COURTHOUSE SITE SELECTION — 1930
The relatively quiet determination of the site for a new Chattanooga federal courthouse in 2024 is nothing like the near free-for-all that resulted in the selection of the current Joel W. Solomon Federal Building site on Georgia Avenue nearly 100 years ago.
In early 2023, the federal General Services Administration (GSA) said it was considering three sites: Eighth and Houston streets, the site of the current Chattanooga Lookouts stadium on Hawk Hill and the now largely vacant Tennessee Valley Authority property bordered by Market, 11th, Chestnut and 12th streets.
Last week, the GSA said it had whittled down its selection to the stadium site or the TVA complex. Days earlier in a joint opinion piece published on this page, Chattanooga Mayor Tim Kelly and Hamilton County Mayor Weston Wamp said they believe the TVA site would be the better of the two.
We had said last year we believed the TVA site was easily the best pick of the three.
In July 1930, though, after Congress approved more than $1 million for the building, the public quickly rushed into the fray to offer up their favorite sites. Civic groups drew up plans, petitions were signed and citizens weighed in with impassioned letters to the editor.
Eventually, 11 sites were entered into the bidding. Inspectors came in September to survey the proposals, and in November Treasury Department officials arrived for personal inspections.
“Finally, in December of 1930,” the Chattanooga Times said in an Aug. 12, 1931, report, “after many adjurations and pleas for speed from local citizens, officials and organizations, Washington announced that the Georgia avenue site was selected.”
That site, and the block surrounded by Market, Broad, 10th and 11th streets and owned by the state of Georgia, were considered the top two contenders. That latter site remains undeveloped today and holds a parking lot.
But there were other opinions. Boy, were there. Ferger Brothers, a realty company, proposed an 81,000-square-foot site bordered by McCallie Avenue, Oak Street, Houston Street and extending toward Lindsay Street as far as the Centenary and Pilgrim Congregational churches. It was ideal, the Realtors said, because it was near the county courthouse, [Memorial] auditorium and city business section and would not be disturbed by noises of the railroad yards (which, they said, made it the favorite of many lawyers). Today, that entire block is occupied by First-Centenary United Methodist Church.
Another nearby McCallie Avenue site was directly across the street from Memorial Auditorium at the corner of Lindsay Street and extending back to Eighth Street. It was pushed by a unanimous Civic Center Association, which was formed by the city planing board. A spokeswoman for the association, in a radio address, implored the site be selected because “the whole country is looking our way” as one of “America’s seven wonders,” as listed by “one of the great western papers,” and the suggested site would be at “the center of Chattanooga’s population.”
(In an aside, the spokeswoman also suggested Moccasin Bend “as a great park for our community. Only ten minutes by motor from the bridge, this is a glorious and natural park and should be acquired at once and held in trust for our children and our children’s children.”)
A petition said to be “signed by more than 100 prominent citizens, representing leading business and manufacturing concerns” had its eye on a site bounded by Carter and Pine and Ninth (now M.L. King) and 10th streets. They stressed the proximity to the railroad depots, one of which would be just across the street. Today, the site is a Days Inn.
Yet another idea was put forth by the Central Business Men’s Association for a site in a triangle made by the intersection of Market, Cowart and East 13th streets. The group also had a petition signed by thousands of people and noted the location was 1,200 feet from Terminal Station (today’s Chattanooga Choo Choo), had little grade, would offer plenty of parking, was more economical than other sites and was equidistant from all suburbs and post office substations. Today, the site is home to several businesses, including Market Street Tire & Auto Center.
A letter to the editor even suggested that political intrigue was playing a part in the site selection. The writer spoke of a “whispering campaign” in which it was alleged that “a few of our local politicians who are closely allied with the Nashville interests are working quietly” and that “a certain congressman who lives above Knoxville” is conspiring with the Nashville interests to select the Broad Street site.
Ultimately, after the December 1930 site selection (and wrangling about price disputes and the widening of Georgia Avenue and Ninth Street), the $1.5 million, R.H. Huntdesigned building got the go-ahead in August 1931. It was completed in 1933.
The GSA first put a new Chattanooga courthouse on its long-term construction plans in 1999. A quarter century later, its site selection is getting closer — but thankfully without as much noise as 94 years ago.