Chattanooga ( ) is a city in
Hamilton County, Tennessee, United States, and its
county seat
A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...
. It is located along the
Tennessee River
The Tennessee River is a long river located in the Southern United States, southeastern United States in the Tennessee Valley. Flowing through the states of Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, and Kentucky, it begins at the confluence of Fren ...
and borders
Georgia
Georgia most commonly refers to:
* Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus
* Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States
Georgia may also refer to:
People and fictional characters
* Georgia (name), a list of pe ...
to the south. With a population of 181,099 in 2020,
it is Tennessee's
fourth-most populous city and one of the two principal cities of
East Tennessee, along with
Knoxville
Knoxville is a city in Knox County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. It is located on the Tennessee River and had a population of 190,740 at the 2020 United States census. It is the largest city in the East Tennessee Grand Division ...
. It anchors the
Chattanooga metropolitan area, Tennessee's fourth-largest
metropolitan statistical area,
as well as a larger three-state area that includes southeastern Tennessee, northwestern Georgia, and northeastern Alabama.
Chattanooga was a crucial city during the
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...
due to the multiple railroads that converge there. After the war, the railroads allowed for the city to grow into one of the Southeastern United States' largest heavy industrial hubs. Today, major industry that drives the economy includes automotive, advanced manufacturing, food and beverage production, healthcare, insurance, tourism, and back office and corporate headquarters.
Chattanooga remains a transit hub in the present day, served by multiple
Interstate highways and railroad lines. It is northwest of
Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...
, southwest of
Knoxville, Tennessee
Knoxville is a city in Knox County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. It is located on the Tennessee River and had a population of 190,740 at the 2020 United States census. It is the largest city in the East Tennessee Grand Division ...
, southeast of
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...
, east-northeast of
Huntsville, Alabama
Huntsville is the List of municipalities in Alabama, most populous city in the U.S. state of Alabama. The population of the city is estimated to be 241,114 in 2024, making it the List of United States cities by population, 100th-most populous ...
, and northeast of
Birmingham, Alabama
Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of Alabama, United States. It is the county seat of Jefferson County, Alabama, Jefferson County. The population was 200,733 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List ...
.
Divided by the
Tennessee River
The Tennessee River is a long river located in the Southern United States, southeastern United States in the Tennessee Valley. Flowing through the states of Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, and Kentucky, it begins at the confluence of Fren ...
, Chattanooga is at the transition between the
ridge-and-valley Appalachians and the
Cumberland Plateau
The Cumberland Plateau is the southern part of the Appalachian Plateau in the Appalachian Mountains of the United States. It includes much of eastern Kentucky and Tennessee, and portions of northern Alabama and northwest Georgia. The terms " Al ...
, both of which are part of the larger
Appalachian Mountains
The Appalachian Mountains, often called the Appalachians, are a mountain range in eastern to northeastern North America. The term "Appalachian" refers to several different regions associated with the mountain range, and its surrounding terrain ...
. Its official nickname is the "Scenic City", alluding to the surrounding mountains, ridges, and valleys. Unofficial nicknames include "River City", "Chatt", "Nooga", "Chattown", and "Gig City", the latter a reference to its claims that it has the fastest internet service in the Western Hemisphere.
Chattanooga is internationally known from the 1941 hit song "
Chattanooga Choo Choo" by
Glenn Miller and his
orchestra
An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments:
* String instruments, such as the violin, viola, cello, ...
. It is home to the
University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (UTC) and
Chattanooga State Community College.
History
Early history
The first inhabitants of the Chattanooga area were
Native Americans. Sites dating back to the
Upper Paleolithic
The Upper Paleolithic (or Upper Palaeolithic) is the third and last subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age. Very broadly, it dates to between 50,000 and 12,000 years ago (the beginning of the Holocene), according to some theories ...
period (c.
10,000 BCE) show continuous human occupation through the
Archaic,
Woodland
A woodland () is, in the broad sense, land covered with woody plants (trees and shrubs), or in a narrow sense, synonymous with wood (or in the U.S., the '' plurale tantum'' woods), a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunli ...
,
Mississippian/
Muskogean/
Yuchi (900–
1714 CE), and
Cherokee
The Cherokee (; , or ) people are one of the Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, they were concentrated in their homelands, in towns along river valleys of what is now southwestern ...
(1776–1838) periods. The Chickamauga Mound near the mouth of the
Chickamauga Creek is the oldest () remaining visible art in Chattanooga.
The
Citico town and mound site was the most significant
Mississippian/
Muscogee
The Muscogee, also known as the Mvskoke, Muscogee Creek or just Creek, and the Muscogee Creek Confederacy ( in the Muscogee language; English: ), are a group of related Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands Here they waged war again ...
landmark in Chattanooga up to 1915. The first part of the name "Chattanooga" derives from the
Muskogean word ''cvto'' /chắtȯ/ – 'rock'. The latter may be derived from a regional suffix ''-nuga'' meaning dwelling or dwelling place. It is also believed to be derived from the Creek Indian word ''Chat-to-to-noog-gee'', meaning 'rock rising to a point', which is speculated to be a reference to Lookout Mountain.
The earliest Cherokee occupation of the area dates from 1776, when
Dragging Canoe separated himself from the main tribe to establish resistance to European settlement during the
Cherokee–American wars. In 1816
John Ross, who later became
Principal Chief, established
Ross's Landing. Located along what is now Broad Street, it became one of the centers of Cherokee Nation settlement, which also extended into Georgia and Alabama.
In 1838, the U.S. government forced the Cherokees, along with other Native Americans, to relocate to the area designated as
Indian Territory
Indian Territory and the Indian Territories are terms that generally described an evolving land area set aside by the Federal government of the United States, United States government for the relocation of Native Americans in the United States, ...
, in what is now the state of
Oklahoma
Oklahoma ( ; Choctaw language, Choctaw: , ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Texas to the south and west, Kansas to the north, Missouri to the northea ...
. Their journey west became known as the "
Trail of Tears" for their exile and fatalities along the way. The U.S. Army used Ross's Landing as the site of one of three large internment camps, or "emigration depots", where Native Americans were held before the journey on the Trail of Tears.
[Vicki Rozema]
Voices from the Trail of Tears
''Voices from the Trail of Tears'', 2003. Retrieved August 19, 2009.
In 1839, the community of Ross's Landing incorporated as the city of Chattanooga. The city grew quickly, initially benefiting from a location well-suited for river commerce. With the arrival of the railroad in 1850, Chattanooga became a boom town. The city was known as the site "where cotton meets corn," referring to its location along the cultural boundary between the mountain communities of southern Appalachia and the cotton-growing states to the south.
[Timothy Ezzell]
Chattanooga
''Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture'', 2009. Retrieved: January 17, 2013.
Civil War
During the
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...
, Chattanooga was a center of battle. Chattanooga served as a hub connecting fifty percent of the Confederacy's arsenals, those being located in
Atlanta
Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...
,
Augusta,
Columbus, and
Macon. Chattanooga's
railroads were vital to the Confederacy's transportation of raw material to processing plants for producing small arms munitions. During the
Chickamauga Campaign,
Union artillery
bombarded Chattanooga as a diversion and occupied it on September 9, 1863. Following the
Battle of Chickamauga, the defeated Union Army retreated to safety in Chattanooga. On November 23, 1863, the Battles for Chattanooga began when Union forces led by
Major General Ulysses S. Grant reinforced troops at Chattanooga and advanced to Orchard Knob against
Confederate troops besieging the city. The next day, the
Battle of Lookout Mountain was fought, driving the Confederates off the mountain. On November 25, Grant's army routed the Confederates in the
Battle of Missionary Ridge. In regard to victories won by the Union, Chattanooga marks one of three defining moments that turned the Civil War in their favor. The
Battle of Gettysburg brought the streak of victories obtained by the Confederacy to an end, while the
Siege of Vicksburg split the Confederacy itself in half, while Chattanooga served as the doorway to the
Deep South
The Deep South or the Lower South is a cultural and geographic subregion of the Southern United States. The term is used to describe the states which were most economically dependent on Plantation complexes in the Southern United States, plant ...
. These battles were followed the next spring by the
Atlanta Campaign, beginning just over the nearby state line in Georgia and moving southeastward. After the war ended, the city became a major railroad
hub and industrial and manufacturing center.
1867 flood
The
largest flood in Chattanooga's history occurred in 1867, before the
Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) system was created in 1933 by
Congress
A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...
. The flood crested at and completely inundated the city. Since the completion of the reservoir system, the highest Chattanooga flood stage has been nearly , which occurred in 1973. Without regulation, the flood would have crested at .
[ Flood-Prone Areas. Tennessee Valley Authority.] Chattanooga was a major priority in the design of the TVA reservoir system and remains a major operating priority in the 21st century.
20th century

In December 1906, Chattanooga was in the national headlines in ''
United States v. Shipp,'' as the
United States Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that turn on question ...
, in the only criminal trial in its history, ruled that
Hamilton County Sheriff Joseph H. Shipp had violated
Ed Johnson's civil rights when Shipp allowed a mob to enter the Hamilton County jail and
lynch Johnson on the
Walnut Street Bridge.
Chattanooga grew with the entry of the United States in the
First World War
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
in 1917; the nearest training camp was in
Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia. The
Influenza pandemic of 1918 closed local movie theaters and pool halls.
By the 1930s, Chattanooga was known as the "Dynamo of Dixie", inspiring the 1941
Glenn Miller big-band swing song "
Chattanooga Choo Choo". Through
Mayor P.R. Olgiati's efforts, Chattanooga became the first city in Tennessee to have a completed interstate highway system in the latter 1960s. In February 1958, Chattanooga became one of the smallest cities in the country with three
VHF television stations: WROM-TV (now
WTVC-TV) channel 9 (
ABC), WRGP-TV (now
WRCB-TV) channel 3 (
NBC), and
WDEF-TV channel 12 (
CBS).
The same mountains that provide Chattanooga's scenic backdrop also trap industrial pollutants, which settle over the city. In 1969, the federal government declared that Chattanooga had the dirtiest air in the nation.
Like other early industrial cities, Chattanooga entered the 1970s with serious socioeconomic challenges, including job layoffs because of de-industrialization, deteriorating city infrastructure, racial tensions, and social division. Chattanooga's population increased by nearly 50,000 in the 1970s. However, this was mostly because the city annexed nearby residential areas. By the mid-1980s, local leaders launched
Vision 2000, an effort to revitalize and reinvent Chattanooga's culture and economy. Chattanooga's population declined by more than 10% in the 1980s, but regained it over the next two decades, the only major U.S. city to do so in that period.
Civil Rights Movement
The civil rights movement of Chattanooga began in 1960 when teenage students of Howard High School, inspired by activists in
Nashville
Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...
and
Greensboro, began to organize a similar sit-in protest. Class President Paul Walker, Lehman Pierce and as many as 200 other black students organized peaceful sit-ins at four businesses along one block in downtown Chattanooga. White youth mobs responded with agitation, inflammatory language and violence. By the third day, Mayor Rudy Olgiatti instructed the fire department to utilize water hoses on crowds becoming the first city to utilize this tactic against protesters. Three months later the city would agree to desegregate the downtown businesses.
Unlike many southern cities the
assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. did not lead to riots in Chattanooga. Mayor Kelley and Police Commissioner Turner met with young people to defuse the situation and bought the protesters lunch. The frustrated youths voiced their complaints about racial injustice in Chattanooga, but were convinced to peacefully disperse.
In 1971, John Franklin Sr. became the first African-American elected official of Chattanooga. However racial tensions related to poverty and education continued to simmer. In the same year, a cancelled concert refusing to give ticket refunds sparked a four-day riot of black youth. An all-night curfew was called and close to 2,000 National Guard troops arrived in the city, setting up a post at City Hall. The unrest led to 1 death and 300 arrests.

On April 19, 1980, three
Ku Klux Klan
The Ku Klux Klan (), commonly shortened to KKK or Klan, is an American Protestant-led Christian terrorism, Christian extremist, white supremacist, Right-wing terrorism, far-right hate group. It was founded in 1865 during Reconstruction era, ...
members rode down historic 9th street and opened fire on five black women: Viola Ellison, Lela Mae Evans, Katherine O. Johnson, Opal Lee Jackson and Fannie Crumsey. All of the women survived. When an all-white jury acquitted the three Klan members for their crime, Chattanooga erupted into four nights of rioting. Not deterred by the jury verdict, the five women went on to be plaintiffs in a historic civil lawsuit against the Klan. In 1982, the federal courts ordered the Klan to pay the women $535,000 on account of the attack. This case created the legal strategy for dismantling the Klan across the country in the following years.
In 1987, the city's at-large voting process was challenged on the basis that it marginalized the voting power of Black voters. The issue was initially presented by
Lorenzo Ervin, Annie Thomas and Maxine Cousin to the
ACLU in
Atlanta
Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...
. Following the case of ''
Brown v. Board of Commissioners of Chattanooga,'' the city terminated the at-large voting system.
21st century

Chattanooga launched the first government-provided one-gigabit-per-second Internet service in the United States in September 2010, provided through the city-owned utility
EPB.
In August 2012, Chattanooga developed its own
typeface
A typeface (or font family) is a design of Letter (alphabet), letters, Numerical digit, numbers and other symbols, to be used in printing or for electronic display. Most typefaces include variations in size (e.g., 24 point), weight (e.g., light, ...
