Atlanta (ăt-lăn´tȧ), Ga. [The “Gate City”; the name Atlanta was suggested by its geographical position, immediately on the dividing ridge, separating the Gulf and Atlantic waters.]
It is situated at the base of the Blue Ridge, near the Chattahoochee River; has an elevation of over one thousand feet, and a remarkably healthful climate.
Atlanta is laid out in the form of a circle, with the Union Depot as its center. A little to the south of the old Union Station is the State Capitol, which contains a library of about sixty thousand volumes and an interesting geological collection. A little to the northwest is the New Court House; and farther to the north, beyond the railway, are the Custom House and the L. & N. Freight House, an enormous concrete structure. The City Hall, the Chamber of Commerce, the Opera House, the Carnegie Library (of white marble), the Century Building, the Empire Building, the Equitable Building, the Jewish Temple, and the First Methodist Church are notable edifices. Among the chief educational establishments are the Georgia School of Technology, the Atlanta University (for colored students), the Agnes Scott Institute, and the Clark University (colored students). The finest private houses are in Peachtree Street.
Several railroads, converging at Atlanta and leading to other important Southern cities, greatly facilitate the city’s extensive and rapidly increasing trade. It has a large export trade in tobacco, cotton, horses, and mules, its mule market being one of the most important in the United States. Its manufactures include implements, fertilizers, cotton goods, other foundry and machine products.
Atlanta was first settled in 1830. In 1843 it was incorporated as a town, and called Marthasville. In 1845 changed its name to Atlanta, and two years later secured a city charter. It was an important city in the Confederacy and the objective point of General Sherman’s campaign. The battle of Atlanta (July 22, 1864) was fought southeast of the city. In September the city was made a military camp by Sherman, and in November he left the city in flames, and started on his “march to the sea.” The city was almost entirely destroyed, but recovered rapidly after the war, and in 1878 became the capital of Georgia.
Baltimore (bôl´tĭ-mōr), Md. [The “Monumental City”; named for the proprietor of a large tract of land in Maryland, Cecil Calvert, Lord Baltimore, who settled the province in 1635.]
It is situated on an estuary of the Patapsco River, at the head of navigation, about fourteen miles from Chesapeake Bay, and is on the Baltimore and Ohio, the Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington, and other railroads. A good harbor and fine geographical situation give Baltimore unusual trade advantages, and it has become one of the great export centers of the United States.
The city is roughly divided into two nearly equal parts by a small stream, Jones Falls, which flows entirely through the city. The portion of the city northeast of the stream is called “Old Town.” Baltimore Street is the chief longitudinal thoroughfare.
The natural center for the visitor is Mt. Vernon Place, a small square, prettily laid out and suggesting Paris in its tasteful monuments and surrounding buildings. In the middle rises the Washington Monument, a column one hundred and thirty feet high, surmounted by a colossal statue of George Washington.
At the northeast corner of the square is the handsome Mt. Vernon Methodist Episcopal Church; at the southeast corner, Peabody Institute, for the encouragement of science, art, and general knowledge.