The Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum was one of 108 museums across Tennessee to receive a state grant under a $5 million program approved by the state legislature this year through an allocation to the Tennessee State Museum.
The Chattanooga railroad museum on Cromwell Road will get $92,500 to make access improvements to classroom space in the museum’s exhibit building. The railroad museum was selected from among 170 applications, totaling $12.5 million in funding requests.
“There is incredible work being done throughout the state by our strong network of Tennessee museums and historic homes,” Ashley Howell, the executive director of the Tennessee State Museum, said in an announcement of the grant. “This grant is an extension of how we can further support their efforts and the preservation of local and state history.”
The Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum’s passenger trains run on a historic 3-mile rail route, which includes the Missionary Ridge Tunnel completed in 1858, and is on the National Register of Historic Places. The museum also works to preserve and display historic railroad equipment for students and visitors to see and experience.
— Compiled by Dave Flessner