A century ago, Chattanooga boasted its fastest growth and laid some of the key infrastructure still in place today, according to Chattanooga Mayor Ron Littlefield.
After a generation of growing only through annexation through the late 1990s, Mr. Littlefield thinks the new century has ushered in an era of new growth. In fact, he’s hopeful that Chattanooga soon may displace Knoxville as the state’s third biggest city.
“I’ve told (Knoxville Mayor) Bill Haslam I’m coming after him,” Mr. Littlefield joked. “These census years and the comprehensive counts that take place at that time establish a baseline on which we build our future.”
Thursday is the official 2010 census count day used to determine how many people live where. Results of the decennial population count will be released by the Bureau of the Census next year, and Chattanooga will find out how it compares with Knoxville and other cities.
In 1940, Chattanooga ranked as the nation’s 66th largest city. But 65 years later, it was only 139th. At the urging of Dr. Bernie Miller, chairman of a national census advisory committee, the city requested a revised census estimate that added 13,103 people to its estimated population in 2007.
“It’s vital that everyone be counted in this year’s census so we don’t have that kind of problem again,” Dr. Miller said.
Chattanooga and Knoxville have swapped places over the last century as the biggest city in East Tennessee. As recently as 1950, Chattanooga had 6,275 more residents than Knoxville. But the 2000 census showed Knoxville with an edge of 8,346 residents.
The populations of Chattanooga, Knoxville and Memphis all dropped slightly between the 1980 and 2000 census counts. But the census bureau estimates a new high in the 2010 count.
Most of Chattanooga’s growth has come from expanding its borders. The population density in 1910 was 20 times greater than today even though the city had only 44,604 residents.
At that time, St. Elmo was a separate town and most of the other cities now in Hamilton County, including East Ridge and Red Bank, didn’t exist.