 Perhaps the most noted architect of yesteryear in Chattanooga was Reuben Harrison Hunt, who designed such buildings as the Hamilton County Courthouse, City Hall, the Carnegie Library and Chattanooga School for the Arts and Sciences, among many others. In contrast, this man whose work was also prolific throughout the South until his death in 1937 has a few local descendants whose remembrances of him have been much less publicly chronicled than his buildings. But these great-grandchildren are no less appreciative than those who have been highlighting Mr. Hunt’s talents in calling for the preservation of his Medical Arts Building, which is scheduled to be razed by owner First Presbyterian Church. In fact, at least one of them is joining the chorus of support. “I hate to see history destroyed like that,” said great-grandson Ed Street. “A lot of his buildings are very beautiful. They are probably expensive to fix up, but if we tear everything down, there is not going to be any history left.” With the help of Ed’s wife, Pat, Mr. Street and his two brothers, Tom Street and David Street, recently gathered at Rembrandt’s coffee and pastry shop to offer their scant memories but great appreciation for their great-grandfather. They are the children of Mary David Houston Street and Thomas G. Street Jr. Mr. Street was one of three children of Mr. Hunt’s only child, daughter Louise Hunt Street, who was 103 when she died in 1998. Her husband, Thomas G. Street Sr., was also an architect. The three great-grandchildren of the prominent architect said they were not told a whole lot of detailed stories about their great-grandfather growing up, and that they do not have access to his old plans. But Tom did say, “Grandma used to tell us (about his buildings) as we’d drive around. We’d be driving through Chattanooga, and she would point out some of his buildings he had done.” They added that if he made a lot of money in his highly successful practice, they know of no great inheritance immediately passed down. Pat did say she contacted Louise Reagan of Murfreesboro, a daughter of Louise’s daughter, Katie, recently, and she has a box of Hunt memorabilia and items that she plans to show them in the near future. But what information and anecdotes the three great-grandsons have are comforting to them and shine positively on the architect just like his buildings seem to do. “He was a very nice man,” Ed said he was told. “During the Depression, he would put food out on the back porch and leave it.” A story has also been passed down about the way he would design smaller church buildings for free or a discounted rate. Another story of his big heart shared by Pat was that his daughter, Louise, said that when they lived in a home on Oak Street, it had a third-floor room designed as a small ballroom, but he converted into a roller-skating rink for Louise and her friends. Later, he drew plans for his own Missionary Ridge home at 37 South Crest Road that was similar to one he also designed for his daughter at 212 South Crest Road. The descendants said that both homes have thick walls to make them fireproof. Mr. Hunt, whose wife, Katherine, was from the DeGeorgis family that ran a popular confectionary store of yesteryear in downtown Chattanooga, was the oldest of nine siblings. Youngest sibling Ben F. Hunt was also an architect, and after his death there was some kind of disagreement between Louise and Thomas G. Street Sr. and Ben over the R.H. Hunt name in work. The two architects had broken up their partnership in 1944. “There was some ill feeling,” said Ed Street. The descendants and Pat added that this was sad to hear knowing R.H. Hunt was considered a caring and Christian man and was a member at First Baptist Church; he would not have liked any such rifts. Of the three great-grandchildren, none became architects, but they did all study engineering at Georgia Tech. David, a Chattanooga City High graduate, was a computer programmer for Texaco in Houston and retired to Lookout Mountain. Tom did some electrical engineering work before teaching community college math in Northwest Georgia. Ed, a McCallie graduate (even though grandmother Louise had attended Baylor in its first stint as a coed school around the turn of the 20th century) was a chemist in Atlanta and worked in Chattanooga for Chattem. He had met Pat, a City High and UTC graduate, at a McCallie reunion she happened to attend. But despite finding their own work, they still have much appreciation for the architect and man R.H. Hunt, whose name is still often in the news over his buildings that are both appreciated and sometimes threatened. “I get to see his name in several places,” said Tom Street. “Covenant College, which is just a half mile from our house, has a plaque in its lobby with his name on it since he designed the main building on campus (Carter Hall, the former Lookout Mountain Hotel).” David added simply, “I don’t know that much about my ancestors, but I do happen to know of my great-grandfather, the famous architect.” by John Shearer | R. J. Hunt Buildings in Chattanooga First Baptist Church (lost) Second Presbyterian Church Erlanger Hospital (lost) Women’s Christian Temperance Union Miller Brothers Building Central Baptist Church (lost) Chattanooga Public Library (Carnegie Library) Chattanooga High School (lost) Engine House No. 5 (lost) Pound Building (Chattanooga News Building) Chattanooga Electric Railway Company Barn Building Central High School (lost) James Building Chattanooga Municipal Building (City Hall) Central YMCA Building (lost) Hamilton National Bank (First Tennessee Bank) Highland Park Baptist Church Hamilton County Courthouse Ellis Hotel (St. John’s Restaurant) Park Hotel (Newell Towers) Northside Presbyterian Church Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Memorial Auditorium Wyatt Hall (CSAS) Maclellan Building The Bright School (lost) Richard Hardy Junior High (lost) First Methodist Episcopal Church (lost) Chattanooga Bank Building East Lake Methodist Episcopal Church Clay Evans Elementary School (lost) Highland Park Elementary School Lookout Mountain Hotel (Covenant College) Frances Willard Home The Medical Arts Building T.C. Thompson Children’s Hospital (lost) Brainerd Junior High School Joel W. Solomon Federal Building Backman Elementary School Ganns Middle Valley Elementary School |
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 Amid such new or recent construction on the UTC campus as the addition to the major Rollins College of Business and the Wolford Family Athletic Center, the school is saying goodbye to one landmark.
