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Sunday, November 15, 2026Nov 15

Picnooga releases 16,000 photos of Chattanoogans in the ’60s

A Chattanooga Free-Press photo from 1953 shows the 700 block of Market Street looking north toward what is now the United Way building.
A Chattanooga Free-Press photo from 1953 shows the 700 block of Market Street looking north toward what is now the United Way building.

The hairdos are crewcuts and beehives, the automobiles are now all classics, and everyone in the 16,000 photos of Chattanooga that local history project Picnooga posted online today is at least 50 years older now.

But the black-and-white photographs should bring back memories for thousands of people who lived here in the 1960s.

There are high school students and beauty queens, politicians, business owners, athletes, and local celebrities, often lined up in a row.

The photos posted today were taken by photographers for the News-Free Press from 1960 until early 1966.

David Moon, who heads the project, said he plans to release 13,000 additional photos from the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s once they are digitized.