Atlanta was platted in 1858. The community was named after Atlanta, Georgia. A post office called Atlanta has been in operation since 1868.
On May 6, 1935, TWA Flight 6, a TWA DC-2 en route from Los Angeles, California, to Washington, D.C., became lost in heavy fog near Atlanta. Running out of fuel, the pilot attempted an emergency landing but crashed, which killed four and injured several others. Among the dead was Senator Bronson Cutting of New Mexico. The crash made national headlines and prompted Congress to commission the Copeland Committee report on air traffic safety.
Passages that mention Atlanta, cut from the printed page as they were published.
General history of Macon County, Missouri1910 · page 413Read the page →
Read the text
siderable fund of general information, with special acquisitions concerning agricultural life and the live-stock industry, in both of which he is energetically engaged. He has a fine farm of 120 acres, not far from the town of Atlanta, and in its condition of advanced development, rich productiveness and high state of improvement it is very creditable as a product of his enterprise and wisdom, good taste and breadth of view, and is also creditable to the township in which it is located as one of its representative country homes.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
General history of Macon County, Missouri1910 · page 419Read the page →
Read the text
however strong, to lead him away from it, and he has won the usual reward of constancy and fidelity, success in his undertakings and a firm hold on the regard and good will of his fellow-men. His farm of ninety acres, located near the town of Atlanta, with its ample improvements and full equipment, has risen to great value under his careful and intelligent management, and is one of the attractive and desirable country homes of the townshii). His live-stock industry also flourishes, giving him good returns for his labor in connection
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Timeline
Atlanta, 1858 to 1908
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →
From Wikimedia Commons (1), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
2004