The old President’s Home at the northeast corner of Oak and Douglas streets, which served development- and alumni-related functions in recent years, is being torn down to make way for the business college expansion. Amy Donahue, the UTC assistant vice chancellor for communications and constituent relations, said the decision to tear down the structure was not easy and came after much thought and planning by university officials. A major factor was the demand for more business students both by the university and the area workforce. “The expansion of the College of Business, it needs to happen,” she said over the phone. “The college was really constrained where it is and there was no other place it can move. You don’t want to lose a piece of history on campus. But when looking at the choice of serving more students and keeping a building that needed a lot of work, and what is the best use of space, the choice was made from those factors.” As of early April, the structure - believed to be about the oldest remaining building on campus built initially by the college - was scheduled to be torn down in the coming days. The area around the former home and future construction site had already been fenced off. Ms. Donahue added that officials had made sure to remove important artifacts, papers and other items from the home. Despite the less-than-flattering look of the location in recent days after some in the Advancement Services office vacated it during the late winter, many believe it holds an overall attractive place in the UTC collective memory. Along with the Patten Chapel, the former home in many ways was historically - if not quite as apparent visually - a throwback to the school’s days when it was affiliated with what is now the United Methodist Church. UTC was founded as a Methodist school and remained affiliated in some form until becoming part of the University of Tennessee system in 1969, and this home was almost like a parsonage initially. University trustee John A. Patten - an active member of the former stone-adorned and mostly razed First Methodist at McCallie and Georgia avenues - led a fund-raising drive for $20,000 to build the home, Ms. Donahue said. He had secured contributions from citizens and churches throughout Chattanooga. The home’s initial address was 305 Oak Street, until the street numbers on roads going east from downtown were later reconfigured around the end of World War I, and it was changed to 605 Oak Street. Local architects George Quincy Adams and Jefferson Davis Alsup received the commission to design the building and drew up plans in the Federal Revival style. As a November 3, 1909, article in the Chattanooga Daily Times stated when the home’s upcoming construction was announced, “The building as provided for in these plans will be a handsome and spacious one of three stories, brick and stone construction, with slate roof.” A story on architect Alsup said he had also designed homes in Riverview, and the president’s home does look like some of the earlier homes in that neighborhood on what is now Hillcrest Road. The home also looks like some of those residences in Fort Wood, and someone uninformed could mistakenly assume that it was a former private home later taken over by the university. The Adams and Alsup firm also had Methodist connections, as G.Q. Adams’ older brother - John Wesley Adams (yes, he even had a Methodist name) - was a prominent local developer and architect who also designed First Methodist Church and Old Main - the first building at what is now UTC. He died in 1918 and was buried at Forest Hills Cemetery. G.Q. Adams was a drummer boy with an Ohio infantry regiment during the Civil War and later joined his older brother in their work. He died in 1925 and was buried at Chattanooga’s National Cemetery. Mr. Alsup, who was born in 1861 and grew up in Memphis, had an also-interesting life. In 1904, he moved to Chicago and became associated with Daniel H. Burnham, whose portfolio included the World’s Columbian Exhibition buildings, the Flatiron Building in New York and Union Station in Washington, D.C. Mr. Alsup came to Chattanooga in 1906 and with Mr. Adams designed the Signal Mountain Hotel and Central High along with residences in different parts of Chattanooga. He died in 1930 and was buried in Chattanooga Memorial Park. The University of Chattanooga president’s home was completed in 1910, Ms. Donahue said, and was initially the home of The Rev. John Race, a Methodist minister who had come to the school as president in 1897. He lived in the home until his presidency ended in 1913. Other presidents or later chancellors to occupy the home, which was also used early on for receptions and board of trustees’ meetings, were Dr. Fred W. Hixson (1914-20), Dr. Arlo A. Brown (1921-29), Dr. Alexander Guerry (1929-38), Dr. Archie Palmer (1938-42), Dr. David Lockmiller (1942-59), Dr. LeRoy Martin (1959-66), Dr. William A. Masterson (1966-73), and Dr. James Drinnon (1973-81). Dr. Masterson’s title had gone from president to chancellor in 1969 following the merger with the UT system. According to some old city directories, the home was vacated as a permanent residence around the mid-1970s during Dr. Drinnon’s administration and became the development and alumni office. Among those presidents or chancellors besides Rev. Race who were also Methodist ministers and lived in the home were Dr. Hixson, Dr. Brown and Dr. Martin. Dr. Guerry was the son of an Episcopal priest but had married into a Methodist family when he wedded John A. Patten’s daughter, Charlotte. Their two sons, Alex Guerry Jr. and John Guerry, who died in 2024, spent some of their younger years there. Dr. Guerry Sr. became vice chancellor, or top academic administrator, at the University of the South at Sewanee after leaving UC. He had earlier been headmaster at Baylor School. Another president, Dr. Lockmiller, was also an active Methodist layman. Ms. Donahue said that the back of the home was added onto over the years, and the home was changed during a 1980s remodeling of the front portico and with the addition of veneer brick. But it still had its quirky and historic features, as she said her office was in what she thought was the old master bedroom, complete with a master bath! Besides being a place of respite and relaxation for the usually busy presidents and chancellors and their families, the home’s location also made it like a brick sentry man actively standing watch over the university’s high, low, and everyday moments. The home over the years was no doubt a backdrop on the horizon for various activities at the university. Those included men passing by to and from class before heading off to World Wars I and II, the Vietnam War protests, the football games at adjacent Chamberlain Field and even the brief streaking craze of 1974. Well-known former Knoxville TV personality Bill Landry was a drama student at UTC in the late 1960s and early 1970s. He recalled in one of his memoirs that he participated in a university summer outreach drama troupe off campus when a racial protest broke out. He wrote that he went by the President’s Home the next day to discuss the incident with the unidentified Dr. Masterson, who came to the door. But now the door will be shutting on this handsome UTC landmark, although plenty of history is left behind. by John Shearer For the last 60-plus years, students at Bright School have experienced a North Chattanooga campus with mid-century features, several modern additions, and a classic-style colonnaded entrance.
