Chattanooga Library Hosts Workshop on Civil War Ancestry

By Laura Childers

This Saturday, the Chattanooga-Hamilton County Public Library will host a genealogy workshop with instructions on how to trace Civil War ancestors. It’s just one of a series of events that the library is hosting to coincide with the 150th anniversary of the Civil War.

The workshop will be taught by Mary Helms, head of the library’s local history and genealogy department and in-house expert. Helms studied at the Institute of Genealogy & Historical Research at Samford and is a member of the National Genealogical Society.

In addition to the event, various artifacts are on display the department—one of the largest collections of genealogical research in the Southeast.

Andria Davis, community relations coordinator at the library, is enthusiastic about the workshop.

“It’s free, and it’s just a sampling of the many fabulous resources we have at the public library. People don’t realize how many resources we have, especially online,” she says.

Compiled military service records, pension applications, and census records are just a few of the library’s many treasures.

Davis explains that the library has six staff members in the local history and genealogy department who are knowledgeable and helpful. Although they will not trace peoples’ genealogy for them, they will act as a guide.

Lee White, a park guide at the Battlefield of Chickamauga, feels that certain developments have caused people to become more aware of local history.

“Due to the availability of resources on the internet, people can trace their history more easily. That, and TV shows, like ‘Who Do You Think You Are’ are causing people to show more interest.”

Mary Helms holds a similar opinion, but adds that the anniversary of the Civil War has also helped to create interest. Between the sesquicentennial and the close proximity to the Chickamauga Battlefield, the library has seen an influx of people seeking information about their ancestors over the past year.

“Even Lionel Ritchie came to our department researching his family in December!” she says.

The Chattanooga-Hamilton County Public Library hopes to make records and resources even more accessible. With the help of a new funding program, the library has plans to digitize all historical records in order to provide access to researchers worldwide.

“The overall goal is to generate appreciation for the area and a deeper understanding of the role Chattanoogans played in Civil War history,” says Davis.

But even more than this, Helms that hopes the library’s resources and staff will help people gain an understanding of who they are, and where they came from.

“You can’t understand the present without understanding the past. You can’t plan for the future without knowledge of the past. Ancestry helps people understand the events that shaped their ancestors lives, and will shape their future.”

Robert Cravens (1805-1888) house and Lookout Mountain Battlefield as viewed from the Point Hotel, Lookout Mountain, Tennessee. House, built 1856, was rebuilt after the Civil War in 1867 and then fully restored 1955-1957. Originally called "Alta Vista," the house is now part of the Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park. 

Photo Courtesy of the Chattanooga-Hamilton County Bicentennial Library

Chattanooga Gains Ground With New ‘Harvested Here’ Label

By Laura Childers


Gaining Ground is led by Jeff Pfitzer.

 This July, Chattanoogans supporting local food are celebrating a new label called Harvested Here – Chattanooga Grown Within 100 Miles. The circular green label is the latest initiative of Gaining Ground, a program started by the Benwood Foundation in 2010. The foundation made an investment in Gaining Ground for a three-year period in order to help increase production and consumption of local foods.

Gaining Ground hopes the label will help citizens distinguish between foods with misleading labels and foods that are actually grown within a 100 mile radius of Chattanooga.

Mark Tant, a farmer from Tant Hill Farms, said he planned to use the label.
“The sales part isn’t as much of an interest as the cause,” he says. “Our heart is for educating the community because there are so many out there today that resell what they have found outside of the state.”

Tant and his wife relocated to Chattanooga from Nashville because they saw Chattanooga as a promising area for farmers. Although he sells produce to restaurants like Alleia and Blacksmith’s Bistro, he also enjoys selling straight to consumers.

“People are really interested in local and organic foods. We realized that people were looking for clean food, but the demand was not being met by the supply. We have the land and the energy, and we like the idea of being able to help,” Tant says.

Tant is not the only farmer working alongside Gaining Ground to help Chattanooga’s foodscape go green. Farmer Dave Waters, who plans to use the label at the Chattanooga Market, feels Chattanooga is experiencing a big learning curve.

“People are so used to getting cheap food at the grocery store that they don’t realize how bad it is for them. It takes education and a serious event to really change, but I think Chattanooga is headed in the right direction,” he says.

Waters grew up in Meigs County but spent much of his life in the military and working as contractor for the Pentagon. But the more he learned about factory farming, the more he felt like he needed to do farming right. At age 50 he moved back to Tennessee in order restore the family farm to sustainable practice.

However, Waters doesn’t see the label as a quick fix. To him, the food movement will have to go through a more organic process in order to catch on.

“This will have to get more momentum and more people involved. I think Chattanooga will see change, but it will take time.”

Spoken like a true farmer.

