What better use of one-tenth of an acre of Coolidge Park can there be than a heritage center that honors the park's namesake and those like him?
The proposed Charles H. Coolidge Medal of Honor Heritage Center, honoring all Medal of Honor recipients at a park named for one specific Chattanooga honoree, will be the subject of a public meeting at the Chattanooga Theatre Centre on Wednesday at 6 p.m.
The Chattanooga-Hamilton County Regional Planning Agency, the city and the county all have given their preliminary approval for the center, and an official business plan has been created. No city or county money is being sought.
Although the 94-year-old Coolidge has given his approval, such a center actually would fulfill his request made when the park was proposed to be named after him following his meritorious action during World War II.
When the idea for a park in his name was first made in 1945, he turned it down. When city leaders who wished to honor him persisted, he gave his permission as long as the park was to honor all veterans.
To date, there is but a small plaque in the park noting its naming in honor of Coolidge.
A heritage museum would replace the National Medal of Honor Museum of Military History, which is currently located in an almost hidden corridor at Northgate Mall after having to move from two previous buildings. It's not a location conducive to tourism or to anyone wanting to take in the city's sites dedicated to the Civil War.
However, in a tiny speck of the park rarely populated by visitors east of the Walnut Street Bridge, it becomes another crown jewel on the city's riverfront. Along with the carousel, the fountains and the park space west of the bridge, not only would the center itself offer a rich history of the country's highest military honor, but its public plaza and steps also would provide a gathering place for mid-day lunchers and river watchers.
Misinformation about the center suggests the project would take up 2.28 acres. However, the center and plaza would occupy only 15 percent of an acre, and its circular architecture would mimic the images already present in the park. The vast majority of the green space east of the bridge would remain intact for whatever recreation is desired there.
Given the original agreement with Coolidge, no other reason is as valid for such a center, but Chattanooga - not the Chickamauga Battlefield as has been suggested, for instance - is its optimum site considering the city's history with the medal.
"No city can claim the valorous heritage of the Medal of Honor that we can," says B.B. Bell, a retired four-star general who is a University of Chattanooga graduate, now lives in Chattanooga and is a member of the center advisory board.
Not only was the Chattanooga area the backdrop for actions in the Civil War's "Great Locomotive Chase" that led to the awarding of the first Medal of Honor, but East Tennessee is the home to Coolidge and was to three well-known recent recipients, Cpl. (and later Sgt.) Alvin York, conscientious objector Desmond Doss (whose life is the subject of an upcoming Mel Gibson-director movie starring Andrew Garfield) and Paul Huff (for whom a Cleveland, Tenn., parkway is named).
The only woman ever to receive a Medal of Honor, Dr. Mary E. Walker, was honored in part because of her work as an assistant surgeon in Chattanooga following the Battle of Chickamauga in September 1863.
Just a few of the other 3,498 service members to receive the award are 1st Lt. Arthur MacArthur, whose citation came when he seized and planted his regimental flag at the crest of Missionary Ridge during the Battle of Missionary Ridge in 1863, and his son, World War II five-star Gen. Douglas MacArthur, and Webb Hayes, a son of President Rutherford B. Hayes, who was honored for leading a rescue party to free captured men in the Philippines in 1899 following the Spanish American War.
Naysayers may complain at the public meeting about any loss of view, green space or the glorification of war, but a museum - which the center would replace - is already a reality, and the loss of view or green space is negligible. Designers have maximized space in the center's two-story structure yet made it an inviting and handsome memorial.
Backers also refute any comparison to scuttled plans for the Chattanooga History Center, saying the heritage center's business plan, endowment fund, lack of city and county funds, and plan not to break ground - if given the go-ahead - until a large percentage of the eventual cost is raised make it a different animal from the former downtown Chattanooga project.
We believe the proposed heritage center is the right marriage between Coolidge Park and the National Medal of Honor Museum, and we believe those behind it have the wherewithal to put it together with community help.
We endorse it going forward and hope those in Wednesday's public meeting see its ultimate merits for the riverfront.