(Editor’s note: First of two parts)
The future mayor was born into a poor family in Grundy County and had an unusual name. Yet his path to leadership is an inspirational tale that needs to be retold. Thirty-four years after his death, Mayor Rudy Olgiati’s legacy remains an important part of the Chattanooga story.
Peter Rudolph “Rudy” Olgiati’s father died when the future mayor was a young boy, and his mother relocated the family to Alton Park in Hamilton County. Young Rudy briefly attended the Chicago Technical Institute before returning home to work at one of Chattanooga’s premier companies, Chattanooga Glass. From that position, he moved up the business leadership ladder and within a few years became a leader in the construction business. His story is especially interesting in that he began as a bricklayer, learned the industry from ground level, and rose to the superintendent level.
The economic collapse of the early 1930s threatened the stability and progress of every city in the nation and motivated Olgiati to leave the corporate world and join the public sector. He offered his expertise first to the city’s utilities department and later as superintendent of Warner Park. When the U.S. was attacked at Pearl Harbor in December 1941, Olgiati expressed gratitude to the nation that gave his immigrant parents a home by volunteering for the U.S. Army. Using his construction and natural leadership skills, he found a place in the Army Corps of Engineers and rose to the rank of major. Following the Allied victory, he returned home and stepped forward once again to serve his city.
On June 10, 1946, a front-page story in the Chattanooga Daily Times announced that Hamilton County Judge Wiley O. Couch had suggested “P.R. Olgiati, former superintendent of city parks” for a City Commission post then held by Frank L. Brown. Reporter Fred Hixson noted that Olgiati had been “mentioned for the vacancy on the City Commission when R.M. Cooke died. And later his name was among those mentioned for mayor.” The possibility of his appointment to the City Commission was supported by Chattanooga Mayor Ed Bass, who “referred to Olgiati as one of the most efficient employees the city government ever had.”