Legendary Locals of Chattanooga

Since its founding in 1816, Chattanooga has seen the rise of many extraordinary citizens, including Rev. T. Hooke McCallie, Civil War pastor; mayor and industrialist John Wilder; Benjamin Franklin Thomas, who established the nation's first Coca-Cola bottling plant; and Adolph Ochs, a successful newspaperman who went on to purchase the New York Times. Bessie Smith sang her first blues here, while the city's railroads hummed to the tune of Glenn Miller's Chattanooga Choo-Choo. Leo Lambert bro...