“Underground revealed” still frame WTCI, Chattanooga’s PBS station, has released a short film that explores the city’s underground history.
With near-constant flooding in Chattanooga from the Tennessee River – 70 times between 1867 and the early 1900s – city officials decided something had to be done to keep parts of the city from being buried in mud and water and ruining many businesses.
A massive project began to raise four city streets – Market and Broad and portions of Cherry and Chestnut – from the river to Ninth Street, what is now M.L. King Boulevard anywhere from 3 to 15 feet. Eventually, about 40 blocks in Chattanooga were lifted by about one story.
Left behind were first floors that now were basements and basements that were essentially caves. Windows that towered from the first floor were now partially below ground, turning into light vents for the newly created basements. And many of those subterranean rooms and buildings are still there.
More about the city’s secret underground.