Jerry Summers
A 2010 article by veteran news reporter David Cooper for the Missionary Ridge Heritage Celebration contains an interesting story about the independent city that existed from 1923 to 1929. It can be obtained from the Missionary Ridge Neighborhood Association (MRNA) website and contains many historical and interesting facts about The Ridge.
The title of the article is “The Many Aspects of Missionary Ridge”.
It also exposes the tactics used to entice the voters to become part of the “Dynamo of Dixie,” the promises made and not kept, the conditions of the present Choo Choo Chattanooga Trail on the 6.8 miles of pristine concrete paved road that took place in 1930 as part of the municipal inducement to expand the corporate limits of what everyone now predicts will be the next Nashville or Atlanta.
However, David's historical (and accurate) article can be reduced to state that before the evacuation of many prominent citizens to the higher elevation of the joint Tennessee-Georgia municipalities that bear the same name, there was the City of Missionary Ridge which initially fought off the land grab of annexation.
One of the paragraphs by David is particularly pertinent to the modern era and is copied verbatim:
"You could just about count on two hands the roads that scale Mission Ridge, as it was known for many years. The park system provided the first unimproved road that ran continuously along the crest. Then the U.S. government laid the concrete pavement we're familiar with today about 1929-1930. Sen. W.E. Brock was influential in getting that done. He was a Crest Road resident. The paving began below the Sherman Reservation and continued southward to Rossville's LaFayette Road.”
When the area was incorporated in 1923, the first mayor was Hamilton National Bank founder, TR Preston.
The Civil War history of Missionary Ridge on November 25, 1863 has been thoroughly documented and it is sufficient to state that the incompetency of Confederate General Braxton Bragg and the perceived courage of renegade ridge climbers including the father of WWII general Douglas McArthur transformed a southern stronghold into a northern victory that would eventually lead to the end of the conflict in 1865.
When the first annexation try in 1929 was initiated by the City Fathers (sorry, ladies, etc.) the residents on high voted against the takeover from below.
What some old timers contend was a “legalized bribe” to pave the Crest Road with concrete from the Georgia state line to Glass Street, a second referendum was held and the City of Missionary Ridge vanished into history in 1929.
Coincidentally, construction and paving of the now smooth riding, no potholes present, with a panorama view of the “Dynamo of Dixie,” is available to any tourist or potential homebuyer.
Although the comfortable riding avenue’s maintenance was entrusted to the federal National Park Service (NPS) under the Secretary of War, a few non-believers content that the minor 10,000 + potholes are being filled with blacktop at Gig City tax payers expense.
The question of who is responsible for repairs to Crest Road remains a mystery?
Perhaps an explanation of the $1,000,000 item for “Crest Road” in the recently proposed 2025-2026 municipal budget released shortly before the March 4, 2025 election will answer that question.
The eight reservations and monuments along the boulevard are maintained in pristine condition by the NPS, while the 6.8 mile broken concrete road remains a potential legal liability to motorists, pedestrians, bicyclists, and treasured pets.
It was also noticed before the aforementioned recent mayoral-council races that potholes in selective areas in the former municipal corporate limits were filled but the identity of the bucket and shovel distributor remains unknown.
The question of whether any pothole political preference favoritism is left to the subjective imagination of the readers!
PS: The “Many Aspects of Missionary Ridge” article by David Cooper is recommended reading.
(Any constituent/voter telephone calls to the offices of the newly re-elected Mayor of Chattanooga and the 3rd Congressional District Representative (senatorial aspirant?) might resolve the perennial question of “who is responsible for existing maintenance/repairs on Crest Road in Chattanooga, Tennessee?”)
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If you have additional information about one of Mr. Summers' articles or have suggestions or ideas about a future Chattanooga area historical piece, please contact him at jsummers@summersfirm.com)