These are the historic communities, those completely past
and those still extant, of the original Hamilton County, Tennessee, north/west
of the Tennessee River to the line of Rhea County, from which it was born in
1819. It was established 25 October that
year at Poe’s Tavern, which became the temporary seat of its court. A more permanent location with a dedicated
courthouse was established on land leased to Asahel Rawlings by Cherokee
notable Fox Taylor in 1822, and purchased in 1831. The settlement at the site was called
Hamilton until 1833, when it changed to Dallas.
The county seat moved south of the river to Vannsville (later Harrison)
in 1840, where it remained until 1870, when it moved to Chattanooga, where its circuit
courts had been meeting since 1858.
These are the communities in the original Hamilton County.
I have to admit my knowledge of North Hamilton is not equal
to that with South and East Hamilton, so if I have erred, feel free to let me
know. I have included the major coal
mines as well, because many Hamilton Countians south of the river never
realized how pervasive they were and many north of the river have forgotten. Coal mining and the Cincinnati Southern
Railway (later Cincinnati, New Orleans, & Texas Pacific Railway) made
northern Hamilton County into what is became.
Included
are post offices, local and long range rail stations, schools, and the oldest
churches, mostly but not entirely taken from the Works Progress
Administration’s Guide to Church Vital Statistics in Tennessee published
in 1942. In the last two cases (schools and churches), the
information comes from the time when schools and churches were racially
segregated, and if both were/are present in a community, both are noted.
I’ve also included the more prominent geological features and waterways.
Albion View was a
postal village that lay along what is now Miles Road south of Anderson Pike between
East Brow Road and James Boulevard atop Walden’s Ridge, long since assimilated
by the town of Signal Mountain. The post
office of Albion View operated 1888-1915.
Alta Vista was
the home and farm of J. E. Sawyer on White Oak Road, which is now Memorial
Drive. After Sherman’s troops crossed
the Tennessee River at Brown’s Ferry, they camped in this hidden cove, near the
White Oak Spring. Alta Vista later
became White Oak Cemetery, now Chattanooga Memorial Garden, and the spring is
better known as Duck Pond Spring.
Bakewell grew up
in the area where the Retro-Hughes Road crosses Cincinnati Southern Railway, spreading along its intersections with Back Valley Road and
McCallie Ferry Road. Bakewell was one of
the centers of Afro-American population in the north county.
Retro Station was the depot here on the Cincinnati, New Orleans, & Texas Pacific Railroad from the beginning.
The post office here operated as Retro 1880-1914, then as Bakewell 1914-1964.
Retro School and Retro School (Colored) were both established in the late 1800s, becoming Bakewell School and Bakewell School (Colored) in the 1910s. The two merged as Bakewell Elementary School upon integration. The school closed in the early 1970s, but the building continues as Bakewell Community Center.
Though none now exists, the community supported a
great number of churches in 1940:
Bakewell Methodist Episcopal South, Bakewell Colored Methodist
Episcopal, Bakewell Presbyterian, Bakewell Baptist, and Bakewell Church of
Christ.
Beck Bottoms lay
along the right bank of the river across from downtown Chattanooga until
Heritage Landing was built atop it. The area was
annexed into the City of Chattanooga in 1956.
Big Ridge runs
from the east side of the mouth of North Chickamauga Creek on the Tennessee
River northeast to Dallas Bay, its northeastern extremity forming part of
Chester Frost Park.
Big Soddy Coal Mines Nos.
1-5 were at the head of Big Soddy Gulch, worked by the New Soddy Coal
Company, then by Durham Coal and Iron Company.
A spur on Cincinnati, New Orleans, & Texas Pacific Railroad from
Rathburn Station serviced the operation.
Browntown, or
Brown’s Chapel, once lay near the intersection of Browntown Road and McCahill
Road.
Brown’s Chapel School opened here in the 1920s and closed in the early years of the Great Depression.
Union Springs Interdenominational Church was founded
here in 1915, with the also nondenominational Church of God of the Living joining it the next year.
The post office of Brown’s Chapel
operated here 1889-1902.
Bunch was an
antebellum community on Poe Road atop Walden’s Ridge which derived its name
from the large land holdings of brothers James and William Bunch.
Camp Contraband
was the settlement north of the Tennessee River across from the town of
Chattanooga during the Civil War for escaped and freed slaves. See also Hill City.
Cave Springs was
a station on the Cincinnati Southern Railway at the western foot of Cave
Springs Ridge that railroad survey maps mark as inaccessible, except to the
railroad. It gets its name from the
springs flowing out of the cave at the foot of the ridge. It was about two miles south of Thrasher
Pike, a half-mile distant from Falling Water.
There was a park here at one time, mainly for picnickers.
Falling Water Post Office operated from here 1880-1906.
Central Grove existed in the late 19th century at
least through the first three decades of the 20th century, somewhere between
Hixson and Red Bank. The only records of
its existence are a school and a church, both of which ceased to exist a
century ago.
Central
Grove School opened its doors in the late 1800s, sharing what was then Hamilton County Schools District No. 2 with Hixson School, Fairview School, and Hixson School (Colored). It was merged into Red Bank
School at the end of the 1927-1928 school year.
Central
Grove Methodist Episcopal Church, South operated from 1889-1916, and was on the
Hixson Circuit.
Chester
Frost Park opened to the public in 1963 as Hamilton County Park
upon land given to the county by TVA for recreation facilities in 1959. The land had been the site of the first
established county seat of Dallas before it moved to Harrison in 1840, on what
is now called Dallas Island, not to be confused with the original Dallas Island
which has been submerged under Chickamauga Reservoir since 1940. In 1979, the park was renamed to its current
title after former County Judge Chester Frost.
Coulterville was a
railroad and postal village on the Cincinnati, New Orleans, & Texas Pacific
Railway.
Coulterville
Station depot stood between Swafford Road and Nelson Cemetery Road, but the
community stretched for some distance along Coulterville Road.
The post
office of Coulterville operated 1879-1918.
Coulterville
School and Coulterville School (Colored) both opened in the late 1800s. Coulterville School was merged into Sale
Creek School in the first decade of the 20th century. Coulterville School (Colored) was merged into
Soddy School (Colored).
The oldest church here was Coulterville Methodist Episcopal Church, founded in the 1880s. Coulterville
Baptist Church was founded in 1935.
