Moses W. Formwalt was the first mayor of the city of Atlanta then in DeKalb County, Georgia

DeKalb County, Georgia

DeKalb County is a county located in the U.S. state of Georgia. The population of the county was 691,893 at the 2010 census. Its county seat is the city of Decatur. It is bordered to the west by Fulton County and contains roughly 10% of the city of Atlanta...

. Atlanta was chartered in December 1847 (the name had been changed from Marthasville

Marthasville, Georgia

Marthasville was the previous name of Atlanta, Georgia. Marthasville was named after Governor Wilson Lumpkin's daughter, Martha; it was officially incorporated on December 23, 1843...

 in December 1845) and the first election of officers took place on January 29, 1848. Formwalt drew a larger share of the 215 votes than Jonathan Norcross

Jonathan Norcross

Jonathan Norcross , fourth Mayor of Atlanta, GA. Dubbed the "Father of Atlanta" and "hard fighter of everything." - Henry W. Grady - Personal life :...

 and was elected mayor, representing the Free and Rowdy Party

Free and Rowdy Party

The Free and Rowdy Party was a political party that operated in Atlanta, Georgia, during the middle of the 19th century. Although the mayoral elections of Atlanta are not contested along party lines, the first three mayors of the city were Rowdies, as members of the Free and Rowdy Party were called...

. First meeting of the city council followed on February 2 at the Jonas Smith grocery (site of the Howard Johnson

Howard Johnson's

Howard Johnson's is a chain of hotels and restaurants, located primarily throughout the United States and Canada. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, Howard Johnson's was the largest restaurant chain in the United States, with over 1,000 restaurants...

 hotel near Five Points

Five Points (Atlanta)

Five Points is a district of Atlanta, Georgia, United States, the primary reference for the downtown area. The name refers to the convergence of Marietta Street, Edgewood Avenue, Decatur Street, and two legs of Peachtree Street Five Points is a district of Atlanta, Georgia, United States, the...

). Things proceeded pretty normally throughout his one year term: roads were cut, wells dug, law and order somewhat maintained (a jail was built) and on January 17, 1849 Dr. Benjamin F. Bomar

Benjamin Bomar

Benjamin Franklin Bomar was the second mayor of Atlanta, Georgia. Bomar was born in Spartanburg, South Carolina and studied medicine in Charleston. He practiced medicine in America's first gold rush town of Dahlonega, Georgia for a number of years until he tired of the winters in the Appalachian...

 succeeded him as mayor.

Born in Tennessee

Tennessee

Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...

, Formwalt came to Decatur in 1836 and established a tin shop on Decatur St. in Atlanta in 1846 where one of his most popular products were still

Still

A still is a permanent apparatus used to distill miscible or immiscible liquid mixtures by heating to selectively boil and then cooling to condense the vapor...

s. He became mayor at age 28. Two years after leaving office, he began serving as deputy sheriff

Sheriff

A sheriff is in principle a legal official with responsibility for a county. In practice, the specific combination of legal, political, and ceremonial duties of a sheriff varies greatly from country to country....

 of DeKalb County and a short time later was stabbed to death by a prisoner while escorting him from the council chamber. He is buried at Oakland Cemetery and is honored by Formwalt Street just southwest of downtown.