Henry Ford is often credited with saying, “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.” In true Ford fashion, he didn’t ask. Instead, he gave the world the “horseless carriage” and nothing was ever quite the same.
For more than a century, Americans have had a love affair with the automobile. Cars have carried us toward opportunity and away from inconvenience. From the steam-powered Locomobiles of the early 20th century to today’s Wi-Fi-enabled machines, the automobile has long been a symbol of progress.
In Atlanta, the “horseless carriage” arrived in 1904. Its popularity grew so quickly that by 1949, the city’s streetcars, once the backbone of public transportation, ran their final routes. From then on, the car ruled Atlanta’s roadways.
Over the years, the growth of the automobile industry has spawned the introduction of other innovations, not all of them welcomed. And few arrivals on Atlanta’s streets stirred as much reaction as the subject of this week’s Stories of Atlanta.