, called ''Chatype'', which marks the first time a municipality has its own typeface in the United States and the first
crowd-funded
Crowdfunding is the practice of funding a project or venture by raising money from a large number of people, typically via the internet. Crowdfunding is a form of crowdsourcing and Alternative Finance, alternative finance, to fund projects "withou ...
, custom-made typeface in the world.
On July 16, 2015, five people — four U.S. Marines and one sailor — were murdered and two more were wounded in
shootings at two U.S. military facilities in Chattanooga. The perpetrator was Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez, an
Islamic terrorist.
On November 21, 2016, a school bus carrying students from Woodmore Elementary School
crashed in the Brainerd neighborhood, killing 6 and injuring 23. In March 2018, the driver, an employee of
Durham School Services, was convicted of six counts of criminally negligent homicide, 11 counts of reckless aggravated assault, seven counts of assault, reckless endangerment, reckless driving and illegally using his phone while driving. The crash reignited the debate about whether
seat belts should be required in school buses.
On June 5, 2022, there was a
mass shooting
A mass shooting is a violent crime in which one or more attackers use a firearm to Gun violence, kill or injure multiple individuals in rapid succession. There is no widely accepted specific definition, and different organizations tracking su ...
in Chattanooga that left three dead and injured 11.
Geography
According to the
United States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...
, the city has a total area of , of which are land and , or 5.12%, are water.
The most prominent natural features in and around Chattanooga are the
Tennessee River
The Tennessee River is a long river located in the Southern United States, southeastern United States in the Tennessee Valley. Flowing through the states of Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, and Kentucky, it begins at the confluence of Fren ...
and the surrounding mountains. The Tennessee River is impounded by the
Chickamauga Dam north of the downtown area. The city is nestled between the southwestern
Ridge-and-valley Appalachians and the foot of
Walden's Ridge; the river separates the ridge from the western side of downtown. Several miles east, the city is bisected by
Missionary Ridge. The downtown area sits at an elevation of approximately , one of the lowest elevations in
East Tennessee.
Cityscape
Downtown Chattanooga has a wide variety of entertainment, dining, cultural and architectural attractions, including the
Tennessee Aquarium, opened in 1992; the
Creative Discovery Museum, opened in 1995; and the historic
Walnut Street Bridge, reopened in 1993. The downtown footprint is bounded by interstate highway I-24 on the south to Frazier Avenue in the Northshore, as well as US highway 27 in the west to Central Avenue in the east.
The modern downtown skyline is dominated by the Aquarium, the Republic Centre (tallest building in Chattanooga),
John C. Portman Jr.'s the Westin (Gold Building), the James Building (Chattanooga's first skyscraper),
and The Block, a climbing gym with 5,000 square feet of functional climbing space. Chattanooga has buildings with historical significance, such as
The Read House Hotel (the longest continuously operating hotel in the
Southeastern United States), the
Chattanooga Choo-Choo Hotel (a converted railroad terminal), the Maclellan Building, the Dome Building
(once the home to the Chattanooga Times), and the
Tivoli Theatre. The
BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee headquarters,
atop Cameron Hill, is the second-largest LEED Gold-certified corporate campus in the nation.
Downtown Chattanooga has four main bridges over the Tennessee River: the Walnut Street Bridge, the
Market Street Bridge, the
Olgiati Bridge, and the
Veterans Memorial Bridge. These bridges allow pedestrians to connect the Riverfront and Northshore to the
Tennessee Riverwalk and Bluff View Art District. Downtown Chattanooga parks include
Coolidge Park, Renaissance Park, Miller Park, Miller Plaza and Main Terrain Art Park. The Martin Luther King District runs parallel to the
University of Tennessee at Chattanooga's campus and features the largest mural in Chattanooga. The 40,000-square-foot mural was created by Philadelphia-based muralist
Meg Saligman and seven other local artists.
Downtown revitalization
In late 20th and early 21st centuries, substantial private and governmental resources have been invested in transforming the city's tarnished image. In 1993, restoration of the Walnut Street Bridge was completed. An excellent specimen of the
Camelback truss bridge, it is the oldest surviving bridge of its kind in the Southeastern United States, having been built in 1891. Efforts to improve the city include the "21st Century Waterfront Plan" – a $120 million redevelopment of the Chattanooga waterfront area, which was completed in 2005. The Tennessee Aquarium, which opened in 1992, has become a major waterfront attraction that has helped to spur neighborhood development. Since the opening of the aquarium, downtown Chattanooga has received over $5 billion of private investment, including nearly $1 billion from 2014 to 2018.
The city has won three national awards for outstanding "livability", and nine Gunther Blue Ribbon Awards for excellence in housing and consolidated planning. Public art experts chose Passageways 2.0 City Thread from among 50 outstanding public art projects created in 2018 through the Public Art Network Year in Review program, a national program that recognizes compelling public art. In addition to winning various national and regional awards, Chattanooga has been in the national limelight numerous times. Chattanooga was the profile city of the August 2007 edition of ''US Airways Magazine''. Chattanooga-based businesses have been recognized for their investment in solar energy. In December 2009, Chattanooga was ranked 8th out of America's 100 largest metro areas for the best "Bang For Your Buck" city, according to
''Forbes'' magazine, which measured overall affordability, housing rates, and more.
Neighborhoods
Chattanooga has many buildings and three neighborhoods on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...
:
Ferger Place,
Fort Wood, and
St. Elmo. Additionally, Chattanooga has several local historic districts: Battery Place, Glenwood, Missionary Ridge, M.L. King, and
Stringer's Ridge. Four of these are formally managed as local historic districts by the city.
*
East Brainerd
*
Ferger Place
*
Fort Wood
*
Highland Park
*
Lupton City
*
Missionary Ridge
*
St. Elmo
*
Lookout Valley
*
Tyner
Notable suburbs
*
Apison, Tennessee
*
Chickamauga, Georgia
*
Collegedale, Tennessee
*
East Brainerd, Tennessee
*
East Ridge, Tennessee
East Ridge is a city in Hamilton County, Tennessee, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city population was 22,167. East Ridge is bordered by Chattanooga, Tennessee, Chattanooga to the west, north, and east, and ...
*
Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia
*
Harrison, Tennessee
*
Hixson, Tennessee
*
LaFayette, Georgia
*
Lookout Mountain, Georgia
*
Lookout Mountain, Tennessee
*
Ooltewah, Tennessee
*
Red Bank, Tennessee
*
Ridgeside, Tennessee
*
Ringgold, Georgia
*
Rossville, Georgia
*
Sale Creek, Tennessee
*
Signal Mountain, Tennessee
*
Soddy-Daisy, Tennessee
*
Trenton, Georgia
*
Walden, Tennessee
Climate
Chattanooga, like much of Tennessee, has a four-season
humid subtropical climate
A humid subtropical climate is a subtropical -temperate climate type, characterized by long and hot summers, and cool to mild winters. These climates normally lie on the southeast side of all continents (except Antarctica), generally between ...
(
Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include:
* Bernd Köppen (1951–2014), German pianist and composer
* Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan
* Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author ...
''Cfa''). Winter days are usually mild, but most years have at least one day (average 3.2) where the high remains at or below freezing. Snowfall is highly variable from year to year. were recorded between January 9–10, 2011.
The average snowiest month is February which corresponds with the annual peak in
nor'easter
A nor'easter (also northeaster; see below) is a large-scale extratropical cyclone in the western North Atlantic Ocean. The name derives from the direction of the winds that blow from the northeast. Typically, such storms originate as a low ...
activity. Summers are hot and humid, with a July daily mean of and 52 days annually with or greater temperatures.
Chattanooga is the sixth fastest warming city in the United States due to
climate change
Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...
.
Average annual precipitation is over . On average, November through March represents an extended relatively wet period, because of Chattanooga's frequent placement (in the winter season) in a zone of conflict between warm, moist air from the Gulf of Mexico and cold, dry air from Canada, amplified by jet-stream energy and abundant Gulf moisture. July presents a secondary maximum in precipitation, due to frequent thunderstorm activity. Despite the mountains that surround the city, Chattanooga has been affected by tornadoes.
These tornadoes include the
2011 Super Outbreak, which impacted the city and nearby locations, including
Apison and Cherokee Valley in
Catoosa County, Georgia, where fifteen people died, eight in Apison and seven in Cherokee Valley.
An
EF3 tornado struck southeastern portions of Chattanooga on the night of April 12, 2020, and caused significant damage and three fatalities.
Time zone
Chattanooga uses the
Eastern Time Zone
The Eastern Time Zone (ET) is a time zone encompassing part or all of 23 U.S. states, states in the eastern part of the United States, parts of eastern Canada, and the state of Quintana Roo in Mexico.
* Eastern Standard Time (EST) is five ...
. Counties directly to its west (in both Tennessee and Alabama) use the
Central Time Zone
The North American Central Time Zone (CT) is a time zone in parts of Canada, the United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It ...
.
Demographics
2020 census
As of the
2020 United States census, there were 181,099 people, 79,565 households, and 41,059 families residing in the city.
2010 census
As of the
census of 2010, there were 167,674 people, 70,749 households, and 40,384 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 79,607 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 58.0%
White
White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...
, 34.9%
Black
Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...
, 2.0%
Asian, 0.4%
American Indian, 0.1%
Pacific Islander
Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...
, 2.8% from
other races, and 1.9% from two or more races. Persons of
Hispanic
The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...
or
Latino origin (regardless of race) constituted 5.5% of the total population.
Non-Hispanic Whites were 55.9% of the population in 2010, down from 67.3% in 1980. There were 70,749 households, out of which 26.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 36% were married couples living together, 17.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 42% were non-families. 33.5% of all households were made up of individuals, and 26% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.26 and the average family size was 2.94.
In the city, the population was spread out, with 21.3% under the age of 18, 11.5% from 18 to 24, 27% from 25 to 44, 25.5% from 45 to 64, and 14.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38.1 years. 46.1% of the population was male and 53.9% of the population was female.
The median income for a household in the city was $35,817, and the median income for a family was $43,314. Males had a median income of $36,109 versus $31,077 for females. The per capita income for the city was $23,756. About 14% of families and 16.5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 27% of those under age 18 and 13.8% of those age 65 or over.
Chattanooga's
Metropolitan Statistical Area, which includes Hamilton,
Marion, and
Sequatchie counties in Tennessee and
Catoosa,
Dade, and
Walker counties in Georgia, grew from 476,531 people, as of the 2000 census, to 529,222 people, as of the 2010 census, an 11% increase during the 2000s.
Religion
The single largest religious group in Chattanooga is
Christianity
Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, which states that Jesus in Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God (Christianity), Son of God and Resurrection of Jesus, rose from the dead after his Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion, whose ...
. According to 2010 statistics, the
Southern Baptist Convention
The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), alternatively the Great Commission Baptists (GCB), is a Christian denomination based in the United States. It is the world's largest Baptist organization, the largest Protestant, and the second-largest Chr ...
was the largest denomination with 225 congregations and 122,300 members; followed by the
United Methodist Church
The United Methodist Church (UMC) is a worldwide mainline Protestant Christian denomination, denomination based in the United States, and a major part of Methodism. In the 19th century, its main predecessor, the Methodist Episcopal Church, was ...
with 31,500 members and 83 churches. The third-largest group of Christians identified as
non-denominational congregations; and the fourth-largest organized denomination was the
Church of God (Cleveland, Tennessee) with 82 churches and 17,900 members. The 5th largest Christian religious group, according to
2010 statistics, was the
Roman Catholic Diocese of Knoxville, which had 12 congregations and 14,300 members.
Islam
Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...
has 2,200 adherents in Chattanooga.
Economy

Chattanooga's economy includes a diversified and growing mix of manufacturing and service industries.
Notable Chattanooga businesses include
Access America Transport,
BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee,
CBL & Associates,
The Chattanooga Bakery,
Sanofi
Sanofi S.A. is a French Multinational corporation, multinational pharmaceutical and healthcare company headquartered in Paris, France. The corporation was established in 1973 and merged with Synthélabo in 1999 to form Sanofi-Synthélabo. In 200 ...
, the world's first
Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a cola soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. In 2013, Coke products were sold in over 200 countries and territories worldwide, with consumers drinking more than 1.8 billion company beverage servings ...
bottling plant,
Coker Tire, U.S. Xpress Inc.,
Covenant Logistics,
Double Cola,
CraftWorks Restaurants & Breweries,
Luken Communications,
Miller & Martin, the
National Model Railroad Association,
PepsiCo
PepsiCo, Inc. is an American multinational corporation, multinational food, snack, and beverage corporation headquartered in Harrison, New York, in the hamlet of Purchase, New York, Purchase. PepsiCo's business encompasses all aspects of the f ...
,
Reliance Partners,
Republic Parking System, Tricycle Inc., and
Unum. The city also hosts large branch offices of
Cigna,
AT&T
AT&T Inc., an abbreviation for its predecessor's former name, the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the w ...
,
T-Mobile USA, and
UBS.
McKee Foods Corporation, the maker of nationally known
Little Debbie brand snack cakes, is a privately held, family-run company headquartered in nearby
Collegedale, Tennessee.
Notable companies that have manufacturing or distribution facilities in the city include
Amazon.com,
BASF
BASF SE (), an initialism of its original name , is a European Multinational corporation, multinational company and the List of largest chemical producers, largest chemical producer in the world. Its headquarters are located in Ludwigshafen, Ge ...
