Historedia
Episode 1 of 3

Driving the Zero Mile Post

When
1837
Where
Zero Mile Post site
Part of
Western and Atlantic Railroad's Atlanta terminal fixed, origin of the city's name

In autumn 1837, Stephen Harriman Long drove a stake marking the railroad terminus, establishing the site that would become Atlanta.

Long surveyed routes and selected a location between Forsyth Street and Andrew Young International Boulevard. This stake, called the Zero Mile Post, marked the founding of "Terminus." Long initially believed the site would only support a tavern, blacksmith shop, and grocery store, reflecting its small scale at the time.

Sources

  1. History of Atlanta Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-21
  2. Atlanta Wikipedia, revision of 2026-10-05

Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.