In February 1902, the City of Atlanta approved an ordinance allowing for the merger of all street railroad, electric light, and steam power utilities under the control of the new Georgia Railway and Electric Company (later known as Georgia Power). Over the next decade, the company upgraded and expanded the city’s streetcar routes and its associated infrastructure (electrical power generation plants, substations, etc.). Track mileage was increased from 138 miles at the time of the merger to over 200 miles by 1914. Streetcar and Interurban transit service was extended to the surrounding municipalities of Chamblee, College Park, Marietta, and Stone Mountain.

By the 1930s however, streetcar operations in Atlanta had begun to wane due to increased operating expenses combined and declining passenger revenues resulting from the growing popularity of the automobile. In 1937, Georgia Power began replacing streetcars lines with rubber-tired “trackless trolley” coaches. On April 10, 1949, Car 897 made its final run along the Riverline route in northwest Atlanta, marking the end to 78 years of streetcar transportation in the city.