Chattanooga History

The Waymark Hotel - Downtown Chattanooga

The beautiful building was built in 1927 as the Chattanooga Savings Bank and Trust Company—a bank building designed by local architect R.H. Hunt.

Shortly after the bank merged with First National Bank in 1929 and closed in the early 1930s during the Depression and became a general office building.

Over the decades it hosted dental and medical offices, Tennessee Valley Authority offices, Cartter Lupton — the Coca-Cola bottler — for a few years, and architect R.H. Hunt himself kept an office on the top floor.

It remained an office tower until the early 2000s, sat vacant for about twenty years, and just reopened this year as The Waymark Hotel. Perhaps we'll have to stay a few nights and do a more detailed piece. I certainly have a few period photos of it around here somewhere 😀

🤲 He is not here, but is risen 🙌 Happy Easter Sunday!!

Here is a brief segment from a lengthy letter by Sergeant John Thomas Becker of the 105th Illinois Infantry, to his wife Eleanor Belt Becker. John enjoyed his camp at Lookout Valley, and certainly thought the view from Lookout Mountain overlooking Chattanooga was exceptional!

Wauhatchie Valley, Tennessee
March 20, 1864

Dear Ellen,

I have just received your letter mailed March 13th and will try and write some in reply. Last Sunday I was upon Lookout Mountain and I was well repaid for the trouble it took to climb to the top, for from its peak can be seen the whole of the battleground of Chattanooga and part of Chickamauga. It is a wild-looking place around here, yet I like it.

John survived the war following wounds sustained at Taylor's Hole Creek (Averasborough, NC), returned to his beautiful wife Ellen, and enjoyed a life of farming.



Photos courtesy of C.M. Volz

My Top 50 Most Classic Civil War Photos. HERE’S #38, captioned as General US Grant and staff members on Lookout Mountain. Often used to illustrate the rugged and plain-dressing Grant’s rise, just before becoming Lieutenant General… but there are some problems. Namely, that it doesn’t look just like US Grant and the staff members IDd on the mountainside do not look at all like those listed (thanks Anthony Hodges!). Lastly, I don’t think that’s Grant or a cigar in the supposed Grant’s mouth, but more likely a branch or it’s penciled in on an early print or plate. Nonetheless, an absolutely classic photo, of which I suspect someone will post a modern view! Hi-res linked in the first comment

Confederama at the foot of Lookout Mountain in the 1960’s.

Throwback to Chattanooga history with a purr-fect twist!

Back in the 1960s, Confederama welcomed visitors at the foot of Lookout Mountain — a classic Civil War diorama attraction right here in St. Elmo.

That same building at 3742 Tennessee Avenue (near the Incline Railway) later became a Blockbuster, then a short-lived Civil War museum. Today, it's home to the Naughty Cat Cafe — one of the world’s biggest cat lounges, with 30+ rescue kitties, coffee, and snacks!

From battlefield dioramas to feline fun… history really does have nine lives. 🐱

Who remembers the original Confederama? Have you visited the Naughty Cat Cafe yet?

📍 3742 Tennessee Ave, Suite 100, Chattanooga, TN 37409

🚂 Did you know? Right here in the heart of downtown Chattanooga — at the corner of Broad Street and MLK Boulevard (formerly 9th Street), where the Bank of America building and parts of the Convention Center area now stand — once stood the mighty Union Depot!

Built between 1857 and 1859 by the Western & Atlantic and Nashville & Chattanooga railroads, this massive train shed stretched across multiple blocks and served as one of the South's largest logistical hubs. It helped earn Chattanooga the nickname "Gateway to the Deep South" thanks to its strategic rail connections.

Fun historical facts:

- During the Civil War, both Confederate and Union forces used the depot as a key supply and commissary point.

- At its peak, it was a bustling car shed with tracks, offices, and waiting rooms right under one giant roof.

- The depot operated for over a century until it was sadly demolished in 1972 to make way for modern development.

Next time you're strolling downtown near the Read House or Convention Center, imagine the roar of steam engines and the hustle of travelers from another era! Chattanooga's railroad legacy is still very much alive. ❤️

🇺🇸 Today 9am - 4pm 🇺🇸

We're out at the Soddy-Daisy Regional History Fair today with the collection 😀 There are so many amazing displays, historians, artifacts, photos, and homemade baked good 🥮 🍪

🎄Christmas Day 1863 Christmas🎄

Christmas Day, 1863.

A month after the “Battle Above the Clouds,” officers from General John W. Geary’s staff climbed back to the summit of Lookout Mountain — not as soldiers in combat, but as men revisiting the heights they had fought so hard to take. Their winter quarters lay down in Chattanooga now, but the mountain still called to them: a place of memory, of triumph, and of things their commander could not leave behind.

Geary himself was absent this day. The man who would one day become Governor of Pennsylvania was spending this Christmas in private grief, mourning a son lost at Wauhatchie only weeks earlier. Yet his staff gathered here on the rocks above the Tennessee Valley, sharing a simple holiday meal in the thin mountain air — holding a space of remembrance for the cost of the campaign and the fragile, short‑lived peace of a war only halfway through.