In 1981, a group of Georgia Institute of Technology graduates bought of farmland and woods near McGinnis Ferry and Medlock Bridge Roads for a high-tech office park. The new office park was to mirror one built in 1970 in nearby Peachtree Corners, known as Technology Park/Atlanta. Spotting tiny Johns Creek on an old map, they named their mixed-use, master-planned community "Technology Park/Johns Creek". This is the first reference to Johns Creek as a place. The area grew over the years to become the home of 200 companies – many of them Fortune 500 firms – with nearly 11,000 people spread over of office, retail and industrial space. With the jobs came houses and shopping centers, and the population increased to about 60,000.