Chattanooga Railroad Series: The Ooltewah Cutoff

Ooltewah was once a county seat and had its own train depot with lines headed both for Cleveland and, later, toward Dalton.

Ooltewah, sited at one of the few gaps through White Oak Mountain, was the headquarters for James County, which was a historical peculiarity when it went out of existence in 1920. The James County Courthouse still stands near the heart of the old Ooltewah.

The narrow Railroad Avenue nearby leads to the "V" between the line between Chattanooga and Cleveland that went in before the Civil War and the "Ooltewah Cutoff" that went into business in 1883. A passenger depot that was built in 1882 was in the middle of the V. A signal tower was also at this location. Ooltewah also had a freight depot that was on the east side of town about 600 yards east of the passenger depot.

The East Tennessee line first favored Dalton over Chattanooga, but a few years later went through Ooltewah from Cleveland on the way to Chattanooga. When the East Tennessee line acquired the Macon and Brunswick Railroad, it built a connection to Rome, Ga., which was tied in with Dalton. In the other direction, it went to Rockmart and then to Austell before following a Birmingham route the last 18 miles into Atlanta. There was a single track for 120 miles between Ooltewah and Austell that began with the Ooltewah Cutoff.

Before the cutoff, passengers going from Chattanooga toward Atlanta had to ride up to Cleveland and then down to Dalton. Railroad officials figured that adding a direct line the 11 miles from Ooltewah to Cohutta, Ga., could save 17 miles off going through Cleveland.   

Accordingly, the Ooltewah and Red Clay Railroad was set up in 1881. The Red Clay name was because the terminus was near Red Clay, where the Cherokees retreated just across the state line after being forced from Georgia. In Tennessee, the line was known as the Tennessee and Cohutta Railroad. The Ooltewah Cutoff went into operation on July 3, 1883.

It goes from the Ooltewah V to a crossing of the old road between Ooltewah and Ringgold. It follows the path forged by Wolftever Creek through another gap in White Oak Mountain. It goes past Collegedale and by the huge McKee Bakery.

The line passes the old town of Apison, then the small settlement of Howardsville before following an isolated route on to little Cohutta in Georgia. There it joins with the line coming down from Cleveland. The combined line proceeds on the short distance to Dalton.

Trustee Bill Hullander, who grew up in Apison, remembers when Mary Ruth Smedley twice a day would hang the mail by the tracks. The mail would be grabbed by a railroad employee as the train slowed at Apison. Mr. Hullander launched his successful Hullco business from old Apison, and it was still in use by the business as a warehouse until recently. Mr. Hullander now owns most of the houses and buildings in the old Apison.

An interesting concrete silo still stands near the site of the Ooltewah Depot. It has a door with some decorative features and five narrow windows.

The Ooltewah Depot was closed in 1976 and donated to the James County Historical Society. It was moved to Ooltewah High School, but was burned by an arsonist.