About Our Neighborhood
Highland Park is unique within the beautiful city of Chattanooga. Its amazing history and incredible diversity are present everywhere you look. Its location is unrivaled by most other neighborhoods - we are close enough to downtown that a five-minute drive puts you at almost any of Chattanooga's best restaurants, and a ten-minute bike ride will find you passing an independent grocery, the area's largest farmer's market filled with only locally-grown fruit and produce, and a dozen art galleries. Highland Park is close to everything but the bustle!
Our family-friendly neighborhood is home to the Highland Park Baptist Church and Tennessee Temple University, the St. Andrews Center and United Methodist Church, as well as two hair salons, a 60-year old diner, a popular lunch, cake, and catering business, two parks, an antique and architecture store, and a surprisingly long list of other enterprises and businesses.
Established in 1889 and developed over the course of 40 years, the historic homes and establishments in Highland Park were incorporated in 1904, making it a city with its own elected officials. At the time, Highland Park was so named because the neighborhood's height above sea level (and distance from the Tennessee River) protected the brand new Bungalow, Victorian, and Four-Square style homes being built there at the turn of the century from any flooding that might damage other neighborhoods. Highland Park was perfect for families - quiet, with amply-sized city lots, and just a short train or electric trolley ride away from downtown Chattanooga. (The Belt Railway still runs alongside Holtzclaw Avenue, and the lines left their mark on Anderson Avenue, now an extra-wide city street.)
While public transportation is still active in Highland Park - the CARTA bus lines on Bailey Avenue and Main St are an easy way to get downtown - you don't have to travel far for shopping, family activities, or entertainment. Just a short walk down McCallie Avenue and you'll find 53-acre Warner Park, home of the Chattanooga Zoo as well as seven ball fields, twelve tennis courts, a playground, a rose garden, six official horseshoe pits, picnic facilities, and an Olympic sized pool, as well as the Chattanooga Fitness Center. A few more minutes of leisurely walking and you'll reach the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, one of southeast Tennessee's finest academic institutions, as well as the many restaurants and other attractions of the MLK neighborhood.
Within a short bike ride's down our southern border, Chattanooga's famous Main Street, you'll find the bustling Southside, with its newly renovated condos, businesses, eateries, and grocery. And don't forget what's right here in Highland Park - our own restaurants, parks, and many soon-to-be-established destinations that continue to add to our reputation as one of the best places to live in Chattanooga. In Highland Park, you live close to everything, except the bustle.
(If you're interested in living here, don't hesitate to contact the Highland Park Neighborhood Association or one of the many realtors specializing in historic neighborhoods of Chattanooga. While the number of historic homes available for sale is shrinking, some are still available. We welcome everyone!)