But for those who attended the school when it was on Fortwood Street, it was a different-looking 1920s-era building designed by noted local architect R.H. Hunt and with a 1950s addition. But it had some similar traditions and even names of rooms that the later school had. An example of the latter was the King Room, which also became the name of the gym and later the library in the newer school. “I remember the gym (the King Room) that was a newer addition where we would go for recess when the weather was bad,” said Louise Chamberlain Tual, a member of the class of 1963. While discussing the auditorium that could have been a description of the one at the current school, Dr. Henry Aldridge, a member of the class of 1955, added, “We had a nicely equipped stage that had a curtain and a rehearsal area. We did plays there.” As the second of a two-part look is taken at the history of the now-razed Bright School building on Fortwood Street that was later taken over by City College and then UTC before being torn down, Ms. Tual and Dr. Aldridge offered several positive and detailed memories. In fact, Dr. Aldridge could still vividly recall the layout of the building nearly 70 years later. He remembers the outside playgrounds to the sides with pea gravel and swings where football and softball would be played, although the fifth and sixth grade boys would go to the University of Chattanooga’s nearby Chamberlain Field to practice football. Miss Bright’s dog was also kept in a fenced-in area in the back. The building itself was three stories, he added, with the first or ground floor featuring the kindergarten, manual training and music rooms, and second grade. “On the west side was the first grade, and Miss Bright’s office was on the east side,” Dr. Aldridge recalled. “The third and fourth grade classes were also on that hall, and you went straight through to the auditorium.” There was also the cafeteria there. The second floor could be reached by going into the canopy-covered front door and walking up some stairs, he added. “At lunchtime, they opened folding doors on the Fort Wood (Street) side and that’s where the kitchen was and the cafeteria line, and they would put out long tables and chairs,” Dr. Aldridge recalled. On the top floor was the sixth-grade class and the residential area where Miss Mary G. Bright and teacher Miss Margaret Ellen McCallie lived with their own rooms, Dr. Aldridge said. The older students got to occasionally visit the apartment. “You can imagine the view from there,” he recalled. “You could see almost the whole cityscape. And it was filled with beautiful antiques.” Another key person in operating the building, he said, was a janitor named Henry. Henry was kind of an unsung hero whose job also included driving Ms. Bright and Ms. McCallie in a Chrysler kept in a garage on the Fifth Street side of the school. “He showed up and did everything,” Dr. Aldridge recalled. “He set up the movie projector (for school movies) and did the sets for the plays.” A special memory Dr. Aldridge has of the building was during Christmastime, when Miss Bright would cover the building’s large windows with paper drawings of stained-glass windows, perhaps done by former art teacher Frank Baisden. The students would also perform the play, “Why the Chimes Rang.” And on the last day before school would break for the holidays, the choir of fourth, fifth and sixth grade students would sing “The First Noel,” with Dr. Aldridge once getting to sing a solo. Miss Bright would also have a large tree put up behind some closed curtains, and the students would gather, including those scheduled to begin attending school the next year. “She would ask them to investigate, and a curtain would open, and Santa Claus would pop out, and there would be a gift for every child in the school,” he remembered. “Miss Bright knew how to do Christmas very, very well.” Dr. Aldridge, who went on to graduate from McCallie in 1961 and became an electronic media and film studies professor at Eastern Michigan and the organist at the Michigan Theatre in Ann Arbor, also got a better peek into the life of Miss Bright because of where he lived. He would walk to school early every morning from the nearby Alberta Apartments on Houston Street and be welcomed in a way that continued the hospitable environment. “It was pleasantly welcoming with rules you followed,” he said of the overall school. “It was serious. Miss Bright was a very gentle and kindly, but serious, lady. And all the teachers were like little old ladies.” Among his other memories are of the surprise fire drills twice a year. There was no electrical bell system in the building, so Miss Bright would ring a bell she had, and everyone had to go outside, where the fire marshal was waiting. Also, every year after the Bright School picnic at Warner Park, a class picture would be taken on the steps in front of the school, he said. He also remembered taking part in another picture when the school was breaking ground for an addition, although he would graduate before it was completed. Louise Chamberlain Tual began attending about when the addition was new, and she remembers several interesting features, including the King Room named for two alumni brothers who had died before reaching middle age. “That was a newer addition where we would go for recess when the weather was bad,” said Ms. Tual, who went on to become the May Queen of Girls Preparatory School in 1969 and later settled in Memphis. “There was no basketball in the King Room. It was just a big room, and Miss Bright thought the purpose of it was to play and use your imagination.” Ms. Tual also remembered that the school had some gym rings where one could pretend to be Tarzan and swing from one to the other. She also recalled that the third grade room had an interesting loft library. “You would climb the ladder, and it was a library for kids,” she said. “It was where I discovered a love of books. It was a cozy reading nook for kids.” Ms. Tual also recalls the basement room with red linoleum floors where she attempted to take naps as a kindergartener. She recollects the morning rides with her ear, nose and throat physician father, Dr. Douglas Chamberlain, going home to Lookout Mountain via the Incline Railway. During her days at Bright, she got to make shelves as a sixth-grader in manual training using a table saw and created a small rug with a loom in Ms. Jackson’s art class. Many of these experiences continued for the students over the years, but they eventually changed in location. During her last few months of school in 1963, the move was made to the new location. As a result, Ms. Tual was part of the first class to graduate at the current campus. She admitted not paying that much attention to the more expansive and modern digs like the parents and staff would have. But she remembers the new courtyard/quadrangle, which they did not have at the old school, and graduating from the new auditorium stage. But Ms. Tual’s greatest memory seems to be of the old school and its leader before the retiring Miss Bright was replaced by new school head Dr. Mary Dalton Davis in 1961. As an example, she has not forgotten Miss Bright’s eyes that required glasses. “Her vision must have been bad,” she recalled. “She wore wire-rim glasses, and they made her eyes big and brown. I occasionally had to go to the principal’s office, but she was really sweet. She didn’t look threatening at all.” The Fort Wood building would later be used by City College, and then by UTC for administrative and campus support offices. Dr. Aldridge later had a chance to go in the structure with his daughter not long before the building was torn down in the early 1990s. “We walked in and one of the guys there says, ‘Every day we have someone from Bright School wanting to see it,’” Mr. Aldridge recalled with a laugh. “I showed her around and it didn’t look run down. The classrooms had been turned into offices or storage, and the auditorium was still there.” Plenty of tangible signs still remained of this woman who had bad vision in a physical sense but good foresight educationally. And despite its later razing, memories of her and the old building still remain vividly clear in the minds of a few alumni still living, as well. by John Shearer  A familiar building for those traveling down Lookout Mountain, as well as through St. Elmo, is the former Wann Funeral Home. For many residents of that part of Chattanooga and beyond, the building at 4000 Tennessee Avenue is well known inside and out. Not only have many people zoomed past it in their daily travels, but it was also a place to stop and receive comfort and service when their own lives were halted due to the death of a loved one. Countless distinguished Chattanoogans and all kinds of people have passed through there on their way to their final resting place.