Cozby was a
postal village on the other side of Mailbox Hill from Falling Water.
The post office of Cozby operated on Old Dayton Pike near the Highway 153-US 27 interchange 1850-1855.
Cowart Hill is
the spur off Stringer’s Ridge upon which lies most of North Chattanooga.
Daisy stretches
north and south from the foot of Daisy Mountain Road west of the Cincinnati
Southern Railway.
The
community began life as Poe’s Tavern in 1819, when it was the seat of Hamilton
County, until the meeting place of the court moved to a permanent courthouse on
the farm of Asabel Rawlings in 1822. It became
Poe’s Crossroads in 1846; Chickamauga (by vote of its residents) in 1850;
Melville in 1878; and Daisy in 1883.
The post
office of Poe’s Crossroads operated 1846-1847.
The post office reopened and operated as Chickamauga 1866-1878, as
Melville 1878-1883, and as Daisy 1883-1972, when it merged with the post office
of Soddy as Soddy-Daisy.
The first
railway depot here was called Melville, with an auxiliary depot added in 1883 called
Daisy. In the early 20th century, the
second depot ceased operation and the original adopted its name.
Daisy
School was established in the late 1800s and absorbed McCormick’s Chapel School
early in the 20th century. Daisy School
(Colored) opened with the 1907-1908 school year, but closed before the late
1920s. Daisy High School opened for the 1928-1929 school year. Consolidated Soddy-Daisy High School halfway between
the two communities opened in 1937.
Daisy Elementary School continues to this day.
The
oldest church here is Daisy United Methodist Church, founded as Chickamauga
Methodist Episcopal Church in 1871, later changing its name to Daisy Parish Methodist Episcopal along
with the community.
Daisy Coal Mine
was near Daisy, worked by Daisy Coal Company, which reorganized as
Taber-Cleudup Coal and Coke Company, then New Daisy Coal Company, then American
Coal and Railroad Company. The first
operation at the mine was in 1881.
Dallas lies
mostly, but not entirely, under the waters of Dallas Bay. Notable Cherokee leader Fox Taylor leased
part of his reservation north of the Tennessee River to Asahel Rawlings with
the specification included that part of the land serve as the permanent county
seat. From 1822 until 1833, the
community was known as Hamilton, after that it became Dallas. The community faded after the county seat was
moved across river to Vannsville (later Harrison) in 1840.
Transriverine service across the Tennessee was provided by Dallas, or Hunter, Ferry, originally Fields Ferry. Just below the Dallas end of the ferry was Lovelady Landing, the community riverport.
The oldest church here, and in the entire county, was Prairie Springs Methodist Meeting House, founded 1820. In 1831, it became Jackson’s Chapel Methodist Episcopal Church, South (later MES), which merged into Burk’s Chapel Methodist Church, now Burks UMC, in 1951.
The post office here operated as Hamilton
1822-1833 and as Dallas 1833-1846, and again 1848-1849, and finally 1866-1872.
Daughtery (Doughty) Ferry
was the community that grew up on the right (west) bank of the Tennessee River
at the Daugherty Ferry crossing.
For a time, Spivyview School held classes at the crossroads just to the west.
Davis Coal Mine,
also known as Soddy No. 4, was
worked by the Soddy Coal Company, then the Soddy Coal, Iron, and Railway
Company, then New Soddy Coal Company.
Divine was a village at the western mouth of Divine Gap through Stringer’s Ridge. It later hosted a depot named for it on the Chattanooga
Traction Railway, before that trolley company’s two operational lines split.
Divine Station depot still stands at the intersection of
Power Corporation Drive and Whitehall Road.
Double Branch lay
along Poe Road on Mowbray Mountain atop Walden’s Ridge.
The post office of Double Branch operated
1856-1875.
Duck Pond is
formed by the Anderson Spring at Alta Vista, which later became White Oak
Cemetery and is now Chattanooga Memorial Garden.
Dry Valley lies
between Laurel Ridge on the west and Stringer’s Ridge in the east.
Fairmount sits on
the plateau of Walden’s Ridge east of the town of Walden and north of the town
of Signal Mountain along Fairmount Pike, North Fairmount Road, and Fairmount
Road West. It began as a resort in the
late 19th century.
The post office of Fairmount operated 1872-1909, with service then transferred to Lookout Mountain.
Fairmount Academy was the first state-authorized school in Hamilton County, opening its door in 1858.
Fairmount School was established in the late 1800s, consolidating with Signal Mountain School in the late 1930s.
Methodists worshipped in the Academy almost since its founding, and in 1871 finally moved into their own separate building as Fairmount Methodist Church, a new incorporation but the same congregation. In 1950, the congregation became Signal Mountain Methodist Church, which became Signal Mountain UMC.
Fairview is the community along the crest of Big Ridge.
Fairview School operated here from the late 1890s until merging with Hixson School in the 1940s. It stood
approximately where Big Ridge Elementary does today.
Fairview Methodist Church began in Fairview School here in 1907, moving to Hamill Road and Big Ridge Road in 1939, where it is now Fairview United Methodist Church.
Falling Water
sits at the mouth of Robert’s Gap in Walden’s Ridge, spreading out from Roberts
Mill-Falling Water Road north of Mailbox Hill.
Robert’s Mill School was established here in the late 1910s or early 1920s and had become Falling Water School in the late 1920s. Falling Water Elementary School consolidated with Ganns-Middle Valley Elementary School as Middle Valley Elementary School in a modern new building in 2016.
Falling Water Cumberland Presbyterian Church was founded here 1884. Falling Water Baptist Church was founded 1906. Both churches still meet.
The post office of Falling Water operated 1874-1906, from 1880 out of Cave Springs Station on Cincinnati,
New Orleans, & Texas Pacific Railway.
Fibrothers Coal Mine
operated by the five Millsap brothers opened at the head of Little Soddy Gulf
after the Durham Coal and Iron Company ceased operations in 1929. This mine can be visited on the Three Gorges
segment of the Cumberland Trail.
Flat Top sits on
the plateau of Walden’s Ridge along Jones Gap (formerly Flat Top) Road, just
east of the border with Bledsoe County, but the community actually straddles
the county line.
Flat Top School opened here in the late 1800s or very early 1900s, merging with Mowbray School in the 1940s.
