Atlanta Traction began as the West End & McPherson Barracks Railway Company in 1890. By October of 1891, the company took the name Atlanta Traction with Henry Atkinson as president and H.L. Woodward as secretary. Atkinson gained controlling interest in the Georgia Electric Light Company that same year, and he would be integral to the formation Georgia Power and served as an board member decades. Woodward was also involved with Collins Park & Belt Railroad during the same period.

The route began at Broad and Alabama and provided service for Fort McPherson and Grant Park. Atlanta Traction would expand onto the routes of Atlanta City Street Railway in late 1893. In 1894, the company operated an average of 14 cars a day on a system that stretched from Fort McPherson to East Lake.