Written by: Amy Mejias
The railroad tied 19th century America together. Trains were an essential mode of transportation, moving passengers, materials and goods across the United States, including the American South.
A Tennessee railroad connecting Chattanooga to Cleveland was built in 1859, around the same time Ooltewah was founded, according to Mills McArthur, assistant professor in the History and Political Studies Department at Southern Adventist University.
“By 1880, Ooltewah was a booming mining town, extracting iron ore from White Oak Mountain,” McArthur said.
According to Fairfax Harrison’s book “A History of the Legal Development of the Railroad System of Southern Railway Company,” the East Tennessee, Virginia and Georgia Railroad acquired the Macon and Brunswick Railroad in June 1882. That same year, the two entities incorporated the Ooltewah and Red Clay Railroad Company and constructed a new railway line, known as the Ooltewah Cutoff, connecting Ooltewah to Red Clay, Georgia, according to a Chattanoogan article. This line continues to operate in Collegedale today, running alongside Apison Pike, passing by McKee Foods Corporation and Southern’s campus and crossing Main Street.
However, disaster struck on Oct. 10, 1882, just one day after the opening of the Ooltewah Cutoff.
“A passenger train, which should have stopped, turned the switch at Ooltewah and proceeded down the new rail line, was blinded by heavy fog, and continued straight ahead at ‘a terrific rate of speed,’ according to the Chattanooga Times story the next day,” McArthur said. “It crashed head-on into a waiting freight train.”
“Two train crewmen died gruesomely in the crash; they were buried under coal that spilled out of the tender, then burned by steam that escaped from the wreck.”
The Chattanooga Times described the scene of the wreck:
“The passenger engine was on the embankment, shorn of all its machinery, and near it lay the tender under a heap of coals, car timbers, etc. The freight engine was thrown athwart the track, and one box car was almost totally demolished, while the remains of the baggage and express car were strewn in all directions. The telegraph office was literally demolished, and the track was torn up considerably. Two train crewmen died gruesomely in the crash; they were buried under coal that spilled out of the tender, then burned by steam that escaped from the wreck.”
In addition to the deaths of the two crewmen, two children were fatally injured, according to an article published by the Granada Sentinel, dated Oct. 21, 1882.
Almost exactly eight years later, an article from the Abbeville Press and Banner, dated Oct. 8, 1890, reported that a man and his son crossing the train tracks near Ooltewah were struck by a wild engine and killed.
Despite its tragic beginnings, the Ooltewah Cutoff helped its community grow.
“This development played a crucial role in fostering the towns of Collegedale, Apison, Cohutta and Howardville,” said Ben Bryant, founder of the Everything Chattanooga History page on Facebook, about the railway line.
McArthur said the Ooltewah Cutoff was a huge benefit to the East Tennessee, Virginia and Georgia Railroad, as it provided a direct route between Chattanooga and Atlanta. Before the line’s construction, trains on their way to Atlanta had to detour through Cleveland and Ooltewah. Moreover, the East Tennessee, Virginia and Georgia Railroad also utilized the Ooltewah Cutoff to create a more efficient route to the seaside Port of Brunswick in Georgia, according to Bryant.
In 1884, a lien was placed on several railroad lines, including the Ooltewah Cutoff, and it was brought under the jurisdiction of the Southern Railway Company, according to Harrison’s book.
In the early 20th century, the area surrounding the Ooltewah Cutoff came to be known as Thatcher Switch. McArthur, who is currently writing a book on the history of the Ooltewah-Collegedale area, said Thatcher Switch, also known as Thatcher, included farmland owned by James D. Thatcher; a limestone quarry, now the Goliath Wall on the university’s campus; housing for the quarry workers; a store and a flag stop station along the railroad. The Thatcher Switch stop included a sidetrack, where train cars were loaded with limestone, according to the Chattanoogan article. The station stood on the eastern side of McDaniel Gap between the track and Apison Pike and across from the end of Sanborn Drive.
“In 1916, when Southern Training School was contemplating moving out of Graysville, Tennessee, school officials wanted a remote location with good rail access. This made the Thatcher farm an attractive option.”
In 1910, improvements were made to a railway junction located in Ooltewah, near the current Jac Cate Road, Bryant said. Changes included a new depot and water tower that stands in its original location today. At this junction, the train tracks split, allowing trains from Chattanooga to travel to either Knoxville or Atlanta, Bryant added.
The railway running through Ooltewah and Thatcher soon attracted the attention of a nearby Seventh-day Adventist school.
“In 1916, when Southern Training School was contemplating moving out of Graysville, Tennessee, school officials wanted a remote location with good rail access. This made the Thatcher farm an attractive option,” McArthur said. “However, some opposed the move from Graysville to Collegedale. School officials planned to use the Thatcher farmhouse as a temporary girls dorm; at least one pro-Graysville individual said this was dangerous because the farmhouse was so close to the railroad tracks.”
In October 1916, the newly titled Southern Junior College opened its doors to 57 students in Thatcher Switch, which the school renamed Collegedale, according to the university’s website.
The Ooltewah Cutoff remained under the Southern Railway Company until 1982, when the company was merged with the Norfolk and Western Railway, forming the Norfolk Southern Corporation, according to the Southern Railway Historical Association website. Norfolk Southern continues to operate the Collegedale railway line today.
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