The Chattanooga-Hamilton County Bicentennial Library is shown under construction in 1975. / News-Free Press photo archived at ChattanoogaHistory.com.In 1975, the Chattanooga-Hamilton County Bicentennial Library was still a work in progress.
This photo, recovered recently from a box of newspaper negatives found at the Times Free Press, shows the five-story building under construction at 1001 Broad St., between 10th and 11th streets.
The library, which replaced the former public library on McCallie Avenue, was a focus of community pride when it was completed in 1976, America’s bicentennial year.
This and other images from the newly found box of negatives will be on display at ChattanoogaHistory.com, a website devoted to vintage images of the city.
The downtown library’s distinctive architecture is an example of brutalism, which was popular from the 1950s to the 1970s. According to newspaper archives: “Such buildings are typically massive in character” with lots of exposed concrete used in the construction.