Streetcars originally operated in Atlanta downtown and into the surrounding areas from 1871 until the final line's closure in 1949.
The first such transportation began with horsecars in 1871, and electric streetcar service started in the 1880s. In addition to streetcars in Atlanta proper, there were also
interurban
The Interurban (or radial railway in Europe and Canada) is a type of electric railway, with streetcar-like electric self-propelled rail cars which run within and between cities or towns. They were very prevalent in North America between 1900 ...
railways from Atlanta to outlying towns. The last streetcar service on the old network ended in 1949; the streetcar system was quickly replaced by a
trolleybus system and with buses.
After decades of planning, construction of a new streetcar system, the
Atlanta Streetcar
Atlanta Streetcar or Downtown Loop is a streetcar line in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. Testing on the line began in summer 2014 with passenger service beginning as scheduled on December 30, 2014. In , the line had rides, or about per wee ...
, began in early 2012.
Consisting initially of a single route, this new streetcar line opened in December 2014. Planning for a larger network, including on an abandoned loop of intown rail tracks now known as the
BeltLine
The Atlanta BeltLine (also Beltline or Belt Line) is a open and planned loop of multi-use trail and light rail transit system on a former railway corridor around the core of Atlanta, Georgia. The Atlanta BeltLine is designed to reconnect nei ...
is under way.
Streetcars 1871–1949
Timeline and streetcar operators
*1871
Richard Peters and
George Adair ran the first streetcars on the
Atlanta Street Railway, service to
West End
*1872
West End & Atlanta Street Railroad Co. formed, service to
West End and
Westview Cemetery
*1878 Adair sold out to Peters
*1879
Gate City Street Railroad Co. formed, service to Angier Springs and
Ponce de Leon Springs
*1882
Metropolitan Street Railroad Co. formed, lines to the
Confederate Soldiers' Home
The first Atlanta Confederate Soldiers' Home (also called the Old Soldiers' Home) was built in 1890 with the support of Henry W. Grady at a cost of $45,000. Grady proposed the idea first in 1889, and began to raise funds through "subscriptions". ...
near
Ormewood Park and to
Decatur
*1883
Fulton County Street Railroad Co. formed, lines would include the
Nine-Mile Circle
*1886
Joel Hurt formed the
Atlanta & Edgewood Street Railroad Co., service out
Edgewood Avenue to Hilliard and Highland and to
Inman Park
Inman Park is an intown neighborhood on the east side of Atlanta, Georgia, and its first planned suburb. It was named for Samuel M. Inman.
History
Today's neighborhood of Inman Park includes areas that were originally designated
* Inman Park ...
*1889 Hurt's streetcar - Atlanta's first electric line - began to run between
Five Points and
Inman Park
Inman Park is an intown neighborhood on the east side of Atlanta, Georgia, and its first planned suburb. It was named for Samuel M. Inman.
History
Today's neighborhood of Inman Park includes areas that were originally designated
* Inman Park ...
and control of Peter's company passed to son
Edward C. Peters; Fulton County Street RR Co. began its
Nine-Mile Circle line to what is now
Virginia Highland, powered by the electric
Thomson-Houston system.
[Carson, O.E. (1981). ''The Trolley Titans'', p. xi. Glendale, CA: ]Interurban Press
Interurban Press was a small, privately owned American publishing company, specializing in books about streetcars, other forms of rail transit and railroads in North America, from 1943MacDougall, Kent (May 19, 1983). "Books Ring Bell With Devot ...
.
*1890 Atlanta, West End & McPherson Barracks Ry. Co. began, powered by the electric
Sprague system
*1891 Law passed requiring
segregation on streetcars "as much as practicable" and at the enforcement of streetcar conductors. Prior to this, it was common for Black and white passengers to sit next to each other on streetcars.
*1891 (May)
Atlanta Consolidated Street Railway Company formed, instigating the
Second Battle of Atlanta
*1892 Atlanta City Street Railway Co. began, powered by the electric Detroit system
*1902 All street railways consolidated as
Georgia Railway and Power Company
Georgia Power is an electric utility headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. It was established as the Georgia Railway and Power Company and began operations in 1902 running streetcars in Atlanta as a successor to the Atlanta Consolidat ...
