On October 16, 2008, the Office of the City Engineer of Chattanooga opened contract T-06-003. The project called for the conversion of two Y-intersections of Tennessee and St. Elmo avenues to T-intersections. This is a familiar intersection to tourists and to residents, and existed even when the two streets had the names Blowing Springs Road (now Tennessee Avenue) and Georgia Avenue (now St. Elmo) on a 1904 map.

Growing up in St. Elmo, I remember some of the sights around this confluence of streets. Guiding tourists to take a right up Ochs Highway was a very large Rock City sign, with Rocky the Elf in his car with a blinking taillight and above him, a lighted arrow. There were a couple of service stations, a wishing well outside the Incline Drug Store, and a sign with a boy on a ladder trying to taste a large Kay’s ice cream cone.

If a project had come to fruition as announced in a September 29, 1949 Chattanooga News-Free Press article, the intersection would have had a different look. That day, readers were informed that the Independent Theaters company would build a new neighborhood cinema in St. Elmo. The site was the triangular lot between Tennessee and St. Elmo avenues.

Independent Theaters had been in business for thirty-eight years at the time of the announcement. The company had bought some of the earliest theaters of Chattanooga, and then developed others such as the Brainerd Theater. Management said that their goal was that every Chattanooga neighborhood would have a motion picture house.

To build the theater, the local architecture firm of Bianculli, Palm, and Purnell was selected. According to the “American Architects Directory, Second Edition,” Mario Bianculli had also worked on local projects such as the Henry L. Barger School, Moccasin Bend Psychiatric Hospital, and buildings for the Tennessee Valley Authority.

The St. Elmo Theater would have an angular design to fit its lot. The entrance was to be crafted in Crab Orchard sandstone and plate glass. A vertical spelling of “ST. ELMO” would be made on the theater’s marquee above the right of its entrance. Retail shops would adjoin the theater along St. Elmo Avenue.

Theater patrons could choose one of seven hundred seats to see the latest picture. The plans included a smoking balcony, cry room, and private party room. Glascreen, a type of screen still in use today, was among the latest technological features chosen for the St. Elmo Theater.

However, I could not find anything to confirm that the theater was constructed. As more reliable automobiles and improved highways became available in the 1950’s, affluent residents left established neighborhoods like St. Elmo for new houses in the suburbs. Independent Theaters thus may have focused its resources on other parts of Chattanooga.

So, I, along with other St. Elmo residents, missed the opportunity to see a movie in the neighborhood, and to follow it with an ice cream cone at Kay’s Kastles. Unlike the boy on its sign, we never needed a ladder to reach that treat.

The theater could have even hosted the world premier in 1985 of the movie "St. Elmo's Fire."

It would be interesting to know if the architect’s plans for the St. Elmo Theater still exist. Equally intriguing would be to know exactly why that the curtain was closed on the project. If you have any information on the St. Elmo Theater, or memories of this historic
crossroads of St. Elmo, please send me an e-mail at jolleyh@bellsouth.net.