Marietta... the Gem City?

“The Gem City” is a phrase that may not mean much to Mariettans today, but it has a long and interesting history in Marietta. Pioneer settlers first established Marietta in the 1830s. At the time, Marietta was a bit of a rough and dirty place. Life during the early years of Marietta would have been strenuous, but the 1840s and 1850s were transformative for the small town. With the addition of the railroad, the pioneer village morphed into a thriving city, and was officially incorporated in 1852. Advertised as a resort community for travelers, business boomed and the population grew. Several fashionable hotels opened, including the Howard House, Marietta Hotel, and the Fletcher House. Dr. Cox’s Water Cure, a combined hotel and sanitarium, catered to visitors seeking the healing waters of local mineral springs at Kennesaw Mountain. The addition of Cherokee Hall in 1851 offered a venue for traveling shows, concerts, dances, and live entertainment.
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​Hoping to capitalize on the tremendous growth of the area during the second half of the 19th century, the Western and Atlantic Railroad developed a brochure in 1885 to advertise passenger schedules, and to describe the cities and attractions in the area. Joseph M. Brown, who later served as Governor of Georgia, was working for the railroad at the time. Serving as General Passenger Agent, he was responsible for providing content for the brochure. Brown decided to include a description of each city along the rail line. When writing about Marietta, he wrote that it was “the little Gem City of Georgia.” The phrase stuck - for a while.

After a few decades, “The Gem City” was used less and less to describe Marietta. Eventually, new phrases and slogans like "It's Hip to be Square" were developed, and “The Gem City” began to fade into obscurity. Fast forward to the early 2000s when Cobb Landmarks is working on a Marietta history book. Written by Douglas M. Frey, the book explores Marietta's history with stories of fifty historic Marietta houses. When it came to naming the book, there was a clear choice. It would be called Marietta: The Gem City of Georgia. ​Today Cobb Landmarks is keeping the phrase alive with a line of products available in the Gift Shop at the William Root House Museum. ​
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