Another early name of Atlanta was Thrasherville.
In 1839, the Monroe Railroad hired "Cousin John" Thrasher to construct an embankment for connecting its track to the W. & A. railroad. The embankment is the oldest man-made construction still standing downtown. It is still visible about half a mile from this cache. [1]
When Thrasher arrived, there was only one house in the area. Thrasher built homes and a general store here. This is considered the first land development in the area. [2]
The name of the former Atlanta Thrashers hockey team is a coincidence. The Thrashers were named after Georgia's state bird, the brown thrasher.
I'll leave the rest of the details to the two historical plaques at the cache location.
The name Thrasherville persisted until 1843. The next name of Atlanta will be the subject of the third cache in this series.
[1] http://www.atlantapreservationcenter.com/place_detail?id=51&pt=1&year=2007
[2] Garrett, Franklin M. "Atlanta and Environs: A Chronicle of Its People and Events, Vol. 1." University of Georgia Press (1954).