Walnut Street Bridge

Chattanooga

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Finished in 1891, this half-mile span carried vehicles from downtown to the North Shore until 1978, when it was closed for safety reasons. In 1993 it was reopened as a pedestrian bridge and park. Since then the bridge has served as a key component in downtown revitalization efforts. The bridge stretches from the Hunter Museum in the Bluff View Arts District downtown to Coolidge Park and nearby shops and restaurants on the North Shore.

A petition was launched in 2018 to change the name of the bridge to the Ed Johnson Memorial Bridge to remember the name of an African American man lynched on the span in 1906. Johnson had been yanked from his jail cell by a mob after being accused of raping a white woman.

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