About the Chattanooga, Tennessee Area 

Chattanooga is a city of such natural beauty that it is referred to as the Scenic City. This busy, progressive city of 155,582 people combines its scenic landscape with recreational and business opportunities. It is considered one of the nation’s most livable cities, offering the friendliness, reasonable housing and easy commute of small towns, along with the cultural and recreational advantages of large city areas. With its renovated downtown and riverfront, its stunning beauty and excellent quality of living, this is truly a gracious place to live. 

Location
Chattanooga is the fourth-largest city in Tennessee, and the seat of Hamilton County. It is located in Southeast Tennessee on the Tennessee River, near the Georgia border. Sitting in a bend of the Tennessee River between Lookout Mountain and Signal Mountain, Chattanooga is often considered a "gateway" to the Deep South.  

Chattanooga is located 100 miles southwest of Knoxville, 104 miles northwest of Atlanta, and 113 miles southeast of Nashville. It is situated at the junction of Interstates 75, 24, and 59. Interstate 75 goes to Atlanta and Knoxville, Interstate 24 goes to Nashville, and Interstate 59 goes to Birmingham. As it is bisected by the Tennessee River, Chattanooga has five automobile bridges, one railroad trestle, and one pedestrian bridge traversing the waterway. 

Geography
Chattanooga covers an area of 143.2 square miles, of which 135.2 square miles is land and 8.0 square miles, or 5.56%, is water.  

The city lies at the transition between the ridge-and-valley portion of the Appalachian Mountains and the Cumberland Plateau, surrounded by ridges. It sits at an altitude of 685 feet above sea level. The most prominent natural features in the area are the Tennessee River and the surrounding mountains. A dam creates Chickamauga Lake, just north of the downtown area.  

Jobs
Chattanooga is an excellent city for business, due to many factors: its prime location, infrastructure, workforce, institutions of higher learning, water supply, and quality of life. The city encompasses a diversified mix of businesses, including distribution and transportation companies, high-end office operations, food processing, and manufacturing. Chattanooga's main industry is service, which provides 34.2% of employment. Educational, health and social services provide 21.1% of employment, manufacturing provides16.5%, and retail trade provides10.7%.  

Chattanooga is the location of the headquarters of Olan Mills, Rock Creek Outfitters, Krystal, CBL and Associates, Chattem, Covenant Transport, U.S. Xpress Inc. (the 4th largest trucking company in the U.S.), National Model Railroad Association, UnumProvident, The Chattanooga Bakery (home of the Moon Pie), and Miller Industries, the largest tow truck manufacturer in the world.  

Many banks and insurance industries have also set up operations in Chattanooga. The city is home to the branch offices of Cigna, Blue Cross, AT&T and UBS. Other major employers are the Tennessee Valley Authority, ALSTOM Power, Inc., Erlanger and T.C. Thompson's Children's Hospital, and the Hamilton County Board of Education. 

The median household income in Chattanooga is $46,888 and the average per capita income is $25,596. The average time it takes to travel to work is 19.8 minutes, and the unemployment level is 5.10% 

Housing
Chattanooga is a growing city with a wide range of residential living, from older historic homes to new condo and townhouse subdivisions. Many of the downtown areas have been or are being revitalized, which is increasing property values. 

Home prices range from under $100,000 to $790,000, with a median home price of $165,600. Homes stay on the market for an average of 72 days. 

Recreation
Chattanooga offers a broad range of outdoor activities, from rafting down a river to golfing on Bermuda tree-lined fairways; from hang gliding to hiking through the mountains. Chattanooga has an impressive number of parks for a city its size, including Ross’s Landing, a 22-mile long chain of parks, known as the Tennessee Riverpark, and 12-acre Coolidge Park.  

Coolidge Park is one of the newest parks, with a large interactive fountain for the children, an antique carousel, and lots of greenery. The city provides approximately 800 acres of park space, with playgrounds, trails, and ball fields. 

