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"Opportunity, Optimism, Openness...Every day is opening day in Atlanta. "
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Atlanta is a diverse city which celebrates its uniqueness in its people, its culture and its soul. The 1996 Centennial Olympic Games brought the world to Atlanta, but a flourishing international community also calls the city home. Since the Olympics the Atlanta population has reached over 4 million as it becomes an ever more popular place to live and play and work. After you visit the area you will have to agree that there is something very special in Atlanta. Although embracing its Southern roots Atlanta has grown to incorporate the diverse influences of all of its citizens. There are not to many places you can go in Atlanta where you will not be greeted with a smile and a warm greeting which is why its slogan of Opportunity, Optimism and Openness is the perfect description the city with an open door.
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Atlanta History
Atlanta was first planned in 1836 as a terminus on the Western & Atlantic Railroad, for lines connecting from Birmingham, Chattanooga, Macon, and Athens. In 1845, the Chief Engineer of Georgia Railroad, John E. Thomson, suggested the name Atlanta for the town. The motives behind the change are unclear, as is the source behind the name. Thomson himself reportedly told different stories about the source of the name. One story suggests that the name is a feminization of Western and Atlantic Railroad, while another claims that the name is a variation of Martha Lumpkin's the town's former mayor's duather's middle name, Atalanta. Whatever the case may be, the town was renamed Atlanta in 1845 and was incorporated as such in 1847.
In 1864, the city became the target of a major Union invasion in the American Civil War, the Atlanta Campaign, later immortalized in the novel and film Gone With the Wind. 
The area now covered by Atlanta was the scene of several battles including the Battle of Peachtree Creek, the Battle of Atlanta, and the Battle of Ezra Church. After the war, Atlanta was gradually rebuilt and soon became the industrial and commercial center of the South. From 1867 until 1888, US Army soldiers occupied McPherson Barracks (later renamed Fort McPherson) in southwest Atlanta to ensure Reconstruction era reforms. To help the newly freed slaves the federal government set up a Freedmen's Bureau which helped establish what is now Clark Atlanta University, one of several historically black colleges in Atlanta. In 1868, Atlanta became the fifth city to serve as the state capital. Henry W. Grady, the editor of the Atlanta Constitution, promoted the city to investors as a city of the "New South," by which he meant a diversification of the economy away from agriculture and a shift from the "Old South" attitudes of slavery and rebellion.
In the 1960s, Atlanta was a major organizing center of the civil rights movement, with Dr. Martin Luther King and students from Atlanta's historically black colleges playing major roles in the movement's leadership. On October 19, 1960, a sit-in at the lunch counters of several Atlanta department stores led to the arrest of Dr. King and several students, drawing attention from the national media and from presidential candidate John F. Kennedy. Despite this incident, Atlanta's political and business leaders fostered Atlanta's image as "the city too busy to hate" by avoiding the types of violent confrontations that took place in Selma and Birmingham, Alabama.
In 1990, the International Olympic Committee selected Atlanta as the site for the 1996 Summer Olympics. Following the announcement, Atlanta undertook several major construction projects to improve the city's parks, sports facilities, and transportation.
The Commute
Like many great cities Atlanta has had to quickly accomodate for its growing population. Although you will need to still travel by car to many places outside of the perimeter of the city, Atlanta has made great improvements to its transportation systems in downtown, midtown and buckhead. Atlanta's average commute is 35 miles and can range from 10 minutes to 1 hour depending on what side of town you are on. Recently Atlanta has made great efforts to improve the availability of housing within the city limits causing more people to move back into the city where they can travel by bus or the ever popular MARTA transit system. Although many of the new developments are more pedestrian friendly Atlanta still has a lot more developing to do to make the city safe for both walkers and bike riders.
The Weather
Atlanta has a very mild climate with an average annual rainfall is about 54 inches. If you are planning to move during the late winter and early spring you might want to pack a raincoat and umbrella as this is the wettest season for Atlanta. Winters are cold for short periods, with January daily lows around 33 °F (1 °C) and highs near 52 °F (11 °C) typically Atlanta sees very little snowfall. Summers are hot and humid, with July mornings around 71 °F (22 °C) and afternoons around 89 °F (32 °C), slight breezes, and typically a 20–30% chance of afternoon thunderstorms. Spring weather is pleasant but variable, as cold fronts often bring strong or severe thunderstorms to almost all of the eastern and central U.S.. Pollen counts tend to be extraordinarily high in the spring, regularly exceeding 2000 particles per cubic meter in April. Oak pollen leaves a fine yellow-green film on everything for much of that month. The rain helps wash out Atlanta's abundant oak, pine, and juniper tree pollens, and fuels beautiful blooms from native dogwood trees, as well as azaleas, forsythias, magnolias, and of course peach trees, both flowering-only and fruiting. The city-wide floral display runs during March and April, and inspires the Dogwood Festival, one of Atlanta's largest. Fall is also pleasant, with less rain and fewer storms, lower humidity, and leaves changing color from late October to mid-November, especially during drier years.
