Hardly a day went by in the mid-1970s without some reference to the nation’s bicentennial year in Chattanooga’s newspapers.
For example, the Chattanooga News-Free Press, the city’s afternoon daily at the time, had 4,226 mentions of the bicentennial in 1976, the year that marked the 200th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
If you’re counting, that’s more than 11 references per day, on average.
Even during the last few months of 1975, the city was already in full celebratory mode. This photo of a flag presentation was considered worthy of Page 1 on Oct. 10, 1975, as patriotism approached its peak.
According to the newspaper report, a bicentennial flag presented in this photo was designed to fly at the city school system’s central offices, with other flags just like it displayed at each of the city’s many public schools.