The historic building - part of which dates to the 1930s - is adding a new chapter as well, as it has been for lease recently. The Florida-based property company, Strategic Sites/Clifford Commercial, has been advertising the expansive brick building with adequate parking in the back. A promotion for the property at the company’s website says, “Terrific opportunity for restaurant user. This building is available with outdoor patio space and a blank slate for the restaurant entrepreneur. On-site parking is available. Site is well-situated in heart of St Elmo.” The leasing agent is John Jewell. A look at the former parlor’s history shows that Wann Funeral Home began leasing the building in 1964 and by 1965 had completed the addition of a chapel wing on the south end. The new part was designed by Rufus Holt of Selmon T. Franklin Associates, reports said. This was said to be at a time when funeral homes were beginning to locate away from the heart of downtown Chattanooga. The structure’s beginning also dealt with paying tribute to someone who had passed, but not through the services of a funeral home. In 1937 the building opened as the James Craig Lodor American Legion Post No. 148 in memory of Lt. Lodor. He was one of the first Chattanoogans to give his life in the World War I effort when he was killed fighting along the Marne River in France in July 1918. The post was first located beginning in 1922 in a modest lodge clubhouse with an expansive porch on the north side of the Incline Railway. By the time the new clubhouse was opened across the street and closer to Forest Hills Cemetery in 1937, the post had around 85 members. During that dedication ceremony, as the Great Depression continued, State Legion Commander Tom Morris spoke. He praised the new facility, telling the members, “You are making history in 1937, just as you did in 1917 and 1918.” Over the years, members gathered there during happier times for meetings and events as well as during somber times, when they found their younger military comrades having to fight in World War II and Korea. At the time the American Legion post began leasing the facility to the Wann firm and using a smaller place nearby, Jimmy Wann was running the funeral home. Both his grandfather, J.H. Wann, and father, Paul Wann, had been in the undertaking business, but they met premature deaths, which perhaps gave the family added compassion for dealing with grief in their business. James H. Wann, who was only 57, was in a car with his wife, Florence, near Loughman, Fla., in the inland part of the state in March 1919 when a fast-moving roadster passed them and caused an accident. The driver of the other vehicle apparently left the scene before authorities arrived. Mr. Wann’s wife was injured. In 1928, her son, Paul H. Wann, died from what was believed to be a stroke or aneurysm after not feeling well while being downtown and taking a room at the Read House to rest. He was only 40 years old and was said to be friendly and compassionate toward people and families needing funeral home services. Paul’s wife, Ethel Creekmore Wann, then ran the business as a pioneering woman entrepreneur before sons James C. “Jimmy” and Paul H. Wann Jr. helped take it over. Jimmy Wann was president when the St. Elmo site began being used. Wann Funeral Home started around the turn of the 20th century when the elder J.H. Wann took over the Sharp Funeral Home, located closer to the Georgia line. Later mergers and moves resulted in the business being located at 541 McCallie Avenue about the time of World War II. A newspaper caption below a 1937 photograph of the firm said it had a fleet of 12 Cadillacs and Packards for use. In the late 1950s, the business moved into the former Central Baptist Church facility near McCallie Avenue and Palmetto Street before later securing the additional St. Elmo site. Jimmy Wann - the father of Broadway musical actor Jimmy Wann and former Chattanooga Times journalist Libby Wann Duff - sold the business to John Hargis in 1972 but stayed involved with the funeral home for a number of years before his death in 1984. Cade and Shawn Williamson of the former Williamson Funeral Home family in Soddy-Daisy, and who also operate Legacy Funeral Home, purchased the building in 2013 before closing and selling it in 2020, old news reports say. At the time, the firm was looking for another location. And now the old building - which has a marker on its grounds honoring World War I soldiers - sits waiting on a new tenant, possibly a restaurant, which might be a more carefree line of work than being a mortuary. Perhaps a play on the building’s past use could be included in a restaurant name, such as calling it Doughboy’s Doughnuts, Death by Chocolate, the Die-Ner, the Crematory Creamery or the Chicken Casket Basket. Regardless, the building that first was a home for military veterans who served their country has attractively stood like a proud brick sentinel on a slightly elevated spot at the foot of Lookout Mountain for decades. by John Shearer  With its stone facing, the Lookout Mountain Elementary School at 321 North Bragg Avenue blends in almost seamlessly with many of the other homes and churches on the mountain.
Different from most of the other Hamilton County schools that are brick or (in the case of those from the mid-20th century) feature plenty of multi-paned glass windows, the school has also distinguished itself educationally as a Tennessee Reward School. As we look at the history of this school that is praised inside and out, a glance at some old newspaper articles reveals that the building is not too far from being 100 years old. Actually, as the school states on its logo, LMS dates to 1878. According to a pamphlet history written about the school and Lookout Mountain in 2003 by the late former student Dyer Butterfield Jr., a small red school building with two classrooms was used as the first school. It was at what is now the southwest corner of Forrest Avenue and Scenic Highway. The Town of Lookout Mountain operated the school in those days, and, in 1900, a nice structure using stone from the same quarry as that used for the Point Park entrance and for some homes by the top of the Incline Railway was completed on Bragg Avenue. It was located just south of where the original part of the current school was built but was torn down when the new school was built. At the time, Lookout Mountain Presbyterian Church was located where the original part of the current school is. By the 1920s, as the mountain and student populations were growing, a white house across Bragg Avenue was purchased and used for additional school space for a period. It was called the Annex. But the school population continued to grow. After an unfortunate fire in January 1928 burned the Lookout Mountain Presbyterian Church to the ground, all parties agreed to a swap of the church land and the school land. As a result, a new Lookout Mountain Presbyterian that is part of the current church campus was built across Bragg Avenue. The old church land was given to the Hamilton County School Board, which had taken over the operation of Lookout Mountain Elementary in 1927, a time when seventh- and eighth-graders were being phased out. Plans were made for a new main school on the old church property, so the current stone school with an eye-catching vertical design in the front was opened for the 1929-30 school year. To help ensure a building of the highest quality, the Town of Lookout Mountain also agreed to pay any costs over the county’s pledge, with hopes of eventually being refunded. In case you are wondering, the school was built in the late 1920s for between $50,000 and $100,000, which would probably not even get you a single classroom today. The original 1929 school building featured eight rooms, an auditorium, a cafeteria, a library, and several auxiliary rooms. The architect was Chattanoogan Clarence T. Jones, whose other still-standing works include the former YWCA building by Lindsay and Eighth streets, the Industrial YMCA building off Mitchell Avenue and recently remodeled into Common House Chattanooga, the National Guard Armory off Holtzclaw Avenue, and the observatory now bearing his name by Brainerd Road and Tuxedo Avenue. On Lookout Mountain, he also designed for newspaper publisher and hotel operator J.B. Pound the Mediterranean-style and now-razed Stonedge home, where some condominiums were later built. Known for his direct manner in conversation before his untimely 1951 death of heart problems after a fall down some steps at the Warner Park Pool, the former Centenary Methodist Church member’s buildings were also known for their rather straightforward, but eye-pleasing, appeal. Among later changes to the school, a memorial gymnasium addition was also made on the south end of the school in 1949, and these additional amenities included uniquely a skating rink operated by the Town of Lookout Mountain. The school continued to shine architecturally and educationally, it also did in terms of social conscience. While a school for Black students in the days of segregation had been on Lookout Mountain for years (one was built at Watauga Lane, Lincoln Street and Sprayner Terrace using the stone from the previous school), according to Mr. Butterfield’s history, the Chattanooga and Hamilton County school systems were to desegregate grades 1-3 in 1962. In what was a thoughtful and well-planned action that included encouragement for desegregation/integration by such business leaders as W.E. Brock Jr. and the placing of an armed policeman at every school to prevent potential protesters, the plan was successful. And Lookout Mountain Elementary was in the forefront, as it and the also-still-operating Hixson Elementary were the only two previously white-only county schools that saw the enrollment of Black students. Some 14 Black children attended both schools combined that first week, and an old newspaper photo shows two black male adults in business suits holding the hands of a daughter and son coming into school amidst the backdrop of the school’s familiar stone siding. The old stone walls of Lookout Mountain Elementary have witnessed quite a bit of history, including in the more than 60 years since, and LMS students continue to learn evolving history and other core subjects inside the building in a way that continues to draw praise. And so does the classic building architecturally among historic preservationists and others with a nostalgic bent. by John Shearer  Residents in Riverview now have something new to remember something old.
