Beautifully situated on the Tennessee River between the Cumberland
Plateau and the Great Smoky Mountains, Chattanooga has a history as
fascinating and diverse as it is long. Chattanooga began as a river landing,
and when residents of the small frontier settlement of Ross's Landing
met in 1838 to decide upon a new name for their community, they could
not have foreseen the changes that would affect the community they
named Chattanooga.
Within a few years of the 1849 arrival of the first train of the Western
and Atlantic Railroad, Chattanooga became an important communications
crossroads: the battles of Chickamauga, Lookout Mountain, and Missionary
Ridge were fought in 1863 to determine control of this strategically crucial
location. If these conflicts played a part in deciding the fate of the nation,
they also decided the future of Chattanooga. Although the war ravaged
the countryside and destroyed city buildings, it also brought new life:
Union soldiers and entrepreneurs alike recognized the economic potential
of the area and not only rebuilt Chattanooga and Hamilton County, but
transformed the region into a progressive industrial center of the South.