Southern Adventist University has anchored Collegedale since its inception. The growth of the college has paralleled the expansion of Collegedale, where the population has doubled since 1990.
The 248-unit Village at Apison Pike, which opened last year, is already 70 percent leased.Moving on up
The biggest cities in the region in 2015 and their population growth from 2010 to 2015:› Collegedale10,743 residents, up 29.7 percent› Cleveland, Tenn.43,898 residents, 6.3 percent› Crossville, Tenn.11,411 residents, up 5.7 percent› Chattanooga176,588 residents, up 5.3 percent› Soddy-Daisy13,171 residents, up 3.6 percent› Dalton, Ga.33,853 residents, up 2.2 percent› Athens, Tenn.13,688 residents, up 1.7 percent› East Ridge21,260 residents, up 1.3 percent› Red Bank11,769 residents, up 1 percent
Losing population
The census bureau estimates seven area cities lost population from 2010 to 2015. The biggest were:› Copperhill328 residents, down 8.5 percent› Stevenson, Ala.1,991 residents, down 2.7 percent› Trion, Ga.1,786 residents, down 2.3 percent› Gruetli-Laager1,776 residents, down 2 percent› Summerville, Ga.4,452 residents, down 1.9 percent› Lookout Mountain, Ga.1,579 residents, down 1.5 percent› Monteagle1,177 residents, down 1.3 percentSource: U.S. Bureau of Census
Collegedale Mayor Katie Lamb came to Southern Adventist College to teach nursing 44 years ago when the city of Collegedale, true to its name, was a small college town that was home to McKee Baking Co. and only a few thousand year-round residents.
“Four Corners (at the intersection of Ooltewah-Ringgold Road and Apison Pike) was still farmland, and there was hardly any traffic except when the bakery changed shifts,” recalled Lamb, who retired as Southern’s dean of nursing a decade ago.
But as Southern grew into a full-scale university, McKee Foods became America’s biggest privately owned bakery and Hamilton County’s population has shifted to the east, Collegedale has emerged as the fastest growing city in the Chattanooga region. Collegedale’s population has doubled since 1990 and grew nearly 30 percent from the last official census in 2010 through last year, according to new population estimates released by the U.S. Bureau of Census.