South Atlanta was established in 1994 after the merger of Walter F. George High School (which was located at the current South Atlanta complex) and Fulton High School (which was located at the present-day Dobbs Elementary near the Lakewood area). George High School hosted a vocational program which offered classes such as woodworking,brickwork, auto mechanics, home economics, and welding. It was also the only high school in Atlanta Public Schools (APS) to have an airplane hangar. Fulton High School was also unique in its own right. It was the only high school in the school system to have four different campuses during its tenure. First, it was located at the corner of Whitehall and Garnett St., second, it moved down Whitehall to the corner of Trinity Street, third, it was located on Washington St. But in 1952 when the City of Atlanta implemented its Plan of Improvement and annexed the area south of McDonough Boulevard, including Lakewood Heights, a new building was built, and Fulton moved to its last site on Jonesboro Road. (It's possible that Fulton County actually built the building in 1950 or '51). That building was torn down and Dobbs Elementary School replaced it in 2004.

Although Fulton High dates back to 1917, it was not an Atlanta public school until 1952. Prior to that, Fulton, North Fulton, and West Fulton, were in the Fulton County school system until Atlanta annexed the respective areas into the city under its Plan of Improvement.

In 2005, APS implemented the small-schools model at Carver High School. This model is used when a comprehensive high school is divided into a number of career-specific small schools of around 400 or 500 each. Each school has its own administration, but they share athletics and arts programs. The model worked with profound success, and therefore, APS decided to convert all of its high schools into small schools. South Atlanta was one of the next two schools to be transformed. In 2006, the building was renovated, and the campus became home to four small schools. The schools were:

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