The Trolley Barn was built by Georgia Railway & Power Company as a trolley station and streetcar barn in 1913.

In announcing plans for the Georgia Railway & Power Company in 1911, it was stated that a network of inter-urban electric car lines soon would be constructed. The first line was planned to be the Stone Mountain to Decatur route. Georgia Railway & Power Company’s first construction job was the building of this first line.

The car to make the first run on the new line rolled into the Stone Mountain station at 5:27 a.m. on Saturday, November 28, 1913, coming from the end of the line of the Atlanta City Streetcar route at Sam’s Crossing in Decatur, to Stone Mountain via Ingleside (Avondale Estates), Scottdale and Clarkston. The distance of the line was a total of 9.147 miles.

The Stone Mountain-Decatur line was billed as the first in a projected network of inter-urbans which, following the trails to be blazed by electric power lines, would connect Atlanta to the Piedmont region of Georgia. But due to the rising popularity of the automobile, instead of being the first of several inter-urban lines, the Stone Mountain-Decatur line became the last of just two.

In the interest of economy, bus service was substituted for the street railway service on March 14, 1948. The 90 pound steel trolley car rails were pulled from their track and sold for scrap and buses began plying the route on which some of the most elegant inter-urbans had held sway for thirty-five years.

The Trolley Barn became vacant in 1986, at the same time a new arts center was being formed in Stone Mountain. ART Station targeted the Trolley Barn as the site for its new home and, in March 1988, purchased the building with the goal of renovating it as a multi-purpose arts center. DeKalb County purchased the building from ART Station in 1990, allowing ART Station to raise funds for and proceed with the renovation. In November, 1991, ART Station moved its operations into its historic "new" home.