Q. What national event coincided with the 1933 dedication of the Scenic City’s federal courthouse?
A. On Dec. 6, 1933, a new federal courthouse, still in use today, was dedicated in Chattanooga. The celebration came one day after ratification of the 21st Amendment, which ended Prohibition.
The federal building, which was also to be used as a post office, cost $1 million (or $23.9 million in today’s dollars).
While much of the nation celebrated the end of Prohibition in the meantime, it remained in effect in Tennessee until state law was changed in 1939 to allow cities and counties to vote on whether to allow package sales of wine and liquor, according to the Tennessee Encyclopedia. Hamilton County on May 2 of that year became the first county in the state to approve sales.
— Compiled by Lew Gilliland