Charles E. James

Charles E. James was a prominent merchant in Chattanooga and original developer of Signal Mountain, Tennessee.

James and his parents moved to Chattanooga in 1852 from East Tennessee while he was an infant. By the 1880's he was one of Chattanooga's most prominent merchants with interests in railroads and iron supply businesses.

In 1880 James helped form the Chattanooga Western Railroad and was the secretary and treasurer of the Company. The company was formed to build a railway to bring coal and iron from Walden's Ridge to Chattanooga. Included in the plan was a development of a community on the ridge where a Federal signal station had been located during the Civil War. The town originally named Signal Point City ran into development difficulties and the project was suspended. 30 years later James again became involved with the project completing a streetcar line up the mountain.

James and other prominent citizens of the time such as Adolph Ochs were also helpful in hosting the reunion of the Civil War veterans in 1881.

In 1885 James, in association with others, planned and constructed a broad gauge railroad up Lookout Mountain and shared in the Development of Lookout Inn.

James later promoted another railroad called the Chattanooga Southern Railroad to run between Gadsden, Alabama. This project was financed by outside investors and ran into financial difficulties. There were several reorganizations over the years before James acquired control. This railroad eventually became the Tennessee, Alabama and Georgia railroad commonly know at the time as the TAG.

James also participated in the first hydroelectric project on a navigable river in the USA in 1905 when he, Josephus C. Guild and Anthony N. Brady formed theChattanooga and Tennessee Electric Power Company for purposes of producing hydroelectric power and improving the navigation of the Tennessee River. The Hales Bar Dam was built after Congressional action on January 7, 1905 changed the site from Scott's Point.

The Town of Signal Mountain

In 1913 James completed the construction of 12 miles of streetcar track that ran from Chattanooga to Signal Mountain Inn near Signal Point. Thirty years had elapsed since his original purchase of 4,400 acres of land.

In 1918, the [http://www.smgcc.org Signal Mountain Golf Course] was completed to serve the guests of the Signal Mountain Inn.

On April 4, 1919, the Tennessee Legislature passed the bill that chartered the Town of Signal Mountain. The first mayor was Charles E. James. At the time of his death in 1925, two hundred houses had been built, most of them within a few blocks of the Signal Mountain Inn.

References

Govan, Gilbert F. and Livingood, James W. (1952). "The Chattanooga County 1540-1951 From Tomahawks to TVA" E.P. Dutton & Company Inc. New York

[http://www.sigmtn.com/community/history.php sigmtn.com]