increasing historically low retention rates, and establishing degree options emphasizing research and international perspectives. Establishment (Before 1888) As noted by a historical marker on the large hill in Central Campus, the site occupied by the school's first buildings once held fortifications built to protect Atlanta during the Atlanta Campaign of the American Civil War. The surrender of the city took place on the southwestern boundary of the modern Georgia Tech campus in 1864. The next twenty years were a time of rapid industrial expansion; during this period, Georgia's manufacturing capital, railroad track mileage, and property values would each increase by a factor of three to four. The establishment of a school of technology was proposed in 1882 during the Reconstruction period. Major John Fletcher Hanson and Nathaniel Edwin Harris, two former Confederate officers who became prominent citizens in the town of Macon, Georgia, after the war, strongly believed that the South needed to improve its technology to compete with the industrial revolution that was occurring throughout the North. Many Southerners at this time agreed with this idea, known as the "New South Creed". Its strongest proponent was Henry W. Grady, editor of The Atlanta Constitution during the 1880s. A technology school was thought necessary because the American South of that era was mostly agrarian, and few technical developments were occurring. Georgians needed technical training to advance the state's industry. With authorization from the Georgia General Assembly, Harris and a committee of prominent Georgians visited renowned technology schools in the Northeast in 1883; these included the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Stevens Institute of Technology, and Cooper Union. Using these examples, the committee reported that the Worcester model, which stressed a combination of "theory and practice was the embodiment of the best conception of industrial education". The "practice" component of the Worcester model included student employment and production of consumer items to generate revenue for the school. When the committee returned, they submitted their findings to the Georgia General Assembly as House Bill 732 on July 24, 1883. The bill, written by Harris, met significant opposition from various sources and was defeated. Reasons for opposition included the general resistance to education, specifically technical education, concerns voiced by agricultural interests, and fiscal concerns relating to the limited treasury of the Georgia government; the state's 1877 constitution prohibited spending beyond its means as a reactionary measure to excessive spending