgia Railroad Company which would run from Athens to Augusta. The Central of Georgia Railway was next, running from Macon to Savannah.
The Georgia Railroad ended for many years at a little settlement in the Piedmont, which was named Terminus because the line stopped there. It was named " Marthasville" briefly and then got a new name, Atlanta, in 1845.
As the railroads grew in importance, the little town grew too. It was an important railroad hub by the start of the Civil War in 1861.