As has been noticeable in recent weeks, some street sign “toppers” saying “Historic Riverview” have been put above the regular street signs at different places throughout the community. While some of these historic signs in other longtime neighborhoods in Chattanooga were put up with more direct help and guidance from the city of Chattanooga, this was done primarily by the Riverview Neighborhood Association. According to Falmouth Road resident Marcy Porter with the association, it was done simply to remember the original boundary of the neighborhood dating to the early part of the 20th century. “We thought it would be nice to designate the original outline of the Riverview community, and that is why we named it Historic Riverview,” she said. They simply chose the old boundaries at the time Riverview became its own municipality in 1913 before later becoming part of the city of Chattanooga. The date 1913 is also on the sign. The area recognized with the signs includes that within the Tennessee River on the east side, the area up near Bright School on the north, Hixson Pike on the west, and Hanover Street and Dorchester Road on the south end. The idea for the signs, she said, came from fellow association member Mark Harman. “He organized it and raised the money from the neighbors, and he ordered the signs,” she said. “He is the one that led the charge.” This area just north of the river, plenty of which has been documented in detailed stories in the Mountain Mirror by Judy Rowland, is almost as full of mystery as history, at least in determining its exact timeline and factors regarding development. That is, unless one takes the time to go through some old deeds or newspaper articles about apparently multiple ownership changes and land use ideas for this part of town. Long before the town of Riverview was formed in 1913, much of the land had been owned for decades around the Civil War by the Beck family. But in about the late 1880s, as Chattanooga was starting to expand, the Chattanooga Land, Coal, Iron and Railway Co. was formed. It had as investors such people as H.C. Beck from the family, noted developer C.E. James, newspaper publisher Adolph Ochs, members of the prominent Montague family, architect and builder J.W. Adams, and a Creed Bates, perhaps an ancestor of the City High principal by the same name. They had bought 5,000 acres around Hill City in North Chattanooga, 6,000 acres near the point of Waldens Ridge on Signal Mountain, and about 8,000 acres of coal-rich lands in the Chickamauga gulch, or valley. The latter is apparently up where North Chickamauga Creek begins near Soddy Daisy and Montlake Mountain. The original investors evidently ran into some economic-related issues, although some such as C.E. James apparently continued a couple of decades later with plans to develop Signal Mountain with an inn, some cottage-like homes, and a golf course. Around 1896, the North Chattanooga/Riverview part of the operation was now affiliated as the Chattanooga Land Co. with headquarters in Manchester, England, and was managed by a T.J. Nicholl. The British connection might be why many of the streets in this area have English names. They include Dorchester, Falmouth, Hanover, Tremont, Dartmouth, Lexington, Concord, Devonshire, Sterling and maybe some others. And some of the names like Hillcrest and Riverview roads came after those streets originally had other names. The English connection also might have been why the Chattanooga Golf and Country Club was founded in 1896 in that area along the river. More research might be required to see if the company and early club official Mr. Nicholl had pushed the golf course idea to help spur residential development in that area, or if some of the original club members who had been exposed to the game in the Northeast were more the innovators. Or maybe it was a little of both. The firm, or similar Riverview development firms, were also involved in such projects as the development of a “normal” university near where Normal Park School was built, the old White Oak cemetery that was at the site of a spring and became Chattanooga Memorial Park, and the streetcars that ran to Signal Mountain and to Riverview Road near where No. 2 tee is now on the course. Some other Nicholl family members were also involved in some of these operations. There was also an old drama house where the streetcar line ended in Riverview and which was used as the first clubhouse by the golfers on what was believed to originally be a nine-hole course. An old quarry was also behind the current clubhouse, and rock from it was used for the Walnut Street Bridge piers and the old First Methodist Church on Georgia Avenue, the steeple of which is all that remains. And a sawmill for wood was evidently in front of the current No. 17 green, with a hole that was a course hazard until it was covered in the 1970s. Places that were part of the original acreage owned by the development firm might have also included the area where the Frank Harrison family farm was and the Lupton City/Dixie Yarns mill and golf course, built years later. An amusement park had also been where the Chattanooga Country Club golf course was. Figuring out how or if all these fit together with the development company would require a little more investigation by a historical researcher. Regarding the 1913 decision that was the inspiration of the current signs and that years ago allowed Riverview to become a municipality, it had evidently come about following a move by the state legislature, according to some newspaper articles found at the Chattanooga Public Library. Coca-Cola bottler J.T. Lupton of the new Lyndhurst mansion, Judge M.M. Allison, and Frank Spurlock were named the original commissioners in October 1913, and Mr. Allison was chosen as mayor two weeks later at the Allison home. The article discussed the boundaries, mentioning the John A. Patten Minnekahda home property on the north end, and a road named “Roxbury,” another English name, but now changed to something else, as another marker. The story also mentioned that Riverview had 79 adult males who could vote in municipal elections. Among them was C.E. James, who would later become more connected with Signal Mountain. Women at that time were still seven years from having the right to vote. It was a different era, but the olden times for this still very desirable neighborhood have come back to life again with the new signs. by John Shearer  The first part of this story ran last in the June issue.
