For baby boomers, this sky-view photo of downtown is the Chattanooga of their childhood memories.
You'll see plenty remains today of the 1950s-1960s skyline, but then again, some of the mid-century landmarks no longer exist. For example, the Johnson Tire Company (foreground) and Loveman's department store up the way.
The photo is taken from chattanoogahistory.com/rememberwhen, a website filled with archive images curated by Chattanooga history buff Sam Hall. Hall says the photo online is especially detailed and great for zooming in, block by block.
Hall says this downtown photo comes from a collection of images taken by the city of Chattanooga Public Works Department from the mid-1950s to the early-1960s and donated to the digital archive by a former city employee Perry Mayo.
Central to the photo is the prominence of Market and Broad streets as the main arteries of downtown commerce.
Hall says long-time residents will notice these former points of interest:
1. L&N Depot - Originally built in 1950 as the Western & Atlantic Depot.
2. Union Depot - To the left in the photo, the iconic Union Depot was a train car shed completed in 1859 and, in this photo, still home to 'The General" on display in the station until 1961. The General was a Civil War-era train central to Andrews' Raid in 1862.
3. The Plaza Hotel - Later the Southern Express building/Pickle Barrel restaurant.
4. Greyhound Bus Terminal - A mid-town landmark in the mid-20th century.
See if you can find the glint of the Dome Building or the location of future home of the Chattanooga Lookouts, AT&T Field.
More Info
Launched by history enthusiast Sam Hall in 2014, ChattanoogaHistory.com is designed to preserve historical images in the highest resolution available. If you have photo old negatives, glass plate negatives, or original nondigital prints taken in the Chattanooga area, contact Sam Hall at samhall@chattanoogatn.biz for information on how they may qualify to be digitized and preserved at no charge.
Please join our Remember when, Chattanooga? public Facebook page to see past and present photos posted for this weekly series. Comments and submissions are encouraged.
Contact Mark Kennedy at mkennedy@timesfreepress.com.