Have We Forgotten Our Local History?

The challenge of spending a week on Chattanooga’s history isn’t coming up with the stories.

It’s narrowing them down.  (see our timeline for the last hundred years)

There are so many good ones out there that, frankly, most of you haven’t heard.

Of course, we don’t expect newcomers to know them.

But what about our kids?

I heard about jumping on streetcars, the yellow fever, and train stories from my Grandmother.

She grew up in Highland Park.

But these days, how many kids live in their grandparents hometown?

And they don’t teach much local history in schools.

They should.

Let’s be honest.  How many of you think you’re sitting in an intellectual or cultural center?

Maybe we should.

Giants have walked here.  People like Sequoyah, Ulysses S Grant, William Jennings Bryan, Eisenhower, FDR & MLK.

But also some of the best ideas have come from here.

Name me a better American idea over the last century than taking a popular soda fountain drink and putting it in bottles like the Cubans used?

Americans just might like a good, portable drink.

That idea came from Chattanooga.

And Coca Cola is one of the biggest success stories of the 20th century.

It also piled up several fortunes here.

Coca Cola money helped fund the Aquarium and the Hunter Art Museum, to name just a couple.

It still keeps both the Benwood and Lyndhurst foundations going.

And big ideas popped up everywhere over the last hundred years.

Turning a rock pile into Rock City or a foot and a half hole into Ruby Falls.

Miniature golf, organized softball, Moon Pies, Little Debbies and Krystal burgers all started here.

The guy who invented Rolaids and Bufferin was a UTC professor born on Cameron Hill.

The guy who taught the world about journalistic standards at the New York Times, developed them here in Chattanooga.

We also sell ourselves short on music.

Some of the best musicians in the world have come from Chattanooga and the surrounding country.

Jimmy BlantonJimmy Blanton, Yusef Lateef and Bennie Wallace from jazz.  Josh Graves, Curly Fox and Hargus Robbins from country.  Norman Blake & Fiddlin’ Joe Carson from old time music.  Lee Allen defined the honking sax while Roland Hayes used his voice to win international fame.

We’ve had plenty of hitmakers too.

Louvin BrothersFrom Bessie Smith, through the Louvin Brothers, the Forrester Sisters, straight on to Alabama and Usher.  Sprinkle in Mark Gray, Rex Griffin, Keith Harling, Valadia Snow, Tiny Kennedy, Lattimore.  They all had hits.

And groups ranging from Confederate Railroad, to the Impressions and Widespread Panic all dipped into the Tennessee Valley talent pool.

But do our kids know?

I think part of the problem is that for generations we’ve tried to sanitize our past.

We glamorize the confederacy and our local Indian culture, while glossing over slavery, the trail of tears and segregation.

You’ll find a lot of written history about rich, white families here.

But not much about people of color and the working class.

Still ask yourself, which local residents are best known around the country?

Adolph OchsAdolph Ochs,  Tommy Lupton, Arthur Golden, Robert Shaw, Roscoe Tanner and Bob Corker.

Or Bessie Smith, Terry Gordy,  Reggie White, Samuel L. Jackson, Randy Owen, Ralphie May and Usher.

Often we may choose Ochs over a Bessie as a better role model.

Samuel L. JacksonOr just fear what a Sam Jackson really thinks about his hometown.

But the entertainers beat the rich guys in most popularity contests.

Still they are all good stories on some level.  We just need a little more balance, to keep the next generation interested.  And show them that great ideas and great people have come from the Tennessee Valley.

We hope we might get more people digging into Chattanooga’s story this week in Our Town.

Be sure to click on the Our Town link to get extra stories you won't find on the air.