,
DuPont
Dupont, DuPont, Du Pont, duPont, or du Pont may refer to:
People
* Dupont (surname) Dupont, also spelled as DuPont, duPont, Du Pont, or du Pont is a French surname meaning "of the bridge", historically indicating that the holder of the surname re ...
,
Invista,
Komatsu,
PepsiCo
PepsiCo, Inc. is an American multinational corporation, multinational food, snack, and beverage corporation headquartered in Harrison, New York, in the hamlet of Purchase, New York, Purchase. PepsiCo's business encompasses all aspects of the f ...
,
Rock-Tenn,
Plantronics,
Domtar,
Norfolk Southern,
Ferrara Candy Company
The Ferrara Candy Company is an American candy manufacturer, based in Oakbrook Terrace, Illinois, Chicago, Illinois, and owned by the Ferrero SpA, Ferrero Group.
The company was formed from a 2012 merger of the Illinois-based Ferrara Pan Candy ...
(manufacturer of
Brach's candies),
Alco Chemical,
Colonial Pipeline, and
Buzzi Unicem. The
William Wrigley Jr. Company has a prominent presence in Chattanooga, the sole site of production of
Altoids breath mint products since 2005.
In a seminal event for Chattanooga,
Volkswagen
Volkswagen (VW; )English: , . is a German automotive industry, automobile manufacturer based in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. Established in 1937 by German Labour Front, The German Labour Front, it was revitalized into the global brand it ...
announced in July 2008 the construction of its first U.S. auto plant in over three decades, the
Volkswagen Chattanooga Assembly Plant. In May 2011,
Volkswagen Group of America inaugurated its plant. The $1 billion plant, opened in May 2011, served as the group's North American manufacturing headquarters. The plant, which initially employed 2,700 people, later increasing to 4,700, manufactures the
Passat and the
Atlas
An atlas is a collection of maps; it is typically a bundle of world map, maps of Earth or of a continent or region of Earth. Advances in astronomy have also resulted in atlases of the celestial sphere or of other planets.
Atlases have traditio ...
. It also has a full
research and development
Research and development (R&D or R+D), known in some countries as OKB, experiment and design, is the set of innovative activities undertaken by corporations or governments in developing new services or products. R&D constitutes the first stage ...
center in downtown Chattanooga, employing some 200 engineers, the first of its kind in the South.
The plant was the first new
Volkswagen
Volkswagen (VW; )English: , . is a German automotive industry, automobile manufacturer based in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. Established in 1937 by German Labour Front, The German Labour Front, it was revitalized into the global brand it ...
plant in the United States since the 1988 closure of
Volkswagen Westmoreland Assembly near
New Stanton, Pennsylvania. In 2019, Volkswagen Chattanooga announced plans to expand its Chattanooga-based plant to construct
electric vehicle
An electric vehicle (EV) is a motor vehicle whose propulsion is powered fully or mostly by electricity. EVs encompass a wide range of transportation modes, including road vehicle, road and rail vehicles, electric boats and Submersible, submer ...
s. The expansion is expected to create one thousand new jobs and $800 million in investments.
In addition to corporate business interests, there are many retail shops in Chattanooga, including two shopping malls:
Hamilton Place Mall in
East Brainerd and
Northgate Mall in
Hixson.
Eastgate Mall in Brainerd used to be a shopping mall, but has changed into a multi-use office building. Tourism and Hospitality has been a growing part of Chattanooga's economy, with 2014 being the first year for Hamilton County to surpass $1 billion in revenue.
Startups have been an increasing trend, due in part to
EPB's fiber optic grid. Notable venture firms based in the city are Blank Slate Ventures, Chattanooga Renaissance Fund, Lamp Post Group, SwiftWing Ventures, the Jump Fund, Dynamo Ventures, and Brickyard VC. The city is served by several incubators, notably Co.Lab, the Business Development Center, and Lamp Post Group. The Business Development Center is among the nation's largest incubators, both in square footage and in the number of startups that it supports.
Co-working spaces have picked up downtown, including Society of Work and Chattanooga Workspace. Unique in the city is the startup accelerator Gigtank, which utilizes the city's gigabit capacities and focuses on 3D printing, healthcare, and smartgrid technologies. Notable startups include Quickcue (acquired by
OpenTable in 2013), and
Reliance Partners. Chattanooga went from zero investable capital in 2009 to over $50 million in 2014.
Utilities

Electric power for most of the city and surrounding area is provided by the city-run
Electric Power Board (EPB). EPB also provides high-speed Internet service, TV, and telephone service to business and residential customers throughout Hamilton County, as well as parts of
Bledsoe County,
Bradley County,
Catoosa County,
Dade County,
Marion County,
Rhea County,
Sequatchie County, and
Walker County, via the nation's largest municipally owned fiber optic system. TVA operates the nearby
Sequoyah Nuclear Power Plant, Chickamauga Dam, and the
Raccoon Mountain Pumped-Storage Plant, all of which provide electricity to the greater Chattanooga area. TVA's corporate power generation and distribution organization is headquartered in downtown Chattanooga.
Natural gas and water are provided by the privately run
Chattanooga Gas Company and
Tennessee-American Water Company, respectively. In 2005, Mayor
Ron Littlefield stated his desire for the city to purchase the Tennessee-American Water Company, which was sold in a public offering in 2007. Former Mayor Jon Kinsey's attempts to have the city buy control of Tennessee-American Water were defeated in court.
EPB Fiber Optics is the dominant
cable
Cable may refer to:
Mechanical
* Nautical cable, an assembly of three or more ropes woven against the weave of the ropes, rendering it virtually waterproof
* Wire rope, a type of rope that consists of several strands of metal wire laid into a hel ...
and internet service provider for most areas of the city. The
incumbent telephone company is
AT&T Inc. However,
competing phone companies, such as EPB, cellular phones, and
VoIP
Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), also known as IP telephony, is a set of technologies used primarily for voice communication sessions over Internet Protocol (IP) networks, such as the Internet. VoIP enables voice calls to be transmitted as ...
are making inroads. A major interstate
fiber optics
An optical fiber, or optical fibre, is a flexible glass or plastic fiber that can transmit light from one end to the other. Such fibers find wide usage in fiber-optic communications, where they permit transmission over longer distances and at ...
line operated by AT&T traverses the city, making its way from Atlanta to
Cincinnati
Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...
. There are more choices among TV, Internet, and phone service providers for Chattanooga residents than in most other cities its size because of the intense competition between AT&T, Comcast, and EPB.
EPB Gigabit Network
Beginning in 2009 and continuing through March 2011, when
Haletown, Tennessee, received service from EPB's fiber optic network, EPB began to establish its exclusive fiber optic network to its service area, which covers the greater Chattanooga
Metropolitan Statistical Area. In September 2010, EPB became the first municipally-owned utilities company in the United States to offer internet access directly to the public at speeds up to ten gigabit (10,000 megabits) per second. The network has been emulated by at least six other cities in Tennessee and studied by other cities in the U.S. and internationally. However, Tennessee state law has prevented the expansion of Chattanooga's municipal network to nearby communities that have requested connections, and that restriction was upheld in the 2016 circuit court ruling ''
Tennessee v. FCC''.
Jay Weatherill,
South Australia
South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...
's Premier, visited Chattanooga in January 2012 and studied the gigabit network that was supporting critical city safety functions such as police and fire communications infrastructure, equipment and applications. He also inspected wastewater management, storm water management, traffic control and medical diagnostics applications, as well as operations of a smart lighting and camera system that allows the police to control public lighting and see what is happening in heavy crime areas. The use of broadband to carry the video and control signaling has contributed to making Chattanooga's Coolidge Park a safer place to visit.
In 2011, the expansion of EPB's network became a subject of major controversy in Tennessee. The success of its network, credited with the expansion of Volkswagen's Chattanooga plant and the establishment of
Amazon.com facilities in Chattanooga and
Cleveland
Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...
, led to a number of legal challenges by AT&T and Comcast insisting that public funds not be used to fund expansion of public networks in competition with private ones. However, according to EPB, federal agencies, electricity industry trade sources, and other press sources, the investment in the fully fiber optic network is justified by electrical system benefits alone, including early fault detection and decreases in standby power.
Banking
As of 2014, there are 27 banks operating in the Chattanooga metropolitan area, lending to financial strength. Among the larger banks are regional banks
First Horizon Bank,
Truist Financial, and
Regions Financial Corporation, but the area also has offices from
UBS,
Chase, and
Bank of America
The Bank of America Corporation (Bank of America) (often abbreviated BofA or BoA) is an American multinational investment banking, investment bank and financial services holding company headquartered at the Bank of America Corporate Center in ...
. Due in part to the strength and growing economic development, Chase recently shifted its East Tennessee headquarters from Knoxville to Chattanooga.
In early 2015, three locally owned banks and one in nearby
Cleveland, Tennessee
Cleveland is the county seat of, and largest city in, Bradley County, Tennessee. The population was 47,356 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is the principal city of the Cleveland metropolitan area, Tennessee (consisting of Bradle ...
, were acquired by other banks. CapitalMark, formed in 2007, will be acquired by the Nashville-based
Pinnacle Financial Partners for $187 million to have the fourth largest market share in the Chattanooga metro area. First Security Group, Inc, the largest Chattanooga-based bank, formed in 2000, will be acquired by the Atlanta-based Atlantic Capital Bancshares, Inc., for $160 million. Cornerstone, started in 1985, will merge with the Knoxville-based SmartBank in a stock deal. Cleveland's Southern Heritage Bank was acquired in 2014 by First Citizens National Bank in
Dyersburg, Tennessee, for $32.2 million. All these mergers only leave one Chattanooga-based, independent bank, First Volunteer Bank. Others in the area locally based include
Dunlap, Tennessee-based Citizens Tri-County Bank, Ooltewah-based Community Trust and Banking Co.,
Dayton, Tennessee-based Community National Bank,
Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia-based Capital Bank,
LaFayette, Georgia-based Bank of LaFayette, and Cleveland-based Bank of Cleveland.
Culture and tourism
Attractions
Chattanooga touts many attractions, including the
Tennessee Aquarium,
caverns, and new waterfront attractions along and across the
Tennessee River
The Tennessee River is a long river located in the Southern United States, southeastern United States in the Tennessee Valley. Flowing through the states of Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, and Kentucky, it begins at the confluence of Fren ...
. In the downtown area is the
Chattanooga Choo Choo Hotel, housed in the renovated Terminal Station. Also downtown are the
Creative Discovery Museum, a hands-on children's museum dedicated to science, art, and music; an
IMAX
IMAX is a proprietary system of High-definition video, high-resolution cameras, film formats, film projectors, and movie theater, theaters known for having very large screens with a tall aspect ratio (image), aspect ratio (approximately ei ...
3D Theatre, and the newly expanded
Hunter Museum of American Art. The
Tennessee Riverwalk, an approximately trail running alongside the river, is another attraction for both tourists and residents alike.
Across the river from downtown is the North Shore district, roughly bounded by the
Olgiati Bridge to the west and Veterans Bridge to the east. The newly renovated area draws locals and tourists to locally owned independent boutique stores and restaurants, plus attractions along the Chattanooga Riverpark system, including Coolidge Park and Renaissance Park.
The
Chattanooga Zoo at Warner Park is at 301 North Holtzclaw Avenue, a short distance from the downtown area. Hours of operation are from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. every day. In 1937, the first small exhibit was "established with the construction of a 4x6' cage for two Rhesus Monkeys."
The Zoo has since grown, as in 2017, "the Zoo kicked off the year with the announcement of the Kits and Cubs Program, which is a unique early childhood learning program designed specifically for the youngest of animal lovers."
And in May 2017, "the Zoo broke ground to expand the Corcovado Jungle exhibit adding six new outdoor and six new indoor exhibits to house small South American monkeys and mammals in June."
Parks and natural scenic areas provide other attractions.
Ruby Falls on Lookout Mountain at 1720 S. Scenic Highway in Chattanooga is a park with a diverse ecosystem including a large waterfall underground in a cave, a historic castle, scenic overlooks of the Cumberland Plateau and Tennessee River. Craven's House, also on Lookout Mountain, is the oldest surviving structure on Lookout Mountain and was a major focal point during the Civil War. The Cravens House property is part of the
Chickamauga & Chattanooga National Military Park. The
Lookout Mountain Incline Railway is a steep
funicular railway
A funicular ( ) is a type of cable railway system that connects points along a railway track laid on a steep slope. The system is characterized by two counterbalanced carriages (also called cars or trains) permanently attached to opposite ends ...
that rises from the
St. Elmo Historic District to the top of the mountain, where passengers can visit the
National Park Service
The National Park Service (NPS) is an List of federal agencies in the United States, agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government, within the US Department of the Interior. The service manages all List ...
's Point Park and the Battles for Chattanooga Museum. Formerly known as Confederama, the museum includes a diorama that details the
Battle of Chattanooga. From the military park, visitors can enjoy panoramic views of
Moccasin Bend and the Chattanooga skyline from the mountain's famous "point" or from vantage points along the well-marked trail system.
Near Chattanooga, the
Raccoon Mountain Reservoir,
Raccoon Mountain Caverns, and
Reflection Riding Arboretum and Botanical Garden boast a number of outdoor and family fun opportunities. Other arboretums include
Bonny Oaks Arboretum,
Cherokee Arboretum at Audubon Acres, and Cherokee Trail Arboretum. The
Ocoee River, host to a number of events at the 1996
Atlanta Olympics, features rafting, kayaking, camping, and hiking.
