Before EPB was known as the driver of Chattanooga's high-speed internet, it was apparently a leader in, um, rocketry.
Well, no. This Armed Forces Day Parade float from 1958, while bristling with rockets, simply reflects Cold War pride in American ingenuity as exemplified in the late 1950s by missile technology.
When this photo was published in the Times Free Press last month as part of our "Remember when, Chattanooga?" photo series, we put out a call for anyone who might know the names of the women onboard the float. Granted, this parade was almost 62 years ago.
We had nearly given up hope of finding any information when we received an e-mail from 84-year-old Margaret Dantzler of Ringgold, Georgia, last week saying she was one of the women.
She wrote: "You were asking to hear from anyone who recognized the ladies on the EPB 1958 Armed Forces Day Parade float. I can identify two of them, as I was the young lady on the back right side (as one faced the front of the float): Margaret Alice Cooper Dantzler.
"My dear friend and a bridesmaid in my wedding in 1956, Carol Emmett Haas, was the lady on the left in back as one faces the front of float. Of course, I knew the other two co-workers, but did not work closely with them so their name escapes me now."
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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.
Dantzler went on to write that she spent 10 "terrific years" working at EPB with a break in 1956-57 to live in Atlanta while her husband, Bryan, was working on a degree at Georgia Tech. They have been married for 64 years, she reports.
Bryan Dantzler said he spotted the photo in the Times Free Press and immediately called it to his wife's attention.
"Seeing the picture again was quite a surprise and brought back many good memories," she wrote.
This photo is part of an online collection of documentary photos curated by local history buff Sam Hall. To explore the photograph at full resolution visit ChattanoogaHistory.com/rememberwhen.
Follow the photo series on Facebook here.
Contact Mark Kennedy at mkennedy@timesfreepress.com.