"A Town Reborn" a Chattanooga Travel Page by BruceDunning

Choo Choo for the ambiance of it all. This is at the old railway station, renovated and preserved. Linked with the Choo Choo theme since the terminal was built in 1908, it was renovated in 1973 as part of a hotel complex and convention center. It is connected with the Holiday Inn hotel, and you can even stay in a RR car converted into a room. The depot is also inside the hotel. The overall park has 24 acres of grounds, and is said to be the 3rd largest tourist attraction in Tennessee. A dedicated group also put together a large minature railroad for display that is 174 feet long. Somewhere around

Town center was revamped with statues and avenues to walk around the river front. This town used to be a poster presentation of smog, filth and dingy. I have ridden through there when you had a bit of a time seeing the city layout next to the road. An old steel mill was alongside the river and guess what pollutants must have gone there. They tore down a number of buildings, and worked on bringing the downtown back with the aquarium and water front and Bluff Art street. Hopefully it works.

The 1 million SF aquarium was added in 1992 and IMAX later in 1996. Along with that came a convention center of 298,000 SF. Nearly one half of the town center looks to have be torn down with not all rebuilt yet. A cost of $120 million investment at the waterfront hopes to payoff.