*1916
Atlanta streetcar strike of 1916 began September 30 and ended January of the next year
*1924 ''The
Beeler Report'' issued to advise the financially ailing company
*1926 Peak of passenger service (96,794,273)
*1937
Trackless trolleys introduced
*1949
Georgia Power
Georgia Power is an electric utility headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. It was established as the Georgia Railway and Power Company and began operations in 1902 running streetcars in Atlanta as a successor to the Atlanta Consoli ...
ran its last streetcar (on the
River Line to
Riverside, leaving only trackless trolleys and buses
Routes
From 1889–1901, the famed
Nine-Mile Circle line ran from
Downtown Atlanta
Downtown Atlanta is the central business district of Atlanta, Georgia, United States. The larger of the city's two other commercial districts ( Midtown and Buckhead), it is the location of many corporate and regional headquarters; city, county ...
to
Ponce de Leon Springs and what is now
Virginia Highland.
In 1924, Georgia Power operated the following streetcar lines (see map above):
*1 Decatur St.-Marietta St.
*2 Ponce de Leon-West View (east terminus: Ponce at East Lake Rd.)
*3 Boulevard-West Hunter
*4 Inman Park-Georgia Ave. (alternative eastern termini: McLendon at Clifton and Emory)
*5 Highland-South Pryor (north terminus: Virginia Ave. at N. Highland Ave.)
*6 Forrest-Capitol (Forrest Ave. is now Ralph McGill Blvd.) (north terminus: Boulevard at Orme Cir.)
*7 West Peachtree-East Hunter
*8 Howell Mill Road-East Fair
*10 Peachtree-Whitehall
*11 Luckie-Woodward
*12 Copper-Pine
*13 Irwin-West Fair St.
*14 Orme St.-Magnolia St.
*15 Piedmont-Washington
*16 Pine Street (see route 12) (eastern terminus: Ponce de Leon Park)
*17 Main Decatur
*18 South Decatur-East Lake
*19
River Line
*20 College Park & Hapeville
*21 Stewart Ave. (see route 1)
*22 English Ave.-Soldiers' Home
*23 Buckhead & Oglethorpe
*24 McDaniel St.
Former interurban lines
Georgia Railway and Power Company
Georgia Power is an electric utility headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. It was established as the Georgia Railway and Power Company and began operations in 1902 running streetcars in Atlanta as a successor to the Atlanta Consolidat ...
ran lines on private rights-of-way from Atlanta to:
*
Marietta, the 16-mile Atlanta Northern line, from 1905–1947
*
Hopewell and
Stone Mountain, 16 miles, 1913–1947
*
College Park and
Fairburn
Proposed streetcar lines (21st century)
Peachtree
A much longer route along
Peachtree Street
Peachtree Street is one of several major streets running through the city of Atlanta. Beginning at Five Points in downtown Atlanta, it runs North through Midtown; a few blocks after entering into Buckhead, the name changes to Peachtree Road ...
, the city's
main street. Originally, the line was to run from the
Oakland City neighborhood through
Downtown Atlanta
Downtown Atlanta is the central business district of Atlanta, Georgia, United States. The larger of the city's two other commercial districts ( Midtown and Buckhead), it is the location of many corporate and regional headquarters; city, county ...
,
Midtown and
Buckhead. However a more recent (2010) pared-down proposal would run between the Arts Center MARTA station in Midtown and the Five Points MARTA station downtown.
In 2015, Buckhead business leaders and city councilpersons successfully had the portion of along Peachtree Rd, from Piedmont Hospital to Lenox Mall, removed from the long range plan.
BeltLine routes
In July 2012, there was a referendum on a 1-cent sales tax (
SPLOST) to fund traffic and road improvements. If it had been approved, the tax would have funded several streetcar routes along portions of the
BeltLine
The Atlanta BeltLine (also Beltline or Belt Line) is a open and planned loop of multi-use trail and light rail transit system on a former railway corridor around the core of Atlanta, Georgia. The Atlanta BeltLine is designed to reconnect nei ...
trail and connections onto MARTA stations and with the Downtown Loop streetcar. The final list of projects to have been funded included 2 routes:
*Midtown to Northeast: from North Ave. MARTA station (1) east along North Ave. to the
BeltLine
The Atlanta BeltLine (also Beltline or Belt Line) is a open and planned loop of multi-use trail and light rail transit system on a former railway corridor around the core of Atlanta, Georgia. The Atlanta BeltLine is designed to reconnect nei ...
, then north along BeltLine to 10th and Monroe (southeast corner of
Piedmont Park) (2) and south to Edgewood St. (3) and connection to the
Downtown streetcar at its eastern terminus (which would be extended from it current proposed terminus at Jackson St.)
