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Remember When, Chattanooga? Mid-century Market Street was filled with car dealerships and retail stores

This October 1963 photo taken by the staff of EPB shows a stretch of Market Street that holds Newton Chevrolet, Buehler's Food Market, Jack's Army Store and Smith-Owens Rambler in Chattanooga, Tenn.
This October 1963 photo taken by the staff of EPB shows a stretch of Market Street that holds Newton Chevrolet, Buehler's Food Market, Jack's Army Store and Smith-Owens Rambler in Chattanooga, Tenn. This October 1963 photo taken by the staff of EPB shows a stretch of Market Street that holds Newton Chevrolet, Buehler's Food Market, Jack's Army Store and Smith-Owens Rambler in Chattanooga, Tenn.

By Mark Kennedy 3 min read

Three decades before the Tennessee Aquarium helped transform this stretch of Market Street into a tourist mecca, the downtown artery was filled with auto dealerships and retail stores.

This photo, dated October 1963, is part of a collection of images at ChattanoogaHistory.com taken by the staff of EPB, perhaps for the power company’s newsletter, says the website’s curator, Sam Hall.

Notable establishments pictured in the photo include Newton Chevrolet, Buehler’s Food Market, Jack’s Army Store and Smith-Owens Rambler.

“Over the years, several car dealerships were on that strip of Market Street, including a BMW dealer in the 1970s,” Hall said.

Hall said the cement strip in the center of the street covers former street-car tracks from a trolley system that had been abandoned 16 years before this photo was taken.