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In the late Eighties, the Alvin C. York Chapter
of the 82nd Airborne Division Association was inspired to begin a museum
to feature the Medal of Honor history.
It began with a small space on Brainerd Road as artifacts were
obtained. Donations and
souvenir loans grew. They
moved to the Memorial Auditorium where displays were set up.
Leo Smith, a retired paratrooper who is deceased, was the
motivating force behind the project. The City of Chattanooga offered them the
Employment Office at 4th Street and Georgia when that department moved.
Leo’s enthusiasm was infectious.
With volunteers such as Louie Gant, makeshift displays were set
up in the two-story building. What
was lacking in glitter was made up in dedication to the subject.
There was a section devoted to Tennessee’s World War I hero
Alvin C. York, an impressive rendition of a WWI trench.
The city provided the quarters for a token $200 a year, which was
not always paid. Utilities
were paid by from donations. There
were free workers. No
admission was charged. There
were generous donors. The
late George Bales was one of them. Dalton Roberts, then County Executive, saw the
potential for a museum honoring those receiving the Medal of Honor.
He offered them a site off Interstate 75 for the star-shaped
building Leo had designed. The
board bickered until the opportunity passed. They dreamed of buying the Double Cola building
on South Broad Street, a multi-million project at a time when the hat
was passed to pay the light bill. Leo
was undaunted. The late
Charlie Housch thought the empty St. Elmo School would make an ideal
location for the museum. It
had over 30,000 square feet of space over three floors on a track
covering almost the whole block on St. Elmo Avenue.
Leo liked the idea. This
was at a time when the city let it be known the building they occupied
would eventually come down for traffic changes. Ralph Wilson, who was a member of the first
board, and I presented the plan to Chairman Bryan Hall Jackson and the
directors. If we could get
the city to donate the school and we could raise the funds to renovate
it, did they want it for the museum?
They spent months bickering and dreaming of other options.
Three times they agreed and then changed their mind.
Finally Judge Bob Summit drew up an agreement which they signed,
thanks to urging by Leo and Bryan. Then Mayor Gene Roberts had said if the museum
ever came up with a viable plan and stuck with it people would help.
The city, later under Mayor Jon Kinsey, formally deeded the
property over to the museum free and put $150,000 into renovation,
mainly repairing a leaking roof and cleanup inside.
Almost immediately, the vacillation began.
Dreams surfaced again of the Double Cola building surface and
quickly sank with the cost tab. Leo had died by then and the new administration
felt they could raise the money and develop the St. Elmo School without
any help. A year later they
gave the property back to the city.
What could have been an inspiring museum became a residence for
the elderly. Rep. Zach Wamp tried to help by getting the
museum a place at the Volunteer site.
That went by the wayside as well as the clock ran out on the 4th
and Georgia quarters. It
had to be torn down. The
city offered them a building at Main and Riverfront where artifacts are
stored with no home in sight. Fred Headrick showed his courage with the army
in Europe in WWII. He
showed it again by taking on chairmanship of the museum at a time when
most directors would like to ease out of it. Some say the museum needs money and a home.
They don’t. They
need a plan, one they will stick with. Money and a home will follow.
Chattanooga is a patriotic city.
But you have to show them something to get excited over.
As Gene Roberts commented, the museum must see their limitations
and say, “here is my baby. Take it and raise it.” A Medal of Honor Museum in Chattanooga is too
precious to give up on. The
present museum board needs to follow that old advice: lead, follow or
get out of the way.
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