*Downtown/Midtown to Southwest:
**branch from North Ave. station to Luckie St. (4)
**branch from the western terminus of the Downtown streetcar at
Centennial Olympic Park/CNN to Luckie St. (4)
**from Luckie St. (4) along North Avenue, Northside Drive, out
Donald L. Hollowell Parkway to the
Bankhead neighborhood (5), then south along the BeltLine to Abernathy and Cascade in
West End/
Westview (6).
The earlier proposal in March 2011 included two lines that did not make the final list for the July 2012 vote:
*
Bankhead MARTA to Midtown: From Bankhead MARTA station north along the BeltLine, then east along 17th St. past
Atlantic Station to
Arts Center MARTA station
*Armour Yard to Midtown: From Armour Yard (proposed new transit station near I-85/Monroe exit), south along the BeltLine, then west along North Ave.
Source:
The proposal was defeated in the 10-county Metro Atlanta region, as a region 63% against and 37% for. In Fulton and DeKalb Counties the results were 52% against and 48% for.
C-Loop (abandoned concept)
In 2005, MARTA analyzed - in addition to the BeltLine - the "C-Loop" ("C"-shaped rail line) linking
Emory University
Emory University is a private research university in Atlanta, Georgia. Founded in 1836 as "Emory College" by the Methodist Episcopal Church and named in honor of Methodist bishop John Emory, Emory is the second-oldest private institution of ...
,
Lindbergh Center
Lindbergh Center station is an at-grade train station in Atlanta, Georgia, serving the Red and Gold lines of the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) rail system. It serves the Lindbergh/Morosgo neighborhood in southern Buckh ...
,
Atlantic Station,
Georgia Tech, the
Georgia Dome, the
AUC,
Turner Field,
Grant Park, and proceeding eastward along I-20 to
South DeKalb Mall. The route originated from the efforts of Reps.
John Lewis,
Denise Majette and
Cynthia McKinney, who obtained funding from the
Dept. of Transportation for a $2 million feasibility study. The concept no longer appears in proposals from the various Georgia transportation authorities, however the part of the route is now part of the
Clifton Corridor
The Clifton Corridor is a proposed public transportation corridor in and near Atlanta, Georgia, roughly connecting the Buckhead, Emory University, and Decatur areas.
Proposed route
The proposed route stretches from:
* Lindbergh Center at the ...
initiative to build either MARTA rail, light rail, and/or bus rapid transit between Lindbergh and Emory and on to
Avondale MARTA station.
Northern Crescent
In June 2011 the Gwinnett, Cobb, and North Fulton Chambers of Commerce held
summitto promote light rail transit in the northern metropolitan area. It was especially remarkable in light of decades-long opposition to rapid transit in the area
Proposed routes (see map)would form a "W" and connect:
*
Kennesaw,
Marietta and the
Cumberland edge city with the
Arts Center MARTA Station along
I-75
*
Alpharetta with the
Dunwoody MARTA Station along
Georgia 400
* The
Suwanee area in Gwinnett with the
Doraville MARTA Station
* Doraville, Dunwoody, and the Cumberland area in an arc along the northern
Perimeter
Modern streetcar line
The Atlanta Streetcar, also known as the Downtown Loop, opened after three years of construction and 18 month of delays on December 30, 2014.
The route runs east-west from
Centennial Olympic Park to the
Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site
The Martin Luther King Jr. National Historical Park covers about 35 acres (0.14 km2) and includes several sites in Atlanta, Georgia related to the life and work of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. Within the park is his boyhood h ...
, with tracks that converge at
Woodruff Park
Woodruff Park, named for Robert W. Woodruff, is located in the heart of Downtown Atlanta, Georgia. The park's are north of Edgewood Ave, between Peachtree Street NE and Park Place NE. The park includes a fountain, a performance pavilion, a ...
. The line serves 12 stops.
See also
*
Nine-Mile Circle streetcar line to
Virginia Highland
*
Timeline of mass transit in Atlanta
*
Trolleybuses in Atlanta
*
List of streetcar systems in the United States (all-time list)
References
External links
Atlanta's Streetcars of the Nineteenth Century: a forum for identification and documentation
{{Atlanta history
Railway lines in Atlanta
Streetcars in Georgia (U.S. state)
Transportation in Atlanta
History of Atlanta
Old Fourth Ward
Atlanta
Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,7 ...