Gann’s was the
name of a community centered on the intersection of North Dent Road and
Thrasher Pike. Now consolidated with
Middle Valley, along with their schools.
Gann’s
School was established in the late 1800s or early 1900s on
Gann Road opposite the north end of Dent Road. It consolidated with Miller
Grove School and Gold Point School to become Gann’s-Middle Valley School in the
late 1930s. Gann’s-Middle Valley
Elementary consolidated with Falling Water Elementary as Middle Valley Elementary
School in 2016.
Pleasant
Grove Baptist Church was founded on Gann Road in 1909 and still meets.
Glendale is a
community that first grew up in the south of the Mountain Creek community around Glendale Station on the Signal Mountain Line of Chattanooga
Traction Railway. It essentially covers the area along Glendale Drive between Signal Mountain Road and Mountain Creek Road and the byroads attached to it.
It was home to
Mountain Creek Elementary School until it closed.
Glendale was
annexed into the City of Chattanooga in 1966.
Godsey Ridge runs
between Laurel Ridge and Mountain Creek Valley, forming the eastern border of
the latter as Walden’s Ridge does its western border.
Gold Point grew up about the intersections of Hixson Pike with Thrasher
Pike, Gold Point Circle South, and Gold Point Circle North. Gold Point Circle North is the original route of Hixson Pike
before the closing of Chickamauga Dam. Part of Gold Point Circle South used to be
Harrison Ferry Road. Until the late 19th
century, the entire length of Hixson Pike had been known as Dallas Pike.
Gold Point School opened in the late 19th century, operating until consolidating with Gann’s School and Miller Grove School to become Gann’s-Middle Valley School in the late 1930s. Gann’s-Middle Valley Elementary consolidated with Falling Water Elementary into Middle Valley Elementary School in 2016.
The community’s church was Jackson’s Chapel
Methodist Episcopal Church, South; for more information, see Dallas.
The post office of Gold Point operated
1891-1907.
Grant is the name for the vicinity of the Grant Road-Welch Road intersection, and at one time a small community there. It may have once been called Bunch.
Green
Pond is a small community at the northern intersection of
Dallas Hollow and Green Pond Roads.
Greens Mill lies along North Chickamauga Creek and Boy Scout Road (formerly Foley Hixson Mill Road) halfway between Middle Valley Road and Dayton Boulevard.
Hamill Springs Camp Ground lay about a mile to the north of the later community of Hixson.
Hamillville once
covered a sizable area spreading out from Hamill Road, mostly east of the
Cincinnati Southern Railway but including a small section between that and
Highway 153.
Hamillville
was annexed into the City of Chattanooga in 1972.
Hamilton was a village
that grew up in anticipation of getting a depot on the Cincinnati Southern
Railway that lay roughly in the vicinity of the Hixson Pike-Haywood Avenue intersection or the Hixson Pike-Lupton Drive crossroads. A year after its establishment, it had two general stores, a grocery store with liquor, two
liquor stores, its own physician, and its own post office, with a reported population of 500. Alas, the railway owners changed the route to
three miles east and no trace of the tiny village remains.
The
post office of Hamilton here operated 1876-1884.
Hampton
Heights lies south of Barton Avenue and west of Chattanooga
Golf and Country Club and is notable primarily for being the last neighborhood
in North Chattanooga annexed into the City of Chattanooga, along with Beck’s
Bottom (which is now Heritage Landing), in 1957.
Harveyton (see
Hill City)
Hatfield Coal Mine
operated by J. S. Hatfield was near Daisy.
It was listed in at least one edition of the Annual Report of Mineral
Resources, but I couldn’t find anything further.
Hill City originated
as Camp Contraband during the Civil War.
Its boundaries are Manning Street, Stringer’s Ridge, and both sides of
Upper Ferry Road (now North Market Street).
The name covered the entire area north of the river across from downtown
Chattanooga until the town of North Chattanooga incorporated in 1915. Afterward, Hill City stretched from
Stringer’s Ridge to Forest Avenue in the east and south to Manning Street. In 1900, the population of Hill City was
1,748.
In the War of the Rebellion, Fort Wilder stood atop Old Baldy Knob of Stringer’s Ridge during the Federal Military Occupation.
Hill City was
a stop on the Chattanooga and Northside Railway and its successors, Signal Mountain Railway (Northside) and Northside Consolidated Railway, with its
depot at Upper Ferry Road (North Market Street) and Peak Street.
The post
office here operated as Harveyton 1883-1884, then as Hill City 1884-1912, after
which service transferred to the North Chattanooga Station of Chattanooga Post Office.
The dawn of
the 20th century found Hill City School (Colored) at the northern end of Spears
Avenue. By the 1910s, it had become North
Chattanooga School (Colored).
After
annexation, North Chattanooga School (Colored) was changed to Spears Avenue
School. Spears Avenue Elementary School
closed after integration, with students transferred to G. Russell Brown
Elementary School on the south side of West Manning Street, which fell victim
to the city’s mass school closings in 1989.
Hurst
Memorial Methodist Episcopal Church, Central Jurisdiction was founded here in
1866, originally as Jackson Chapel MEC, CJ, named after Rev. W.A. Jackson, who
helped organize it on White Oak Hill. The name changed to New Hope ME in 1883
when it moved to Lawn Street. It became Hurst Memorial ME after moving from Lawn Street to Dallas Road. Though small, Hurst UMC still meets at Dallas Road and Meroney Street and is now a member of the Mount
Moriah Parish Partnership.
Bethlehem
Baptist Church, founded 1884, also still meets, at its long-time home at Lawn
Street and Spears Avenue.
Hill
City merged into the Town of North Chattanooga in 1925, and with it was annexed
into the City of Chattanooga in 1929.
Hixson is a
community that as such first grew up around the depot on the Cincinnati Southern
Railway at the Old Hixson Pike crossing, though its roots go back at least a couple of decades before that.
The
post office of North Chickamauga operated in this vicinity 1833-1839 with
Hamilton County pioneer Ephraim Hixson as postmaster. With the advent of the railroad, service
operated as the post office of Lakeside 1880-1892, then as Hixson since 1892.
The local depot on the Cincinnati, New Orleans, & Texas Pacific Railway was originally called Lookout, but that soon became Hixson Station to avoid confusion with the Lookout station on the Nashville, Chattanooga, and St. Louis Railway.
