Atlanta Transit Company

In April 1949, Georgia Power ran the last streetcar on Atlanta's original network, and in May of the next year its drivers went on strike.

During the five-week-long work stoppage, Georgia Power sought for a buyer for its increasingly troubled transit business.

In response to this, Atlanta businessmen Clement Evans, Granger Hansell and Inman Brandon, along with Leland Anderson of Columbus, Georgia, formed the ATC and purchased the transportation properties on June 23, 1950, just over a month into the strike.

One of the company's promotional drives was called Orchids for Operators, in which customers could nominate a helpful or courteous employee for that honor.

As a result, MARTA purchased ATC for US$13 million, making it the sole mass transit entity in the area.