With critics and cheerleaders closely watching the progress of the Atlanta Streetcar project set to come online by late spring, the Photo Vault looks back at the last run of the city’s previous streetcars 65 years ago.
Streetcars started out as horse and mule drawn conveyances and, while convenient, they caused a lot of mess. Shortly before World War II and immediately following, motorized vehicles began running on tracks throughout the city and into the suburbs when the system reached peak. On March 10, 1949, Atlantans said farewell to what they thought would be a bygone era.
With much fanfare, hundreds of holiday-spirited residents left their cars at home and rode the system to share in a bit of history. The last car trundled in from Riverside and jolted to a stop at 3:49 a.m. Passengers ran the gamut from dignitaries and working press to grammar school children and former operators.
For 60 years, working class city dwellers had relied on the efficient River Line owned by Georgia Electric & Rail Company, the predecessor to Georgia Power. Streetcars made it easier for people to move within outlying cities and facilitated the flow of people to and from surrounding neighborhoods.
During the war, public transportation became an inexpensive alternative to driving since oil was being rationed and new tires were scarce. But as the men returned from the war, the necessity for mass transit began to dwindle for the growing middle class. Historians credit its demise to three factors: the modernization of American culture; the suburbanization of American cities; and the resurgence of the automotive industry.
Flush with combat pay, many former military personnel fled to the suburbs with dreams of white picket fences and semi-bucolic living. Buses took over where streetcars once ran because, freed from the streetcars’ tracks, they made quicker adjustments to routes to serve the needs of the commuters.
After the limits on automobile production during World War II expired — tank and aircraft mass production was ramped down — the auto industry exploded. Car-makers introduced their most futuristic and essential products to a curious market. They convinced the public that driving oneself was the fastest, most efficient and most cost-effective means of personal transportation. Even to this day, many still see the lone driver and the open road as the idea of American freedom.
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