At this point, we switch to the perspective of a personal recollection of Dr. T. Hooke McCallie, a Presbyterian minister. “On Saturday morning, September 19, the sound of cannons booming south of us could be head in our city. On Sunday, September 20, we went down to church and we had a good congregation. The day was beautiful. Just before the service, looking up Market Street to Ninth Street, I saw evidence of excitement and a movement of a long line of ambulances. I gave my Bible to my wife and told her to go home and that I would be there shortly. “I had scarcely reached Ninth Street when a soldier stepped up to me with a note in his hand that read thus: ‘Please come here, [signed] SJA Frazier.’” I asked the soldier where the man was who gave him the note. He pointed out an ambulance. I went up to it. It was standing still, filled with wounded men. Federal and Confederate [wounded men] were filling and congesting the streets from College Hill on the west, out on Ninth Street back on Market Street for a great distance. In the ambulance sat my old friend and schoolmate Capt. SJA Frazier, shot through the throat and unable to speak above a whisper. I at once said to him, ‘I will stay right by you and if possible, take you to my house.’ “I followed the ambulance to College Hill, went at once to the medical director’s office, and not finding him in, but finding his little son, a lad of about 12, taking his father’s place. I made known my business when the young fellow at once said I could take the Confederate soldier home and wrote out an order to that effect, signing his father’s name to it. This order served as good a purpose as if it had been issued by the doctor himself. “I at once had the ambulance to drive the captain across town to my home, stopping by the way to summon Drs. Milo Smith and P.D. Sims. These physicians came, took charge of the case and did all they could for his relief. They both said that if the captain had gone to the hospital and been neglected amidst the thousands of other wounded ones, he would have died that night.” We now move to the point of view of Samuel Frazier and Virginia Nelson, descendants of SJA Frazier from Knoxville. “In 1882, SJA purchased land in what is now known as North Chattanooga and moved there. At that time, the section north of the Tennessee River was undeveloped. He [and several Rhea County friends] laid out the town and called it Hill City. In developing Hill City, he named several of the streets, including Frazier Avenue and Tampa Street. “The river was then crossed by a skiff, not a very satisfactory means of transportation. In 1884, SJA and three others purchased a small steamer and established a steam ferry to cross the river. SJA donated $10,000 toward the erection of the Walnut Street Bridge, persuading other Chattanoogans to join him in its financing. The bridge was erected in 1890 with great celebration and a parade led by the “city fathers.” “He built a large frame Victorian house, “The Cedars,” on Frazier Avenue (where the Mr. Zip gas station is now). It was the scene of many notable social events. The house burned in the late 1920s. As well, SJA maintained summer homes at Rhea Springs and Waldens Ridge and had a winter lodge at Frazier’s Beach near Tampa.” Eventually SJA married Anne Keith from Athens, Tenn. The Chattanooga Times in 1898 described her as “a woman of rare charm of manner, noted for her beauty and sweetness of character, a brilliant conversationalist and gifted writer.” Their son, Alexander Frazier, was an attorney and served in the Tennessee House of Representatives during the same term his cousin, James B. (Jim) Frazier, served as governor. Their daughter, Sarah Ruth Frazier, was the first woman to serve in the Tennessee House of Representatives. She was a prolific writer and helped organize the Nancy Ward DAR Chapter. She never married. At SJA and Anne Frazier’s wedding, his much younger cousin, Jim, met Anne’s younger sister, Louise Douglas Keith. They eventually married and built a house in Hill City where they lived until moving to Oak Street and later to 211 Glenwood Drive. Jim graduated from University of Tennessee in 1878 and was awarded the oratorical medal. He was elected governor of Tennessee in 1903 and again in 1905. The Tennessee State Legislature then elected him to the United States Senate, where he served one term. Jim commenced the practice of law in Chattanooga in 1881, frequently practicing law with his cousin, SJA. He was paid a few times with lots in Hill City. Jim and Louise Frazier had four children: Anne Keith Frazier (Mrs. Robert Somerville of Mississippi), James B. Frazier Jr., Thomas Alexander Frazier and Louise Frazier (Mrs. John Fort of Lookout Mountain). Their son Jim graduated from Baylor School in 1908, attended the University of Virginia and received his law degree from Chattanooga College of Law. He served in the Army in WWI, attaining the rank of captain with the 81st Division. He returned to Chattanooga to practice law with this father in their firm, Frazier and Frazier. He served as attorney general for the eastern division of Tennessee until he was elected to Congress in 1948. He served in Congress for seven terms. Thomas Hooke McCallie was pastor of the First Presbyterian Church during the Civil War. His house stood on Lindsey on the site of the Centenary Methodist Church property. Capt. SJA was shot while fighting in the Battle of Chickamauga and was found lying on Ninth Street (now called Martin Luther King Boulevard) with many other wounded soldiers. He asked that Dr. McCallie be notified of his condition. Dr. McCallie took him to his home and nursed him back to health. Dr. McCallie married Ellen Douglas Jarnagin. Their son was Spencer Jarnagin McCallie. He, along with his brothers, founded McCallie School on the site of McCallie Farm. McCallie Avenue was originally the road to the old McCallie Farm. Spencer Jarnagin McCallie married Alice Fletcher. Their son, T. Hooke McCallie, married Eleanor Wyatt of Cedartown, Ga. Their son Thomas H. McCallie III married Elizabeth Hope Frazier, daughter of James. B. Frazier Jr. and Elizabeth Hope of Chattanooga. Tom and Elizabeth were married at her house at 211 Glenwood Drive. Their daughters are Keith McCallie and Eleanor McCallie Nating. Their grandsons are Hooke Johnson and McCallie Nading and Frazier Nading. Dr. Thomas McCallie, who nursed Capt. SJA Frazier back to health, was Tom’s great grandfather, and Capt. SJA was Elizabeth’s great uncle. Anne and SJA Frazier are buried in the Confederate Cemetery in Chattanooga.” There has been a close connection between the Frazier and McCallie families for all these years since the Civil War. This resulted in the ultimate combination of the two families: the marriage of Thomas McCallie III to Elizabeth Hope Frazier generations later. I wish to thank Elizabeth, my friend from Bright School days and now a neighbor in Heritage Landing. She and Tom were extremely generous in showing archives of both families that include actual letters and personal memories, both oral and written. These are such treasures! This story will continue in a future issue of the Mountain Mirror. by Judy Rowland
In 1882, Samuel Josiah Abner Frazier returned to Chattanooga after the Civil War to start his life as a young lawyer and settle in a community that had literally saved his life a few years earlier.
