The New Georgia Encyclopedia is supported by funding from A More Perfect Union, a special initiative of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt speaks in Atlanta at the dedication ceremony for Techwood Homes, the nation's first public housing project, on November 29, 1935.
Courtesy of Georgia Info, Digital Library of Georgia.
Originally christened the "Goddess of Liberty," the statue atop the capitol dome in Atanta is now referred to as "Miss Freedom." The statue, made of copper sheets over a hollow frame, stands at just over 26 feet and weighs 1,600 pounds.
Courtesy of Georgia Info, Digital Library of Georgia.
Built in 1854, this two-story building served briefly as the home to three governments when it housed the General Assembly, Atlanta City Hall, and Fulton County Courthouse beginning in July 1868. In January 1869, the legislature moved to the Kimball Opera House, where it remained until 1889.
The state capitol building, completed in 1889, features a cornerstone, interior floor and steps, and many walls made of Georgia marble. Marble mined in the state was also used to construct 60 percent of the monuments and the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C.
Courtesy of Explore Georgia, Photograph by Ralph Daniel.
Between 6,000 and 10,000 people gathered in Atlanta on September 2, 1885, to watch the setting of the marble cornerstone for the new state capitol. Final construction on the building took place in March 1889, and the capitol was dedicated a few months later on the Fourth of July.
The state capitol of Georgia, built in Atlanta in 1889, is pictured before the application of gold to the dome in 1959.
Courtesy of Georgia Archives, Vanishing Georgia, #
ful0092.
Georgia's gold-domed state capitol, built on a hill in downtown Atlanta, was completed in 1889. At approximately 272 feet from the ground floor, the building was the tallest in the city at the time of its construction and today is the third tallest capitol in the South.
Photograph by Jim Everson, DVM
Residents of Dahlonega and Lumpkin County, the site of Georgia's gold rush in 1829, donated twenty ounces of gold in 1958 to cover the state capitol dome in Atlanta. The dome was regilded about twenty years later and today is maintained on an ongoing basis.
Courtesy of Explore Georgia, Photograph by Ralph Daniel.
In 1974 a master plan for the state capitol complex in downtown Atlanta was completed. Although Twin Towers Office Building was built in the early 1980s, no other construction on the complex has yet taken place.
Courtesy of Georgia Info, Digital Library of Georgia.
The historic Morton Theatre was built by Monroe B. "Pink" Morton in 1910 at "Hot Corner" (Hull and Washington streets) in Athens as a cultural center for the Black community. It was the first vaudeville theater in the country to be built, owned, and operated by an African American.
Photograph by Melinda Smith Mullikin, New Georgia Encyclopedia
The Fox Theatre auditorium with curtain and proscenium.
Courtesy of Fox Theatre. Photograph by Michael Portman
The Fox Theatre marquee at night. The Fox has dominated the performing arts scene in Atlanta.
Courtesy of Explore Georgia, Photograph by Ralph Daniel.
Exterior photograph of the Fox Theatre, showing the different parts of the theater building.
Courtesy of Fox Theatre. Photograph by Michael Portman
The Fox Theatre's Moller Deluxe forty-two-rank pipe organ console is known as "Mighty Mo." The Moller has many sound effects, including songbirds and sirens.
Photograph by Michael Portman. Courtesy of Fox Theatre
Fox Theatre ushers, circa 1930s.
Photograph by Edgar Orr. Copyright Fox Theatre
Crowds line up along two blocks for the grand opening of the Fox Theatre in Atlanta on December 25, 1929. The structure, designed by the architecture firm of Marye, Alger, and Vinour, was originally intended to serve as the city's Yaarab Temple but was redesigned as a theater before its completion.
Photograph by Edgar Orr. Copyright Fox Theatre
A "Save the Fox" poster from 1976 advertises "An Evening at the Fox" fund-raising event held by Delta Zeta sorority. During the 1970s, the theater was threatened with demolition, but efforts by Atlanta historic preservation groups prevented its destruction.
Courtesy of Fox Theatre. Copyright Delta Zeta Sorority
Atlanta's Fox Theatre has seen more than $20 million in restoration projects since coming under the ownership of the nonprofit organization, Atlanta Landmarks, in 1975. The Fox was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1976.
Sapelo Island lighthouse
The surviving Tybee Island Lighthouse still has its original foundation, completed in 1773. Maintained by the Tybee Island Historical Society and open to the public, it remains one of America's most intact light stations, with all its historic support structures still on site.
Courtesy of Explore Georgia, Photograph by Ralph Daniel.
A hurricane in October 1898 seriously undermined the foundation of the original Sapelo Lighthouse. In September 1905 a new lighthouse—a 100-foot steel pyramidal tower with a kerosene-lit flashing light—was activated and a third-order Fresnel lens was installed.
Image from Kevin
The lighthouse on Tybee Island is the island's most recognized landmark. Constructed in 1736, the lighthouse is one of the oldest in the nation still in operation. Renovations began on the lighthouse in 1999, and in 2002 ownership and management of the lighthouse transferred to the Tybee Island Historical Society.
Courtesy of Explore Georgia, Photograph by Ralph Daniel.
The Cockspur Island Lighthouse, erected in 1857 and built of Savannah gray brick, overlooks Fort Pulaski on Tybee Island.
Image from Dizzy Girl
The Old Governor's Mansion is located in Milledgeville, the state's capital from 1807 to 1868. Construction on the mansion began in 1836 and was completed in 1838 or 1839. It is considered one of the finest examples of Greek revival style in the nation.
Courtesy of Georgia College and State University
