The past year was marked by milestones for organizers of Chattanooga’s planned heritage center to honor Medal of Honor recipients, including surpassing significant financial benchmarks and hiring a new director.
Still, project leaders say the events of 2018 will pale in comparison as the center begins construction this month, initiates the next phase of its capital campaign and unveils a new name and interior design.
“We have finally made it happen,” said Maj. Gen. Bill Raines, chairman of the Heritage Center. “We are now going to be able to honor the valor of medal recipients, teach about their character and appreciate how this hard work is going to pay big dividends for our community.”
The Charles H. Coolidge National Medal of Honor Heritage Center will be a 19,000-square-foot, $6 million facility honoring the 3,522 recipients of the nation’s highest award for individual valor in the military, with a specific interest in the 32 Medal of Honor recipients from Tennessee. The first 52 medals awarded by the United States were earned in the Civil War’s Chattanooga campaign from 1862-1864.
The center will be housed in the old visitors center in Aquarium Plaza and is expected to open in February 2020, Raines said.