As the city transitions from MLK Day into Black History Month, the green street signs marking East Martin Luther King Boulevard serve as a daily reminder of a hard-won victory.
But for those who live and work along the corridor once known as the “Big Nine,” the signs also highlight a persistent question: Has the city’s investment in Dr. King’s name been matched by an investment in his people?
Across the country, there are now nearly 1,000 streets named for the civil rights icon. In Tennessee, at least 17 communities bear his name. However, few battles over these names were as strategically fought–or as revealing of local power dynamics–as the one right here in Chattanooga.
In the late 1970s and early ‘80s, local activists and Black clergy set their sights on renaming Ninth Street, the historic heart of Chattanooga’s Black enterprise. At its peak, the “Big Nine” was a thriving hub of jazz, commerce, and community. By 1981, however, it had become a symbol of the disinvestment following urban renewal.
The fight hit a wall when the Chattanooga City Commission initially refused to rename the entire street. They were willing to grant the name to the portion in the historically Black neighborhood but balked at extending it toward the river, where the road met prime downtown real estate.
For leaders like the Rev. Dr. William Terry Ladd III, the boulevard is more than a transit route; it is a moral barometer for the city.
“9th Street was where African Americans were. But the rest of MLK Boulevard runs to the river, right into prime downtown real estate,” said Dr. Ladd, pastor of First Baptist Church East 8th Street. “They were very vocal about not wanting to name that portion.”
The community’s response was a masterclass in civil disobedience. In April 1981, hundreds of Chattanoogans marched down Ninth Street, manually taping “Martin Luther King” bumper stickers over existing street signs. They effectively “renamed” the street themselves, forcing the city’s hand. Later that year, the commission reversed its decision, and the entire stretch officially became MLK Boulevard.
As of 2026, the city’s “ONE Chattanooga” strategic plan and the massive “Westside Evolves” project (a $680 million initiative) aim to reconnect the MLK corridor with the riverfront while promising “equitable development” that avoids the mass displacement seen in the urban renewal of the 1960s.
As the city continues its downtown expansion, the challenge for Chattanooga’s leaders and developers remains: ensuring that the residents of MLK Boulevard benefit from the “justice” the street name promises, rather than just living in its shadow.
“Ultimately, a street name is a promise,” said John L. Edwards III, founder and publisher of the Chattanooga News Chronicle. “The signs tell us where we are, but our investment in the people living along this road tells us who we are as a city. At the News Chronicle, we remain the watchmen on this boulevard, ensuring that the ‘justice’ in Dr. King’s name becomes a reality for every block between Central Avenue and the river.”
Anchoring the East MLK Boulevard landscape, the Chattanooga News Chronicle has occupied the 611 block since 1999, documenting the evolution of the former “Big Nine” from its longtime headquarters.