Chattanooga Tennessee History & Facts

Chattanooga is a city in and the county seat of Hamilton County, Tennessee, along the Tennessee River bordering Georgia. It also extends into Marion County on its western end. With a population of 181,099 in 2020, it is Tennessee's fourth-largest city and one of the two principal cities of East Tennessee, along with Knoxville. It anchors the Chattanooga metropolitan area, Tennessee's fourth-largest metropolitan statistical area, as well as a larger three-state area that includes Southeast Tennessee, Northwest Georgia, and Northeast Alabama.

Chattanooga was a crucial city during the American Civil War, 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 118 miles (190 km) northwest of Atlanta, Georgia, 112 miles (180 km) southwest of Knoxville, Tennessee, 134 miles (216 km) southeast of Nashville, Tennessee, 102 miles (164 km) east-northeast of Huntsville, Alabama, and 147 miles (237 km) northeast of Birmingham, Alabama.

Divided by the Tennessee River, Chattanooga is at the transition between the ridge-and-valley Appalachians and the Cumberland Plateau, both of which are part of the larger Appalachian Mountains. 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. It is home to the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (UTC) and Chattanooga State Community College.

The first inhabitants of the Chattanooga area were Native Americans. Sites dating back to the Upper Paleolithic period (c. 10,000 BCE) show continuous human occupation through the Archaic, Woodland, Mississippian/Muskogean/Yuchi (900–1714 CE), and Cherokee (1776–1838) periods. The Chickamauga Mound near the mouth of the Chickamauga Creek is the oldest (c. 750 CE) remaining visible art in Chattanooga.

The Citico town and mound site was the most significant Mississippian/Muscogee 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.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 144.6 square miles (374.4 km2), of which 137.1 square miles (355.2 km2) are land and 7.4 square miles (19.2 km2), or 5.12%, are water. The most prominent natural features in and around Chattanooga are the Tennessee River 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 676 feet (206 m), one of the lowest elevations in East Tennessee.

Famous Peoples From Chattanooga Tennessee

Major General William Preston Acker

(October 22, 1930 – July 24, 2018) was a major general in the United States Air Force and educator.

Acker was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee, in 1930 and graduated from high school in Greenville, South Carolina, after attending Georgia Military College prep school in Milledgeville, Georgia, for two years. In 1952 he received a bachelor's degree in business administration from the University of Georgia and was commissioned a second lieutenant through the Air Force Reserve Officers' Training Corps program. The General earned a master's degree in management from Arizona State University in 1959. He completed the Armed Forces Staff College, Norfolk, Va., in 1967; Air War College, Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama, in 1971; and the six-week Harvard University advanced management Program in 1973.

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