Hixson School first opened in the late 1800s, and by 1902 was one of six in the county with a high school curriculum. In 1908, Hixson High School (7-12) was separated from Hixson School, the fourth such creation by the county. Hixson Junior High School (now Hixson Middle) split off from the high school and opened in 1937. Hixson Elementary School and the other offspring of the original still open heir doors to students every fall.
The oldest church here, Hixson United Methodist Church, began as Barker’s Chapel Methodist Episcopal in 1860 and became Hixson Methodist Episcopal in 1865.
Burks United Methodist Church began life as Burk’s Chapel Methodist Church in 1873. Upon Methodist reunification, this congregation became just Burks UMC because a congregation in LaGrange, Georgia, founded 1867 had dibs on the Burk’s Chapel name.
Hixson First Baptist Church organized in 1923.
For information on black churches near Hixson, see Jasper.
Hixson was annexed into the City of Chattanooga in 1972.
Hodgetown lies
along Back Valley Road halfway between Bakewell and Sale Creek, north of Fuller
Road.
Home Stores was a
tiny hamlet that grew up around the whistle-stop of the same name a mile south
of Coulterville.
Horn’s Store (see Lakesite)
Hot Water was a
community along Old Hotwater Road atop the plateau of Walden’s Ridge in the early 20th century.
Hot Water School opened in the late 1800s but closed before the end of the first decade of the 1900s.
Huckleberry is in the area where Poe Road, Montlake Road, Mowbray Road, Hotwater Road, and
Daisy Mountain Road meet on the plateau of Walden’s Ridge.
Igou was
a community about the intersection of the west end of Igou Ferry Road with
Dallas (Hixson) Pike.
Igou’s Ferry was
a postal village that grew up around the right/west bank landing of Igou’s
Ferry across the Tennessee River.
The
post office of Igou’s Ferry operated 1871-1905.
Jasper was the Afro-American section of the Hixson area in the late 19th and early 20th centuries along Jasper and Mill Roads.
First Baptist Church of Hixson was established on Jasper Road in 1929.
Hixson Methodist Episcopal Church, Central Jurisdiction was established on Mill Road in 1911.
Jenkins Coal Mine
(aka Soddy No. 10) near Soddy was worked by the New Soddy Coal Company.
Jones was a small community on Lee Pike south of Sale Creek.
A Jones School operated at some time at the crossroads of Lee Pike and Oakdale Road.
Jones Station began as a
small community in what is now Signal Hills in the 1910s.
Jones
Station was a depot on the Signal Mountain Line of the Chattanooga Traction
Railway that stood behind the current Food City on Signal Mountain Boulevard
around which a small village grew, mostly in the area now called Signal Hills.
Signal Hill Baptist Church, founded 1925, and Signal Hill Church of Christ, founded 1932, both used Jones Station as their address, so there was probably an informal post office at the depot or connected to it.
Jones Store was a community east of Miller Grove on Hixson Pike about halfway between Horn's Store and Shady Grove. It was important enough to be the center of a voting precinct for several decades.
Lakeside (see
Hixson)
Lakesite is a city
between Dallas Bay and Jones Bay on the Tennessee River which incorporated in
1972. Much of its original territory had
once been the thousand-acre strawberry plantation of the entrepreneurial farmer
who was also past postmaster of Hornville and Shallowford, Adolphus Horn, my
great-great-grand-uncle. When it first became a community, it was known as Horn’s Store (or Horn’s Station).
While not
within the city limits, Loftis Middle School and McConnell Elementary School
are just southwest of it.
The
churches here were all founded in the 1990s.
Laurel Ridge
forms the western boundary of Dry Valley.
Lewis & Alexander
Coal Mine about three miles outside of Daisy was worked by North Side Coal
Company.
Lookout (see
Hixson)
Lupton City is on the
south end of Lupton Drive below Hixon Pike.
It was founded as a company town for workers at Dixie Spinning Mills
finishing plant, which began production in 1923.
The post
office of Lupton City operated 1925-2006.
Lupton City
was the only stop on the Hixson Division access line between Cincinnati, New
Orleans, and Texas Pacific Railway and the Dry Valley line of Chattanooga
Traction Railway. CTC built the line and
CNO&TP took it over almost immediately.
Lupton City
School opened its doors in the early 1920s, and closed them in the late 1950s.
Lupton City
Church of Christ began in 1928, but folded in 1938. Brooks Memorial United Methodist Church began
as Lupton City Methodist Church in 1936 and still meets in Lupton City. Lupton Drive Baptist Church was founded 1942.
Lupton
City was annexed into the City of Chattanooga in 1968.
Mabbitt Springs
(see Summertown)
Mayflower spreads
over a wide area between Mount Tabor and Sale Creek. The center of the community is at the corner
of Stormer Road and Pickett Road.
Mayflower
School was open at the start of the century, but closed its door by then end of
the first decade, with students transferred to Sale Creek. It stood on Mayflower Road approximately one-tenth of a mile south of its intersection with Stormer Road.
The
center of the community was at Mayflower Church at the crossroads listed above.
Melville was the original name of the Cincinnati, New Orleans, & Texas Pacific Railroad at Daisy. A smaller auxiliary depot called Daisy was added in 1883 a mile down the tracks (from Chattanooga), but it did not last long, and soon there was only one depot again, but renamed Daisy.
The post office was renamed Melville from Chickamauga in 1878, for five years until being renamed Daisy in 1883.
The only reminder of the name is Melville Baptist Church in Daisy, but it dates only from the 21st century.
Merry Oaks (see
Mile Straight)
Middle Valley spreads northwest of Big Ridge. It is also the name of a
community once centered on the intersection of Crabtree Road and Middle Valley
Road.
As a community it came into being largely through the consolidation of Gold Point, Miller Grove, and Gann’s Schools into Gann’s-Middle Valley School in the late 1930s. In 2016, Falling Water Elementary and Gann’s-Middle Valley Elementary consolidated as Middle Valley Elementary in a new, larger facility.
Middle Valley Baptist Church was founded here in 1932.
Midvale Park grew
up around the Midvale depot on the Dry Valley Line of the Chattanooga Traction
Railway at the Midvale Avenue crossing, which is now in the town of Red Bank.
Mile Straight
spreads north and south of Montlake Road east of Dayton Pike-Highway 27 at the
mouth of Chickamauga Gulch. The
community was once known as Merry Oaks and later as Springfield. The post office of Merry Oaks operated
1850-1857.
