It has been almost 30 years since Chattanooga dentist John Huckaba died, but his legacy lives on the public flora and fauna of the Scenic City.
It’s hard to believe now, but when Huckaba started spearheading beautification of the central city in the early 1990s, downtown was just beginning to blossom after a period of post-industrial neglect.
(READ MORE: Chattanooga’s turnaround story in the ’80s and ’90s.)
His self-styled “Green Team” was a corps of ordinary citizens who would deploy to boulevards and freeways to plant flowers and trees in high-traffic areas. What’s done now with nonprofit organizations, taxpayer dollars or corporate budgets was once a job for these citizen gardeners.