Today, Frazier Avenue is a main thoroughfare in Chattanooga’s Northshore community. It runs parallel to the Tennessee River from North Market Street to the Veterans Bridge at Barton Avenue. It is the hub of shopping, dining and community activity. Most Chattanoogans don’t know that it is steeped in history … named by a Civil War hero who made his home there and whose offspring became one of the most prominent families in Tennessee. These families lived through the period of Chattanooga’s growth from the village stage into one of the most important and progressive communities in the South. Their properties played a prominent role in growth and development of the community of North Chattanooga. In SJA Frazier’s obituary, the Chattanooga Times called him a “good and useful citizen, one of the best known citizens of this entire section, a gallant Confederate veteran.” Funeral services were held at the family home, “The Cedars.” Honorary pallbearers were members of the Nathan Bedford Forest Camp of the United Confederate Veterans. These elderly men were requested to wear their uniforms, and many of them did. Samuel Josiah Abner Frazier was born (and raised) in Rhea County, in Washington, Tenn., on January 29, 1840, to Ruth and Samuel Frazier. The family built the first brick house in Rhea County. Following his father’s footsteps, SJA graduated University of Tennessee in 1860, later becoming a lawyer. When the unrest of war permeated the South in 1861, young Samuel answered the call to enlist in the Confederate Army and served as second lieutenant in Company D of the Nineteenth Tennessee. At Shiloh, after his cousin Capt. Joseph Frazier was killed, he succeeded him in command of the company. During the Battle of Chickamauga, SJA was shot through the windpipe, a truly life-threatening injury. Three of his men attempted to carry him to the place where the wounded were gathered, and the young captain was dropped on the battlefield. Federal soldiers took over. One took the sword Capt. Frazier had captured at Shiloh. He could not talk, but did have a pencil and paper. The Yankees did not want to waste time with a (presumed) dead Rebel. He was ultimately taken by ambulance (actually a wagon loaded with other critically injured men) to Chattanooga. At this point, we switch to the perspective of a personal recollection of Dr. T. Hooke McCallie, a Presbyterian minister. “On Saturday morning, September 19, the sound of cannons booming south of us could be heard in our city. On Sunday, September 20, we went down to church, and we had a good congregation. The day was beautiful. Just before the service, looking up Market Street to Ninth Street, I saw evidence of excitement and a movement of a long line of ambulances. I gave my Bible to my wife and told her to go home and that I would be there shortly. “I had scarcely reached Ninth Street when a soldier stepped up to me with a note in his hand that read thus: ‘Please come here, [signed] SJA Frazier.’” I asked the soldier where the man was who gave him the note. He pointed out an ambulance. I went up to it. It was standing still, filled with wounded men. Federal and Confederate [wounded men] were filling and congesting the streets from College Hill on the west, out on Ninth Street back on Market Street for a great distance. In the ambulance sat my old friend and schoolmate Capt. SJA Frazier, shot through the throat and unable to speak above a whisper. I at once said to him, ‘I will stay right by you and if possible, take you to my house.’ “I followed the ambulance to College Hill, went at once to the medical director’s office, and not finding him in, but finding his little son, a lad of about 12, taking his father’s place, I made known my business when the young fellow at once said I could take the Confederate soldier home and wrote out an order to that effect, signing his father’s name to it. This order served as good a purpose as if it had been issued by the doctor himself. “I at once had the ambulance to drive the captain across town to my home, stopping by the way to summon Drs. Milo Smith and P.D. Sims. These physicians came, took charge of the case and did all they could for his relief. They both said that if the captain had gone to the hospital and been neglected amidst the thousands of other wounded ones, he would have died that night.” I hate to leave you hanging, but this story of history, sacrifice and serendipity will continue next month! by Judy Rowland
 For many people, the turn of a calendar year is a time to look ahead with hope at what the new year might bring, both collectively and personally. But many like to look back. And for those of a certain age or those who are interested in yesteryear, Chattanooga of 50 years ago had many of the same happy and sad events and other observances. But the people and places were largely different.
And, for streets like South Broad Street at the foot of Lookout Mountain, the surrounding scene was much different from today. A look at the Chattanooga newspapers from around January 1, 1973 - exactly a half century ago - as well as the city directory from that time verifies this. And the written chronicles also have a lot of interesting information that any history junkie would love. Among the usual list of bad news, Chattanooga police officer Gary Easley died following an accidental shooting on the morning of January 1 at his North Brainerd home. Meanwhile, local pharmacist T.K. Wilson was killed in a car accident on the same day after striking the Shallowford Road bridge abutment over Highway 153. Outside Chattanooga, everyone was learning the news that Pittsburgh Pirates’ star baseball player Roberto Clemente had been killed in a December 31 plane crash shortly after takeoff in Puerto Rico. He and some others were beginning a missionary trip to bring aid to Nicaragua following a massive earthquake there. President Richard Nixon, who had been re-elected the previous November, was continuing to order the bombing of North Vietnam after most of the U.S. troops had left the region months before. The strategy resulted in a December 31 community peace gathering sponsored by the local United Methodist Church at Wiley United Methodist near the Provident Life building downtown. Among the other local news, the city of Red Bank had withdrawn from contracting with CARTA for bus service in its community and was looking at possibly operating or contracting a different service. Drug use had become a serious issue by the early 1970s in Chattanooga, and one public service ad showed a man and pointed out physical symptoms or appearances that could hint of a drug problem, including a raw nose and weight loss. In business news, the grand opening of the Rossville branch of Chattanooga Federal Savings Bank at 5022 Rossville Boulevard near the Georgia state line was scheduled for January 2-5, while many businesses were having post-Christmas sales. The downtown Loveman’s was selling dresses for $4 and men’s dress shirts for $1.99. A man’s sport coat was on sale for $14.88 at the local J.C. Penney stores at Eastgate, Northgate and downtown, and an 18-inch portable color TV cost $278 at the Lowe’s on Lee Highway. Among the happy news, the engagement announcement for aspiring tennis pro and Lookout Mountain native Roscoe Tanner and Nancy Kathryn Cook ran in the paper and stated a California wedding was planned. The 1969 Baylor School graduate had gone to school at Stanford. And plenty of sporting activities, particularly football, were taking place around New Year’s Day, of course. Hixson High School was showing signs of having a great wrestling team by winning the Central Invitational with first-place finishes from Marvin and Stan Walden, Randy Batten and Steve Griffith. In the bowl games, the Chattanooga News-Free Press had sent Roy Exum to cover the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, Sam Woolwine to the Gator Bowl in Jacksonville and Austin White to the Astro-Bluebonnet Bowl in Houston. At the Astro-Bluebonnet Bowl on New Year’s Eve, Tennessee and pioneering quarterback Condredge Holloway defeated LSU, 24-17, with the help of a late interception by Vols defensive back Conrad Graham of a pass by the capable Tiger quarterback Bert Jones. Auburn easily beat Colorado in the Orange Bowl, and Texas beat Coach “Bear” Bryant and Alabama in the Cotton Bowl. Georgia did not play in a bowl with a respectable 7-4 record, while Southern Cal beat Ohio State in the Rose Bowl and finished No. 1 nationally. Chattanoogans experiencing all these events around New Year’s traveled roads that looked slightly different. One that has changed greatly in certain respects is South Broad Street. A look at the 1972 city directory published a few months before the new year shows a variety of at least partially-forgotten businesses. Coming from the area near the bridge over the interstate toward Lookout Mountain, one would pass such businesses as Wilson’s Antiques (2401 and 2403), Cloogman’s Department Store (2433), Abe Shavin Hardware (2513-21), Lee Pharmacy (2523), Dacus Furniture (2601), Chattanooga Hardware (2613-15), Mickey’s Antiques (2640) and Spann Amusement and Recording Co. (2642). Closer to the mountain were Wheland Foundry (2727), Alamo Plaza Motel (3008), Dino’s Supper Club (3118), Broadway Feed and Seed (3147), Andy Trotter Pontiac (3150), Albert Pick Motel (3210), WDEF Radio and TV (3300), Koch’s Bakery (3305), the Pizza Pub (3311), M&J Supermarket (3317), Double Cola (3350), the Old South Restaurant (3401), the Krystal (3407), Hamilton National Bank (3502), Mt. Vernon Colonial Restaurant (3509), the Drake Restaurant (3513), and El Palacio (3636). This part of South Broad Street also featured a number of liquor stores and old-fashioned service stations, from J.D.’s Liquor Store (3209) to the Broad Street Shell Station (3520). It was a time and place much different, with football bowl games and an occasional longtime tenant like WDEF still linking this American and Chattanooga experience 50 years later and keeping the memories flowing. by John Shearer
Chattanooga is no stranger to bridges. In fact, the River City has six bridges spanning the Tennessee River as it meanders through town on its journey west. But, there’s only one that can be walked free of motor vehicles. The Walnut Street Bridge, often referred to as the “walking” or pedestrian bridge, not only offers a wonderful vantage point to see the best parts of Chattanooga that lend to its Scenic City moniker, but it is also an excellent avenue for exercise. However, perhaps the best thing it is good for is a trip to the past, a trip that requires looking beyond the modernization of today, right into the 19th century.