Miller Grove once lay
about the crossroads of Hamby Road and Hixon Pike in the late 19th and early
20th century.
Igou Ferry
over the Tennessee river connected Miller Grove on the right bank with Blue
Springs on the left bank.
Miller Grove School opened in 1910 at the intersection of Hamby Road and Hixson Pike. It lasted two decades before consolidating with
Gold Point School and Gann’s School in the late 1930s to form Gann’s-Middle Valley
School.
Miller Grove Church stood at the intersection of Dallas Hollow Road and Daisy-Dallas Road.
Moccasin Gap is
the split in Godsey Ridge through which Reads Lake Road runs.
Moccasin Point is
the actual name for the land enclosed by the Moccasin Bend of the Tennessee
River. The bend is the river, the point
is the land.
Moccasin Point had absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with Cherokee Removal or the Trail of Tears.
During the joint expedition of Spanish soldiers under Tristan de Luna and native warriors from the town of Coosa in 1560, the biggest town of the Napochi, who were the target of the invasion, lay at Hampton Place site here, in the pinky toe of the moccasin, so to speak.
During the Siege of Chattanooga and the Federal Military Occupation in the War of the Rebellion, Fort Whitaker stood at the southern tip of Stringer’s Ridge, originally to support the battery firing at Stevenson’s Division on Lookout Mountain, then in support of the garrison downtown.
Moccasin
Point was annexed into the City of Chattanooga in 1962.
Montlake grew out
of the resort atop Walden’s Ridge at the southern end of Grasshopper Hill
centered on the eponymous lake, which, according to Zella Armstrong, was formed during the New Madrid earthquake of 1812 that created Reelfoot Lake.
Montlake School opened in the fall of 1907. At the end of the 1972-1928 school year, it
merged in Mowbray School.
The post
office of Montlake operated 1909-1923.
Montlake Coal Mines
operated by the Montlake Coal Company were on the north side of Chickamauga
Gulch, serviced by a spur from Montlake Station on Cincinnati, New Orleans,
& Texas Pacific Railroad.
Mount Tabor lies
along the northernmost stretch of Mt. Tabor Road south of its intersection with
Spalding Road, and along the latter road south of that intersection.
Mount Tabor School existed at the opening of the 20th century but merged into Soddy School by the end of the first decade. It stood east of Lee Pike opposite the end of Mt. Tabor Road.
Mount Tabor Community Church, which stood near the school, lasted well into the 20th century.
Mountain Creek
was the name for the community spread up the valley along the eponymous creek
to Morrison Springs Road.
Mountain Creek School already existed at the opening of the 20th century, surviving until Mountain Creek Elementary fell victim to the city’s mass school closings of 1989.
Mountain Creek Baptist Church (Missionary Baptist rather than Primitive Baptist) was founded in 1907. That Mountain Creek Primitive Baptist Church existed early in the 19th century we know from the fact it was mother church to Lookout Valley Primitive Baptist, founded c. 1840.
Mowbray spreads
along Mowbray Pike from Mowbray Elementary School west to Grant Road.
The post office of Mowbray operated 1901-1905.
Mowbray School was established late in the late 19th century. Mowbray Elementary School survived integration and unification of schools only to be closed early in the 21st century.
Mowbray Presbyterian Church, U.S.A. was founded in 1931.
New Providence
lies around the intersection of Providence Road and Aslinger Road. That New Providence was indeed a community in the 19th and early 20th century is witnessed by obituaries listing it as a birthplace.
New Providence School was established some time in the late 1910s or early 1920s and closed in the 1950s.
New Providence United Methodist Church meets on
Providence Road, according to the Holston Conference, and seems to be somewhat
advance in age since a quite old New Providence Cemetery is attached.
New Town was a
section of company housing north of Soddy on the valley floor for employees of
New Soddy Coal Mining Company working the Big Soddy Mines.
New Salem lies
around the intersection of Green Pond Road with Dallas Hollow Road, and is alos known as Green Pond.
John H. Allen Elementary School opened in 1952.
New Salem Baptist Church was founded 1933.
Normal Park is a
subdivision in North Chattanooga that began as housing for professors and
students at Chattanooga Normal University for teachers.
Chattanooga
Normal Park University (training institutions for teachers were called normal schools) operated here from 1896, when it was chartered, to 1907,
when it merged with U.S Grant University to become the University of
Chattanooga. The Hamilton County Schools
purchased the property right away; for Normal Park Public School, see North
Chattanooga.
Normal Park
Station depot served the North Chattanooga Street Railway and its successors, Signal Mountain Railway (Northside) and Northside Consolidated Railway.
Normal Park was part
of the Town of North Chattanooga incorporated in 1915, and with it was annexed into the City of Chattanooga
in 1930.
North Chattanooga extends
approximately to Forest Avenue from Riverview on its east. As a land
development the name originally referred to much of what was later known as the
eastern parts of Hill City. The Chattanooga Land, Coal, Iron, and Railway
Company did most of the development. The Town of North Chattanooga
incorporated in 1915 with its western boundary extending to the west side of
Tremont Street. In 1900, the population of North Chattanooga was 314.
Among its
better known subdivisions are Northside, Frazier & Colville, and Normal
Park.
The year of
its incorporation, the town forbade Afro-Americans from living in its
limits. Around the same time, the name
of Forest Road (Avenue) changed to Forrest Road (Avenue), after former
Confederate Lt. Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest.
The apartheid section of the ordinance became practically null and void
by its later annexation of Hill City, a majority black community, in 1925. Forrest Avenue returned to being Forest
Avenue in the 2010s.
During the Federal Military Occupation in the War of the Rebellion, Fort Hill stood on the knob where Valentine Circle is now.
North
Chattanooga Station of the Chattanooga Post Office was established on North Market
Street in 1912.
North
Chattanooga Station was a depot on the North Chattanooga Street Railway and
its successors, Signal Mountain Railway (Northside) and Northside Consolidated Railway.
The dawn of
the 20th century found Hill City School, East Side at the northeast corner of
Beck Street (Avenue) and Graham Street (Money Tree Lane) and Hill City School,
West Side at the southeast corner of Church (East Manning) Street and Woodland
Avenue. Of these two, Hill City, West
Side was most likely the oldest.
