Sandy Springs

Sandy Springs

Sandy Springs, Georgia, is a city in north Georgia, incorporated in December 2005. It is an affluent suburb of Atlanta and is the eighth largest city in the state. It has an estimated 2008 population of 98,043. Located in north Fulton County, Georgia, just south of Roswell, it is named for the sandy springs that still exist in the city as a protected historic site. It is the second-largest of the three principal cities of the Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta, Georgia Metropolitan Statistical Area.
In 1851 Wilson Spruill donated five acres of land for the founding of the Sandy Springs United Methodist Church, near the sandy spring for which the city is named. In 1905 the Hammond School was built at Johnson Ferry Road and Mt. Vernon Highway, across the street from the church. After World War II, Sandy Springs experienced a housing boom, bringing new residents and major land development. In the 1960s and 1970s Georgia 400 and Interstate 285 connected Sandy Springs to metro Atlanta.
In recent years, Sandy Springs has experienced an absence of local government and major challenges from traffic. City planning and efforts to improve traffic flow are high priority issues to the community.