Harrison Bay State Park is another popular destination, offering a range of activities such as
fishing
Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment (Freshwater ecosystem, freshwater or Marine ecosystem, marine), but may also be caught from Fish stocking, stocked Body of water, ...
,
boating
Boating is the leisurely activity of travelling by boat, or the recreational use of a boat whether powerboats, sailboats, or man-powered vessels (such as rowing and paddle boats), focused on the travel itself, as well as sports activities, suc ...
, and
camping
Camping is a form of outdoor recreation or outdoor education involving overnight stays with a basic temporary shelter such as a tent. Camping can also include a recreational vehicle, sheltered cabins, a permanent tent, a shelter such as a Bivy bag ...
in a scenic lakeside setting. Just outside Chattanooga is the
Lake Winnepesaukah amusement park. The
Cumberland Trail begins in Signal Mountain, just outside Chattanooga.
File:TN Aquarium 01.jpg, The Tennessee Aquarium's River Journey building
File:TN Aquarium 02.jpg, The Tennessee Aquarium's Ocean Journey building
File:Water steps.jpg, Trail of Tears water steps off of Market Street, downtown Chattanooga
File:Coolidge park chattanooga.JPG, Coolidge Park
File:Walnut Street Bridge; Chattanooga, Tennessee; April 5, 2013.JPG, Walnut Street Bridge
File:Chattanooga.jpg, Looking south towards Lookout Mountain
Museums

As the birthplace of the
tow truck, Chattanooga is the home of the
International Towing and Recovery Hall of Fame and Museum. Another transportation icon, the
passenger train
A passenger train is a train used to transport people along a railroad line, as opposed to a freight train that carries goods. These trains may consist of unpowered passenger railroad cars (also known as coaches or carriages) push-pull train, ...
, can be found at the
Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum, called TVRM by locals, which is the largest operating historic railroad in the South.
Other notable museums include the National Medal of Honor Heritage Center, the
Houston Museum of Decorative Arts, the Bessie Smith Cultural Center, and the
Creative Discovery Museum. Chattanooga African American Museum.
There is no local history museum, but the Chattanooga History website holds a large collection of old photographs and other resources.
There are also several art museums, including the
Hunter Museum of American Art. The Institute of Contemporary Arts Chattanooga (ICA Chattanooga), located on campus of the
University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (UTC), hosts a series of exhibitions of contemporary art throughout the year, which include exhibitions by regional and national contemporary artists and also feature from UTC's permanent collection.
Starting in late 2025, or early 2026, there will be a brand-new museum called ''The Motion Museum'', which was devoted to everything related to transportation with Firecrown Media, a Chattanooga based company that also bought the portfolio
Kalmbach Media, bought the assets from the defunct
EnterTRAINment Junction in
West Chester, Ohio.
Performing arts
Chattanooga has a wide range of
performing arts
The performing arts are arts such as music, dance, and drama which are performed for an audience. They are different from the visual arts, which involve the use of paint, canvas or various materials to create physical or static art objects. P ...
in different venues. Chattanooga's historic
Tivoli Theatre, dating from 1921 and one of the first public air-conditioned buildings in the United States, is home to the
Chattanooga Symphony and Opera (CSO), which became the first merged symphony and opera company in the United States in 1985. The CSO is directed by Kayoko Dan. The Chattanooga Theatre Centre offers 15 productions each year in three separate theater programs: the Mainstage, the Circle Theater, and the Youth Theater.
Another popular performance venue is the
Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Auditorium. It was built between 1922 and 1924 by John Parks, General Contractors, and was designed by the architect R.H. Hunt, who also designed the Tivoli Theatre in Chattanooga.
National Park City
Chattanooga was named the first National Park City in the United States in April 2025 after a two-year vetting process.
According to the a press release from the City of Chattanooga, the recognition signifies the city "embraces all aspects of outdoor life, from preserving forests and lakes to being stewards of native plant species and honoring cultural diversity through art, history and play.”
Literary events
Chattanooga hosts several writing conferences, including the Conference on Southern Literature and the Festival of Writers, both sponsored by the Arts & Education Council of Chattanooga.
Festivals and events
Moon River Festival is a three-day musical festival held every September in Coolidge Park. The festival originally was located in
Memphis but relocated to Chattanooga in 2018. Moon River Festival and Riverbend Festival were rated among the top 10 music festivals in the south by
Southern Living
''Southern Living'' is a lifestyle magazine aimed at readers in the Southern United States featuring recipes, house plans, garden plans, and information about Southern culture and travel. It is published by Birmingham, Alabama
Alabama ...
magazine.
New events, such as GoFest!, the "Between the Bridges" wakeboard competition, Heritage Festival, and Talespin, complement well-established events, such as Riverbend and the Southern Brewer's Festival, and attract their own audiences. Back Row Films is a citywide celebration of film co-sponsored by the Hunter Museum of American Art, the Arts & Education Council, and UTC.
"Nightfall" is a free weekly concert series in Miller Plaza on Friday nights that features an eclectic mix of
rock, blues, jazz,
reggae
Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica during the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its Jamaican diaspora, diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, "Do the Reggay", was the first ...
,
zydeco,
funk
Funk is a music genre that originated in African-American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African-Americans in the ...
,
bluegrass, and
folk music
Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be ca ...
from
Memorial Day until the end of September. The
Chattanooga Market features events all year round as part of the "Sunday at the Southside", including an
Oktoberfest in mid-October.
The Chattanooga Dulcimer Festival, held each June, features workshops for mountain dulcimer, hammered dulcimer, and auto harp, among others, along with performances by champion performers from across the nation.
Chattanooga is also the center of much bluegrass music. In 1935, as well as from 1993 to 1995, the city hosted the
National Folk Festival. Since 2007, the annual 3 Sisters Festival showcases traditional and contemporary bluegrass artists, and has been named one of the country's "5 Best" bluegrass festivals by
Great American Country.
Each January, Chattanooga plays host to
Chattacon, a science fiction and fantasy literary convention. The convention is organized by the nonprofit Chattanooga Speculative Fiction Fans, Inc. First held in 1976, the convention drew an estimated 1,000 attendees to the Chattanooga Choo Choo Hotel in 2012, as well as an estimated 1,300 attendees in 2013.
Since 2014, Chattanooga has been home to the
Chattanooga Film Festival, an annual
film festival
A film festival is an organized, extended presentation of films in one or more movie theater, cinemas or screening venues, usually annually and in a single city or region. Some film festivals show films outdoors or online.
Films may be of recent ...
.
Sports
Chattanooga has a large, growing, and diversified sports scene for a city of its size, including professional soccer, college sports, minor league baseball, semi-professional teams, professional cycling exemplified by the
Volkswagen
Volkswagen (VW; )English: , . is a German automotive industry, automobile manufacturer based in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. Established in 1937 by German Labour Front, The German Labour Front, it was revitalized into the global brand it ...
USA Cycling Professional Road & Time Trial National Championships, the
Ironman Triathlon
An Ironman Triathlon is one of a series of long-distance triathlon races organized by the World Triathlon Corporation (WTC), consisting of a swim, a bicycle ride and a marathon run completed in that order, a total of . It is widely consid ...
, and a large nationally renowned regatta the first weekend of November.
Organized sports
College sports
Chattanooga was the home of the
NCAA Division I Football Championship
The NCAA Division I Football Championship is an annual post-season college football game, played since 2006, used to determine a national champion of the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS). From 1978 to 2005, the game was ca ...
game, which was held at
Finley Stadium in Chattanooga, from 1997 to 2009.
The
University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (UTC) Mocs compete in NCAA Division I and the
Southern Conference
The Southern Conference (SoCon) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I. Southern Conference College football, football teams c ...
. UTC's athletic programs include football at the
FCS level, women's soccer, volleyball, and cross country in the fall; men's and women's basketball,
Wrestling
Wrestling is a martial art, combat sport, and form of entertainment that involves grappling with an opponent and striving to obtain a position of advantage through different throws or techniques, within a given ruleset. Wrestling involves di ...
, and indoor track & field in the winter; and softball and outdoor track & field in the spring. Men's and women's golf and men's and women's tennis play in the fall and spring.
Semi-Pro and Minor League Baseball
The
Chattanooga Lookouts, a Class
AA Double-A South baseball team affiliated with the
Cincinnati Reds, play at the riverfront
AT&T Field.
Chattanooga also is home to several semi-professional
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
teams, including the Tennessee Crush and the Chattanooga Steam. The Tennessee Crush plays its games at
Finley Stadium in downtown Chattanooga. The Chattanooga Steam plays at
Lookout Valley High School near
Lookout Mountain.
Professional soccer
The city has two professional soccer teams. From 2009 to 2019,
Chattanooga FC played in the
National Premier Soccer League
The National Premier Soccer League (NPSL) is an American men's association football, soccer league. The league is officially affiliated to the United States Adult Soccer Association (USASA) and has automatic qualification for the U.S. Open Cup. ...
, but moved to an unsanctioned professional league (
NISA) in 2020. Founded in 2009,
["Chattanooga Football Club Scores Some Serious Funding on Wefunder"](_blank)
April 4, 2019 Chattanooga FC has gone to the national finals four times since its inception, and drew a record 18,227 fans for their 2015 NPSL title match. The club has also found success in the
U.S. Open Cup defeating the professional
USL's
Wilmington Hammerheads to reach the tournament's third round in 2014 and 2015. In 2019, Chattanooga FC became one of the founding members of NPSL's Founders Cup, a group of eleven teams playing a professional tournament in the fall before forming a fully professional league in 2020. To support this, Chattanooga FC became only the second sports team in the U.S., after the
Green Bay Packers
The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. They ar ...
, to sell supporter shares in the team.
These moves were partially in response to a
USL League One franchise, the
Chattanooga Red Wolves SC starting play in the 2019 inaugural season of that new third-tier professional league under the direction of Chattanooga FC's former general manager. The Red Wolves play in
USL League One and intend to build a multi-million dollar soccer specific stadium in the neighboring town of East Ridge, Tennessee. Before the proposed stadium was built, the Red Wolves had a legal battle with Arkansas State, with ASU sending them a cease-and-desist letter in November 2019. The stadium was announced as CHI Memorial Stadium, and was opened for play and fans in 2020 while still under construction. It will hold an estimated 5,000 fans for soccer matches.
Rugby
Chattanooga is also home to several rugby teams: the Chattanooga Rugby Football Club, Nooga Red, Nooga Black, men's Old Boys, a women's rugby team, men's and women's teams at UTC, and an all-city high school team.
The Chattanooga Rugby Football Club, which was established in 1978 and the 2011 and 2013 DII
Mid South champions, is affiliated with
USA Rugby and
USA Rugby South. The club fields two teams, Nooga Red, which competes in Division II, and Nooga Black, which competes in Division III.
There is also a men's Old Boys team, a Chattanooga women's rugby team, as well as collegiate men's and women's teams representing the Mocs at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. A citywide high school rugby team, the Wolfpack, was established in 2012 and is open to any high school player living in the Chattanooga area.
All seven teams play their home matches at Montague Park.
Outdoor sports
Rowing
The
Head of the Hooch rowing
regatta takes place along the Tennessee River in downtown Chattanooga during the first weekend of November. The
head race originally took place on the
Chattahoochee River
The Chattahoochee River () is a river in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern United States. It forms the southern half of the Alabama and Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia border, as well as a portion of the Florida and Georgia border. It ...
in
Atlanta
Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...
before moving to Chattanooga in 2005, hence the name "Head of the Hooch". With 1,965 boats in 2011 and nearly 2,000 boats in 2012, this competition ranks as the 2nd largest regatta in the United States, with numerous college and youth teams, such as UNC Men's Crew, Vanderbilt Rowing Club, James Madison University Crew, University of Tennessee Women's Rowing, Orlando Rowing Club, Nashville Rowing Club, Newport Rowing Club, and Chattanooga Rowing, competing.
There are also multiple local rowing clubs, such as the Lookout Rowing Club for adults and the Chattanooga Junior Rowing Club for high school students. The weekend of the Head of the Hooch also sees hot-air balloon rides and other activities.
Cycling
In 2013, the
Volkswagen
Volkswagen (VW; )English: , . is a German automotive industry, automobile manufacturer based in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. Established in 1937 by German Labour Front, The German Labour Front, it was revitalized into the global brand it ...
USA Cycling Professional Road & Time Trial National Championships were held in Chattanooga. The schedule for the 3-day event on May 25–27 featured a
handcycling time trail and various other
cycling
Cycling, also known as bicycling or biking, is the activity of riding a bicycle or other types of pedal-driven human-powered vehicles such as balance bikes, unicycles, tricycles, and quadricycles. Cycling is practised around the world fo ...
time trials and road races, including a men's
road race that took the cyclists through the heart of downtown Chattanooga and up
Lookout Mountain for a total race distance of . American professional cyclist
Freddie Rodriguez won the
national road race championship title for the fourth time in his career. The Championships' debut in Chattanooga marked the first time in the event's 29-year history that women were allowed to compete for professional national titles. Chattanooga will also host the Championships in 2014 and 2015.
