History UnderfootAtlanta
  • Settlement
  • Early
  • stake 1837; Thrasherville 1839
  • City of Atlanta

Terminus stake and Thrasherville (1837-39)

In 1837 Western & Atlantic engineers staked the railroad's southern end on a ridge about seven miles east of the Chattahoochee. In 1839 contractor John Thrasher built a camp of rough shelters and Atlanta's first store near the stake.

See it on the map All Early records

The record

The state railroad survey began July 4, 1837, under chief engineer Stephen H. Long; trial lines fixed the river crossing at Bolton and 'placed Atlanta where it is' (GHS). NGE describes the stake on a ridge about seven miles east of the river and says the settlement was called Terminus. 'Cousin John' Thrasher contracted to build the Monroe Railroad's embankment toward a junction with the W&A, a two-year, $25,000 job; his workers' camp saw Atlanta's first store, religious service, labor trouble, social event and baby (GHS). Sources place the original stake differently: near Forsyth and Magnolia streets (Wikipedia, W&A), near the Georgia World Congress Center (GHS Zero Mile Post marker), or near Thrasherville (GHS). The terminus later moved to the Zero Mile Post site: in 1842 by one GHS marker, in 1847 by another.

Today: Federal Reserve Bank area on Marietta St; nothing of the camp survives.