Before the
end of the first decade of the 1900s, Hill City, West Side moved to the south
side of Manning Street and was renamed Hill City School, South Side, while Hill
City School, North Side moved to the former campus of Chattanooga Normal
University and become Hill City School, North Side. By the start of the 1910s, these had become
Normal Park School and South Side, North Chattanooga School, respectively.
In the 1920s,
the county established Conner Junior High School at Tucker and Colville
Streets, which became Central Grammar and Junior High in the 1928-1929 school
year, the last in which North Chattanooga was part of the county. When this school reopened in the fall of
1929, it was as the city’s Central Grammar School. Central Elementary School closed in the 1950s.
The year
before annexation, North Chattanooga School was renamed G. Russell Brown School. After integration, students from Spears
Avenue Elementary School (formerly Hilly City School, Colored, then North
Chattanooga School, Colored) transferred to G. Russell Brown Elementary School,
which fell victim to the city’s mass school closings in 1989.
Normal Park
Elementary School became Normal Park Museum Magnet School (K-8).
For
Chattanooga Normal University, see Normal Park.
Forrest
Avenue United Methodist Church, closed in 2010, began life as Hill City
Methodist Episcopal Church, South in 1880, later becoming North Chattanooga
MES. In 1923, it became Forrest Avenue
MES.
Northside Baptist Church was founded in 1886 and meets today as Northside Community Church.
Northside Presbyterian Church was also founded in 1886 and still meets under that name on Mississippi Avenue.
St. Mark’s United Methodist Church was founded in 1887 as Hill City Mission, becoming Forrest Avenue Methodist Episcopal Church of Hill City in 1888 after moving into its first building. In 1912, its name changed to St. Mark’s Methodist Episcopal upon relocating to a new building on Mississippi Avenue in which St. Mark’s UMC still meets.
The
Town of North Chattanooga disincorporated to be annexed into the City of
Chattanooga in 1929.
North Chickamauga
(see Hixson)
North Chickamauga
Creek is formed by the confluence of Brimer Creek and Standifer Creek in
the Double Bridges area on the plateau of Walden’s Ridge inside Marion County. It descends the ridge through Chickamauga
Gulf into the Mile Straight community on the valley floor.
Northside was a development
south of Colville Street to Grace (now Barton) Avenue between Beck Avenue and
Druid Lane, which used to be Cowart Street and extend south to Main Avenue (now
Tremont Street), that was later absorbed by North Chattanooga. Northside was
annexed into the City of Chattanooga along with the rest of North Chattanooga
in 1929.
Oakdale was a small community along Oakdale Road in the northern section of this part of the county.
Oakdale School held classes here from the late 19th century through the first decade of the 20th century.
Pankeytown was
a mostly or all black community that lay along Midway Church Road, which once extended
south from Lee Pike all the way to Clift Mill Road. Midway Church stood at the north end of the
eponymous road, and Pankey School served its children throug the first three
decades of the 20th century.
Pennsylvania was a community on Retro-Hughes Road on Walden’s Ridge on and possibly straddling the line between Hamilton and Sequatchie Counties.
Pineville
centered on the Pineville Road crossing of the Chattanooga Traction Company railway and
north along Pineville Road.
Pineville Station depot served the CTC’s Signal Mountain Division.
Pine Hill School, established in the late 1800s, became Pineville School in the early 1920s. Pineville Elementary School was closed by the city upon annexation.
Pineville was
annexed into the City of Chattanooga in 1966.
Pleasant Hill
(see Red Bank)
Poe’s
Tavern/Crossroads (see Daisy)
Possum Creek
originates at the confluence of Big Possum Creek and Little Possum Creek in Bakewell
Gulf. The headwaters for both tributary streams are on the west side of the plateau of Walden’s Ridge
Providence (aka
New Providence)
Pyatt was a
postal village on the right bank of the Tennessee River north of Daughtery Ferry whose post office operated 1900-1905.
Rathburn (see
Soddy)
Red Bank was
originally known as Pleasant Hill until 1875 when it was given a post office
under a new name because there was already a Pleasant Hill, Tennessee.
The
original community centered on the intersection of Dayton Pike and Ashland Road
(Terrace). In 1955, Red Bank united with
the community of White Oak to the south (the dividing line between the two was
Newberry Street) as the town of Red Bank-White Oak, which changed to just Red
Bank beginning in 1967.
The
post office of Red Bank operated 1875-1902, when service moved to Valdeau. Mail service is now provided by Red Bank Station, Chattanooga Post Office.
Red Bank Station served the Dry Valley Division of the Chattanooga Traction Company railway.
Red Bank School was established in the late 19th century. Red Bank Junior High School (7-9) first opened at a building attached to Red Bank Elementary in 1931, but that burned down in 1937. Later that same year, the junior high opened in a new building, adding a grade every year until it became a third class (7-12) high school. A separate Red Bank Junior High was again established in 1960 and is now Red Bank Middle School.
Red Bank United Methodist Church was founded 1849 as Hicks Chapel Methodist, which after the War of the Rebellion became Pleasant Hill Methodist Episcopal Church, South, which reorganized in 1896 as Red Bank Methodist Church.
Red Bank Baptist Church dates back to 1886.
Retro (see
Bakewell)
Retro Coal Mine
near Bakewell was worked by Hamilton Coal Company. A spur Cincinnati, New Orleans, & Texas
Pacific Railroad from Retro Station serviced the operation.
Rivermont lies from Riverview to Lupton City between Hixson Pike and the Tennessee River.
Rivermont Elementary School opened in the fall of 1960.
Rivermont Presbyterian Church formed in 1957.
Rivermont was annexed into the City of Chattanooga in 1968.
Riverview is separated
from North Chattanooga by Hixson Pike.
Once
centered around the 30-room Lyndhurst mansion of John T. Lupton, Riverview
still takes in the Chattanooga Golf and Country Club. It was a stop on the North Chattanooga Street
Railway and its successors. The Town of Riverview
was incorporated in 1913.
Depots at
Chattanooga Golf and Country Club Station and Riverview Station served the
North Chattanooga Street Railway and its successors, Signal Mountain Railway (Northside) and Northside Consolidated
Railway.
Riverview
was annexed into the City of Chattanooga in 1929.