The city is home to the Chattanooga Bicycle Club. It was established in 1967 to "encourage and promote bicycle riding and safety, and to foster good relationships between cyclists and motorists by demonstrating courtesy and respect the law." The Chattanooga Bicycle Club advocates for transportation, fitness, and recreation, as well as health and wellness.
This club is in relative with the League of American Bicyclists (LAB), Adventure Cycling, Bike Chattanooga, and Outdoor Chattanooga.
Running
Due to its location at the junction of the
Cumberland Plateau
The Cumberland Plateau is the southern part of the Appalachian Plateau in the Appalachian Mountains of the United States. It includes much of eastern Kentucky and Tennessee, and portions of northern Alabama and northwest Georgia. The terms " Al ...
and the southern
Appalachians, Chattanooga has become a haven for outdoor sports, and has even been named Outside Magazine's "Best Town Ever" twice such as hunting, fishing,
trail running
Trail running is a type of running that takes place on outdoor trails, often in mountainous terrain, and often includes significant ascents and descents.
It is similar to both mountain running, mountain and fell running (also known as hill r ...
,
road running
Road running is the sport of running on a measured course over an established road. This differs from track and field on a regular track and cross country running over natural terrain.
These events are usually classified as long-distance ru ...
,
adventure racing,
rock climbing
Rock climbing is a climbing sports discipline that involves ascending climbing routes, routes consisting of natural rock in an outdoor environment, or on artificial resin climbing walls in a mostly indoor environment. Routes are documented in c ...
,
mountain biking, and
road biking. The internationally known
StumpJump 50k has been hosted on nearby Signal Mountain since 2002.
The Erlanger Half Marathon and Marathon have become a large part of the spring activities in Chattanooga in recent years. These events are orchestrated by the Chattanooga Sports Committee, and the half marathon course and marathon course are designed by the same group of runners. The course is subject to change throughout the years. The most recent marathon and half marathon were held on March 3, 2019.
Triathlons
In August 2013, further cementing Chattanooga's growing status as a nationally recognized outdoor haven, the Chattanooga Sports Committee, an organization established in 1992 to help the city host major sporting events, announced that the
Ironman Triathlon
An Ironman Triathlon is one of a series of long-distance triathlon races organized by the World Triathlon Corporation (WTC), consisting of a swim, a bicycle ride and a marathon run completed in that order, a total of . It is widely consid ...
would be coming to the city in a 5-year deal.
The city became one of only 11 cities in the United States to host the grueling competition showcasing Chattanooga's natural beauty, which consists of a swim, a bike race (which is broken down into two loops), and a run (which is broken down into two loops). The event has a $40,000 prize purse and chances to qualify for the
Ironman World Championship
The Ironman World Championship is a triathlon held annually in Hawaii, United States from 1978 to 2022, with no race in 2020 and an additional race in 1982. It is owned and organized by the World Triathlon Corporation. It is the annual culminat ...
in
Hawaii
Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...
. On November 4, 2014, it was announced that Chattanooga would host The
Ironman 70.3
An Ironman 70.3, also known as a Half Ironman, is one of a series of long-distance triathlon races organized by the World Triathlon Corporation (WTC). The "70.3" refers to the total distance in miles (113.0 km) covered in the race, consisting ...
event, also known as the Half Ironman, in addition to the standard
Ironman Triathlon
An Ironman Triathlon is one of a series of long-distance triathlon races organized by the World Triathlon Corporation (WTC), consisting of a swim, a bicycle ride and a marathon run completed in that order, a total of . It is widely consid ...
. This event consists of a swim, bike ride, and run, and has a prize pot of $30,000. On September 29, 2015, The Chattanooga Convention and Visitors Bureau announced that Ironman had chosen Chattanooga, Tennessee to host the 2017 Ironman 70.3 World Championships.
Awards
Chattanooga has been a member of the
League of American Bicyclists' Bronze level since October 2003, the only city in Tennessee to be a member of the organization before Knoxville and Nashville joined in 2010 and 2012, respectively.
The city has a number of outdoor clubs: Scenic City Velo,
SORBA-Chattanooga, the Wilderness Trail Running Association, and the Chattanooga Track Club. The city also funds Outdoor Chattanooga, an organization focused on promoting outdoor recreation. In September 2004, the city appointed its first-ever executive director of Outdoor Chattanooga to implement the organization's mission, which includes promoting bicycling for transportation, recreation, and active living. For paddlers, Chattanooga offers the
Tennessee River Blueway, a recreational section of the
Tennessee River
The Tennessee River is a long river located in the Southern United States, southeastern United States in the Tennessee Valley. Flowing through the states of Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, and Kentucky, it begins at the confluence of Fren ...
that flows through Chattanooga and the
Tennessee River Gorge. Since 2008, Chattanooga has hosted the Skyhoundz World Canine Disc Championship, the crowning event of the largest disc dog competition series in the world.
Media and communications
The city of Chattanooga is served by numerous local, regional, and national media outlets which reach approximately one million people in four states:
Tennessee
Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...
,
Georgia
Georgia most commonly refers to:
* Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus
* Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States
Georgia may also refer to:
People and fictional characters
* Georgia (name), a list of pe ...
,
Alabama
Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...
, and
North Carolina
North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...
.
Newspapers

The ''
Chattanooga Times Free Press'', the area's only daily newspaper, is published every morning. It was formed in 1999 from the merger of two papers that had been bitter rivals for half a century, the ''Times'' and the ''News-Free Press''. The ''Times'' was owned and published by
Adolph Ochs, who later bought ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
''. The ''Times'' was the morning paper and had a generally more liberal editorial page. The ''
News-Free Press'', whose name was the result of an earlier merger, was an afternoon daily and its editorials were more conservative than those in the ''Times''. On August 27, 1966, the ''News-Free Press'' became the first newspaper in the nation to dissolve a
joint operating agreement.
In 1999, the ''Free Press'', which had changed its name from ''News-Free Press'' in 1993, was bought by an Arkansas company,
WEHCO Media
WEHCO Media, Inc., based in Little Rock, AR is a privately held media company with holdings that include newspapers, cable television systems, and internet service. Walter E. Hussman Jr. is the chairman. Hussmann is the grandson of Clyde E. Pa ...
, publisher of the ''
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
The ''Arkansas Democrat-Gazette'' is the newspaper of record in the U.S. state of Arkansas, printed in Little Rock with a northwest edition published in Lowell. It is distributed for sale in all 75 of Arkansas's counties.
By virtue of one ...
,'' which then bought The ''Times'' from the Ochs heirs.
The ''Times Free Press'' is the only newspaper in the United States to have two editorial pages, reflecting opposite ends of the political spectrum. The ''Times''s editorial page, which is liberal, is on the left page and the ''Free Press''s editorial page, which is conservative, is on the right.
The ''Chattanooga Pulse'' is a free weekly alternative newspaper, published every Wednesday, that focuses primarily on arts, music, film and culture.
It was formed in 2003 by Zachary Cooper and Michael Kull, running independently until 2008, when the paper was purchased by Brewer Media Group, which also owns and operates five radio stations in the city.
''Enigma'' is a free monthly pop culture and entertainment magazine.
Founded as a weekly newspaper in 1995 by David Weinthal, ''Enigma'' lays claim to being Chattanooga's oldest alternative newspaper, even though it had ceased physical publication from 2013 until it resumed as a monthly magazine in 2015.
The ''Chattanooga News Chronicle'' is an African-American weekly newspaper.
Online media
''
The Chattanoogan'' and its website "Chattanoogan.com", established in 1999, is an online media outlet that concentrates on news from Chattanooga, North Georgia, and Southeast Tennessee. The publisher is John Wilson, previously a staff writer for the ''
Chattanooga Free Press''. The ''Chattanoogan'' is the oldest online newspaper in Chattanooga.
''Nooga.com'', purchased in November 2010 by local entrepreneur Barry Large, relaunched in 2011 as a local news website offering "quality daily content focusing on local business, politics, and entertainment in the Chattanooga area." In August 2018, Nooga.com partnered with Greenville, S.C.-based media company 6AM City. The outlet was rebranded and relaunched as NOOGAtoday in September 2018.
While NOOGAtoday's primary product is its daily email newsletter, it also publishes content on its social media accounts and website.
Radio
Chattanooga is served by the following AM and FM radio stations:
AM
*
WDYN 980
AM – Southern Gospel / WDYN Radio, operated by
Tennessee Temple University (licensed to Rossville, GA)
*
WFLI 1070 AM – Top 40 from the '60s & '70s (licensed to Chattanooga-Lookout Mountain, TN)
*
WGOW 1150 AM – News Talk / NewsRadio 1150 (licensed to Chattanooga, TN)
*
WNOO 1260 AM – Urban gospel and Motown (licensed to Chattanooga, TN)
*
WXCT 1370 AM – AAA / ALT 98.7 (licensed to Chattanooga, TN)
*
WLMR 1450 AM – Christian Talk (licensed to Chattanooga, TN)
*
WJOC 1490 AM – Southern Gospel (licensed to Chattanooga, TN)
FM
*
WUTC 88.1
FM – NPR/Mixed music / Music 88. Operated by UTC. First station in Chattanooga to broadcast in
HD Radio
HD Radio (HDR) is a trademark for in-band on-channel (IBOC) digital radio broadcast technology. HD radio generally simulcast, simulcasts an existing analog radio station in digital format with less noise and with additional text information. HD R ...
. (licensed to Chattanooga, TN)
*
W203AZ 88.5 FM – Religious / CSN International (Licensed to Chattanooga, TN)
*
WMBW 88.9 FM – Christian / Moody Radio For The Heart of the Southeast. Owned and operated by
Moody Bible Institute. (Licensed to Chattanooga, TN)
*
WYBK 89.7 FM – Christian. Operated by
Bible Broadcasting Network
The Bible Broadcasting Network (BBN) is a listener-supported global Christian Conservative Christian radio radio network, network staffed and headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. It was founded in 1971 by Lowell Davey, who was the network ...
. (Licensed to Chattanooga, TN)
*
W211BG 90.1 FM – Religious (Licensed to Walden, TN)
*
WSMC 90.5 FM – Classical/NPR/PRI Operated by Southern Adventist University. (licensed to Collegedale, TN)
*
WJBP 91.5 FM – Christian / Family Life Radio (licensed to Red Bank, TN)
*WAWL – College Alternative / The Wawl (web only / formerly broadcasting on 91.5) Chattanooga State Community College (licensed to Chattanooga, TN)
*
WDEF-FM 92.3 FM – Adult Contemporary / Sunny 92.3 (licensed to Chattanooga, TN)
*W224AZ (
WALV-HD3) 92.7 FM Christian / LF Radio (licensed to Chattanooga, TN)
*
WSAA 93.1 FM – Christian Rock /
Air 1 (licensed to Benton, TN)
*
WMPZ 93.5 FM – Urban Adult Contemporary / Groove 93 (licensed to Harrison, TN)
*
WJTT 94.3 FM – Urban contemporary / Power 94 (licensed to Red Bank, TN)
*
WAAK-LP 94.7 FM – Variety (low power station licensed to Boynton/Ringgold, GA)
*
WALV-FM 95.3 FM – Christian/The Joy FM (licensed to Ooltewah, TN)
*
W241AF 96.1 FM /
W262DQ 100.3 FM – Conservative Talk / The Big One (licensed to Rossville, GA & Hixson, TN) (simulcast of
WFLI-AM)
*
WDOD 96.5 FM – Top-40 / Hits 96 (licensed to Chattanooga, TN)
*
WUUQ 97.3 FM /
W257AZ 99.3 FM – Classic Country / Q Country 97.3/99.3 (licensed to South Pittsburg, TN and Lookout Mountain, TN)
*
W249BR (
WUSY-HD2) 97.7 FM - Urban Contemporary / Real 97.7 (licensed to Lookout Mountain, TN)
*
WLND 98.1 FM – Hot AC / 98.1 The Lake (licensed to Signal Mountain, TN)
*
WOOP-LP 99.9 FM – Classic country, old-time gospel, bluegrass, and mountain music. Operated by the Traditional Music Resource Center (licensed to Cleveland, TN)
*
WUSY 100.7 FM – Contemporary Country / US101 (licensed to Cleveland, TN)
*
WJSQ 101.7 FM – Contemporary and Classic country / 101.7 WLAR (licensed to Athens, TN)
*
WOCE 101.9 FM – Spanish (licensed to Ringgold, GA)
*
WGOW 102.3 FM – Talk Radio 102.3 (licensed to Soddy-Daisy, TN)
*
WBDX 102.7 FM – Contemporary Christian
(licensed to Trenton, GA)
*
WJLJ 103.1 FM – Contemporary Christian
(simulcast with WBDX 102.7) (licensed to Etowah, TN)
*
WRXR 103.7 FM – Active Rock / Classic Rock (licensed to Walden, TN)
*
WUIE 105.1 FM – American Family Radio (licensed to Lakeside, TN)
*
WRXR-FM 105.5 FM – Contemporary Hit / Pop (licensed to Rossville, GA)
*
WSKZ 106.5 FM – Classic Rock / KZ106 (licensed to Chattanooga, TN)
*
W295BI (
WALV HD-2) 106.9 FM Christian/ Joy Worship (licensed to Ooltewah, TN)
*
WOGT 107.9 FM – Country / New Country 107.9 (licensed to East Ridge, TN)
Television
Chattanooga's television stations include:
*
WRCB channel 3,
NBC affiliate (DT 13 / cable 4)
*
WOOT-LD channel 6, Independent/Heartland (formerly UPN)
*
WTVC channel 9,
ABC/
Fox affiliate (DT 9 / cable 10)
*
WDEF channel 12,
CBS affiliate (DT 8 / cable 13)
*
WNGH channel 18,
GPB member station (DT 4 / cable 12)
*
WELF channel 23,
TBN affiliate (DT 28 / cable 9)
*W26BE channel 26,
3ABN affiliate (cable 295)
*
WYHB channel 39, Independent/DefyTV (DT 25)
*
WTCI channel 45,
PBS member station (DT 35 / cable 5)
*
WFLI-TV channel 53,
The CW
The CW Network, LLC (commonly referred to as The CW or simply CW) is an American commercial broadcast television network which is controlled by Nexstar Media Group through a 75% ownership interest. The network's name is derived from the firs ...
