{"id":1779,"date":"2022-07-27T22:03:56","date_gmt":"2022-07-27T22:03:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/explorechattmagazine.com\/?p=1779"},"modified":"2024-12-08T20:16:09","modified_gmt":"2024-12-08T20:16:09","slug":"the-chattanooga-choo-choo-a-beacon-of-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/explorechatt.com\/index.php\/2022\/07\/27\/the-chattanooga-choo-choo-a-beacon-of-history\/","title":{"rendered":"The Chattanooga Choo Choo: A Beacon of History"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The railway had played a central role in Chattanooga\u2019s history by the turn of the 20th Century. Union Depot and other stations had opened in the late 1850s and by the late 1800s, the city\u2019s rail traffic increased significantly. <\/span>In 1904, a vision for a new, centralized train terminal emerged. Donn Barber, a New York architect, submitted drawings for the building. Southern Railway accepted his proposal which was inspired by New York\u2019s National Park Bank.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The building\u2019s Beaux Arts architecture, made popular in Paris in the late 1800s, was a spectacle against the backdrop of Lookout Mountain and the ever-industrializing city. European Beaux Arts typically boasted large exterior columns, arched windows and doors, and a smooth stone exterior in Europe. Barber\u2019s adaptation substituted in red brick. The 90-foot-wide arched window over the front entrance was the largest of its kind in the world. Inside was an 8,000-square-foot lobby, crowned with a cast-iron mezzanine. The showpiece was an 82-foot central dome adorned with hanging brass chandeliers.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Terminal Station became the first train station in the South to connect with Cincinnati, opening up travel to the North and drawing the likes of <\/span>Elvis Presley, Woodrow Wilson, and Frank<\/span>lin D. Roosevelt. During World War I, Sergeant Alvin York, and thousands of other soldiers, traveled through Chattanooga\u2019s Terminal Station heading to and from the conflict in France.<\/span><\/p>\n

By the end of the 1940s, Terminal Station was seeing 60 arrivals per day. However, the invention of the automobile led to a decline in rail service nationwide. By 1960, only two trains were stopping in Chattanooga. Since then, efforts to modernize\u2013then to preserve and restore\u2013Terminal Station keep visitors connected to its iconic history.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n