Marietta is the fourth largest of the principal cities by population of the Atlanta metropolitan area.

In 1840, political wrangling stopped construction for a time and, in 1842, the railroad's new management moved the hub from Marietta to an area that became Atlanta.

[7] Another early resident was Carey Cox, a physician, who promoted a "water cure" that attracted tourists to the area.

Andrews and his men, who later became known as the Raiders, planned to seize a train and proceed north toward the city of Chattanooga, destroying the railroad on their way.

When the other passengers alighted for breakfast, Andrews and the Raiders stole the engine and the car behind it, which carried the fuel.

The engine, called The General, and Andrews' Raiders had begun the episode now known as the Great Locomotive Chase.

In November 1864, General Hugh Kilpatrick set the town ablaze, the first strike in Sherman's March to the Sea.

[7] Sherman's troops crossed the Chattahoochee River at a shallow section known as the Palisades, after burning the Marietta Paper Mills near the mouth of Sope Creek.

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 Frank's death sentence to life imprisonment because of problems with the case against him created great local outrage.

A mob threatened the governor to the extent that the Georgia National Guard had to be called to defend him and he left the state immediately with his political career over.

Another mob, systematically organized for the purpose, abducted Frank from prison, drove him to Marietta and hanged him.

The leaders of the abduction included past, current and future elected local, county and state officials.

[14] In 1963, Atherton's Drugstore, a store on Marietta Square, exploded on Halloween night, killing 6 people and injuring 23 others.

[34] Dobbins Air Reserve Base on the south side of town and a Lockheed Martin manufacturing plant are among the major industries in the city.

CobbLinc, Marietta/Cobb County's Transit System and Xpress GA Buses serve the City.

The CSX freight trains between Atlanta and Chattanooga (Western & Atlantic Subdivision) still run a block west of the town square, past the 1898-built former railroad depot (now the Visitor Center).

[37] Into the 1950s the Louisville and Nashville Railroad operated the Midwest-Florida trains, the Cincinnati-Florida Flamingo and the Chicago-Florida Southland, which made daily stops in Marietta Depot.

The final train was the L&N's St. Louis, Missouri - Evansville, Iindiana - Atlanta Georgian which ended service on April 30, 1971.

Burruss, Dunleith, Hickory Hills, Lockheed, Marietta Center for Advanced Academics, Park Street, Sawyer Road, and West Side.

The square is the site of several cultural productions and public events, including a weekly farmers' market.

The Center is home to thousands of artifacts including items from Marietta residents and businesses.

Once owned by William Root, one of Marietta's earliest citizens and merchants whose drugstore was located in the Square.

[43] The Big Chicken, which currently sits on top of a KFC restaurant, has been a landmark on U.S. 41 and Roswell Road since 1963.

[45] The city includes the Kennesaw House, one of only four commercial buildings in Marietta not burned to the ground in Sherman's March to the Sea.