John Thrasher was the founder of the city of Norcross, Georgia, an original pioneer of Atlanta, and a well-travelled entrepreneur throughout the American Southeast.
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11 Facts About John Thrasher
2.
In 1839, Thrasher was hired to do work on the terminus of the Western and Atlantic Railroad.
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4.
John Thrasher was so disgusted by this that he sold his land at a significant loss and moved to Griffin, Georgia.
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5.
In 1844 John Thrasher married and moved back to Atlanta opening another store on Peachtree Street.
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6.
John Thrasher became active in local politics and became a state legislator representing Fulton County.
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7.
John Thrasher was instrumental in opening Atlanta's first jail, its first school, and its streetcars.
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8.
In 1870 John Thrasher moved northeast of the city along the Richmond and Danville Railroad and founded the town of Norcross, named after John Thrasher's good friend, Jonathan Norcross, the fourth mayor of Atlanta.
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9.
John Thrasher quickly turned Norcross into a vacation destination with a resort hotel he built.
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10.
John Thrasher was an active philanthropist in Norcross, a founder of First Baptist Church, a donor of houses to clergy and land for a park, now called Thrasher Park in downtown Norcross.
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11.
John Thrasher never abandoned the railroads however, and was instrumental in bringing the railroads to that town.
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