Marietta

Settlers built homes in the area before 1824, close to the Cherokee town of Big Shanty, which is now Kennesaw. The first plot of the town was laid out in 1833. The Georgia General Assembly recognized the community on December 19, 1834, and the city was incorporated in 1852.

The origin of the name is uncertain. It is believed to honor Mary Cobb, the wife of U.S. Senator and judge Thomas Willis Cobb, for whom the county is also named.

Marietta was first chosen as the hub of the Western and Atlantic Railroad, and business boomed. In 1842 the railroad moved its hub to the place that became Atlanta. The Georgia Military Institute was built in 1851 and the first bank opened in 1855. Fires destroyed much of the city three times during the 1850s.

On April 12, 1862, James Andrews and his Union raiders took the locomotive The General at Big Shanty. This began the Great Locomotive Chase. All of the raiders were caught within two weeks and tried as spies.

In the summer of 1864, Union General William Tecumseh Sherman moved into the town during the Atlanta campaign. In November 1864, General Hugh Kilpatrick set the town on fire, the first strike in Sherman's March to the Sea. The Kennesaw House is one of only four commercial buildings in Marietta that were not burned.

The Marietta Confederate Cemetery holds the graves of more than 3,000 Confederate soldiers who died in the Battle of Atlanta. The Oakton House, built in 1838, served as General Loring's headquarters during the 1864 Battle of Kennesaw Mountain.

Two industries stand out in the city's history and economy. Dobbins Air Reserve Base is in Marietta, and so is a Lockheed Martin manufacturing plant. The Lockheed Georgia Employees Credit Union is also based in the city.

The Marietta Campus of Kennesaw State University and Life University are also in the city, along with the city's own school district.

Interstate 75 and U.S. 41 run through the eastern part of the city. U.S. 41 and State Route 3 run together as Cobb Parkway northeast of downtown. State routes 3, 5 and 120 also pass through. Interstate 75 exits 261, 263, 265 and 267 serve Marietta.

CobbLinc and Xpress GA buses serve the city. CSX freight trains run on the Western and Atlantic Subdivision, one block west of the square. The 1898 depot now serves as the Visitor Center. Passenger service by the Louisville and Nashville Railroad ended with the Georgian on April 30, 1971.

Public schools inside the city limits are run by Marietta City Schools. The district has one high school, Marietta High School for grades 9 to 12, along with Marietta Middle School, Marietta Sixth Grade Academy and several elementary schools. It is an International Baccalaureate World School district and became the first in Georgia authorized for the IB Middle Years Program, in 2008. Schools outside the city limits are run by the Cobb County School District.

The Marietta Campus of Kennesaw State University, formerly Southern Polytechnic State University, is in the city. So is Life University. The Walker School is a private school for pre-K through grade 12.

Downtown Marietta is built around the town square, the former site of the county courthouse. An online parking map is available for a trip to the Square. The city has six historic districts, and some are on the National Register of Historic Places.

Other landmarks in the city include the Marietta Confederate Cemetery, and the Big Chicken, built in 1963.