Page 9 - DeKalb Bicentennial Flipbook

1938 DeKalb Chamber of Commerce and Agriculture
forms from a merger into DeKalb Chamber.

1945 General Motors Division opens a Doraville factory
for Buick, Oldsmobile, Pontiac, and Chevrolet cars.

1947 DeKalb Historical Society forms – now known as
DeKalb History Center.

1955 NAACP Branch of Decatur forms.

1960 The arrest of civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. GM Assembly Plant in Doraville
in Decatur is publicly decried by President Kennedy.

1965 Stone Mountain Park opens. Sculptor Roy Faulkner
completes the Confederate carving in 1972.

1966 VA Medical Center opens in Decatur.

1974 Decide DeKalb Development Authority forms to attract,
expand, and retain businesses in DeKalb County.

1979 MARTA leaves the Avondale station on its first run
to Georgia State station.

1979 Havana Sandwich Shop becomes the first world
MARTA’s first run, 1979 cuisine shop to open on Buford Highway.

1989 Dogwood is the official tree of DeKalb County,
declared in a resolution.

1996 The 1996 Olympics come to Atlanta. Southwest DeKalb
High School band performs in opening ceremonies.

2011 DeKalb County 9/11 Memorial is dedicated
on Sept. 11.

2016 Georgia Perimeter College becomes Perimeter
College at Georgia State University with merger.

2023 Assembly opens on former 165-acre GM Assembly plant,
featuring mixed-use residential, retail, and movie studio spaces.
Perimeter College at Georgia State University

Sp i rit o f D eK alb – B i centen n ial 1822-2022 7