In Chattanooga, there is a skate park and a special dog park, aptly named Chattanooga Chew Chew Canine Park. Chattanooga also hosts the national softball championships every year.

Chattanooga’s Recreation Department has 15 recreation centers, a civic center, a senior center, fitness programs, tennis programs, sports leagues and 5 aquatic facilities. The sports offered include basketball, baseball, football, volleyball, soccer, softball, and hockey. 

The Champions Club Tennis Complex features 26 hard courts, and a two-story, 6,000 square foot clubhouse. Chattanooga also offers an OutVenture program, which specializes in outdoor activities such as canoeing, sea kayaking, whitewater kayaking, mountain biking, and rock climbing.  

You can enjoy the scenic Tennessee River, which flows from Chickamauga Dam in Chattanooga west through the Tennessee River Gorge to Shellmound Recreation Area and Nickajack Dam in neighboring Marion County. The nearby Raccoon Mountain Caverns and Campground offer a variety of activities, such as go-cart rides, panning for gemstones, and touring the Crystal Caverns. 

Chattanooga boasts several top-notch golf courses for all skill levels. There are 7 public golf courses, one semi-private and 3 private.  

Black Creek Golf Course has received high praise. It was among Golfweek's Top 100 Modern Golf Courses in 2003, and Golf Digest's Top 10 Courses in Tennessee. It rated #25 in Golfweek's Best Residential Golf Courses in America, in 2005. Black Creek has hosted many state championships, as well as the Nationwide Tour's Chattanooga Classic. 

Chattanooga Golf and Country Club is a private 18-hole course, overlooking the Tennessee River. This historic course is the oldest one on its original site in Tennessee, and was formed eight years after the opening of the first golf club in the U.S. The other golf courses in the area are: Council Fire, Eagle Bluff, Brainerd, Brown Acres, Concord, Eastgate, Hickory Valley, Moccasin Bend, and Quarry. 

Special Attractions/Events
Chattanooga has so much to see and do. The city has received national recognition for the renaissance of its downtown and redevelopment of its riverfront. The revitalized Waterfront area is a whirl of exciting possibilities, such as; a freshwater aquarium, a children’s museum, a carousel, theaters, walking paths, and a pedestrian bridge.  

The internationally acclaimed Tennessee Aquarium is the world's largest freshwater aquarium. The antique carousel is the extraordinary focal point of Coolidge Park. It dates back to 1895, and was originally carved by Gustav Dentzel. It had been abandoned in a New England amusement park, and was then found by a group of local investors who had it restored, adding new horses, sleds and other animals. It is an on-going delight for everyone at its present home in Coolidge Park. 

Chattanooga’s historic bridges include the restored 19th century pedestrian Walnut Street Bridge and the Chief John Ross (Market Street) Bridge. The Walnut Street Bridge was erected in 1890, and was the first bridge to connect Chattanooga's downtown with the North Shore. It is now a pedestrian walkway, and the 1/2-mile span makes it the longest pedestrian bridge in the world. It offers spectacular views of Coolidge Park, the Tennessee Aquarium and the Riverfront. 

Art lovers can walk along the Tennessee Riverwalk to the Bluff View Art District. You can dine and cruise on the Southern Belle Riverboat. You can visit the Creative Discovery Museum, Chattanooga Regional History Museum, the Chattanooga African-American Museum and Bessie Smith Hall, the Hunter Museum of American Art and the Houston Museum of Decorative Art. 

For some local train history, you can visit the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum and the Chattanooga Choo Choo's Model Railroad Museum. The model railroad museum is a working display that consists of Chattanooga's Terminal and Union Stations. It is one of the world's largest working model railroads, with 320 structures, and over 3000 feet of track. The Chattanooga Choo Choo/Holiday Inn's lobby, a former railroad terminal is home to the largest freestanding brick dome in the world, with an interior height of 85 feet. This historic train station has trolley rides, quaint shops, and you can sleep in an authentic parlor car and enjoy a meal served by singing waiters. 

