With so many agricultural goods to get to market, people in the South liked the idea of building rail rods to ship heavy bales of cotton and tobacco. In 1833 investors got a charter for the railroad tracks which would run from Athens to Augusta. The first railroad track of Georgia was next, running from Macon to Savannah.
The Georgia Railroad ended for many years at a little settlement in the Piedmont, which was named fall line 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 which broke out in 1861.
