Marietta

Sister cities

• Heredia
• Linz am Rhein

History

The origin of the name is uncertain. It is believed that the city was named for Mary Cobb, the wife of the U.S. Senator and Superior Court judge Thomas Willis Cobb. The county is named for Cobb. Homes were built by early settlers near the Cherokee town of Big Shanty (now Kennesaw) before 1824. Built in 1838, Oakton House is the oldest continuously occupied residence in Marietta. The original barn, milk house, smokehouse and well house remain on the property. The gardens contain the boxwood parterre from the 1870s. Oakton was Major General Loring's headquarters during the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain in 1864. Marietta was initially selected as the hub for the new Western and Atlantic Railroad and business boomed. General William Tecumseh Sherman invaded the town during the Atlanta campaign in summer 1864. In November 1864, General Hugh Kilpatrick set the town ablaze, the first strike in Sherman's March to the Sea. In 1892, the city established a public school system. It included a Marietta High School and Waterman Street School for white students. A school for black students was also created on Lemon Street. The state of Georgia did not provide a high school for black students until 1924, when Booker T. Washington High School opened in Atlanta, after decades of black citizens requesting educational resources. Leo Frank was lynched at 1200 Roswell Road just east of Marietta on August 17, 1915. Frank, a Jewish-American superintendent of the National Pencil Company in Atlanta, had been convicted on August 25, 1913, of the murder of one of his factory workers, 13-year-old Mary Phagan. The murder and trial, sensationalized in the local press, portrayed Frank as sexually depraved and captured the public's attention. An eleventh-hour commutation by Governor John Slaton of…

Geography

Located near the center of Cobb County, between Kennesaw to the northwest and Smyrna to the southeast. U.S. Route 41 and State Route 3 run through the city northeast of downtown as Cobb Parkway, and Interstate 75 runs parallel to it through the eastern part of Marietta, with access from exits 261, 263, 265, and 267. Downtown Atlanta is to the southeast, and Cartersville is to the northwest. According to the United States Census Bureau, Marietta has a total area of , of which is land and , or 0.38%, is water.

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• Northern Cardinal

  Cardinalis cardinalis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  46,866
• Carolina Wren

  Thryothorus ludovicianus (Latham, 1790) · Aves
  37,440
• Tufted Titmouse

  Baeolophus bicolor (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  35,054
• Carolina Chickadee

  Poecile carolinensis (Audubon, 1834) · Aves
  33,088
• Eastern Towhee

  Pipilo erythrophthalmus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  30,213
• Downy Woodpecker

  Dryobates pubescens (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  29,552
• Blue Jay

  Cyanocitta cristata (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  28,435
• Red-bellied Woodpecker

  Melanerpes carolinus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  28,345

Largest nearby schools

• Campbell High School
  High · Smyrna · 2,928 students · 17.9:1 ratio
• Osborne High School
  High · Marietta · 2,772 students · 16.9:1 ratio
• Walton High School
  High · Marietta · 2,646 students · 19.3:1 ratio
• Marietta High School
  High · Marietta · 2,626 students · 15.4:1 ratio
• North Cobb High School
  High · Kennesaw · 2,555 students · 18.1:1 ratio
• Wheeler High School
  High · Marietta · 2,375 students · 17.3:1 ratio
• Hillgrove High School
  High · Powder Springs · 2,363 students · 19.4:1 ratio
• McEachern High School
  High · Powder Springs · 2,327 students · 18.8:1 ratio

Most recent

• M 2.54 — 2022-09-12
  13 km NE of Jackson, Georgia
• M 2.72 — 2018-11-23
  3 km N of Plainville, Georgia
• M 2.5 — 2017-05-25
  16 km SE of LaFayette, Georgia
• M 2.7 — 2011-11-09
  1 km WNW of Dalton, Georgia
• M 2.6 — 2005-10-25
  6 km SSE of Summerville, Georgia
• M 2.5 — 2001-08-09
  9 km SSE of Dalton, Georgia