Timeline of mass transit in Atlanta: *1871 Richard Peters and

George Adair George Washington Adair (March 1, 1823 – September 29, 1899) was a real-estate developer in post Civil War Atlanta. Early life Col George Washington Adair was born 1 Mar 1823, of Scots-Irish parentage in rural Morgan County, Georgia. His pa ...

run the first streetcars on the Atlanta Street Railway Company *1872

West End & Atlanta Street Railroad The West End & Atlanta Street Railroad Company of Atlanta, Georgia 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 f ...

Company formed *1878 Adair sells out to Peters *1879

Gate City Street Railroad Company The Gate City Street Railroad Company of Atlanta, Georgia was chartered by the state of Georgia on September 26, 1879. The individuals involved in the formation of the company included Laurent DeGive (Belgian consul and opera house owner), Levi B. ...

formed *1882

Metropolitan Street Railroad The Metropolitan Street Railroad was an early streetcar company in Atlanta. The horsecar line was organized in 1882 by Lemuel Grant, Jesse W. Rankin, William L. Abbott, William A. Haygood, and Jacob Haas. The goal was to serve the southeast sid ...

Company formed *1883 Fulton County Street Railroad Company formed *1886 Joel Hurt forms the Atlanta & Edgewood Street Railroad Co. *1889 Hurt's streetcar begins 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 p ...

and control of Peter's company passed to son Edward C. Peters; Fulton County Street RR Co. begins powered by the electric

Thomson-Houston The Thomson-Houston Electric Company was a manufacturing company which was one of the precursors of the General Electric company. History The Thomson-Houston Electric Company was formed in 1882 in the United States when a group of Lynn, Massa ...

system. *1890 Atlanta, West End & McPherson Barracks Ry. Co. begins powered by the electric

Sprague Sprague may refer to: Places ;Canada * Sprague, Manitoba, a small town near the Minnesota/Manitoba border ;United States * Sprague, Alabama, Montgomery County, Alabama * Sprague, Connecticut * Sprague, Missouri * Sprague, Nebraska * Sprague ...

system *1891 (May)

Atlanta Consolidated Street Railway Company The Atlanta Consolidated Street Railway was an attempt by Joel Hurt to take over the various Atlanta streetcar systems. Incorporated in May 1891, Hurt began negotiations to consolidate widely overlapping competing companies. On September 21, 189 ...

formed instigating the " Second Battle of Atlanta" *1892 Atlanta City Street Railway Co. begins powered by the electric Detroit system Carson, O.E., ''The Trolley Titans'', Interurban Press, Glendale, CA, 1981, p.xi *1902 All street railways consolidated as

Georgia Railway and Power Company Georgia Power is an electric utility headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia (U.S. state), 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 ...

*1916

Atlanta transit strike of 1916 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 498,715 ...

began at 6pm on Saturday, September 30 and ended that Monday evening, but the strike started after sundown those three days so the city wasn't completely paralyzed *1924 ''The Beeler Report'' issued to advise the financially ailing company *1926 Peak of passenger service (96,794,273) *1937

Trolleybuses A trolleybus (also known as trolley bus, trolley coach, trackless trolley, trackless tramin the 1910s and 1920sJoyce, J.; King, J. S.; and Newman, A. G. (1986). ''British Trolleybus Systems'', pp. 9, 12. London: Ian Allan Publishing. .or troll ...

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 Consolida ...

runs its last streetcar, leaving only trackless trolleys and buses *1950 Five week

Atlanta transit strike of 1950 The Atlanta transit strike of 1950 was a lengthy transit strike that lasted from May 18, 1950, to November 16, 1950, in Atlanta, Georgia. A month after author Margaret Mitchell was struck and killed by a taxi during a year when trolleys had kil ...

*1950 Control of all transit passed to

Atlanta Transit Company The Atlanta Transit Company (ATC) was a public transport operator based in Atlanta, Georgia, which existed from 1950 to 1972. It was the immediate predecessor of the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA). History Since the 1920s, t ...

(ATC) *1959 System officially

desegregated Desegregation is the process of ending the separation of two groups, usually referring to races. Desegregation is typically measured by the index of dissimilarity, allowing researchers to determine whether desegregation efforts are having impact o ...

*1963 Trackless trolleys phased out leaving only buses *1965

MARTA Marta may refer to: People * Marta (given name), a feminine given name * Märta, a feminine given name * Marta (surname) :István Márta composer * Marta (footballer) (born 1986), Brazilian professional footballer Places * Marta (river), an ...

formed (March) and

Cobb County Cobb County is a county in the U.S. state of Georgia, located in the Atlanta metropolitan area in the north central portion of the state. As of 2020 Census, the population was 766,149. Its county seat and largest city is Marietta. Along with ...

votes against joining *1971 Clayton and

Gwinnett Gwinnett County ( ) is located in the north central portion of the U.S. state of Georgia. It forms part of the Atlanta metropolitan area. In 2020, the population was 957,062, making it the second-most populous county in Georgia (after Fulton ...

counties vote against joining MARTA with 4-1 margins *1972 MARTA purchases ATC for $13 million thus assuming control for all public transit *1975 Construction begins on MARTA rail system *1979 Operation begins on MARTA rail system *1999 Most recent MARTA station opens at North Springs, with no funding available for expansion since then *2006 (July) all 38 MARTA stations converted to

Breeze Card The Breeze Card is a stored value smart card that passengers use as part of an automated fare collection system which the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) introduced to the general public in early October 2006. The card auto ...

digital fare system *December 2014 The new

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 ...

begin service from downtown to the Sweet Auburn district, and Clayton county joins MARTA

Notes

See also