Councilman not in favor of changing Walnut St. Bridge name

CHATTANOOGA (WDEF) – A Chattanooga City Council member says the council isn’t interested in changing the name of the Walnut Street Bridge.

A petition has been circulating in an attempt to change the name of the Walnut Street Bridge to the Ed Johnson Memorial Bridge in honor of the man who was lynched by a mob there over one hundred years ago.

City Council members think the bridges name should stay the same.

Councilman Russell Gilbert told us “I think the majority of all of us said that, we have a great memorial that’s going to be placed on this bridge, and that it will show the memory of that, of Ed Johnson and the struggles that people went through back in those days, and just renaming it.. doesn’t just fit, I think the memorial fits it better, than a name calling a bridge something different.”

Councilman Gilbert thinks the Ed Johnson memorial will speak for itself.