Sale Creek centers on
Railroad Street between Legget Road in the north and Reavley Road in the south,
but spreads for some distance in all directions. There has been a community here since the
Hiwassee Purchase, before that if you count the Cherokee settlement. Like Soddy, Sale Creek was an early center
for coal mining.
It is also
the name of the creek which runs through it, so called for having been the site
of the crossing of it by what was then Dry Valley Road (later Dayton Pike) at
which the men on Evan Shelby’s expedition from the Overmountain settlements
auctioned off the goods taken in the destruction of the Chickamauga Towns of
the militant Cherokee in 1779. The
creek’s headwaters sprout forth at the head of Cranmore Cove west of Dayton
(formerly Smith’s Crossroads), seat of Rhea County.
During the
early Civil War, William Clift’s 7th Tennessee Federal Militia trained and
lived here at Sale Creek Camp Ground, eventually erecting earthworks and other
fortifications I’ve dubbed Fort Clift.
The post
office of Sale Creek has operated continuously since 1841.
Rock Creek Station
depot was established here by the Cincinnati Southern Railway because the town
of Sale Creek is actually on Rock Creek.
The town originally was on its namesake but moved after the war. Pressure from residents soon got the name of
the depot changed to match the community.
Sale Creek
School was likely one of the earliest public schools in the county after the
school system was organized in 1974. It
was one of six schools allowed to include a high program within it. Sale Creek High School was listed separately
in the county schools directory for the 1928-1929 school year and succeeding
years but was likely still in one building, especially since after mid-century
Sale Creek School is listed as one 1-12 entity, the county’s last such school.
In the 1990s,
the elementary grades K-5 were transferred to a separate building, Sale Creek
Elementary School, and the middle school grades 6-8 were sent to Loftis Middle
School at Lakesite. In the 21st century,
Sale Creek Elementary closed, with the new and enlarged North Hamilton
Elementary School opening in its place.
Meanwhile, the high school became Sale Creek Middle-High School.
Sale
Creek Cumberland Presbyterian Church was founded in the 1850s but dissolved
either at the War of the Rebellion or not long after. Sale Creek Presbyterian Church U.S.A. was
organized in 1885. Sale Creek United
Methodist Church, founded 1893, still meets on Dayton Pike.
Sale Creek Coal Mine
Nos. 1 & 2 were operated first by Sale Creek Coal and Coke Company,
then by Waldens Ridge Coal Company, then by Durham Coal and Iron Company. Sale Creek Mine No. 1 was first dug in 1843. After the war, like Soddy, its colliers were
Welsh.
Sawyer’s Springs was a
community centered on a seventy-room hotel at the eponymous spring on Walden’s
Ridge, at or near the intersection of Sawyer Road and Corral Road overlooking Falling
Water.
The post
office of Sawyers operated here 1890-1915.
Sawyers
School began in the late 1800s and closed some time in the mid-1970s to
mid-1980s.
Shackleford was a community around the intersection of Sequatchie Valley (Anderson) Pike and Fairmount Road on Walden’s Ridge.
Shady Grove is a
community along Hixson Pike through Shady Grove Hollow north of its
intersection with Thatcher Road.
Shady Grove School opened its doors in either the late 1800s or early 1900s, and merged into Soddy School in 1937. It stood on
the east side of Hixson Pike just south of Soddy Creek; the site is now under
water.
A Shady Grove Church was formed here in 1984, but I can find no other information on it.
Signal Mountain
is a town at the southeast corner of Walden’s Ridge overlooking Cash Canyon to
the south and Mountain Creek Valley to the east. Incorporated in 1919, the town is largely the
creation of Chattanooga entrepreneur Charles E. James, builder of Chattanooga Traction Company railway.
The post office of Signal Mountain has operated since 1915.
Signal Mountain was the primary reason for the development of the Chattanooga Traction Company railway. In addition to numerous stations on its Signal Mountain Division, the terminus of that line was at Signal Mountain Hotel, now Alexian Brothers facility.
For such a small community, Signal Mountain has had an impressive number of schools, though doubtless the neighboring community of Walden sends students to them also.
Sawyers School and Fairmount School are covered under the names of their respective communities.
Walden School operated 1907-1910.
Signal Mountain School opened in the fall of 1928 while Nathan Bachman School opened in 1937; the two merged in the 21st century into Nolan Elementary.
Wilkes T. Thrasher Elementary School opened in the early 1960s.
Signal Mountain Junior High School opened between the spring of 1966 and the fall of 1975. It became Signal Mountain Middle in the 21st century, later expanding into Signal Mountain Middle-High School.
In the mid-1950s, Fairmount Methodist Church moved here and changed its name to Signal Mountain Methodist, becoming Signal Mountain United Methodist in 1968 when that church was organized.
Other churches include: Signal Mountain Presbyterian Church founded in 1929; Signal Mountain Church of God, founded 1932; and Mountainview Baptist Church, founded 1935.
Signal Point is
the terminus of Signal Point Road on Walden’s Ridge. It gets its name from having been the signal
post established by John T. Wilder during the Civil War.
Slabtown lies at
the foot of Walden’s Ridge around Slabtown Road north of Rock Creek west of Sale
Creek. There was a Slabtown Church, but whether it was non-demoninational or otherwise is unknown.
Smartt Springs (see Valdeau)
Springfield (see
Mile Straight)
Soddy, like Sale
Creek, goes back to the earliest days of Hamilton County, and before that to
the Cherokee who lived here before the Hiwassee Purchase of 1819. Its name is a corruption of the Cherokee
“Itsati”, which has also been mangled as Sauta and Echota (Chota). During the Cherokee-American Wars
(1775-1792), Little Owl, brother of Dragging Canoe (leader of the militant
Cherokee faction often called the Chickamaugas) had a town called Itsati on
lower Laurel Creek, which is now North Chickamauga Creek.
Even before
the Civil War, it was a coal-mining center, which was a major draw for a
sizable immigrant Welsh population. Soddy
joined with its neighbor to the south, Daisy, to incorporate as Soddy-Daisy in
1969.
The post
office of Soddy first operated 1829-1845 and was revived 1850 to operate until 1972,
when it merged with that of Daisy as Soddy-Daisy. It is the oldest continually operating post
office in the country.
Soddy Landing on the Tennessee River, later connected to the community by a spur of CNO&TP, served as the community riverport.
