With the sale of its Chestnut and Broad Streets properties, the Chattanooga History Center took a giant step toward its stated goal of providing a facility which will embody the Chattanooga region's diverse history and heritage, serve as a repository for the area's collective memory, function as an educational and information resource center, and serve as a major orientation center for visitors. The Center has moved into a temporary location, the Frances Willard Building at 615 Lindsay Street, while it plans and builds its new permanent home. The Frances Willard, a three-storied Colonial Revival building which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, played a part in the history of Chattanooga's industrial and economic development.
The Frances Willard Home was established in the 1880's by a group of Chattanooga housewives to provide a home environment for the influx of young girls who came into the city from surrounding rural areas to work in Chattanooga's burgeoning industrial businesses. Sponsored by the Women's Christian Temperance Union, the home was named for Frances W. Willard, a former national president of the WCTU. The Home was originally housed in the Glass House on Eighth Street, and, later, on Oak Street. Architect Reuben Harrison Hunt, who designed many important Chattanooga buildings, including the Hamilton County and Federal Court Houses, Memorial Auditorium, the old First Baptist Church and others, designed the Lindsay Street structure, which was built in the mid-1920's. The new, brick building had twenty bedrooms for its young tenants, a reception hall, four large parlors, a dining room, kitchen and matron's quarters.
The Frances Willard Home operated for almost 90 years, and closed in 1976. The WCTU gave rising operational costs as the reason for the shutdown, and the building was eventually deeded to the Central Church of Christ, located at the southeast corner of Lindsay and Vine Streets. Central Church researched the possibility of using it as a home for the elderly, but many obstacles to adaptation for that purpose were encountered, and the building was purchased by a group called Green Acres of America, headed by Jack McDonald.
The interior of the building was totally renovated and remodeled, but retained original fireplaces and molding, and the exterior, cleaned and repainted, was left in its original state. The interior renovation was directed by The Franklin Group Architects, which occupied the portion, Suites 100 and 200, of the building now being used by the History Center. The CHC space contains offices, collection storage, a kitchen and a meeting room.
