Atlanta, the capital of Georgia

Savannah and the Revolution

Georgia’s government started on the coast. Savannah, founded by James Oglethorpe in 1733, became the colonial capital, and the first state constitution of 1777 named it the seat of government. The Revolution soon upended that. The British captured Savannah in December 1778, and for the next few years the patriot government moved from place to place, meeting at Augusta, at Heard’s Fort in Wilkes County and elsewhere. After the British left in 1782, the government returned to Savannah, alternating with Augusta, and held its last session in Savannah in 1785.

Moving west: Augusta, Louisville, Milledgeville

As settlers spread inland, the capital followed. In February 1785 the legislature made Augusta, upriver on the Savannah River, the meeting place, and from 1786 it was the only capital. A decade later it moved again, to Louisville, a town planned from scratch and named for King Louis XVI of France in thanks for French help during the Revolution. A 1795 amendment to the constitution fixed the seat of government there, and the government arrived in 1796.

Louisville held the title only until 1807. The state then built another new town, Milledgeville, at the head of navigation on the Oconee River, and named it for Governor John Milledge. Milledgeville was Georgia’s capital through the boom years of cotton and through the Civil War. As Sherman’s army approached in November 1864, the government fled, and the legislature met in Macon in early 1865 before returning.

Atlanta had already tried for the title. In an 1854 statewide vote Milledgeville beat Atlanta, 49,781 votes to 29,337.

Atlanta wins

The Civil War changed the balance. Atlanta had grown up as the end of the state-built Western and Atlantic Railroad and was Georgia’s rail hub, far easier to reach than Milledgeville. During Reconstruction, General John Pope, the federal commander, moved the 1867-68 constitutional convention to Atlanta, reportedly because innkeepers in Milledgeville would not give rooms to Black delegates. Atlanta’s city council offered the state free buildings for ten years and land for a capitol. The new constitution, ratified in April 1868, made Atlanta the seat of government, and the legislature first met there that July. In 1877 voters reaffirmed the choice in a referendum.

Milledgeville got one last turn. In 2001 the General Assembly held a one-day session in its restored Old Capitol.

The Capitol

The Georgia State Capitol was designed by the Chicago firm of Edbrooke and Burnham and built from 1884 to 1889 in a classical Renaissance style. The legislature capped its cost at $1 million, and the builders finished just under that. It was dedicated on July 4, 1889. Its exterior is Indiana limestone, but the cornerstone, floors, stairs and many interior walls are Georgia marble.

The dome got its famous gold in 1958. Residents of Dahlonega and Lumpkin County, site of America’s first major gold rush in 1829, donated gold and carried it to Atlanta in a caravan of seven mule-drawn wagons. On top stands a statue known as Miss Freedom, about 22 feet tall and weighing 1,600 pounds, holding a torch and a sword; the torch was not actually lit until 1959. The Georgia Capitol Museum occupies the fourth floor.

Atlanta today

Atlanta had about 529,000 residents in 2025, the largest city in Georgia and the center of a metropolitan area of more than six million people. Columbus and Augusta, each with about 200,000, are next.

Visiting

The Capitol and its museum are open to visitors, and the University of Georgia Libraries, which run the museum, offer tours. See the Georgia Capitol Museum tour page.