Construction on the Walnut Street Bridge commenced in 1889. The “county bridge,” as it was known at the time, opened in 1891 and was the first non-military bridge to appear in a post-Civil War Chattanooga. In order to build the bridge, the county raised money through the issuance of a $200,00 bond, which was coupled with a $25,000 contribution from newly established Hill City on the north side of the river (today’s North Shore). To fully appreciate the story of the Walnut Street Bridge, a stroll back to Chattanooga, circa 1839, the year of its birth, is necessary. At that time, the only way to get from one side of the river to the other side was by ferry or by taking a swim. The ferry that shuttled the people of Chattanooga from the south side of the river to the north side and back again was named Ross’s Ferry because it docked at Ross’s Landing, a very popular and wildly successful trading post and the birthplace of Chattanooga. For some, getting a little wet in the Tennessee River was worth the risk. If an enslaved person successfully swam the river and made it to the north shore, he or she could hope for freedom. During those days, it was generally deemed too costly in time and money for an owner to cross the river to collect his “property.” Amazingly enough, quite a few people made it, and a tiny haphazard community was born on the north shore. After the Union gained control of Chattanooga in 1863, the tiny community’s population exploded. By the end of the Civil War, some 6,000 African-Americans were living in what had come to be known as Camp Contraband due to the Confiscation Act, which defined an escaped slave as contraband. Camp Contraband later became Hill City, the city that contributed funds for the construction of the “county bridge,” a.k.a. the Walnut Street Bridge. Before there was a “county bridge” in Chattanooga, there was a military bridge. In order to move supplies more efficiently, one of the first things the Union Army did after gaining control of the city was to build a bridge across the Tennessee River, connecting downtown with the north shore. Under order of Montgomery Meigs, quartermaster general of the Union Army, the Meigs Military Bridge was built in 1864. It spanned the river just the tiniest bit south of where the Market Street Bridge is now. Records show the north end of the Meigs Military Bridge started roughly where Renaissance Park is today. In fact, there is an historical maker located along the trail leading to the water from the park. Construction of the massive wooden bridge came at a cost to the city’s trees, as they were all but decimated by the time the project was completed. Stone from the abandoned Bluff View furnace located on the side of the cliff on which Hunter Museum now stands was used in the construction of the bridge’s pillars. It was a short life, however, for the Meigs Military Bridge. The bridge was only 3 years old when the temperamental Tennessee River breeched its river banks by 55 feet, whisking away the bridge and flooding the city all the way to Ninth Street. The flood of 1867 is considered to be the largest in Chattanooga history, and it would be 22 years before the city made plans to give the citizens another bridge, a bridge now known by the name Walnut Street. Designed by Edwin Thacher, renowned engineer, the Walnut Street Bridge is a pin-connected Pennsylvania through-truss design. Constructed of wrought iron and steel, the bridge spans 2, 376 feet. Due to concern over its structural integrity and ultimately, the safety of its citizens, the city closed the bridge to vehicular traffic in 1978. Slated for demolition in the late 1980’s, a lack of funding in the city’s budget gave citizens interested in saving the bridge just enough time to start a fundraising campaign to keep the bridge alive. And, boy, did those efforts ever pay off … with a most wonderful walking bridge and linear park. At just shy of half a mile, the bridge was touted as the world’s longest pedestrian bridge when it “re-opened” for public use in 1993. Several pedestrian-specific bridges have since been constructed throughout the world, thus knocking the Walnut Street Bridge out of contention as the longest pedestrian bridge built, as it was originally designed for vehicular traffic (including horse and carriage, street cars and automobiles). Now, Gatlinburg’s Skybridge, a suspension type pedestrian bridge measuring 680 feet, claims the title as longest pedestrian bridge in the United States, and Portugal’s suspension type walking bridge at 1,696 feet claims the world title. Despite losing the title of the world’s longest pedestrian bridge, the Walnut Street Bridge still has a claim to fame: It is the oldest surviving truss bridge in the South. For many, the outdoors has always beckoned. For others, not so much. But during the days of this persisting pandemic, lots of people have found solace in nature. In Chattanooga there are ample opportunities to get out and about, whether it be against an urban backdrop or completely immersed in nature. For an urban walking adventure, the Walnut Street Bridge is an excellent place to start. Make sure to find the “portal to the past” to fully appreciate all that Chattanooga was and how modernization has since changed the landscape. Okay, ready for that adventure? Let’s go! Start by taking note of the buildings located at the bridge entrance closer to downtown. Before there were eye-catching condos and a boutique hotel, this site was the location of the first “framed” house in Chattanooga, known as the Latner House. Built by TJ Latner, a successful merchant in town, it boasted an incredible view as it sat perched on one of the highest points along the river in the city. Deemed one of the loveliest homes in all of the city, it was apparently coveted by Gen. Grant; shortly after arriving in Chattanooga in 1863, he promptly commandeered it as one of his many headquarters. Legend claims it was his favorite. Shuffle on over to the right side of the bridge and find the old Bluff View furnace site … yes, there is enough of it left to appreciate where it once stood in all its boldness. Admire some of the bridge restoration donors’ nameplates and silently thank them. Stop midway across the bridge for a 360-degree view of the city and beyond to all of its elevated terrain. Mosey all the way over to the other side and, upon exiting the bridge, look up to the left at the top of the red brick building and notice the “Hill City” Lodge sign. Turn left and enter Coolidge Park, noticing the tremendous amount of trees and vegetation as you pass the pavilion, as you round toward the Market Street Bridge. Stop there and appreciate the Walnut Street Bridge: Note how it looks like several camel backs. The Pennsylvania through-truss bridge is very similar to the camel-back truss bridge. Continue under the Market Street overpass to Renaissance Park and find the Meigs Military Bridge marker. Heck, you should even take the time to find a piece of cardboard for a fun slide ride down the hill while there! Return via Market Street to appreciate the bridge from afar. It really is magnificent. Once the stroll is complete, make sure to eat at one of many eateries in downtown or back on the North Shore. Goodness knows, this adventure undoubtedly worked up an appetite! by JD Harper JD Harper is a local author. “GLINT,” her debut novel, is set in Chattanooga amid its rich Civil War history and rock climbing culture. Visit jd-harper.com. |
Chattanooga, Lookout Mountain and the Surrounding Areas Is so Special Because of the History |
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