Music has always played a big part in the history of this city. The start of the 20th century saw Bessie Smith singing on the streets of Chattanooga. The woman who would be recognized by many critics as the greatest blues singer of all-time grew up here. However, it was bandleader Glenn Miller that gaveChattanooga its signature song. Miller introduced "Chattanooga Choo Choo" in the 1941 movie, Sun Valley Serenade. The song also introduced The Modernaires (Mr. Miller's vocal group) and sold more than a million copies. Soon, though, the world would be at war and Mr. Miller would be one of its casualties.

One Chattanooga industry that helped the war effort was shipbuilding. Combustion Engineering Company (now a part of ABB) was one of two manufacturers of pressure vessels for ships in the country and was home to the largest coal press in the world. Chattanooga's iron and steel industries added extra shifts to increase the output of plants that had laid dormant off and on during the Depression.

After World War II America's love affair with the automobile blossomed. While rail passengers to Chattanooga's Terminal Station peaked in 1948, the family car was already making advances as the vacation transportation of choice. Chattanooga was a natural choice for the newly mobile families. Conviently located along major north-south and east-west highways, centrally located, near ample recreation and with a developing tourist industry thanks to Ruby Falls, The Incline, Chickamauga-Chattanooga National Military Park and nearby Rock City, the city quickly claimed the prize of vacation destination.