Chattanooga is home to the world's only tow truck museum, the International Towing and Recovery Museum. 

Historic Lookout Mountain has the world-famous attractions of Rock City (in Georgia), Ruby Falls, the Incline Railway and Point Park. Adjacent to Point Park is the Battles for Chattanooga Electric Map and Museum, which is all about the battles in the Campaign for Chattanooga.  

The Waterfront offers a multitude of special events such as the 9-day June Riverbend Music Festival and Miller Plaza's Nightfall Concerts. There are also some delightful county fairs to enjoy, such as Prater's Mill, Ketner's Mill, Bethel Country Fair, and the Hamilton County Fair. The Autumn Leaf Excursion and the Fall Leaf Color Cruise are provided by the Tennessee Valley Railroad and the Southern Belle Riverboat. The year draws to a close with annual Enchanted Garden of Lights, the Nightlight Float Parade in Downtown Chattanooga, Deck the Falls, and the Polar Express. 

For shopping, Chattanooga offers everything: modern malls, quaint old neighborhood shops, large factory outlets, boutiques; nationwide stores, and local merchants. Shops are found downtown and in the outlying neighborhoods. Three shopping malls in the area are Northgate Mall, Eastgate Town Center, and Hamilton Place, Tennessee’s largest mall. Warehouse Row, the large outlet mall, is downtown. 

Interesting Facts/Historic Buildings and Places 

The Chattanooga area has over 300 kinds of trees and 900 varieties of wildflowers, more than anywhere on earth, except central China. 

Chattanooga means "rock coming to a point" in the Creek Indian language. It is thought to refer to Lookout Mountain or the rock outcroppings in the area. 

The city was originally the site of a Cherokee trading post. Its location on the Tennessee River made it a formidable natural obstacle and so it was a focal point for opposing armies in the Civil War. The 17 regional sites of Chickamauga-Chattanooga National Military Park are a legacy of that era. 

The following people were born or resided in Chattanooga: Hugh Beaumont, actor; Dixie Carter, actress; James B. Frazier, governor of Tennessee; Irvine Grote, inventor of Rolaids; Roland Hayes, tenor; Henry H. Horton, governor of Tennessee; Samuel L. Jackson, actor; Estes Kefauver, US senator; Yusef Lateef, saxophonist; William Gibbs McAdoo, Secretary of the Treasury; Grace Moore, soprano, actress; Usher Raymond, rhythm and blues singer; Dennis Haskins, actor; Ted Turner, founder of CNN; Venus Lacy, Olympic Gold Medalist in basketball; Jimmy Blanton, bass player; Arther Golden, author; Danny Shirley, singer; Grant Adcox, race car driver; Bessie Smith, blues singer, and Reggie White, football player.

The city is probably best known for the 1941 big-band swing song, “Chattanooga Choo Choo” by Glenn Miller. The Glenn Miller Orchestra won the first gold record awarded by the music industry for that song. 

The city was originally founded by John Ross as Ross’ Landing in 1816 as a center for Cherokee trade. It was renamed "Chattanooga" in 1838. On November 23, 1863, during the American Civil War, the Battle of Chattanooga III began. General Ulysses S. Grant reinforced his Union troops at Chattanooga and counter-attacked Confederate troops. The next day the Battle of Lookout Mountain was fought near the town.
Within the last ten years Chattanooga has been awarded 3 national awards for outstanding "livability", and 9 Gunther Blue Ribbon Awards for excellence in housing and consolidated planning. 

Chattanooga is the birthplace of the tow truck and site of the first Coca-Cola bottling plant. Two local attorneys bought the franchise bottling rights for the Coca-Cola plant for $1 each.  

Chattanooga is the birthplace of the MoonPie. 

Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park is the nation's first and largest military park. 

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