/
MyNetworkTV
MyNetworkTV (stylized as mynetworkTV; unofficially abbreviated MNT or MNTV) is an American commercial broadcast television syndication service and former television network owned by Fox Corporation, operated by its Fox Television Stations ...
affiliate (Formerly
UPN and
The WB
The WB Television Network (shortened to The WB, stylized as "THE WB", and nicknamed the "Frog Network" and/or "The Frog" for its former mascot Michigan J. Frog) was an American television network that ran from 1995 to 2006. It launched on ter ...
) (DT 23 / cable 6)
*
WDSI channel 61,
True Crime Network affiliate (DT 14 / cable 11)
Law and government
The mayor is
Tim Kelly, who was elected in April 2021.
The city operates under a charter granted by the
state legislature in 1852; the charter has been subsequently amended.
The city operates under a
strong mayor
Strong may refer to:
Education
* The Strong, an educational institution in Rochester, New York, United States
* Strong Hall (Lawrence, Kansas), an administrative hall of the University of Kansas
* Strong School, New Haven, Connecticut, United ...
system, which changed from a
commission
In-Commission or commissioning may refer to:
Business and contracting
* Commission (remuneration), a form of payment to an agent for services rendered
** Commission (art), the purchase or the creation of a piece of art most often on behalf of anot ...
form of government with members voted
at-large
At large (''before a noun'': at-large) is a description for members of a governing body who are elected or appointed to represent a whole membership or population (notably a city, county, state, province, nation, club or association), rather tha ...
. In 1987 twelve African American city residents filed a complaint, ''
Brown v. Board of Commissioners of the City of Chattanooga'', alleging that the commission-style government violated their civil rights, including the
Voting Rights Act of 1965, by diluting the minority black vote.
In 1989 U.S. District Judge
R. Allan Edgar ruled in their favor, compelling the city to abandon the
at-large voting system that it had used for the 'commission' form of government, established single-member geographical
districts to proportionally represent both majority and minority elements of the population according to the city's
racial demographics, eliminated voting privileges for non-resident property owners, and created the city's mayor-council form of government. The Chattanooga City Council has nine members, of whom four are
African American
African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...
. The strong-mayor system began in 1991 after a 1990 citywide election that used the new court-ordered
district
A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municip ...
system.
The city's legislative branch is represented by members from nine districts, elected from single-member districts in partisan elections. The council members are Chip Henderson (District 1), Jenny Hill (District 2), Ken Smith (District 3), Darrin Ledford (District 4), Isiah Hester (District 5), Jenni Berz (District 6), Raquetta Dotley (District 7), Marvene Noel (District 8), and Demetrus Coonrod (District 9).
Chattanooga's delegation to the
Tennessee House of Representatives includes
Robin Smith (R), District 26;
Patsy Hazlewood (R), District 27;
Yusuf Hakeem (D), District 28;
Mike Carter (R), District 29; and
Esther Helton (R), District 30. In the
Tennessee Senate, Chattanooga is divided between Districts
10 and
11 with
Todd Gardenhire (R) and
Bo Watson (R) representing each district respectively.
Chattanooga is represented in the
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Artic ...
by
Chuck Fleischmann (R), who represents the
3rd District.
In the
United States Senate
The United States Senate is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and ...
, both
Marsha Blackburn (R) and
Bill Hagerty (R) have district offices in Chattanooga.
Chattanooga, as the county seat of
Hamilton County, is home to Chattanooga's City Courts and Hamilton County's Courts.
Chattanooga is the location of the
United States District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee's Southern Division, which is housed in the
Joel W. Solomon Federal Courthouse. The Southern Division has jurisdiction over
Bledsoe,
Bradley,
Hamilton
Hamilton may refer to:
* Alexander Hamilton (1755/1757–1804), first U.S. Secretary of the Treasury and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States
* ''Hamilton'' (musical), a 2015 Broadway musical by Lin-Manuel Miranda
** ''Hamilton'' (al ...
,
Marion,
McMinn,
Meigs,
Polk,
Rhea, and
Sequatchie counties.
The
Chattanooga Police Department dates from 1852. Starting in 1883, it hired black police officers, making Chattanooga one of the first major Southern cities to have them. But after the state legislature imposed segregation, black police officers were dropped from the force. They were hired again on a permanent basis beginning on August 11, 1948, years before other major cities in the
Southeast
The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, Radius, radially arrayed compass directions (or Azimuth#In navigation, azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A ''compass rose'' is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, ...
, such as
Birmingham, Alabama
Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of Alabama, United States. It is the county seat of Jefferson County, Alabama, Jefferson County. The population was 200,733 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List ...
and
Jackson, Mississippi
Jackson is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Mississippi, most populous city of the U.S. state of Mississippi. The city sits on the Pearl River (Mississippi–Louisiana), Pearl River and is locate ...
, integrated their police departments. The first seven black officers in 1948, Thaddeus Arnold, Singer Askins, W.B. Baulridge, C.E. Black, Morris Glenn, Arthur Heard, and Thomas Patterson, were initially restricted to walking beats in black neighborhoods. In 1960, black police officers were authorized to patrol all neighborhoods and arrest white citizens.
Education
Primary and secondary education
Most of Chattanooga's primary and secondary education is funded by the government. The
public schools in Chattanooga, as well as Hamilton County, have fallen under the purview of the
Hamilton County Schools since the 1997 merger of the urban Chattanooga City Schools system and the mostly rural Hamilton County Schools system. The
Howard School was the first public school in the area, established in 1865 after the Civil War. Tyner High School (now
Tyner Academy) was the first secondary school built east of Missionary Ridge in 1907. It is now the home of
Tyner Middle Academy. The
Chattanooga School for the Arts and Sciences, the STEM School Of Chattanooga and the
Chattanooga High School Center for Creative Arts are additional public magnet schools.
The city is home to several well-known private and parochial secondary schools, including
Baylor School
Baylor School, commonly called Baylor, is a private school, private, coeducational college-preparatory school in Chattanooga, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1893, the school's current campus comprises 690 acres and enrolls students in grad ...
,
Boyd-Buchanan School,
Chattanooga Christian School,
Girls Preparatory School,
McCallie School, and
Notre Dame High School. The
Siskin Children's Institute in Chattanooga is a specialized institution in the field of early childhood
special education
Special education (also known as special-needs education, aided education, alternative provision, exceptional student education, special ed., SDC, and SPED) is the practice of educating students in a way that accommodates their individual di ...
.
Higher education

A wide variety of higher education institutions can be found in Chattanooga and nearby. The
University of Tennessee at Chattanooga is the second largest campus of the
University of Tennessee System, with a student population of over 11,587 as of 2017–18 school year.
Chattanooga State Community College is a two-year community college with a total undergraduate enrollment of roughly 8150 students in 2018.
Tennessee Temple University was a Baptist college located in the Highland Park neighborhood that is no longer operating as of 2015. Chattanooga is also home to a branch of the
University of Tennessee College of Medicine, which provides medical education to third- and fourth-year medical students, residents, and other medical professionals in southeast Tennessee through an affiliation with
Erlanger Health System.
Covenant College, a private
liberal arts
Liberal arts education () is a traditional academic course in Western higher education. ''Liberal arts'' takes the term ''skill, art'' in the sense of a learned skill rather than specifically the fine arts. ''Liberal arts education'' can refe ...
college operated by the
Presbyterian Church in America
The Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) is the second-largest Presbyterian church body, behind the Presbyterian Church (USA), and the largest conservative Calvinist denomination in the United States. The PCA is Calvinist, Reformed in theolog ...
, is located in the nearby suburb of
Lookout Mountain, Georgia, and has a student population of about 1,000.
Southern Adventist University is located in the suburb of
Collegedale, Tennessee, and enrolls roughly 3,000 students.
Richmont Graduate University is a Christian graduate school located in Chattanooga with a
CACREP accredited clinical mental health counseling program as well as other ministry related degrees and a student population close to 300.
Virginia College School of Business and Health offers a variety of programs leading to diplomas, associate degrees, and bachelor's degrees.
Public library
The
Chattanooga Public Library opened in 1905. Since 1976, the Chattanooga-Hamilton County Bicentennial Library system had been jointly operated by the city and county governments; due to Chattanooga terminating a 1966 agreement with Hamilton County to distribute sales tax revenue equally, the city has taken over full funding responsibilities as of 2011.
The city was given a
Carnegie library in 1904, and the two-story purpose-built marble structure survives to this day at Eighth Street and Georgia Avenue as commercial office space. In 1939, the library moved to Douglas Street and McCallie Avenue and shared the new building with the John Storrs Fletcher Library of the University of Chattanooga. This building is now called Fletcher Hall and houses classrooms and offices for the university. In 1976, the city library moved to its third and current location at the corner of Tenth and Broad streets.
Health care
Chattanooga has three hospital systems: Erlanger Health System, Parkridge Hospital System, and CHI Memorial Hospital System.
Founded in 1889, Erlanger is the seventh largest public healthcare system in the United States with more than half a million patient visits a year.
Erlanger Hospital is a non-profit academic teaching center affiliated with the
University of Tennessee
The University of Tennessee, Knoxville (or The University of Tennessee; UT; UT Knoxville; or colloquially UTK or Tennessee) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Knoxville, Tennessee, United St ...
's College of Medicine.
Erlanger is also the area's primary trauma center, a Level-One Trauma Center for adults, and the only provider of tertiary care for the residents of southeastern
Tennessee
Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...
, north
Georgia
Georgia most commonly refers to:
* Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus
* Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States
Georgia may also refer to:
People and fictional characters
* Georgia (name), a list of pe ...
, northeastern
Alabama
Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...
, and western
North Carolina
North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...
.
In 2008, Erlanger was named one of the nation's "100 Top teaching hospitals for cardiovascular care" by
Thomson Reuters
Thomson Reuters Corporation ( ) is a Canadian multinational corporation, multinational content-driven technology Conglomerate (company), conglomerate. The company was founded in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and maintains its headquarters at 1 ...
. Erlanger has been operated by the Chattanooga-Hamilton County Hospital Authority since 1976.
Parkridge Hospital is located east of downtown in the Glenwood district and is run by Tri-Star Healthcare. Tri-Star also operates Parkridge East Medical Center in nearby
East Ridge.
Memorial Hospital, which is operated by
Denver
Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...
-based
Catholic Health Initiatives, is located downtown. In 2004, Memorial was named one of the "100 Top Teaching Hospitals" by
Thomson Reuters
Thomson Reuters Corporation ( ) is a Canadian multinational corporation, multinational content-driven technology Conglomerate (company), conglomerate. The company was founded in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and maintains its headquarters at 1 ...
.
Transportation
Considered to be the gateway to the
Deep South
The Deep South or the Lower South is a cultural and geographic subregion of the Southern United States. The term is used to describe the states which were most economically dependent on Plantation complexes in the Southern United States, plant ...
, along with the
Midwest
The Midwestern United States (also referred to as the Midwest, the Heartland or the American Midwest) is one of the four census regions defined by the United States Census Bureau. It occupies the northern central part of the United States. It ...
and the
Northeast for motorists from states such as
Alabama
Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...
,
Florida
Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...
, and
Georgia
Georgia most commonly refers to:
* Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus
* Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States
Georgia may also refer to:
People and fictional characters
* Georgia (name), a list of pe ...
, Chattanooga's extensive transportation infrastructure has evolved into an intricate system of interstates, streets, tunnels, railroad lines, bridges, and a commercial airport. While only a midsize city, Chattanooga is ranked as having some of the worst traffic congestion of cities its size, due primarily to unusually high volumes of
truck traffic. A 2015 study by
Cambridge Systematics found that 80% of trucks that pass through Chattanooga are destined for a different location, the highest share of any metropolitan area in the country.
Highways
Interstate 75 (I-75) connects Chattanooga with Knoxville to the northeast and Atlanta to the south.
Interstate 24 (I-24), which to Nashville to the northwest, passes through the central part of the city and reaches its eastern terminus at the
75/24 Split with I-75. The northern terminus of
Interstate 59 (I-59) is about southwest of downtown Chattanooga in
Dade County, Georgia, and connects the city to Birmingham to the southwest. A
controlled-access segment of
U.S. Route 27 (US 27) begins at an interchange with I-24 in downtown Chattanooga, and ends in northern Hamilton County, connecting the city with the cities of
Red Bank,
Soddy Daisy,
Dayton
Dayton () is a city in Montgomery County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of cities in Ohio, sixth-most populous city in Ohio, with a population of 137,644 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The Dayton metro ...