The Ongoing Legacy of Charles H. Coolidge

By Laura Childers
Chattanooga has recognized Signal Mountain resident Charles H. Coolidge as a war hero since 1945. While an older generation besieged this medal-of-honor winner with requests for autographs when he returned from WWII, a younger generation knows his name because of the park that bears his name on the north side of town. Although Coolidge has often been treated like war hero Harry Bailey in the 1946 film, “It’s a Wonderful Life,” his similarity to Harry’s older brother, George, has never been recognized. Coolidge has spent more of his life working faithfully in his family business that he has in combat.

For the past 63 years, Coolidge has worn a tie to work at the Chattanooga Printing Company, started by his father, Walter P. Coolidge, over one hundred years ago. After he laid down his arms in 1945, he began to face new battles as a printer with the rise of new printing technologies. Although the printing community at large is struggling, the integrity of the Coolidge family business has carried it through.

Only two minutes walking distance from the park named in his honor 89-year-old Coolidge sits in his office surrounded by photographs, plaques, and flags that look and smell of an era long passed. His son, John, sitting to his left, describes the hardship the business has faced in the past twenty years.
“I feel for each person that I work with, because it’s really hard. I’ve been here for forty years now. When we started, we had handset type and three line of type machines.”

He shows off the old equipment gathering dust. A line of type machine sits in the basement ready to be moved out. Yet thanks to the Coolidges’ old-fashioned work ethic, the company has no debt, and the Coolidges’ maintain complete ownership. To them, continuing to print is about fighting for family values in an age when some will do anything to make a profit.

“It’s not just about making money. It’s about relationships and people,” John says.

A suffering printing community is not the only difficult thing Coolidge has faced since his return from the war. Over the years, Coolidge and his family have also fought for the park named after Charles in 1945. When word got out that contractors were planning to build real estate on it in the sixties, Charles’ wife, Frances, started a crusade to save the park.

“She would write these letters to the district commissioner,” Charles chuckles “Finally, Jean Roberts, the mayor at the time, says, “‘No one will build anything until they talk to Charles.’”

Up until the time Frances passed away, she and Charles would drive through the park every evening. “To make sure everything was OK,” Charles says.

Although the Coolidges are positive about new developments in and around the park and appreciative of the city’s stewardship, they hope the deeper meaning of the park will not be lost on the fountains and the carousel.

“The park is about remembering all the WWII veterans,” John says. “My father was just the example.”

Charles describes that in the forties, recreational activities were replaced by wartime activities. To him, Coolidge Park represents a peace that was hard won by a generation for its children and grandchildren.

“This was robbed from these people,” he says, speaking of all men and women who served in the military.

Coolidge’s legacy in Chattanooga will not easy be forgotten. A walk through the park on Independence Day reveals Chattanoogans at the height of their patriotism—the grass is a sea of red white and blue as the symphony plays the Stars and Stripes for the annual ‘Pops in the Park.’ Children linger around a stone plaque dedicated to Coolidge’s service in the army. While his victories for his county and his park will be celebrated by the public for years to come, his sons will never forget his loving dedication to his family and business.

Still, Coolidge is not ready to put down his guard just yet. Always a fighter, he is not afraid to face whatever difficulty may come next.

“I take life one day at a time,” he says.

Read CityScope Magazine's article on local WWII heroes on our website.

Freestyle Machine Hits Chattanooga

By Laura Childers

This summer Taco Mac will be the first restaurant in Chattanooga to trade its tradition soda fountain for something a little more flavorful. A new high-tech soda dispenser called Coca-Cola Freestyle allows the restaurant to offer 100 different sodas to its customers.

“When you look at the glasses on the tables now, you’ll see a rainbow of colors,” says Bruce Skala, vice-president of marketing for the restaurant chain that owns Taco Mac. “This has opened up a whole new world for us.”
Taco Mac is one of 800 locations nationwide testing out the new technology. And so far, consumers have been enthusiastic – Skala reports that Taco Mac has seen an increase in sales. He also says the Freestyle machine is a kid-friendly way to complement Taco Mac’s 260 beer options.

This “fountain of the future” is simple – a touchscreen allows the server to choose a base soda (Coke, Dr. Pepper...) followed by a flavor (Vanilla, Lime, Orange...). But a closer look reveals its complexity. With the help of “Purepour” technology, actually developed in the medical field, the machine dispenses a precise recipe of water, sweetener, and concentrated ingredients for each soda.

“It pours the perfect drink,” says Coca Cola representative Dan Redler.

The 46-ounce cartridges used to store ingredients are also enabled to send supply and demand data to Coca Cola’s headquarters in Atlanta. Redler says the Freestyle was a “research vehicle in itself,” as it allows the company to track peak times and popular locations in addition to consumption.

Like some current soda fountains, the Freestyle machine at Taco Mac is crew-serve only. But Chattanooga can expect to see self-serve versions of the machine appear in local franchises very soon.

And with so many perks—higher quality drinks, automated inventory management, greater variety – the only problem may be consumer anxiety about which drink is best.

“This is a change of strategy. It’s all about choice,” Redler says, as the machine dispenses a pristine Orange Coke.