The first Atlanta Chamber of Commerce was founded in 1859, and was chiefly concerned with fighting railroad rate discrimination and with sustaining commercial ties with the North.
After secession, it focused its attention on direct trade with Europe, which was part of an overall Southern goal of achieving economic independence from the North.
[1] When the economy started to recover after the Civil War, in 1871 the city's business community formed a new Chamber of Commerce which was meant to have a broader base and participation than the Board of Trade.
The following year there was an economic panic, and the chamber was instrumental in encouraging banks to issue scrip in order to get more money into circulation, which allowed Atlanta merchants to sell the cotton crop.
And in 1910 the Chamber successfully campaigned for a $3 million city bond which funded expansion of the water and sewer systems, Grady Hospital, and several new schools.