About Ruby Falls
– Location: On 12.5 acres along Scenic Highway on the side of Lookout Mountain – What it is: A 145-foot high waterfall located 1,120 feet beneath the mountain – Owner: John T. Steiner Family Trust – President: Hugh Morrow – History: In 1905 the natural entrance to Lookout Mountain Cave was closed during the construction of a railway tunnel. In the 1920s a chemist and cave enthusiast named Leo Lambert tried to re-open the cave and discovered an underground waterfall in 1928. In 1930, Ruby Falls began hosting visitors. – Why the name: Lambert named the falls after his wife, Ruby.
Nearly a century after Leo Lambert discovered an underground waterfall beneath Lookout Mountain and named it for his wife Ruby, the popular tourist attraction will soon undergo its biggest expansion and upgrade.
Ruby Falls, the underground cave formed over the past 200 million years, isn’t changing. Neither is the three-story stone castle that has anchored the mountainside attraction for nearly a century.
But the entranceway, parking and retail facilities above the historic falls soon will get a new look. Over the next decade, the owners of one of Chattanooga’s biggest tourist attractions plan to invest more than $20 million to upgrade the facility and more than double the building space on the side of Lookout Mountain.