As the Chattanooga Choo Choo complex chugs through one of the biggest-ever makeovers to its hotel, gardens and iconic rail cars, the site for which the city is widely known turned 50 last week.
“This was one of the first examples of a large city train station, which was no longer served by the railroad, to be saved for public use by private investment,” said Justin Strickland, a Chattanooga historian who wrote a book about the popular landmark.
Strickland said the grand opening of what was then known as the Chattanooga Choo Choo Hilton and Entertainment Complex in April 1973 almost didn’t happen.
“It came so close to becoming a parking lot,” he said in a telephone interview about the Market Street location of the former railroad depot. “They were taking it apart when the decision came down to save it.”
The first train arrived at Chattanooga’s Terminal Station, popularized in the 1941 hit song by Glenn Miller, in 1909. But train travel declined sharply after World War II, and by 1970, Southern Railway had vacated the facility, according to news archives.