Virginia Transit Company stock certificate 1945 (Virginia) 

Norfolk and Richmond streetcars. Nice vignette of an American Eagle in orange like the border. Issued and pen cancelled. Punch holes through signatures. Dated 1945 on the cert.  Approximately 12 x 8 inches. 

By 1944, the Securities and Exchange Commission had determined that Virginia Electric and Power Company (VEPCO) had too much monopoly power and ordered its transportation and electric businesses to be split up. As a result, VEPCO sold the streetcar business to the Virginia Transit Company (VTC). In 1949, the last streetcars stopped operating and were succeeded by gas powered buses. In 1973, the city of Richmond purchased the VTC and created the Greater Richmond Transit Company. A one-half ownership interest was purchased by Chesterfield County in 1989. The Pulse, a rapid transit route running along Broad Street, was initiated in 2018.

There was a long line of transportation companies in Richmond. The first was established in 1860 as the Richmond Railway, a horse drawn trolley system. This line failed and was bought in 1881 by the Richmond City Railway. In 1888, a new, electrified system was built by the Richmond Union Passenger Railway. This was the first effective electric trolley system in the United States.

The two companies were merged along with three other electric and lighting companies to form the Richmond Railway and Electric Company in 1890, later reincorporated into the expanded Richmond Passenger and Power Company in 1900.

One year later, the name was altered to the Virginia Passenger and Power Company, which defaulted in its payment in 1904 and was bought in 1909 by the Virginia Railway and Power Company. In 1925, ownership changed hands again and the company became the Virginia Electric and Power Company (VEPCO). In 1944, the Virginia Transit Company took the reins in Richmond and Norfolk and would continue to operate the fleet until the 1970s, when the Greater Richmond Transit Company was born.

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