, and
Dunlap to the north.
State Route 153 (SR 153), some of which is controlled-access, is a major route which connects I-75 to US 27 in the eastern and northern parts of the city. A short controlled-access portion of
SR 319, known as DuPont Parkway, connects downtown Chattanooga to the
Hixson area.
In addition to US 27, several other
US Highways pass through Chattanooga as surface streets, and many share
concurrencies. They include U.S. Routes
11,
41,
64,
72,
76, and
127, the last three of which have termini in Chattanooga. US 11 and 64 form a concurrency as Brainerd Road and Lee Highway, and connect Chattanooga to
Collegedale and
Cleveland
Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...
to the northeast. US 41/76 (Ringgold Road) connects the city to
Ringgold, Georgia to the southeast, and a surface-street section of US 27 (Rossville Boulevard) connects to
Rossville,
Fort Oglethorpe, and
LaFayette, all in Georgia, to the south. Beginning in downtown and continuing for several miles to the southwest, US Routes 11, 41, 64, and 72 run together as Cummings Highway, before US 11 splits off, heading toward
Trenton, Georgia. The remaining three routes continue toward
Jasper, where US 72 splits off headed towards
Huntsville, Alabama
Huntsville is the List of municipalities in Alabama, most populous city in the U.S. state of Alabama. The population of the city is estimated to be 241,114 in 2024, making it the List of United States cities by population, 100th-most populous ...
. US 127 (Signal Mountain Boulevard) begins in North Chattanooga at an interchange with US 27, and connects the city to
Signal Mountain and Dunlap to the northwest.
[
Other major state routes in Chattanooga include routes 17, 58 (Highway 58, Ochs Highway), 148 (Lookout Mountain Scenic Highway), 317 (Bonny Oaks Drive), 319 (Hixson Pike), and 320 (East Brainerd Road). Major city-maintained surface streets include Broad Street, Georgia Avenue, Gunbarrel Road, Hickory Valley Road, McCallie Avenue, Shallowford Road, Dayton Boulevard, and Frazier Avenue.][
]
Tunnels
* Bachman Tubes (also unofficially known as The East Ridge Tunnels), which carry Ringgold Road (US 41/76) into the neighboring city of East Ridge.
*Missionary Ridge Tunnels (also unofficially known as McCallie or Brainerd Tunnels), which carry McCallie and Bailey Avenues (US 11/64) through Missionary Ridge where the route continues as Brainerd Road.
*Stringer's Ridge Tunnel, which carries Cherokee Boulevard through Stringer's Ridge where the route continues as Dayton Boulevard.
*Wilcox Tunnel, which carries Wilcox Boulevard through Missionary Ridge and connects to Shallowford Road.
Public transit
The city is served by a publicly run bus company, the Chattanooga Area Regional Transportation Authority (CARTA). CARTA operates 17 routes, including a free electric shuttle service in the downtown area, and free wireless Internet on certain "smartbuses".
The Chattanooga Department of Transportation has a mission "to make efficient transportation viable for all commuters- cyclists, pedestrians, transit users, and motorists while enhancing multi-use public spaces for all people." Chattanooga favors public transit, as the opening lines on the TDOT website read: "Sit back, relax, and let someone else deal with the traffic. Compared to driving, public transportation is less expensive, safer, and better for the environment. It reduces traffic congestion, saves energy, and benefits the communities it serves."
Bicycle-sharing system
The city has its own bicycle transit system (Bike Chattanooga) with 300 bikes and 33 docking stations, all supplied by PBSC Urban Solutions, a Canadian company.
Railroad lines
Though Chattanooga's most famous connection to the railroad industry is " Chattanooga Choo Choo", a 1941 song made famous by Glenn Miller & His Orchestra, the city serves as a major freight
In transportation, cargo refers to goods transported by land, water or air, while freight refers to its conveyance. In economics, freight refers to goods transported at a freight rate for commercial gain. The term cargo is also used in ...
hub with Norfolk Southern (NS) and CSX
CSX Transportation , known colloquially as simply CSX, is a Railroad classes, Class I freight railroad company operating in the Eastern United States and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Operating about 21,000 route miles () of trac ...
running trains on their own (and each other's) lines. The Norfolk Southern Railway's main classification yard, DeButts Yard, is just east of downtown; Norfolk Southern's Shipp's Yard and CSX's Wauhatchie Yard are southwest of the city. Norfolk Southern maintains a large railroad repair shop in Chattanooga. The two railroad companies are among the largest individual landowners in the city (the Federal Government
A federation (also called a federal state) is an entity characterized by a political union, union of partially federated state, self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a #Federal governments, federal government (federalism) ...
is another).
The Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum (TVRM), the largest historic operating railroad in the South
South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both west and east.
Etymology
The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþa ...
, and the Chattooga and Chickamauga Railway also provide railroad service in Chattanooga. The headquarters of the National Model Railroad Association (NMRA) were located in Chattanooga next to the TVRM from 1982 to 2013, when the NMRA moved to Soddy-Daisy, a nearby suburb. (The NMRA had moved from Indianapolis, Indiana
Indianapolis ( ), colloquially known as Indy, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Indiana, most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana, Marion ...
to Chattanooga.)
Despite the high level of freight rail activity, there is no passenger rail service in the city for commuters or long-distance travelers. But the National Railroad Passenger Corporation (Amtrak
The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak (; ), is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates intercity rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...
) has Chattanooga on a proposed future route that would run from Atlanta
Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...
to Nashville
Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...
twice daily, with additional stops in Marietta, GA; Cartersville, GA; Dalton, GA; Bridgeport, AL; Tullahoma, TN; Murfreesboro, TN; and the Nashville International Airport
Nashville International Airport is a public/military airport in the southeastern section of Nashville, Tennessee, Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Established in 1937, its original name was Berry Field, from which its ICAO and IATA identi ...
.
Using the AAR reporting marks (NS for Norfolk Southern, CSXT for CSX Transportation
CSX Transportation , known colloquially as simply CSX, is a Class I freight railroad company operating in the Eastern United States and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Operating about 21,000 route miles () of track, it is the lead ...
, TVRM for the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum, TNT for subsidiary Tyner Terminal Railroad, and CCKY for Chattooga and Chickamauga Railway), the rail lines passing through Chattanooga are as follows:
*CSXT – Western & Atlantic Subdivision (Chattanooga to Atlanta
Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...
)
**Chattanooga Subdivision (Chattanooga to Nashville
Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...
on former NC&StL trackage)
*NS – Cincinnati, New Orleans and Texas Pacific, aka the Queen and Crescent Route, (Chattanooga to Cincinnati
Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...
, Ohio via Lexington, Kentucky
Lexington is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city coterminous with and the county seat of Fayette County, Kentucky, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census the city's population was 322,570, making it the List of ...
)
**Alabama Division (Chattanooga to Memphis via Huntsville, Alabama
Huntsville is the List of municipalities in Alabama, most populous city in the U.S. state of Alabama. The population of the city is estimated to be 241,114 in 2024, making it the List of United States cities by population, 100th-most populous ...
)
** Alabama Great Southern (Chattanooga to New Orleans, Louisiana via Birmingham, Alabama
Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of Alabama, United States. It is the county seat of Jefferson County, Alabama, Jefferson County. The population was 200,733 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List ...
)
**Georgia Division (Chattanooga to Atlanta)
**Central Division (Chattanooga to Knoxville
Knoxville is a city in Knox County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. It is located on the Tennessee River and had a population of 190,740 at the 2020 United States census. It is the largest city in the East Tennessee Grand Division ...
)
**Chattanooga Traction Company
***North Chattanooga to Signal Mountain
***Dry Valley Line (Red Bank to Lupton City)
*TVRM – East Chattanooga to Grand Junction ()
**East Chattanooga Belt Line Railroad (from near 23rd Street, across to Holtzclaw Avenue and East Chattanooga around North Chamberlain Ave., used by TVRM)
**TNT – Tyner Terminal Railroad (Enterprise South Industrial Park railroad operations)
*CCKY – formerly the Tennessee Alabama & Georgia line (Chattanooga to Hedges, Georgia, abandoned since 2009)
**formerly the Central of Georgia line (Chattanooga to Lyerly, Georgia)
The Lookout Mountain Incline Railway, often referred to as the Incline Railway by locals, serves as a tourist attraction. It is also occasionally used for commuting by Lookout Mountain residents, particularly during wintry weather when traveling up and down the mountain could be very dangerous.
Until the 1960s the Louisville and Nashville railroad ran passenger trains through Union Station
A union station, union terminal, joint station, or joint-use station is a railway station at which the tracks and facilities are shared by two or more separate railway company, railway companies, allowing passengers to connect conveniently bet ...
and the Southern Railway ran trains through Terminal Station. The last train, the L&N's '' Georgian'', left Terminal Station in October 1971.
Bridges
Being bisected by the Tennessee River
The Tennessee River is a long river located in the Southern United States, southeastern United States in the Tennessee Valley. Flowing through the states of Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, and Kentucky, it begins at the confluence of Fren ...
, Chattanooga has seven bridges that allow people to traverse the river; five of the bridges being automobile bridges, one a rail bridge, and one a pedestrian bridge. These are the following, from west to east:
* P.R. Olgiati Bridge – Named for a former mayor, P.R. Olgiati, this bridge, which was dedicated in 1959, carries U.S. Highway 27 from downtown towards Dayton, Tennessee and points northward.
* Market Street Bridge – Officially called the John Ross Bridge, this bridge is a bascule bridge
A bascule bridge (also referred to as a drawbridge or a lifting bridge) is a moveable bridge with a counterweight that continuously balances a span, or leaf, throughout its upward swing to provide clearance for boat traffic. It may be single- o ...
, which is a type of draw bridge. The bridge was completed in 1917 for the large sum of $1 million for the time. Having stood for decades since its last major overhaul, the Tennessee Department of Transportation
The Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) is the department of transportation for the State of Tennessee, with multimodal responsibilities in roadways, aviation, public transit, waterways, and railroads. It was established in 1915 as the ...
declared it unsafe in late 2004. The bridge was closed in 2005 for a long-overdue renovation and was reopened on August 4, 2007.
* Walnut Street Bridge – Also known as "The Walking Bridge", it is one of the centerpieces of Chattanooga's urban renewal and is the second longest pedestrian bridge in the nation. Constructed in 1891, the bridge was declared unsafe and closed to traffic in 1978. It was on the verge of being demolished in the late 1980s when public outcry led to it being restored as a pedestrian-only span that opened in 1993.
* Veterans Memorial Bridge – Completed in 1984, this bridge has helped commuters from Hixson, Lupton City, and other northern areas reach downtown quickly.
*C.B. Robinson Bridge – Opened in 1981, this bridge carries DuPont Parkway (SR 319) from Amnicola Highway (SR 58) to Hixson Pike and Route 153.
* Tenbridge – This truss bridge
A truss bridge is a bridge whose load-bearing superstructure is composed of a truss, a structure of connected elements, usually forming triangular units. The connected elements, typically straight, may be stressed from tension, compression, or ...
with a vertical lift carries the Cincinnati, New Orleans and Texas Pacific Railway over the river and is a popular railfan area. It was constructed in 1920.
* Wilkes T. Thrasher Bridge – Completed in 1955, this route carries Highway 153 over the Chickamauga Dam.
Air travel
The Chattanooga Metropolitan Airport (CHA) offers non-stop service to various domestic destinations via regional and national airlines, including Allegiant Airlines, American Eagle, Delta Air Lines
Delta Air Lines, Inc. is a Major airlines of the United States, major airline in the United States headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, operating nine hubs, with Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport being its ...
and its regional carrier Delta Connection
Delta Connection is a brand name under which Delta Air Lines has air service agreements with domestic regional air carriers that feed traffic to their network by serving passengers primarily in small and medium-sized cities in the domestic mark ...
, and United Express.
In popular culture
Chattanooga has been referred to in pop culture numerous times over the decades, including in books, documentaries, films, TV shows, and more. In recent years, Chattanooga has appeared in more productions of blockbuster movies and TV shows, as well as independent films and documentaries.
Novels
Books that have Chattanooga as either a major or minor plot setting include ''Four and Twenty Blackbirds'' by Cherie Priest
Cherie Priest (born July 30, 1975) is an American novelist and blogger living in Seattle, Washington.
Biography
Priest is a Florida native, born in Tampa in 1975. She graduated from Forest Lake Academy, a Seventh-day Adventist Church, Seventh- ...
.
Documentaries
Documentaries have been filmed in Chattanooga over the decades, mostly related to the railroad industry or the Civil War battles that were fought in Chattanooga. These include the following:
* ''Up Lookout Mountain on the Electric Incline'' (1913)
* ''Battle Fields Around Chattanooga'' (1913)
* ''The Blue and the Gray'' (1935)
* ''Our Country'' (2003)
* ''John Henry: Inside the Sculptors Studio'' (2008)
* ''Let There Be Light: The Odyssey of Dark Star'' (2010)
* ''Memphis & Charleston Railroad: Marriage of the Waters'' (2010)
* ''Born and Bred'' (2011)
* ''When Mourning Breaks'' (2013)
Films
Chattanooga and its environs have been featured in numerous films since the early 1970s, principally due to Chattanooga being the home of the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum (TVRM), which has allowed its equipment to be filmed in various films.
