Transportation History

Explore the gripping tale of Lily May Peel Futrelle, an Atlanta-based writer whose firsthand experiences aboard the Titanic offer a unique perspective on the ship’s infamous sinking. Her account challenged established historical narratives and revealed crucial yet overlooked information about the disaster.

In 1962, a plane crash at Orly Field in Paris claimed the lives of more than 100 Atlantans, leaving a deep scar on the city’s cultural fabric. Mayor Ivan Allen Jr., personally affected and burdened with responsibility, navigated the aftermath, ensuring the respectful return of the deceased. The tragedy unified Atlanta, inspiring donations for a memorial arts center, despite the irreplaceable loss and enduring grief experienced by the community and the victims’ families.

Learn off-the-script facts about railroads and the making of Atlanta.

Linda Fay reacts to the first airport security instrument tested at Atlanta Municipal Airport (now Hartsfield-Jackson) ca. 1960.

An unidentified woman brings her horse to a halt at a WHOA sign.

E. E. McKennon pauses her welding work on a ship at the J.A. Jones Construction Company shipyard in May, 1943.

Aftermath of an airplane crash at Municipal Airport (later Hartsfield-Jackson) on June 20, 1937.

Preserving history is never easy—it’s a complicated decision whether to leave fragile historical artifacts in place, or to move them for preservation and public access.

Through the 1850s, Atlanta grew from a railroad junction to a burgeoning regional center.

The Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) is the ninth-largest transit system in the nation and serves an average of more than 550,000 passengers a day.

Traffic congestion in Atlanta manifested itself early in the city’s history as pedestrians, horse-drawn vehicles, and electric streetcars moved sluggishly amid many at-grade railroad crossings.

Atlanta’s famous street name is widely known due in part to Margaret Mitchell’s novel, Gone With the Wind, which introduced the city and its most famous street to popular culture.

In 1925, Atlanta leased an abandoned racetrack with the goal of turning it into an airfield.

Founded in 1924 as an aerial crop dusting company, Delta Air Lines has grown to become one of the largest air carriers in the world.