Atlanta, Illinois

City: Atlanta

County: Logan

State: Illinois

Lat/Long: 40.2500, -89.2333

Atlanta is a town located in northeastern Logan County, Illinois, northeast of Lincoln and southwest of Bloomington. Atlanta traces its origins to December 1836, when surveyors laid out the town of New Castle on the site that would become Atlanta. In November 1847, the U.S. Post Office established a post office in New Castle. In May 1853, surveyors laid out and platted the town of Xenia, about one mile north of New Castle, and the latter town was incorporated into Xenia. In October 1853, post office officials changed the name from Xenia to Atalanta. In February 1855, the Illinois General Assembly incorporated Xenia as a town and changed the name to Atlanta. Ideally situated along the Chicago, Alton & St. Louis Railroad, Atlanta experienced growth in population, business, and trade until the Panic of 1857 dealt a blow to its progress. The financial panic forced many businesses to close, and people began moving away from the town. By 1860, the population had leveled off at 1,140, where it remained for the remainder of the nineteenth century.

Lawrence B. Stringer, History of Logan County Illinois (Chicago: Pioneer, 1911), 1:600-606; James N. Adams, comp., Illinois Place Names (Springfield: Illinois State Historical Society, 1989), 283, 450; "An Act to Incorporate the Town of Atlanta, in Logan County," 14 February 1855, Private Laws of Illinois (1855), 163-70; "An Act to Change the Name of the Town of Xenia, in Logan County, to Atlanta," 14 February 1855, Private Laws of Illinois (1855), 194.