A partial list of movies shot with TVRM equipment follows:
* '' Fool's Parade'' (1971) (Southern 4501 as B&O 4501)
* '' Eleanor & Franklin'' (1976), starring Jane Alexander
Jane Alexander (née Quigley; born October 28, 1939) is an American-Canadian actress and author. She is the recipient of two Primetime Emmy Awards, a Tony Award, and nominations for four Academy Awards, and three Golden Globe Awards. From 1993 ...
and Edward Herrmann
*'' The Last Days of Frank and Jesse James'' (1986)
* ''Fled
''Fled'' is a 1996 American Buddy film, buddy action comedy film directed by Kevin Hooks. It stars Laurence Fishburne and Stephen Baldwin as two prisoners chained together who flee during an escape attempt gone bad.
Plot
An interrogator prepa ...
'' (1996) (shot on the TVRM mainline)
* '' Mama Flora's Family'' (1998)
* '' October Sky'' (1999) (Southern 4501 appearing as N&W 4501 with O. Winston Link being the engineer)
* ''The Adventures of Ociee Nash'' (2003)
* '' Warm Springs'' (2005) (shot in Summerville, Georgia, using TVRM equipment)
* '' Heaven's Fall'' (2007)
* '' Leatherheads'' (2008), starring George Clooney and Renée Zellweger
* '' Water for Elephants'' (2011), starring Reese Witherspoon
Laura Jeanne Reese Witherspoon (born March 22, 1976) is an American actress and producer. She is the recipient of List of awards and nominations received by Reese Witherspoon, various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Primetime Emmy Aw ...
and Robert Pattinson
* The promotional video for Josh Turner's 2003 country single " Long Black Train" was filmed on TVRM property.
In addition to the above TVRM films, the following films were filmed either in Chattanooga itself or in nearby locales:
* ''The Man Trail'' (1915)
* '' The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia'' (1981)
* '' The Big Blue'' (1988)
* '' Dutch'' (1991)
* '' Christopher Columbus: The Discovery'' (1992)
* ''All Over Again'' (2001)
* '' Straight into Darkness'' (2004)
* '' 42'' (2013) (filmed at Engel Stadium)
* '' Identity Thief'' (2013) (scene set in St. Louis was filmed on the Market Street Bridge)
The 1941 Glenn Miller song that catapulted Chattanooga to international fame, " Chattanooga Choo Choo", has been performed in numerous movies, including the 1941 film '' Sun Valley Serenade'', featuring the Miller Orchestra and Milton Berle, '' The Glenn Miller Story'' starring James Stewart in the 1953 title role, and the 1984 eponymous film '' Chattanooga Choo Choo''.
Sporting and entertainment events
A number of pro wrestling events, as well as other events, such as circuses, concerts, ice shows, monster truck rallies, and rodeos, have been held in Chattanooga since the late 1980s, all at UTC's McKenzie Arena, also known as ''The Roundhouse'' because of its round shape and the impact of the railroad industry on Chattanooga. The events include the following:
* Clash of the Champions IV: Season's Beatings (1988)
*''Saturday's Night Main Event'' (January 27, 1990, episode)
* Halloween Havoc (1991)
* In Your House 13: Final Four (February 16, 1997)
*2005 and 2011 Men's Southern Conference
The Southern Conference (SoCon) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I. Southern Conference College football, football teams c ...
basketball tournaments
*2005 Women's Southern Conference basketball championship game
*Kenny Rogers
Kenneth Ray Rogers (born Kenneth Donald Rogers) (August 21, 1938 – March 20, 2020) was an American singer and songwriter. He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, Country Music Hall of Fame in 2013. Rogers was particul ...
concert (October 8, 1982; first-ever event held in McKenzie Arena)
* Toby Keith concert (February 8, 2007)
*Elton John
Sir Elton Hercules John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947) is a British singer, songwriter and pianist. His music and showmanship have had a significant, lasting impact on the music industry, and his songwriting partnership with l ...
concert (2011, 2013, 2016)
TV shows
'' Police POV'', '' COPS'', and the MTV show ''Cuff'd'' have shown members of the Chattanooga Police Department apprehending suspects. In addition to police reality shows, Chattanooga and nearby areas have been either been featured or mentioned in several TV shows, including the following:
* ''America's Walking'' (''This Woman's Not Stopping'' episode, originally broadcast May 20, 2002)
* '' R&B Divas: Atlanta'' (''Til Divas Do Us Part'' episode, originally broadcast June 19, 2013)
* ''American Idol
''American Idol'' is an American Music competition, singing competition television series created by Simon Fuller, produced by Fremantle (company), Fremantle North America and 19 Entertainment, and distributed by Fremantle North America. It a ...
'' (''Top 3 Results Show'' episode, originally broadcast May 19, 2011)
* '' Antiques Roadshow'' (''Chattanooga'' episodes (Hours 1–3), originally broadcast March 30 and April 6 and 13, 2009)
* '' Bridezillas'' (''Shederyl & Poni'' episode)
* ''Fitness Truth'' (''CF Open Chattanooga'' episode, originally broadcast August 14, 2011)
* '' $40 a Day'' (''Chattanooga'' episode, originally broadcast October 29, 2004)
* '' Evening Magazine''
* '' Extreme Makeover: Home Edition'' (''Sharrock Family'' episode, originally broadcast May 15, 2011)
* '' Good Eats'' (''Hook, Line, and Dinner'' episode, originally broadcast September 8, 1999)
* ''Mystery Manhunt'' (2012-)
* '' Off Limits'' (''Tennessee'' episode, originally broadcast June 20, 2011)
* '' Only in America with Larry the Cable Guy'' (''Larry Gets the Horns'' episode, originally broadcast February 22, 2011)
* ''16 and Pregnant
''16 and Pregnant'' is an American reality television series that aired from June 11, 2009, to July 1, 2014, on the cable channel MTV. It followed the stories of pregnant teenage girls in high school dealing with the hardships of teenage pregna ...
'' (''Maci'' episode, originally broadcast June 11, 2009)
* ''Teen Mom
''Teen Mom'' (renamed ''Teen Mom OG'', starting with the fifth season) is an American reality television series broadcast by MTV. It is the first spin-off of ''16 and Pregnant'', and it focuses on the lives of several young mothers as they na ...
'' ( Maci Bookout character)
* ''Tennessee Crossroads'' (''Show 752'' episode, originally broadcast June 23, 1994)
* '' The Andy Griffith Show'' (''Andy the Matchmaker'' and ''The Shoplifters'' episodes, originally broadcast on November 14, 1960, and March 2, 1964, respectively.)
* '' The Middle'' (''Vacation Days'' episode, originally broadcast March 5, 2014)
* ''The Steps'' (a locally produced web series)
* '' Trading Spouses: Meet Your New Mommy'' (''Hammond/Howard'' episode, originally broadcast January 17 and 24, 2005)
* '' Who Do You Think You Are?'' (''Lionel Richie'' episode, originally broadcast March 4, 2011)
* '' Restaurant: Impossible'' (''Chattanooga Blues'' episode, shot at the Blue Orleans and was broadcast on February 27, 2020.)
Miscellaneous film and TV productions
Numerous independent short films have been produced in Chattanooga over the last several years, including the following:
* ''Outcasts'' (2003)
*''Assurances'' (2004)
* ''A Bright Past'' (2008)
* ''Last Breath'' (2009)
* ''The Campaign for Chattanooga: Death Knell of the Confederacy'' (2012)
* ''Ella'' (2012)
Some TV movies have been filmed in Chattanooga or nearby areas, as well, including the 1986 TV movie '' A Winner Never Quits''.
The 1999 music video ''Usher Live'', starring Chattanooga native Usher, was filmed in Chattanooga. In 2012, the music video for Truck Yeah by Tim McGraw was also filmed in Chattanooga.
Sister cities
Chattanooga's sister cities
A sister city or a twin town relationship is International relations, a form of legal or social agreement between two geographically and politically distinct localities for the purpose of promoting cultural and commercial ties.
While there ar ...
are:
* Hamm, North Rhine-Westphalia Germany (1975)
* Wuxi
Wuxi ( zh, s=无锡, p=Wúxī, ) is a city in southern Jiangsu, China. As of the 2024 census, it had a population of 7,495,000. The city lies in the southern Yangtze delta and borders Lake Tai. Notable landmarks include Lihu Park, the Mt. Lings ...
, Jiangsu
Jiangsu is a coastal Provinces of the People's Republic of China, province in East China. It is one of the leading provinces in finance, education, technology, and tourism, with its capital in Nanjing. Jiangsu is the List of Chinese administra ...
, China (1982)
* Givatayim, Gush Dan, Israel (1988)
* Nizhny Tagil, Sverdlovsk Oblast, Russia (1996)
* Gangneung, Gangwon-do, South Korea (2003)
* Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony
Lower Saxony is a States of Germany, German state (') in Northern Germany, northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ' of the Germany, Federal Re ...
, Germany (2011)
* Tōno, Iwate, Japan (2017)
* Accra
Accra (; or ''Gaga''; ; Ewe: Gɛ; ) is the capital and largest city of Ghana, located on the southern coast at the Gulf of Guinea, which is part of the Atlantic Ocean. As of 2021 census, the Accra Metropolitan District, , had a population of ...
, Greater Accra, Ghana (2024)
In January 2007, all of the cities above (with the exceptions of Wolfsburg and Tōno) and the former sister cities of Swindon
Swindon () is a town in Wiltshire, England. At the time of the 2021 Census the population of the built-up area was 183,638, making it the largest settlement in the county. Located at the northeastern edge of the South West England region, Swi ...
and Ascoli Piceno
Ascoli Piceno (; ; ) is a (municipality) and capital of the province of Ascoli Piceno, in the Italy, Italian region of Marche.
Geography
The town lies at the confluence of the Tronto, River Tronto and the small Castellano (river), River Castell ...
had a tree native to each locale planted at Coolidge Park's Peace Grove, which was established to replace a 100-year-old Slippery elm tree which was damaged in a lightning storm in August 2006. Wolfsburg and Tōno were added in September 2011 and January 2018, respectively. The Peace Grove has nine trees: a linden tree
''Tilia'' is a genus of about 30 species of trees or bushes, native throughout most of the temperateness, temperate Northern Hemisphere. The tree is known as linden for the European species, and basswood for North American species. In Great Bri ...
, which represents Hamm; a Chinese elm, which represents Wuxi; a Mediterranean cedar, which represents Givatayim; a white birch, which represents Nizhny Tagil; a ginkgo tree, which represents Gangneung; an English elm, which represents Swindon; a European hornbeam, which represents Ascoli Piceno; an oak tree
An oak is a hardwood tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' of the Fagaceae, beech family. They have spirally arranged leaves, often with lobed edges, and a nut called an acorn, borne within a cup. The genus is widely distributed in the Northe ...
, which represents Wolfsburg; and a cherry tree, which represents Tōno.
Friendship cities
Chattanooga has friendly relations with:[
* ]Manfredonia
Manfredonia () is a town and Comune, commune of Apulia, Italy, in the province of Foggia, from which it is northeast by rail. Manfredonia is situated on the coast, facing east, to the south of Monte Gargano, and gives its name to the Gulf of Manf ...
, Apulia
Apulia ( ), also known by its Italian language, Italian name Puglia (), is a Regions of Italy, region of Italy, located in the Southern Italy, southern peninsular section of the country, bordering the Adriatic Sea to the east, the Strait of Ot ...
, Italy (2014)
Notable people
See also
* Benwood Foundation
* Chattanooga, Rome and Columbus Railroad
* Lyndhurst Foundation
* The Steele Home Orphanage
* Underground Chattanooga
* USS ''Chattanooga'', 4 ships
* YMCA of Metropolitan Chattanooga
Notes
References
Further reading
* Armstrong, Zella. ''The History of Hamilton County and Chattanooga, Tennessee''. (2 vol 1931; reprint The Overmountain Press, 1992)
* Crutchfield, Jennifer. ''Chattanooga Landmarks: Exploring the History of the Scenic City'' (The History Press, 2010)
* Desmond, Jerry R. ''Chattanooga'' (Arcadia Publishing, 1996)
* Downey, Fairfax. ''Storming of the Gateway: Chattanooga, 1863'' (D. McKay Company, 1960)
* Ezzell, Tim. ''Chattanooga, 1865-1900: A City Set Down in Dixie'' (University of Tennessee Press; 2014) 212 pages; focuses on economic and political development
* Govan, Gilbert E., and James W. Livingood. "Chattanooga Under Military Occupation, 1863-1865." ''Journal of Southern History'' (1951) 17#1 pp: 23–47
in JSTOR
* Hubbard, Rita L. ''African Americans of Chattanooga: A History of Unsung Heroes'' (The History Press, 2007)
* Livingood, James Weston. ''Chattanooga: An Illustrated History'' (Windsor Publications, 1981)
* Scott, Michelle R. ''Blues Empress in Black Chattanooga: Bessie Smith and the Emerging Urban South'' (University of Illinois Press, 2008)
External links
*
Visit Chattanooga
Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce
*
{{Authority control
Cities in Tennessee
History of voting rights in the United States
Cities in the Chattanooga metropolitan area,
Cities in Hamilton County, Tennessee
County seats in Tennessee
Populated places established in 1816
U.S. Route 11
Tennessee populated places on the Tennessee River
Chattanooga metropolitan area county seats
1816 establishments in Tennessee
Railway towns in Tennessee
Tennessee placenames of Native American origin