Rathburn
Station served the Cincinnati Southern Railway and Cincinnati, New Orleans,
& Texas Pacific Railway until passenger service ended. When the railway established a station here,
they first called it Soddy Coal Mines, but after it became confused one too
many times with Roddy in northern Rhea County on the same railway, the depot
became Rathburn.
Soddy
School dates back to the late 1800s. In
1902, Soddy School became one of six in the county with a high school program,
and in 1907, one of three communities in the county to have a separate high
school. Soddy Elementary School still
exists as a separate entity, but both Soddy-Daisy Middle School and Soddy-Daisy
High School originated with the first Soddy High School.
The town of Soddy-Daisy added John H. Allen Elementary
School in 1960.
The oldest
church here is First Presbyterian Church of Soddy-Daisy, founded as Mount Bethel Presbyterian Church in 1828. Soddy
United Methodist Church was founded 1860 as The Friendship Church of Soddy.
The
oldest black church whose founding date is known is Soddy African Methodist
Episcopal Zion Church, founded 1880.
However, Soddy Colored Cumberland Presbyterian Church may be older, but
not before 1874.
Soddy Coal Mines Nos.
1-10 were operated in Little Soddy Gulf by the Soddy Coal Company, then
Soddy Coal, Iron, and Railway Company, then by New Soddy Coal Company, all of
which were local, then by Durham Coal and Iron Company out of North
Carolina. The first mine at Soddy began
operation in 1866 with immigrant Welsh colliers.
Soddy Creek, also
known as Big Soddy Creek, has its headwaters near the Sequatchie-Bledsoe countyline,
a little southwest of Alexander Gap on the plateau of Walden’s Ridge.
Soddy Landing was
the terminus on the Tennessee River of a spur off the Cincinnati Southern
Railway from Rathburn depot (Soddy). It
had been a riverport for decades already.
Stanley was a
post office at the mouth of Suck Creek that operated briefly in Hamilton County
in 1828 before crossing into Marion County (the county line splits Suck Creek),
where it continued until 1918.
Stoney Point was a small community about the intersections of Lovell and Green Pond Roads.
A Stoney Point School operated here at some time.
Stoney Point Baptist Church was founded in 1899 and originally stood on Green Pond Road, relocating to its present site after the original building burned down in 1949.
Stringer’s Ridge runs from the “big toe” of Moccasin Point to North Chickamauga Creek.
Stringer Springs (see Valdeau)
Stuart Heights
lies from Altamont Road to Lupton Drive between Hixson Pike and Red Bank.
Stuart Heights Baptist Church formed in 1950 as North Chattanooga Baptist Tabernacle.
Stuart Heights was annexed into the City of Chattanooga in 1968.
Suck Creek is
a community spreading west and east from the mouth of Suck Creek along the
right/north bank of the Tennessee River down Suck Creek Road and River Canyon
Road. It is also the name of a creek
which starts at the confluence of North Suck Creek and South Suck Creek in the
Hamilton-Marion countyline. Its name
derives from a major river navigation hazard at the confluence of Suck Creek
and Tennessee River that disappeared with the building of Hales Bar Dam.
Summertown
once lay along the eastern brow of Walden’s Ridge north of Ivory-Chestnut
Avenue. It grew up from the late 19th
century summer resorts of Mabbitt Springs and Three Oaks. It is now well within the town limits of
Walden.
Tenbridge was
a signal station on the Cincinnati Southern Railway two-and-a-half miles south
of Hixson, just north of the wye junction with the spur of Chattanooga Traction
Railway to the C&D Junction with the latter railways Dry Valley Line. It was originally named Red Bank, but that
was changed because of the community of Red Bank nearby.
Three Oaks
(see Summertown)
Timesville was
a town planned for Walden’s Ridge by Adolph Ochs, owner and publisher of the Chattanooga Times, who raffled off
chances to buy lots. The development
never goot off the ground, however. Timesville
Road off Taft Highway, and its Timesville Avenue extension, are all that
remains, and the area has been absorbed into Fairmount.
Trewhitt was
a post office a few miles slightly northeast of Hixson near the Tennessee River
which operated 1883-1901.
Union Fork
lies in the area along Old Dayton Pike from Union Fork Road to Lee Pike, and
along Union Fork Road.
Union Fork School existed from the late 1800s to some time in the 1920s, when it closed and its students transferred to Soddy.
The oldest church here was Union Fork Baptist Church, founded 1838.
Valdeau grew up around the eponymous depot on the Dry Valley Line of the
Chattanooga Traction Railway at the Dayton Pike (now Boulevard) crossing.
In the ante-bellum period, the area was known as Stringer’s Springs, after
William Stringer, who built his home here. In the post-bellum period it
became known as Smartt Springs, which gradually gave way to the name of its
post office.
The post office of Valdeau operated 1897-1915.
Valdeau was annexed into the City of Chattanooga in
1966.
Vallambrosa once lay
north of Spring Street between Stringer’s Ridge on the east to include Elmwood
Avenue on the west.
Vallambrosa
Station depot was the northern terminus of Chattanooga and Northside Railway on
top of Stringer’s Ridge, at a gazebo that was quite popular during the summer
months. The community of Woodland
Heights later grew up here.
Woodland
Heights Baptist Church formed here in 1919.
Woodland Heights formed here in 1935.
Vallambrosa
was annexed into the City of Chattanooga in 1945.
Walden is an
incorporated town immediately north of the town of Signal Mountain and east of
the community of Fairmount atop Walden’s Ridge.
Its primary reason for incorporation was to prevent annexation by its
larger neighbor to the south.
White Oak was a community
which grew up around it around the intersection of Memorial Drive (formerly
White Oak Road) and Dayton Pike. White
Oak joined with Red Bank (the dividing line between the two was Newberry
Street) as the town of Red Bank-White Oak in 1955, which became just Red Bank
at the beginning of 1967.
White Oak Station
served the Dry Valley Division of the Chattanooga Traction Company railway.
White
Oak School opened in the early 1920s; as White Oak Elementary closed
in 2006.
White Oak Gap
separates Stringer’s Ridge on the south and Cave Springs Ridge to the north,
allowing North Chickamauga Creek to run through it.
Williams’ Landing
occupied roughly the site of Baylor School, named for the “father of
Chattanooga”, Samuel Williams. The post
office of Williams’ Landing operated 1878-1887.
